The morning call., 1895-03-03
4 SNAIL Stall ON IN SIBERIA
SCENES ON THE LINE OF THE RAILWAY
From photographs

railroad, and then we can go from Peking
to Paris by land.
1t is impossible to estimate the changes
which this great railroad will make in Asia
The tea trade of Europe viii undoubtedly
go over 1t, and the great bulk of the ex-
ports from China, Japan and Korea will be
carried through Siberia to Europe. As it
IS now, the fastest steamers are used for the
tea trade. The new tea brings the highest
prices IN the market, and ocean steamers
go up to the city of Hankow, 700 miles in
the interior of China, and as soon as they
can load they sail with full steam to Lon
don. They go by the Suez Canal, and it
takes them about forty-five DAYS to make
the voyage. The Chinese have al
ready planned a railroad to the center
OF the tea districts from Tien-
tsin, where their new military
railroad begins, and the tea will be shipped
night north to Siberia and get to Europe
within fifteen or eighteen days. Tea car
ried overland is said to be much better
than that which goes by water, and this
Will make a revolution in the tea trade OF
the world. AT present the foreign trade of
China amounts to about three hundred
million dollars per year, and the bulk of
this IS made up OF costly articles like tea
ana SILK. These can pay high freight rates,
and they will undoubtedly be shipped by
rail. There are now in the neigh borhood
OF six hundred million people in China,
Japan and Corea. There are about four
million In Siberia, and this road has the
trade of nearly one-half the world to draw
from.
1t will probably make Russia a great
manufacturing nation, and the Russian
iron will be shipped over it to China.
There IS no iron in the world better than
that OF the Ural Mountains, and the Chi
nese are ready to pay high prices for good
iron. Most of their tools are now made bv
hand, and they must have the best of raw
material. AT present large part of the
IRON used III CHINA is made up of cast-off
horSeShoeS, Which are sent out from En-
rope by the shipload. The Chinese make
razors, knives and all kinds of implements
out OF this iron, and there is a great de.
mand for it all over the empire. There are
great iron deposits at different points
along the trans-Siberian railroad, and big
factories Will spring up at all these points
The Russians are good mechanics and
they have vast iron works near Moscow
and at Tula, which make as good hardware
and guns as you will find anywhere in the
world
As the line is now planned and being
built, 1t IS to run from Moscow right
through the southern part of Siberia, max
ing an almost straight line through this
immense territory to the city of Vladivos
tock. 1t goes through rich gold mines Il
taps vast areas of rich soil, and it viii
probably build up an empire in Southern
Siberia. The first section of the road is al
the west. 1t begins at the Ural Noun.
tains, and there is an army at work build.
ing it. The next section IS to run from The
town of Omsk, on the river Obi, and the
contractors are also at work here. In the
middle of Siberia there is another army
laying track, and the road is being pushed
as fast as possible from Vladivostock tc
the west. 1t crosses great rivers, which
have to be bridged, and goes through
some of the most wonderful scenery in the
world. 1t skirts Lake Baikal, one of the
biggest lakes in the world, the average
depth of which is more than mile. Neal
this lake the road passes through the
mountains, and it has many tunnels anc
stone dikes.
The mountains are of granite, and the
work of construction will be very difficult
Throughout the whole central region and
the west there is but sparse population