RAILWAYS, RIVERS, AND STRATEGIC TOWNS IN 

 MANCHURIA 



Witli tlie exception of some small gaps in Manclinria, only a few hundreil 

 miles in all, the Trans-Siberian Railway from St Petersburg to Port Arthur and 

 Vladivostok is completed (see map opjiosite i)age 297). Trains from St Peters- 

 burg proceed direct to Irkutsk, on Lake Baikal. Heavy ice-breaking V)oats 

 ferry the cars across the lake to Missoyaga, whence they are hauled to ( )non 

 and Stryetensk. Onon is the northern terminus of the branch to Port .Arthur. 

 Stryetensk is the head of the water-route down the Shijka and Amur Rivers 

 to Khabarosvk, from which a railroad runs to Vladivostok, a distance of 

 475 miles. The branch from Onon to Port Arthur is being built in sections, 

 most of them already constructed. Trains are now running northward from 

 Port Arthur for 050 miles to Harbin, and probably before the end of summer 

 they will reach Onon. The chain from St Peters))urg to Port Arthur will then 

 be complete. Serious trouble with the Chinese in Manchuria may, however, 

 not only interrupt construction for months, but may endanger hundreds of miles 

 of track already laid. 



A ))ranch line from Harbin is being pushed southeastward 500 miles to 

 Vladivostok. This will probably before many months connect Vladivostok 

 both with the main Siberian line and also with Port Arthur. Port Arthur has 

 at present a combined railway and water-route to Vladivostok, which in turn 

 has a combined railway and water- route to Stryetensk, the terminus of tlie 

 Siberian Railway. The present means of transportation from Port Arthur to 

 Vladivostok is by rail to Harbin, thence nearly 1,200 miles bj^ river down the 

 Sungari till it joins the Amur, then down the Amur to Khabarosvk, and from 

 there by rail to Vladivostok. The trip takes eight to fifteen days. The rivers 

 are open from May to October. 



Thus Russia can easily throw thousands of soldiers into nearly every section 

 of Manchuria. Sections to whi(;h her railways do not yet penetrate she can 

 reach by the Shilka, Sungari, and Amur Rivers. She has on the.se rivers nu- 

 merous flotillas of steamers and large barges. In the last few months alone 15 

 large steamers and 40 barges have been ailded to her river fleet. Troops coming 

 from Europe and western Asia would be Ijrought by rail to Stryetensk ; thence 

 they would ])e carried down the Shilka and Amur Rivers in flotillas to the junc- 

 tion of the latter with the Sungari. From here tliey could either be forwarded 

 up the Sungari to Harbin, and thence by rail distributed among the cities of 

 Kirin, Mukden, and Port Arthur, or they might continue on to Khabarosvk, 

 and thence proceed by rail to Vladivostok. In case the former route to Port 

 Arthur was interrupted by the Chinese troops, a fleet of transports could meet 

 the Russian soldiers at Vladivostok and carry them the 1,2.50 miles around Korea 

 to Port Arthur in five to eight days. When the f)non-Harbin and the Harbin- 

 Vladivostok l)ranches are completed an invasion of Manchuria will be a very 

 simple matter. 



Most of the towns of strategic importance to the safety of the railway lines 

 through Manchuria are held by Russian troops. Harbin, the central meeting- 

 point of the railway coming north from Port Arthur, of that going east to 

 Vladivostok, and of that coming south from Onon, and also the head of nav- 



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