OBI BRIDGE 105 



to live apart on their own farms, preferring to cluster 

 together in settlements. Over 12,000 tons of grain 

 are exported a,nnually to the Baltic ports, including 

 1 1,000 tons of Siberian wheat, which is of excellent 

 quality. 



There was a general awakening of interest one 

 morning when our conductor informed us that we 

 were approaching the famous Obi Bridge, one of 

 the longest and finest bridges on the line. All 

 cameras were out, and the passengers crowded to 

 the windows, while I betook myself to the back of 

 the train. This bridge is 2,262 miles beyond 

 Moscow and is nearly half a mile long. It consists 

 of seven steel spans across the largest river in 

 Western Siberia. The River Obi, with its wide, 

 stretching tributaries, drains a basin 10,000 miles 

 in extent, and supplies Western Siberia with a cljeap 

 means of communication and traffic with Europe. 

 The importance of this waterway, the largest of the 

 tributaries of which is the Irtish, may be perceived 

 from the following facts. From 1870 to 1884, a 

 period of fourteen years, the total quantity of goods 

 transported by the West Siberian rivers of the Obi 

 basin totalled 40,302 tons, whereas in 1894, at 

 the time of the opening of traffic on the Omsk- 

 Cheliabinsk line of the Great Siberian railway, 

 250,000 tons of various goods were carried. But 

 the influence of the railway is seen still better in 

 the fact that in 1897 over 980,266 tons of private 

 goods were transported over the Perm-Tumen line. 



The navigation of the Obi commences at the town 

 of Bysk, at the point of junction of the Bia and 

 Katun, whence the goods are carried for a distance 

 of 1,000 to 2,000 miles. Notwithstanding the com- 

 petition existing among the shipowners, the rates 

 of transport are much higher than On the Volga, 

 which is due to the uncertainty of navigation and 



