The Great Siberian Railway Author(S): P

The Great Siberian Railway Author(s): P. Kropotkin Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Feb., 1895), pp. 146-154 Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1773570 . Accessed: 06/01/2015 08:41

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This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 146 THE GPtEATSIBERIAN PtAIL\VAY. very simpleand systematic. On the northernslope, the Stour own; the holdsits Medwayhastaken off the headof the Darent;the lWolehas beheadeda stream that used to go throughthe Mersthamnotch to Groyden; and either the Moleor the Darenthas beheadeda streamthat madethe notchat Catelham Valley; the Wey has recentlytaken oS the head of the Blackwater, nearAldershot. On the southernslope, the C:uckmare, Ouse,Adur, and Arun maintairtopen paths to the sea. Chalk Inside of the escarpment,the drainage is often by subsequentside whose streams? developmenthas been describedby various authors. Outsideof the escarpment, there are many small streamsthat may be regarded shorterLed as consequents,whose beheading was accomplishedearly in the denudationof the region. The most peculiarfeature of the AVealdis that the Stour and the Cuckmareshould not have ere rLowbeen more shortenedby the inwardgrowth of subsequentstreams from the coast of the Channel between Folkstone and Eastlzourne;as it is, the Rother,in the middle of this district, has llardly accomplishedany notabledepredations. 17. Now, while any one of these many examplesftotn the Tees to theCuckmare, if takenalone, might perhapsbe eLplainedin someother mannerthan the one bere suggested,it does not seem to be witllin the reachof reasonable prob;lbilitythat so manystreams and rivers should repeatourer and over again the sialple arariationsof a single theme, unlessthey had been developedin a uniformand systematicmanner. l£urther,the great nunlberof subsequentstreams, well veaker adjustedto the structuresof the ret,ion,cannot be possiblyexplained as posed super- froma marinecover; they cannot,indeed, be reasonably asthe explained productof a single cycle of subaerialdenudation; and if couldbe, they there would then be no explanationfor the " uppeir andthei " plains" tablelands" of the Ooliteand the C:halk. Takenaltogeither, seemsthat the it most pr()bableie2zplanation is thei one announcedat thei beginningof thei essay: that the riversof easternEngland arei now in thelsature stage of the second c) cle of subaerialdenudation of a great luassof gently dipping sedimentaryrocks, and that they have irl this secondcycle e2rtendedthe adjustmentsof streamsto structuresthat were alreadybegun in the first eycle.

THE GREATSIBERIAN RAILWAY. By P. KROPOTKIN. teIS great line, which is to aonnectEuropean Russia with the Ocean,is Pacific steadilJrprogressing eastwards. It has already reached Irtyshopposite the Omsk,and will soon reach Tomslr,in the very heart ofSiberia; while on the otherend of the line, the Usuri river is already connectedby a railroadwith the shoresof the Pacific. Of a total length

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GREATSIBERIAN RAILWAY. 147 of nearly4700 miles, rails are alreadylaid over 1006 miles that is, 68 miles morethan one-fifthpart of the whole distance. Therewas at the beginninga great deal of hesitation as to orhether CentralSiberia had to be reachedfiom the north or from the south. The northernline oSers many substantialadvantages. It followsthe great high-roadalong which the immensecaravans of tea fromSiberia, and of all sorts of goods sent from Russia to Siberia,are now trans- ported; and, after having crossed the Urals in the east of Perm, it enters, on the Siberian slope, the regions of rich ironworks,which can supply the railway with rails, engines, and waggons. Theinit passes through Ekateirinburg,the centre of all the mining of the MiddleUrals, and, turning sharp eastwards,reaches Tyumen,on the Tura. This northern railway, which was completedseveral -ears since, is alreadyof great importance. It connectsthe Kamawith the Siberianrivers of the Ob-and-Irtyshsystem-that is, two immense channels of inner navigation. The liama, with its large tributaries -Vyatka, Byelaya, Chusovaya and a basin covering no less than 202,600 square miles, waters in its upper parts a most important region containing a greiatnumber of ironvorks, and for the last two centuriesit has been the chief arteryfor communicationwith Siberia. As to the West Siberianrivers, they undoubtedlywill maintaintheir importancefor shipping, even after the Siberian railway i3 completed. Though standing on a ssnall tributary of the Tobo] (the Tura), which itself flows into the Irtysh, the present terminus of that railway, Tyumen, must remain a centre of importancefor all the trafficin heavsrgoods coming from Siberia, or shipped from the Urals to Siberia. It must be remembered,moreover, that Tyumen stands in easy communicationwith the Arctic Ocean,and that long before a more or less regular traffic had been establishedbetween Earopeand the Yenisei,a little schooner,built at Tyumenand floated down the Tura, the Tobol, and the Irtysh, went to Londonwith a cargo of Siberian wheat. Now, Tyumen stands in regular steamer eommunicationwith Tomsk and with Biisk, in the Altai, as well as (via the Irtysh) with Omsk and Semipalatinsk,on the borderregion of the GentralAsian steppes. True that the Tllra, on the banks of which Tyumen stands, is a shallow river which often becomes still more shallow in the summer; but this inconveniencecan easily be remediedby continuing the main line for a short distance along the Tura, to its junction with the Tobol. In short, even when the Siberian railway will be completed,the northernPerm-TJumen line will remain the chief channel of traffic for a wide, populous, and in parts densely peopled and most fertile region, which owing to its thoroughly Russian population,is consideredas the granaryof West Siberia. Moreover,it bring3 the chief ironworks of the liddle Ulals in direct rail communicationwith the«Kama, which L 2

