The Portland daily press., 1894-08-25
GOVERNMENT ROADS.
The Great Trans. Siberian Railway Being
Built By Russia.

The Great Trans Siberian Railway Being
Built By Russia.
washington Evening STAR
: The lnaccuracy of the meager notes
THUS far printed in the newspapers about
the new trans-Siherian railway has sug-
eested to the Russian embassy here the
propriety of furnishing the following
facts for publication respecting that
wonderful enterprise. To begin with
the statement that it will be finished
in year is absurd. The Russian gov
eminent hopes to have the line complet-
ed and open for traffic in 1900. That
will be an achievement sufficiently mar
velous in view of the difficulties in
volved. Engineering works of vast
magnitude must be constructed, includ-
ing bridges spanning three OF the
greatest rivers in the world-the Obi,
the Yenisei and the AMOR. Each of
these streams, is comparable in size with
the Mississippi, and greater than Eu-
ropes biggest river, the Volga. Fortu-
nately it will not b. necessary to cross
them where they are broadcast. The Obi
and the Yenisei, unlike ordinary rivers,
rise in the south and flow northward,
emptying into the Arctic ocean. The
bridges will be of the ordinary railway
pattern, of iron, built on piers. While
no very serious engineering problems
have to be solved, the expense involved
in these and other works will be enor-
NOUS. The most troublesome task
will be to get around the south end of
Lake Baikal. That greaL sheet of
water, $50 miles long, comparatively
narrow and very deep, lies in the midst
of high plateau. 1t is surrounded
have to pass. However, tie highest
point to be surmounted is only $500
feet above sea level, near Cheeta, a con-
siderable distance east of the lake.
LONG DISTANCES.
The line will be 6,70o miles long. 1t
starts at Chelabinsk, on the western
edge of Siberia. AT that point it con-
meets with the European system of rail-
ways and direct line to st. Petersburg
by way of Moscow. What may be
termed the first section of the road, ex-
tending eastward from Chelabinsk to
Omsk, distance of 500 miles, is al
ready practically finished and will be
opened for traffic before the end of this
year. From Onsk to Crasnoiarsk is
distance of 500 miles The road joining
those two points is built-that is to say,
the embankments are constructed. cuts
are made, and the rails are laid, but
there are no bridges yet. This section
will be opened fer the running of trains
in 1896 To sum up, it may be said that
work is at present being actively con-
-. q s1-r. So nxr1 <arxrr1
pleted railway from Chelabinsk to Cra-
snoiarsk. @e
1t must be rememb ered that the work
is being pushed through sparsely set
tied country which affords no materials
and has no producing plants. such as
rolling mills for rails. Everything Tor
the purpose of construction must be
fetched from one. end of the line by
way of Chela binsk. But the task is be
ing FASTENED with a CELEBRITY stimulated
by money The cost OF the railway has
been roughly estimated at $3.50, O0O,0 600,
hut the government is prepared to spend
twice that amount on it it necessary.
As fast as one section is finished,
the next section is ready to
go ahead with all materials
at hand and the earth work done.
From Crasnoiarsk to Irkutsk is dis
tance of 700 miles. Thatssection will be
finished and in running order in 1898.
This will carry the road nearly to Lake
Baikal.. The construction of the line
around the south end of the lake will be
deferred until everything else is COM
pleted. Meanwhile materials will be
conveyed across the lake by ferry boat
for continuing with the road beyond to
the eastward. Already orders have been
issued for the transportation OF materials
to be used in building the line from the
east side of Lake Baikal to Nerchinsk,
and the final survey for that section is
on the point of being made
FROM THE PACIFIC COAST.
Notwithstanding the difficulty and ex-
pense attending the transportation of
materials by water all the way from |
E urope, beginning has been. made in
the construction of the railway from
the Pacific coast end, the Russian port |
of Vladivostock on the Sea of Japan.
From that point northward to Grafska,
about 200 miles, the road is built and in |
running order, and from thence it is be-
ing carried forward as fast as is practic- |
able. On toe eastern portion of the line |
the labor Of convict exiles will be en-
ployed to consid cradle extent, but not |
SO elsewhere. for it is only in that region |
that they reside. About $4,000 men are
now at work on the railway. The rail- |
way and everything connected with it is
under the control Of a government COM
mission, the president of which is the |
Czarovitch, heir to the Russian throne,
q young man of &C. His powers are
practically autocratic, being subject on
y to the orders of he emperor. who has
delegated the authority to him. Aided |
by the best advising engineers, he de- I
cides all questions. and what he directs
is Immediately done. This expedites
matters very much, inasmuch as there
is no red tape involved and no friction
between government departments.
The commission referred to has charge
of plans for settling the country that is
to be traversed by the railway, A
bureau of RECONSIDERATION has been es-
and inducements are being
offered to peasants to take up home.
steads in Siberia. Settlement of the
newly opened regions will doubtless
progress rapidly, the virgin soil promis-
ing ricn reward to farmers The pop-
uiar notion that Siberia is desert is