BIB)' RAVELAN& UHUMJUUm IBS' CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Library cornel. UnJ/erslty DK 755.T94 1911 Siberia : 11P1WQ28 467 474 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028467474 SIBERIA The Modern Travel Series CHEAP EDITIONS OP STANDAED WOEKS OF TEAVEL AND ADVENTURE ILLUSTKATBD WITH PHOTOGBAPHS OP THE PLACES AND SCENI^S DESCBIBED. Large Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. per volume. Tbrough Savage Bnrope. By Habbt de Wrani. In Dwarf Land and Cannibal Country. By A£bebi B. IiIiOtd. In the Land of tbe Blue Qswn. By Mrs. Abohibai;D LiTTua. Links in My Life on Land and Sea. By Commander J. W. Gambieb, B,N. The Andes and the Amazon. Life and Travel in Peru. By C. BEaiNAI;D Enooe. True Tales of Mountain Adventure. By His. Aubbby Lb Blond (Mrs. Main). In 5earcb of Bl Dorado. A Wanderer's Experiences. By Ai/Bxanoeb MacdonaIjD, F.B.G.S. Adventures on the Roof of the World. By Mrs. AUBBEZ IiB Blond (Mrs. Main). Present-Day Japan. By A. M. Caupbbll Dayidsoh. John Chinaman at Home. By the Bev. E. J. Habdt, aotbor of " How to be Happy though Married." Siberia. A Record of Travel, Climbing and Exploration. By Bakubl Tdbnbb, F.B.G-.B. By Desert Ways to Baghdad. By LouiBA JasB. ON BAIiB AT ALI. BOOESELLBBS T, FISHBE UNWIN, 1, Adbuhi Tdbbaob, Londoh m '^.'i Samukl Torner. \FrontisJ>iece SIBERIA A RECORD OF TRAVEL, CLIMBING, AND EXPLORATION BY SAMUEL TURNER, F.R.G.S. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BARON HEYKING WITH 46 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR T. FISHER UNWIN LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE ^X^ LEIPSIC: INSELSTRASSE 20 First Edition, rgos Second Edition, igii {All rights reserved.) TO MY WIFE PREFACE The progress of geographiqal exploration in all parts of the world has been more rapid during the last few years than at any previous period of the world's history. How far this is to be attributed to George Stephenson's epoch-tnaking invention it is difficult to say, but the greatest tribute to the memory of that great nia:n, to my mind, is the enormous stretch of 6,466 miles of railway from St. Petersburg to Vladivostock, which spans the gulf between the Eastern and Western worlds and is steadily peopling and developing Siberia—a country which covers one- thirteenth of the land surface of the globe. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of this development from an international point of view. The exploration pf the Highlands and Steppes of Siberia has been successfully carried out by able Russians and Siberians, leaving very little virgin ground for explorers of other nationalities; but the highest Siberian mountains, for want of mountaineers, remain almost unexplored. The Siberian trade route to Mongolia has occasion- ally been traversed by sportsmen who have passed through the Altai Mountains in search of wild goats (Ows Amman), but, so far as the mountains them- selves are concerned, no previous English-speaking explorer has been there, and there is tio English literature on the subject, although the Altai Mountain 8 PREFACE district covers 144,140 square miles, an area nine times as large as Switzerland. The present voluffie claims no more than to give an account of ai winter exploration of the Altai Mountains. It m^akes no scientific pretensions, beyond redording the ascertained altitudes of the mountains, describing the passes and glaciers, and placing on the taap those of the mountains which it was my privilege to discover and ascend. The remaining portion of the book records my personal impressions of the journey across Siberia. My main object in visiting Siberia was business, but, business concluded, and the journey having carried me within 400 miles of the highest Altai Mountains, I decided to devote the remainder of my stay to the exploration of that unknown region which includes the highest mountain range of South Central Siberia—Katunskie-Belki (Alps). Eventually it was my privilege to stand on the summit of the highest, discovered mountain in Siberia. It is my conviction that exploration and commerce should be in intimate relation, and that the explorer who fails to do something towards promoting the trade of the country he visits falls short of the main purpose of exploration. I propose, therefore, to describe Siberia's chief industry—the dairy industry— which owes its rapidly-growing prosperity to the unique geographical ct)nditions of the country : moun- tains for the grazing of cattle more ideal than those of Switzerland; a rich virgin soil and succulent grass of the steppes richer than that of any Canadian prairie and more valuable than the gold mines of Klondyke or South Africa. The views and opinions to which I venture frolH time to time to give expression are offered with all humility. Having thought and read extensively about Russia and Siberia, and having been in the very PREFACE 9 favourable position of conversing with ffiore than a hundred Russian, GerEBan, and Danish merchants residing in Siberia, besides having Blade short stays with English families in different centres of the country—most of