Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-22
SIBERIA
WHERE RUSSIA SENDS HER ROBBERS,
MgRDERERs AND NIHILIsTs.
Enormous Extent of Territory-Natural
acknowledgement Con-
corning Its Prisons.

AinOugn mucn mas Deen printed on the
subject, the Russian Empire is still COM
paratively unknown. The difficulties of
language, the character of the Government,
the peculiar habits of the people are all
hinderances N the way of the traveller, and
all tend to prevent any accurate knowledge
OF the inner life of the country. But, Of
all portions of this little-understood en-
pire, no part is less known or more talked
about than the vast territory comprised
under the general name of Siberia. The
name itself summons up thousand stories
of terror, thousand tales of suffering,
There is perhaps no word in existence
which expresses to the average mind a
greater amount of concentrated human
misery than this name.
In geographical extent Siberia is the
largest country under one government on
the globe From northeast to southwest,
Siberia is $500 miles long. From north
to south its extent is 2,170 miles, and it
comprises, with Central Asia, the province
lately conquered from Tdrkestan, above
100000 square miles, a territory twice
the size of the United States, or, including
Mexico, as large as all North America.
A country which covers so much of the
earth's surface mus. have vast variety of
climate; nor is it remarkable to find all
kinds Of soil, from the frozen ice of the
Arctic shore to the torrid sands of Central
Asia. That part of Siberia which borders
on the Arctic seas Is composed mostly of
level plains, which are covered during
three-fourths of the year with ice and
snow. During the summer this portion
becomes marshy; it is thawed out for only
few inches. During the winter the cold
in Northern Siberia is intense. Mercury
freezes, and remains frozen for four or five
months in the year. Travellers have fire.
quently noticed that spittle will freeze and
strike the earth in hard, icy ball. In
travelling it becomes necessary frequently
to halt and clear the nostrils Of the horses
from blood and ice, the intense cold caus-
ing them to bleed freely. The agent of
the Russian-American Company at va
kutsk had well bored in his yard, and at
depth of $50 feet the ground was found
to be frozen as hard as twas on the surface.
In Eastern Siberia, during the summer,
the inhabitants dig hole in the ground
and place therein their provisions, as in an
ice chest. The bodies of the dead who
have been buried from forty to sixty years
q are found to be hard frozen, and as perfectly
preserved as on the day when they we're
interrel. During the summer time ON the
Obi and other rivers of Northern Siberia,
fish are caught and placed in ponds for
preservation. When winter comes on they
are taken out exposed for few hours to
the air then, hard frozen, transported
1000 miles to St. Petersburg So intense
is the cold of the winter, and SO dangerous,
from floating ice is the navigation of the
summer. so numerous are the obstacles lin
the wav of flooded rivers and marshv plains
in the way Of the land traveller, that no
complete survey of Northern Siberia has
ever been made, and much of the coast
line is merely conjectural.
Proceeding south after leaving the Arctic
circle, stunted vegetation and trees begin /;
in the north temperate zone, thick forests
of birches and cedars are found, and the
few inhabitants are able to cultivate oats,
rye and the harder cereals; still further
south, the rivervalleys have great fertility.
The most of Siberia, however, is vast
PLAN stretching to the north, in some parts
much resembling the prairie lands OF Iowa,
very rich; the western portion of the
country being in realty the granary of
Russia. The river valleys are everywhere
fertile. and there are plenty of them. ST.
IBERIA being drained by four great rivers
the Obi, the Yenise the Lena and the
AMOR. The Obi is the greatest river of
western Siberia, having a course of 1000
miles. navigable through three-fourths of
its distance. 1t and its tributaries traverse
all the western provinces, and extend into
Chinese Tartary. The Yenisel is nearly
4,000 miles in length, rising in the noun
tains of Mongolia, and comprising in its
valley nearly 100000 square miles OF
territory. The Lena is of eastern Siberia
what the Obi is of western, the great artery
of commerce for both Chinese and Russian
goods. and is probably the most valuable
for commercial purposes of them all.
Notwithstanding its ample supply Of riv-
ers, however, Siberia is practically excluded
from the rest of the world, save through
Russia, travel in the summer being I'M
peded by flooded rivers, alternating with
sandy plains, and in winter by the tact
that high winds blow the snow OF the
plains, at the same time creating enorm-
Gus drifts in the ravines and hollows, thus
horses are frequently forced to draw the
sledges over bare ground for miles at
time. But the means of communication
even with these disadvantages, are greater
than might be supposed. There are few
railroads, but steamships traverse all the
rivers, and highways have been constructed
in every province and through the heart
of Siberia. From the borders of Russia
to the Chinese Wall there runs the high
road to China, vast artery of commerce,
with post stations at short intervals, tel
egraph wires, and a constant stream OF
travellers and merchandise passing to and
fro.
Allusion has been made to the few in
habitants Of Siberia, and the'expression
is used advisedly, there being only about
100000, less than one to every square
mile The people of Siberia may be CLASH
fed roughly as aborigines, such as the
Kirghiz and Kalmucks; voluntary colo
nists, who are very few; compulsory immi-
grants, who for personal or political rea-
sons have been advised by the Govern
ment to go to Siberia, and convicts. The
last are the most numerous, but are not
graded nor treated alike. Murderers,
Nihilists and political prisoners are put
to hard labor in the mines Other classes
are assigned compulsory employment,
though perhaps not so arduous, while
Others again, though kept under the sur
veillance of the police, are allowed to do
what they choose: The mineral wealth
of Siberia furnishes employment to a large
class of the Government slaves. The
mines are very extensive and exceedingly
diverse three districts being worthy Of
notice; the first east of the Ural noun
tains, where gold, silver, copper and
lead are found; the second on the north
slope of the Att mountains, and near the
southern boundary of the country; the
third, the Irkutch District, in Western
Siberia.
D.. .l.o-a do not cnz,nnrise al the mines