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 148 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY. means,in fact, with the Volga, or with all CentralRussia. Therefore, the main line, Perm-Tyumen,511 miles long, has been sery wisely providedwith several branches. One of them runs north-west from the Chusovayastation to Bereznyaki,also on the liama, but higher up, near Solikamslr(130 miles); and a second branch(25 miles) joins the Ostrovskayastation, on the Iset river, with the main line; while this last passes, besidesEkaterinburg, through such importantcentres of iron industry as Rushva, or liushvinsk, and Nizhne-Taghil,a miningtown of nearly 30,000inhabitants. :EIowever,this northernline could not satisfy the need of a railway to Siberia. Perm is not yet connectedby rail, and will not be con- nected in a near future,with the railways of GentralRussia, becauee the very thinly inhabitedforest tracts which cover the lower Rama between Perm and Razan belong to the least productisreparts of Russia. Altogether,it is a fact, which cannot be too much insisted upon, that the centre of Russian life has been moving southwards during tlle last thirtJ, years. It is no more in Moscowand the sur- toundiny provinces,but in the belt of fertile black earthwhich runs south-westto north-east,from Bessarabia to the Urals,that the ' density centre" of the populationof Russiais now situated. In this belt are those towns of Russiawhich, apart from the capitals,have populsUtions of over 100,000 inhabitants(Kharkoff, RieS, Kishineff, Saratoff,and Samara),and becomecentres of industrialand intellectuallife. It was, therefore,of first importanceto connectthe fertile and more denselypeopled parts of South Siberiadirectly with SouthRussia, and Samarawas readily indicatedas the head of the Trans-Siberianrail- way. This young city on the Volga has a populationof 100,020 inhabitants,and is rapidlydeveloping; and since the Volga has been spannedby a great iron bridge at Batraki,76 miles to the west of Samara,this last standsin railway communicationwith all the railways of CentralRussia, its distance from Moscowby rail being 611 miles. FromSamara the maillline shoots straight east-north-easttowards Ufa (224 miles), which i# built on the right bank of the Bye]aya, at its junctionwit.h the Ufa river. Ufa itself has but latel) begunto grow, andhas only 30,000inhabitants; but it is situatedamidst a very fertile region,rapidly peopled by settlers from the middle provinces, and becomesan importantcentre of extensive agriculture. Another 200 luilesin the same directionbring the railway to Zlatoust (20,500 inhabitants),the rival of El3aterinoburg,and the centreof the great iron andgold mining district of the SouthernUrals. The mountainsare crossedhere in a depressionbetsveen the mountains Taganai and Ursuga; the impoltantiron^rorks of Miyasare passedby, and Chelya- binsk,522 miles fromSamara, is reached. Up to this litl;lespot, which hadin 1891 only 11,200 inhabitants,the railwayis quite ready,and thereis regular passengerand goodstraffic. It must also be said that

