WESTERN SIBERIA AND THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS 



475 



beautiful, for the soil is 

 fertile, the pastures ex- 

 cellent, the landscapes 

 charming, and the wealth 

 of flowers surpasses that 

 of western Siberia. Even 

 after seven or eight days 

 of unbroken travel from 

 Moscow, the summer 

 tourist comes reluctantly 

 to the end of such a 

 journey. 



All that stopped in 

 1914. When will any 

 tourist find the journey 

 possible once more? 



So soon as peace and 

 order have been restored, 

 under whatever govern- 

 ment may rule, that gov- 

 ernment will begin to 

 repair and equip the rail- 

 road ; but to do this from 

 end to end, through a 

 country impoverished by 

 years of war and block- 

 ade, will be no short or 

 easy task. 



So much for the Trans- 

 continental Railway, the 

 one great factor in the 

 social and economic life 

 of Siberia w T hich those 

 who wish to understand 

 the country must keep 

 always in mind. 



Now let me speak of 

 western Siberia in par- 

 ticular, and of the excursion into the 

 Altai Mountains which I have to de- 

 scribe. 



PREPARING FOR A TRIP TO THE) AI/fAI 

 MOUNTAINS 



In 191 3 Siberia was just as open to 

 travelers as was European Russia, but 

 everywhere in the Tsar's dominions who- 

 soever sought to diverge from a regular 

 railway or steamboat route found that he 

 could not get along without facilities 

 granted by the government. 



Before starting for the mountains it 

 was therefore necessary to obtain letters 

 of recommendation to local authorities, 

 and the official permission to call for 

 horses at post stations. To get these 

 indispensables I went to Tomsk, the ad- 



Photograph from Horace Brodzky 

 TWO RUSSIAN GYPSIES OP IRKUTSK 



mini strati ve capital of western Siberia, 

 to present to the Provincial Governor 

 the credentials I had brought alon^ with 

 me. 



Tomsk lies fifty miles north of the 

 Transcontinental Railroad, to which it is 

 joined by a branch line. Why, consider- 

 ing the importance of the city, was not 

 the main line made to run through it, 

 there being no engineering difficulties to 

 prevent this? 



Every traveler asks this question, and 

 receives — so, at least, I was told — the 

 same answer. The Tomsk people did not 

 pay a sufficiently high "gratification'' to 

 those officials with whom it rested to pre- 

 scribe the course of the railway. 



I was reminded of a like question and 

 a like answer when, three vears before, 



