The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-12
WEALTH AT THE LENA.
A Glimpse at Life in q Siberian
Mining Colony.
Productive Gold Mines In Asiatic Ru,sI,
How tho AurifcrouS Sand Is Oh
tanned Customs aud Habits
OF tho Disrcputabie Miners
Especial LCttCr.l

Especial Lcttcrl
1t is very little known outside of Rms
sia-and even there relatively by few
that at the other side of the globe. in
far-away Siberia, may be found an al
most exact counterpart of our far
western mining life. Nearly all the
elements arc thcre-thc almost total
separation from civilization, the eager
thirst orgold, the crime, the dcbauches.
the rcclSlcssncss, the dissipation, and
with that all, likewise the spice OF ro-
nance. The enormous treasures in
precious metals of Asiatic Russia, il is
true, lie still hidden from view for the
most part. The government at st. Pc
tcrsburg is thousands of miles off. and
not one in ten thousand of the upper
class Russians, not one in five hundred
of the tchinovnils government ofiicials)
knows anything about the untold
wealth concealed in the sterile, fririd
bowels of the Siberian earth. Partly on
that account, partly also because of the
wcll-known want of enterprise and I'M
progressive methods still prevailing in
the land of the ear, not one mine in a
hundred has been developed in the re-
gion of which spcal1-a region diff
cult of access and cursed with the rirors
OF climate very much ais the one we
find in North Dakota, i. G., intensely
cold in winter and excessively hot in
summer, with rapid transition of tenn
pcraturc.
Let me describe, in sl<ctchy way,
life i'll ono of these immensely protita-
bic Siberian mines. This is the Wos-
nesensky shaft, one Of the oldest in the
Taiga Virgin forest in eastern Sibcria),
which averages /. daily output of from
10000 to 5000 ronblcs in gold. The
owners, or rather the tenants of tho
mine, for tho Russian government never
sells, only leases for shorter OF lenrcr
terms mining property located on
crown or unsettled lands, arc small
band OF Shrcwd, INSCRIPTIONS specula-
tors. Their influence in official circles
in ST. Petersburg ob,nined for them
about twenty years ago a lease of this
mine on ridiculously low terms. and
they are getting Il clear annual net
profit of 4,000,000 roublcs (S:,, 500. OOO
out of this mine alone. This, of course.
they are spending in luxurious case at
the capital some six thousand vcrsts
away, or in riotous living in western
Europe. One of them. Prince Alexis
l.vov couple of years ago, broke the
bank at Monte Carlo repeatedly during
ono season. and took IL regular ,norninr
bath i'll lukcwarm champagne.
But what about the mine itself,
the famed Wosncscnslty? 1t is 1000
vcrsts Il 800 miles, removed from the
advance posts of civilization. and
1T stretches along the Olcllma lv-
cr far, far away into castcrn Siberia.
To get there the traveller has to go by
way of Wcrckolcnsll, Kircnsll and Mat
shinsl, the latter small settlcmen: still
being some 200 vcrsts distant from
OlcllminslS, the mining town and center
OF the whole collaborating district.
Part Of the journey is made in tarasscs,
(hcavy. jolting CARTS, part again in
mail barges on the Lena, that mighty
Mississippi of Siberia For DAYS the
rugged road wound itself through
scenery of awful grandeur, the land
scapc being of an alpine character, past
wild gorges and ovcrhanging prcci-
pieces, valleys that seemed cleft by
Thors hammer, and then again it lay
through moraSscs and tangled, dark
some forests.
But here we arc arrived at last, after
journey of several weeks duration.
having travelled day and night AS we
make sudden turn in the path there
stretches below us a broad valley. and
at its further end. by the banks OF the
muddy. tearing Olcllma, become visible
the administration buildings, the min
crs barracks and the church and gov
eminent structures that together com
pose the settlement
The gold mined here is obtained
pure. finely distributed through the
d. ri, auri ilrous s.nl nd MIL Erl,o