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GREATSIBERIAN RAILWAY. 149 the line is ir from being idle, considerableamounts of corn and all sorts of produceof cattle-breedingbeing already exportedwestwards fromthe Kirghizsteppes. Chelyabinskstands on the borderof the prairies of South-West Siberia, a low watershed only separatingthem from the prairiesof the upper Ishim, which belong to the outer borderlandsof {:entral Asia. At {:helyabinskbegins the first sectionof the Siberianrailway proper, which strikes due east, along the SSth degree of latitude towardsOmsk. This section,491 miles long, which crosses the Ishim and the Tobolrierers, has lately beencompleted, so that the railroadnow reachesthe Irtysh, oppositeOmsk. Accordingto the reportlaid before the railwaycomlnittee in Decemberlast, the line is completedon the whole distance,with the exceptionof three big bridgeswhich are being built. One-halfof all the buildingswhich have to be erectedalont, the line are ready,and among them the arrangementsfor supplying the line with water are 1lot the least important. All waggens and one- third part of the -necessary engines are alreadyon the line, and third- class traEc has been opened although gOodsand passengershave still to be transferredfor crossing the three rivers, not yet spannedby bridges. The nest sectionis from Omslzto Tomsk,a distance of 3a0 miles. Apartfrom two colossalbridges which have to be built overthe Irtyshat Oteskand the Ob, and a smaller one across the Tom,there will be no technicaldifEculties in building that section. It crossesthe level and fertileBaraba steppe, dotted with relativelywealthy villages of Bussian peasants. Therewill also be no difEcultfrin obtainingwater from wells or from lakes-the main difficultiesbeing only to be foreseenin the future,as the whole of this region, as shown by the well-knownmaps of the late N. Yadrintseff,desiccates with a rapidity which upsets all the formercalculations of geologists. But the building of the bridges over the Irtysh and the Ob,which both carryimmense quantities of ice in the autume and the spring, and inundatetheir low shores in the summer,will undoubtedlyrepresent a difficult and costly engineering feat. Even the comparativelymuch smaller Tom is by no meansan easily manageableriver, especiallywhen it is covered;n the autllrun nvitha thick layer of rapidlymoving ice. At the presenttime (Decem- ber?1894) three-fourthsof all the earthworkswhich have to be donein this sectionare alreadyaccomplished, atLd the rails have been laid over the first 70 miles. Tomsk, the capital of We.stSiberia? is a great centre of SiberiamI life. Its populationhas lately doubled and attains now 42,000. It has now a university?and is the centrefor all the trade with the rich Altai mines and at,riculturalsettlements, while the populatiotlof the surroundingregion increasesevery year by scores of thousands of immigrantsfrom EuropeanRctIssia. Since the last fimine in Russia,

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This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GREATSIBERIAN RAILWAY. 1o1 the nunlberof inlmigrantsto Siberia has rapidly grown to 100,000 every year, so that the imnzigrationhad to be organizedon a larger scale for alleviating the suSerings of the masses of peasant.s,who formerlyrushed to Siberiawithout knowingwhere they wouldfind free land to settle upon,or how they could reach it. Most of them settle in the governmentof Tomsk. As to the citJrof Tomsk,ite recentrapid growthis chiefly(lue to its having been brought into regularsteamer communicationwith Tynmen,which, as already mentioned,stands in rail communicationwith tlle Rama at Perm. It may, therefore,be safelyconcluded that from the day Tomskis broughtin uninterrupted railway coznmunicationwith Russia, the town will grow still more rapidly,asalsothepoptllation of the surroundingplains and therich valleys of the Altai- a regionmuch like Sszitzerland in physicalfeatures, but three times as large. The next section,between Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk, or ratherbetween the Oband the Yenisei,enters Eclst Siberia. In the west of the Tomsk the railway crossesthe lowlycnds,that is prairies,rising only by 200 and 300 feet above the sea; but further eastwardsit will have to crossthe first terraceof the high plains of East Siberia,which lie oser 1000 feet abovethe sea-level,and are an 1lndulatedplateau, intersected heraand there by low ranges of hills tha outspurs of the mountains lying further southwards. On this sectioll, 38 per cent. of all the earthvvorkswhich had to be madefor the railway were accomplishedin December,1894, and it was expectedthat by January 1, 189a, the rails wouldbe laid o-er a distanceof 200 miles. The third section,between Krasnoyarsk and I1kutsk,will oSermore difEcultie#. First of all, the railway will have to cross the broaeland rapidYenisei, which flows at a level of 410 feet only at Rrasnoyarsk, and immediatelyafter that it will have to rise again to a level of over 1000feet that is, to the level of the high undulatingplains which fringe the great plateau of East Asia. The spurs of the Sayan Highlands reachhere to 2029 feet, while the rivers are deeply cut into the high plains. Of course, such conditionsoSer nothing which would much diCerfrom the usual conditionsof railvvaybuilding in Middle Russia itself, but in East Siberia the laying downof the rails certainlywill not progresswith the same rapidity as it has hitherto progressedin West Siberia,while the cost of the constructionwill be considerably increased. Detailed re£earchesouly have been madeup till now in this section. But it is well worth mentioningtbat, at tbe sametime, engi- neeringworks hane been accomplishedon the Angara,in orderto clear its bed fromthe rockyrapids which hitherto stoodin the way of navigation on this beautifulriver. The Angaraconnects, as is well known, Lake Baikal with the Yenisei, and now, after the perseveringefforts of CaptainWiggins, a rater communicationbetween Irkutsk and the Yeniseimeans a water communicationwith WestEurope. The ra.pidsof

