Evening star., 1896-12-19
TRANS ASIATIC LINE
Progress in the Construction of the
Great Siberian Railway.
STRATEGIC AND COMMERCIAL
Railroad Between St. Petersburg
and Yenesei Nearly Completed.
r o A D n G H l \ a

Written for The Evening Star.
At the time of my recent visit to Siberia
august. 1856 the Trans-Siberian railway
was open to general traffic far as the
Oh river. a distance of $50 miles from
Chelabinsk, the terminus of the European
railway system at the eastern base of the
Urals, and 1856 miles beyond the Siberian
city Of Omsk The formal opening Of
the division between the OBJ river and
Krasuoyarsk, which Prince Hilkoff in
forms me will take place at the end
of the present year will at last es-
tablsh complete rail communication Of
about 1900 miles between st. Petersburg
and the greatest of the Siberian waterways
the Yenesei river. OF the three large
bridges which were to be constructed along
the line up to this point, the one across the
Irish has already been built and in use for
over year, while those across the Oh it
self and its eastern branches are expected
to be completed by the end of 1897. The
building of the great bridge across the
Yenesei. the largest along the line, was
formally commenced September 1 of the
present year.
Over the steppe and undulating country
which lies between the Crals and the Yene-
sci river the construction of the Trans Si-
berian railway has been comparatively easy
and inexpensive Il am informed about $l5.
600 per mile): but the mountainous regions
from kraSuoyarSk to IrkutSk, and from
Lake Baikal to the Amoor river, where
separate sections of the line are now in
the course of construction, require much
more engineering skill and pecuniary out
lay. 1t is expected that the former section
between krasuOyarsk and Irkutsk. the
east Siberian capital, will be completed by
the end of 1897
Commercial Development.
/ cannot share in the general opinion that
the Trans Siberian railway was designed
chiefly for strategical purposes. 1t is quite
true that the completion of this trans
highway will enable Russia at
very short notice to fill up the weak gaps
along her sparsely settled Chinese flank
and at the same time to open up an avenue
Tor the ready transport of troops to the
Pacific Httoral, thereby greatly augment
ing her influence in eastern waters Never
theless the commercial development of Si-
IBERIA, which, with every encourag cement
from the government, is following rapidly
in the wake of this opening enterprise
seems tome to have been the para mount
object in the minds of it's originators
The emperor himself, who is president of
the board of directors for the Trans-Si-
berian railway, is taking the liveliest per
sonal interest in the matter of Siberian i'm
migration. This is one of the first uses to
which the railway is being put and in con-
sequence over 100000 immigrants were
transported last year at the nominal rate
of one mill per mile. The governors of the
various provinces have been instructed to
defer other duties in order to attend to the
distribution of free land and timber. prom
ised to the immigrants, many of whom
have been obliged to return to European
Russia through the inability of the officials
to cope in time with the overwhelming tide
of applications.
New towns are springing up all along
the line, and the populations of the old ones
rapidly increasing. especially in the trad
ing quarters. Novo Ncholaevsk. which
now lies at the junction of the Trans-Si-
berian railway and the OBJ river system,
one of the most advantageous commercial
positions along the route, has sprung up
like a mushroom, in the very heart OF the
wilderness, and today it is impossible to
buy a piece of land there within one r.lile
radius of the station house.
Facilitating Intercourse.
The teeming valleys of the southern Oh
and Yeresei rivers are already being tapped
to supply the untitled steppe lands of west
ern Siberia on the one hand and the until
liable mountainous districts of eastern ST.
IBERIA on the other, thus giving full play to
the natural laws of compensation Not five
years ago, during the bread famine In east
ern Siberia, when wheat in Irkutsk was
selling for s1.50 per pound. it could be
bought in Bernaul, in the OBJ valley, for
about eight cents. To correct such internal
defects as this, as well as develop the la
tent resources of the country. Is. in my
opinion. the chief purpose of the Trans-Si-
berian railway.
Like the Trans-C Caspian line TO Samar-
cand, the Trans-Siberian railway was de-
c:ded upon with very little preliminary dis
cussion or investigation. Alexander IL!
simply wrote: Let there be line and
line there Is, every day more rapidly ap-
preaching to completion. There is hardly
a doubt that the impulse to construct the
Trans-Siberian line was largely derived
from the successful completion of the Can
adian Pacific railway, and its subsequent
development of the British North Ameri.
can possessions; for in many respects 81
land-a great landed heritage. full of mag
nificent resources, only waiting 20 he de-
veloped.
The present development of Russian rail-
way enterprise Is one of the most sissnifi-
cant features of the day. and is a direct
outcome of the French rapprochment.
French loans are now providing the sine VS.
of war for recrudescence of Russian ac
tivity in Asia, aimed, of course, at Eng
lands commercial prospects in the east
The progress of the Trans-Siherian rail-
way, however, is the point that eXcites
chief interest, especially as the marked
attention paid to Ii Hung Chang during
his recent visit to st. Petersburg clearly
open country and easy gradients which
Manchuria can boast.
Change of Plan.
The history OF the development of the
Trans-Siherian railway is In itself an ad-
mirable example OF the good luck that
seems never to tire Of favoring Russia In
all her eastern projects. When the pre-
lin1inary details Of this great scheme wero