The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-03
SIBERIA'S TRUNK LINE
THE GREAT RAILWAY RUSSIA Is
CONSTRUCTING IN NORTHERN ASIA.
"A Costly Work Which IL Likely to
Iitical and Commercial Affairs.

Copyrighted. 1895. by Frank c. Carpenter)
The Trans-Siberian railroad is being
pushed all along the line. Since the
breaking out Of the Chinese-Japanese
war the work has been more earnest.
and a large force of men are grading the
routes and laying the rails as fast as
possible. The original intention was
that the road should be finished in 1905.
The indications are now that it will be
completed long before that time. In my
last letter I described the city of vladi-
vostock. the Pacific terminus Of the rail-
road. 1t was here that the first work
was done in 1892. The present Gear, who
was then taking a trip around the world,
had come across Siberia along the line
Of the proposed railway, and it was with
great ceremony that the first stone of
this, the greatest railroad in the world.
was laid there on the 18th of May, 1891.
The road when completed will be more
than seven thousand miles long, and it
will cost somewhere between $500, 600, 900
and $500. 000, 900. The Russian estimate
is $50, 900 roubles. 1t will give a con-
tinuous railroad line from vladivostock
to st. Petersburg, and the probability is
that a branch line will now be run down
through Corea, and Japan will be
brought within days ride of the term
mus. When this is done the Japanese
can make trip to Paris with water
voyage of less than twenty-four hours.
have already written of my trip over
the new Chinese railroad. This line now
runs to the city of Shanhaikwan, where
the great Chinese wall juts down into
the sea. There is a breach in the wall
at this point, and though the supersti-
tious Cinnamon would hardly permit the
cutting of the wall for a railroad, they
have allowed it to go through this
breach, and it is now being pushed on
into Manchuria. 1t will eventually reach
the Russian frontier, and will probably
connect with the Trans-Siberian rail-
road, and then we can go from Picking
to Paris by land.
It is impossible to estimate the changes
which this great railroad will make in
Asia. The tea trade of Europe will UNI
doubtedly go over it, and the great bulk
of the exports from China. Japan and
Corea will be carried through Siberia to
Europe. As it is now, the fastest steam
ers are used for the tea trade. The new
tea brings the highest prices in the mar
ket, and ocean steamers go UP to the
city of Hankow, seven hundred miles in
the interior of China. and as soon as
they can load they sail with full steam
to London. They go by the Suez Canal,
and 1t takes them 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 be-
gins, and the tea will be shipped right
north to Siberia, and get to Europe with
In fifteen or eighteen days. Tea carried
overland is said to be much better than
that which goes by water. and this will
he IN 40 fan ia n the
world. At present the foreign trade of
China amounts to about $30e 900 600 per
year, and the bulk of this Is made up OF
costly articles like tea and silk. These
can pay high freight rates, and they
will undoubtedly be shipped BY rail.
There are now in the neighborhood 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.
THE ROAD AND MANUFACTURES.
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 by hand, and they must have the
best of raw material At present large
part of the iron used in China is made
up Of cast-off horseshoes, which are sent
out from Europe by the shipload. The
Chinese make razors. knives and all
kinds of implements out of this iron, and
there is a great demand for it all over
the empire. There are great iron de-
posts at different points along the
Trans-Siberian railroad, and big factor
ct q int
The Russians are good mechanics. and
they have vast iron works near Moscow
and at lula, which make as good hard
ware and guns as you will find anywhere
in the world.
AS the line is now planned and being
built, it is to run from Moscow right
through the southern part of Siberia,
making an almost straight line through
this immense territory to the city of
vladivostock. 1t goes through rich gold
mines 1t taps vast areas of rich soil,
and it will probably build UP an empire
in southern Siberia. The first section of
the road is at the west. 1t begins in the
Ural mountains, and there is an army
at work building 1t. 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 pos
sible from Vladivostock to the west. 1t
bridged, and 1t goes through some of the
most wonderful scenery in the world. 1t
skirts Lake Bika1, one of the biggest
lakes in the world, the average depth of
which is more than mile Near this
lake the road passes through the noun
tains, and it has many tunnels and stone
bikes. 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
a sparse population, and it is the same
in the east The workmen have to be
sent from European Russia. and all of
the rolling stock ard iron have to come
from there. Some of it is shipped from
the west. That for the eastern portion
is being taken around through the
Suez Canal by sea, and there is another
lot which Is shipped down into Siberia,
i am told, by the Arctic Ocean. The road
is being constructed in the very best
manner The rails weigh eighteen
pounds to the foot. The bridges are of
wood, and the road is we'll bailasted.
The greatest distance allowed between
the stations is thirty-five miles, and it
is proposed to equip the road with
enough rolling stock to form three sets
of army trains every twenty-four hours
The road is TO be to large extent
military line, and Russia will probably
use Il to satisfy her Gargantuan appe-