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 152 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY. the Angarabelow Irkutsk are not very dangerous,smaller boats having always navigated in this part of the great East Siberianriver, and a little clearingof the bed will, and partly has, set things right; but the rapidsbetween Irkutsk and Lake Baikil will be much more difficult to clear; however,during the last summersome progresswas madein this part of the river as well, and the day is not far distant when Irkutsk may become the port of Ijake Baikal, although this seemed quite hopelessthirty years ago. At the presenttime, only researchesare being madefor the further continuationof the Siberianrailway, and the last reports are that an easy passagehas been foundacross the eastern border-ridgeof the high terraceof the plateau the Stanovoior YablonovoiMountains. This is what may have been expected. As to the westernborder-range of the sameplateau, it will offerno difficultieswhatever, as it is piercedby the broatlvalley of the Selengaand the Uda, whi¢h appearsas an immense railwaytrench, rising with a gentle gradient from Lake Baikal (1500 feet) to the Stanovoiwater-parting, 4000 feet abovethe sea. The most difficultpart of the railwaybetween Irkutsk and Ghita(at the eastern foot of the Stanovoi water-parting)is whereit has to follow the south coast of the Baikal,for which purposea way must be cut throughthe aocky crags rising-abruptly from the waters of the lake. But here, also, the most difficultpart of the work was done in 1865-1866 by the Polish exiles, who built the present high-roadalong the southern shoreof the lake, breakingthe rocks in Siberianfashion, with the aid of water pouredon the rocks after they had been heated bg big fires, and allowedto freezein the crevices. The real engineeringdifficulties will begin only when the railway is built between Chita and the Amur, where it will have to crossa selies of parallelranges, through which the lower Shilkahas piercedits rocky channel. But a few years will pass before work is started in this part of the GrandRailway trunk. In the mean time, the railway progressesat its other end, on the shoresof the Pacific. A telegramreceived at St. Petersburgat the end of Decemberlast announcedthat the rails had been laid from A7ladi- vostok to within one mile from the village Grafskaya,on the Usuri- that is, on a distanceof 250 miles. Teeinically speaking,this section oXeredno difficulties,apart from some marshy places which the line had to cross. The diflicultieswere ratherin tlle absenceof population. But to this difficulty,which also will be met with further downthe banks of the Usuri, a new one will be added. llhe fact is, that the Usuri,like -thelower Sungari,and the banksof the Amurbetween the Little Khin- gan (Dousse-alin)and the moutllof the Usuri,belong to what Peschel describedas 4'young river valleys." The whole of the middleIJsuri region w-asquite recently (in the later Post-Pliocenetimes) an immense lake,which only lately beganto desiccate. The IJ8uri and its countless