ffiy informants have lived in Siberia several years—I have compared their views with the results of my own observations. Whatever shortcomings this book may have there- fore, it contains at least the conscientious opinions of an unprejudiced Englishman, who has had the advantage of good sources of information. Nations, like individuals, should be judged with some refer- ence to their own ideals and m:odes of thinkings and not by our pet personal standards of right and wrong. Instead, for instance, of looking to Siberia for a perennial crop of exaggerated exile horrors, we should, I venture to believe, be better employed in studying its vast commercial possibilities. We should then be led to admire a nation which, instead of imprisoning its convicts, has sent them to Siberia, to help in the development of a country which is already producing enormous supplies of food for the ever- growing populations of Western Europe, and the potentialities of which it is at present almost impossible to gauge. I should like to mention that some of the statistics have been taken from the Siberian Railway Guide and the most recent Government Blue Books on Japan and China. Finally, I wish to express my indebtedness to Baron Heyking for the brief outline of Siberian history which forms Appendix II. p. 315, S. T. — — CONTENTS PAGE Preface . .7 Introduction . -19 CHAPTER I St. Petersburg—Moscow En Route fob Siberia . 25 Object of the exile system—and of the great Siberian Railway—Growth of Agriculture in Siberia—Object of the author's visit to Siberia—A letter from Professor SapozhnikofE of Tomsk University—Departure from London—The Kiel Canal—In the Baltic—Riga—YuryefE —Peterhof—St. Petersburg—Idiosyncrasies of the Russian "jarvey"—The Nevsky Prospect—St Isaac's Cathedral The Neva—The Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul- Moscow—The great Siberian Railway Station—Booking for Siberia—Railway comforts^-Across the Steppes —The " vertsman "—Dinner on the cars—Sleeping arrangements—Crossing the Volga—Iron and Steel industries of Ufa—Zlatoust, the Russian Sheffield The Orenburg gold-fields—Cheliabinsk—The Govern- ment of Tobolsk—Climate—Immensity of the country Kourgan— Bazaar and Easter fair—Sensational journalism —Exile to Siberia. CHAPTER H The Siberian Railway and Dairy Industry . 52 Financial prospects of the great railway—Its indirect value to the country—The cultivation and export of cereals 11 — —— 12 CONTENTS —The first Siberian dairy—The Government and co- operative dairy-farming—State assistance to immigrants Professors of agriculture—Dairy schools—Co-operative dairies—"Artels"—Cattle rearing—Conditions of land tenure—Good work being done by the Government The shifting of the centre of gravity in the butter-pro- ducing countries—British firms with branches in Siberia Methods of working—The British importer ranks first Horses in Siberia—Butter trains on the railway—Over-sea transport. CHAPTER III KouRGAN Petropavlovsk—Omsk . -76 Kourgan—A sledge race—Petropavlovsk—Asiatic character of the town—Caravan routes—Character of the native Siberian—Criminal and political exiles—The Altai range Its mineral wealth—Speed on the Siberian railway Organisation of the traffic—^The territory of Semipalatinsk —Lakes and rivers—Salt lakes—Fauna of the region The Kirghiz—Their customs—Siberian Cossacks—Their organisation—Pastimes and pursuits of the Kirghiz—Omsk " —^Yermak—The " dead-house —Educational, scientific, and other institutions at Omsk—A tea caravan from China—A gigantic waterway—Karachi—Lake Chany Kainsk—^Jews in Kainsk—A watchman and his rattle Climate—Game exporting—A sledge drive in the dark Obi Bridge—Difficulties of navigation—Novo-Nicolaevsk —A hearty welcome. CHAPTER IV NOVO-NICOLAEVSK—TOMSK—ALTAI . 108 A stroll through Novo-Nicolaevsk—A Siberian tool-smith Travelling and travellers in Russia—'A " Taiga "—A convict train—Railway construction extraordinary—We visit Pro- fessor SapozhnikofE—He discourages my intention to climb Belukha—Further particulars of the Altai Range—A visit to the Governor of Tomsk—Tomsk University—Other educational and scientific institutions—Commercial estab- —— CONTENTS 13 PAQK lishments—An interview with an American gold miner Importing machinery—Siberia and Klondyke—Gold in Siberia—Silver—Coal production and coal-fields in the Altai—Methods of working Siberian coal deposits—Criminal and political convicts—The student riots at Tomsk Siberians and the Government. CHAPTER V A Winter Expedition to the Altai . .138 We leave Novo-NicolaSvsk—Sledging in Siberia—Shooting " ryabchiks " — Barnaoul — Immigration — Cattle-breeding and other local industries—Influence of the railway Exports—Waterways—The hotel at Barnaoul—We leave for Bysk—Butter caravans—Wolves and dogs—Kharlipko —A night at a post-station—Bysk—We attend a reception " —I am supplied with a " Shuba —Krasnobaisk—A journey through the dark to Altaiskoe—Shimelovskaya Pass Barancha—Tavourack—A Russian bath—We are upset Siberian horses—Chorni-Anni—A dust storm—Kalmuck settlement—Abbi—A difficult journey—The Koksa River Ouemon—We are advised to abandon our undertaking Katunda.