Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-09-13
STAGING IN S S

fEom hcOfEt Atnnan : cOnttlhutlOn
TO the Century we quote the following:
The Imperial Russian Post is now per-
hapS the most extensive and perfectly
organized h-Orse-eXpreSs service in the
world. From the southern end of the
peninsula of Kamtchatka to the most
remote village in Finland, from the
frozen wind-Swept shores of the Arctic
Ocean To the hot, sandy deserts of cen
trail Asia, the whole empire is one vast
network of post routes. You may
pack your pOrtnlanteau in Nizhni
Novgorod, get a padorozhnaya from
the postal department, and start for
PetropavloN SIX, Kamtchtka, seven thou
sand miles away, with the full assur-
ance that th throughout the whole Of that
enormous distance there will be horses,
reindeer, 81 dogs ready and waiting to
carry you on, night and day, to your
destination. 1t must, however, be
borne in mind hat the Russian post
route is a very different thing from the
old English post route, and that the
Russian horse express differs widely,
not only from our western pony ex-
press but from the horse expresses Of
most other countries. The character
istic feature of the west European and
American systems is the stage-coach
OF diligence, which leaves certain
places at certain stated hours, on, in
other words, runs upon a p~rcarranged
time schedule. 1t is precisely this fea-
ture which the Russian system does not
have. There are, generally speaking,
no stagc-coach lines i'm Russia; the
vehicles which carry the males do not
carry passengers, and, away from
the railroads, there is no such thing as
travelling upon II fixed time schedule.
You are never Obliged. therefore to
wait for a public conveyance which
leaves at II certain stated hour, and
then so through to your destination in
that conveyance, stopping when il
stops and starting when il starts, with
out regard to your own health, COM
fort, or convenience. On the contrary,
YOU may ride in your own sleigh or
carriage, and have it drawn by post
horses. You may travel at the rate of
l75 miles in - hours, OF ~ miles in
l7J hours, Just as You feel inclined.
You may stop when you like, where
you like, and for as long a time as YOU
like, and when you are ready to move
on. you have only 10 order out your
horses and get into your vehicle. II
makes no difference in what part of
the empire you may happen TO be. nor
20 what part you may wish TO 80. Send
your padorozhnaya to the nearest sta
ton, and ~ twenty minutes YOU will
be riding away at the rate of ten miles
an hour, with your postal order in
your pocket and a hundred relays Of
fresh horses distributed at intervals
along your route.
The established rate Of payment for
transportation Oven the post route Of
western Siberia seems to an American
absurdly low. Ii amounts, including
the compensation of the driver, To ! is
cents per mile for every horse, or 3 3-S
cents per mile for the usual 'troika, ;
or team of three. In other words, two
persons can travel in their own car
rage with team of horses a distance
of 20 miles for 6S cents, or 81 cents
each. ] used TO feel almost ashamed
sometimes to wake up the driver at "a
post station, in the middle of a stormy
night. compel him TO harness three
horses aud drive IT'S 20 miles over a
dark, mlrN, and perhaps dangerous
road, and then offer him for his SER
vice the pitiful sum of 6S cents. Tri-
fling and Inadequate, however, as such
compcnsations may seem, it is large
enough TO tempt into this field Of en-
tcrprisc hundreds of peasant farmers
who compete with the Government
post by furnishing what are known as
%''volni' or free" horses, for the trans
portati0n Of travellers from one village
to another. As these free horses are
generally better fed and in better con-
dition than the over-drivcn animals at
the post stations, it is often advantages
Gus To employ them; and your driver,
as you approach II village, will almost
always turn around and inquire whcth-
CT he shall take you to the Government
uoststation orto the house of a friend"
LAYING the first Atlantic cable, visited
the northern coast of Maine and dis
covered this wonderful lake, and gave
it the name Of Morse Pond, as it was
his opinion that il was the work Of
Norscmcn. 1t was then purchased 10y
him, together with a large tract Of
shore land adjoining. Cedar Rapids
RCBHbHcur.