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THEGREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY. 153 smallertributaries have not yet dug out permanentbeds across this flat and low countriy,and everyyear, in July andAugust, when the torrential rains broughtby the monsoonsbegin, the whole is transformedinto a labyrinth of ponds,marshes, and lakes. This is why the population, which had beensettled along the banksof the Usuri at regularintervals of about 18 miles, could-cultivatetlse low ridges ouly which intersect this periodicallyinundated land, and,after having vainly struggled for years againstnature, permission was given (upona reportof the present writer) to leave those villages, and to settle elsewhere,on the Pacific coast. The RailwayCommittee having now decidedagain to repeople this part of the lJsuri region by settlers flore Transbaikalia,there is great dangerof their meetingwith the same fa,iluresas before,unless, of course,a better explorationof the wholedistrict leads to the discovery of spots better sllited for a permanentpopulation. At any rate, the railmrayengineers will have to contendwith gleat technical difficulties in crossingthe lowlandsof the MiddleUsuri,$ and perhapsthey will be compelledto seek for a more advantageousdirection of the railway,at the foot of the mountainssome way off the banksof the Usuri it6elf. It must be owned that for some time to comethe railwayalong the Amur and the Usuri will probablyremain a mere strategic line. Of all the;immense territory x-hich goes under the name of tlle Amur Eet,ion, ouly the; space;between the; Zeiyaand the Bureya rivers, in the;east of Blagovyeschensk,offers a really rich territoryfor human settlements,owing to its fertile soil and elevation above the level of the rivers. The; remainder,in the north-west of Rumara, is but a valley cut through the high plateau, surroundedby e:tremely cold and wild highlands; and in the east of the Little Khinganthere are but the moreelevated flat lidges which are suitablefor settlements, while all that surroundsthem belongs to the just-mentionedtype of periodicallyinundated marshy low plains. Quite difEerentis the railwayacross West Siberiaand the govern- tnents of Irkutsk and West Transbaikalia. lKillions and millons of humanbeings may find in the3e regions all that is wanted for a rich developmentof agricultureand all sortsof industries. A few words need,perhaps, be added as to the remarkablylow cost oftravelling to Siberia. Under the presenttariff, the distanceof 2180 English miles fromGranica, on the Austrianfrontier, to Gthelyabinsk- sia Warsaw,Brest-Litovsk, Vyazona (150 milesbefore reaching Moscow wherethe line starts to Salnara) and Samara-is coveredfor less than tS (47 roubles)in the third class, and for t9 2s. (91 roubles)in the

* It i3 worthnoticing that ^hen tlle writer went up the Sungari in 1864 he rnet on the lower Sungari,with a region of exactly the same character,which the Chinese had abandonedas quite hopelessfor colonizationon accountof its low-lying character and inundations.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 154 DR. Sl EN HEDIN"S TRAl ELS IN CENTRAL ASIA. secondclass. Anotherpound would pay a third-classticket to the station on the Irtysh oppositeOmsk. But even these low fees will be reduced underthe new zone-tari£whichis going to be intloduced.

DR. SVEN HEDIN'STRAVELS IN CENTRALASIA. [WEhave receivedthe followingcommunication from Dr. Sven Hedin, datedfrom Kashgar, November 9, 1894: ] I have just returned fromMustagh-ata, . . . and send you a short accountof the work done duringthe past summer. On June 21,1894, I left liashgar and proceededby way of Yangi-Hissarand Ighiz-yarto the valley of Gedyek,and thence to that of Kinkol. Having crossed the passes of Ghichikli, liichik, Khatta, and Kolrmamak,I reached Tagharma,and advancedby Ulugh-rabatto Su-bashi(July 8). At the latter place there is a C:hinesef(rtress, situated at the westernbase of )Iustagh-ata. Along the whole route T made a topographicalmap, collected specimensof rocks, and made geologicalobservations which will completethose of Bogdanovich. I regularlymade meteorological observationsthrice daily with three aneroidsand a boiling-pointther- mometer,and on every opportunitytook photographsand studied the modeof life of the Kirghiz. From July 12 to 2o my campwas situatedat Little Kara-Kuland at Bassik-Kul. The whole of this neighbourhoodwa# surveyedwith great care, in order to serve as my base of operationsfor the whole country. (;eological,eslimatological, and otherinvestigation# M ere con- tinued,and numerou#excursion# made in all directions. Little Eara- Kul is an obstructionlake danlmedby the morainesof a glacierwhich has long #ince retreated,and i# now representedby £everal #mall glacier#in the upperslopes of the Mustagh-ata. The moraine#of this old glacier,however, still remain,and have bloclredthe valley of Sarik- Kol in such a mraythat the water i£#Uillg from the glacier#further south accumnlatesand form#a Lake. Hence Little Kara-Kuli# also a settling ba#infor the river; the glacierwater enteringat the south end carriesin large quantitiesof glacial mud, while the little streamthat issues from the nortbernend ;s quite limpid. The alluvitlmaccumu- lated at the upper end, whereit formsan abruptslope to the deepest Fortion of the lake. Availing myself of a boat nnadeof skins, I measuredthe depthsat 103 differentplaces. The ma2ritnumdepth of 78 feet is found in the southernhalf; the centre in general varies i depth from50 to 65 feet. The water is clear,fresh, and excellent to drink. Several springs enter the lake at the foot of the crystalline rocks which rise on the ea#ternand westere shore#. The streamof Kara-Kulfalls into the lke-bel-su,a river of considerablesize dllring summer,but almost dried up in winter. It formsthe 1lppercour#e of the Gez-daria.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 08:41:19 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions