The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-21
H.P.WassOn&CO.
swer would probably dam the river Of in
AoIhauon or Which was greedily drinking
CHANGES M-EEIE NrENcxEsS Nv

Inc line, over the whole route that I
traversed, presents no engineering difficult
Ties, unless we reckon an alleged quicksand
near the Yenisei, which has taken, and may
yet take, good deal of filling. The rivers
are all bridged, except the Okla and Yenisei.
and both of these bridges are in hand-the
latter TO be thousand meters long All the
important bridges are of iron but many
smaller ones are of wood, and wisely So
Timber exists by the side of the line, and
the Russian is an expert worker in wood
To use the material at hand, even if It in
volve more frequent repair. is probably the
better, and is certainly the quicker, PLAN"
In his journey from China first Mr.. Reid
came upon the railway on the shores OF
Lake Balkal, east of Irkutsk, where the
work OF construction was going bfiskIy for
ward. Not only are the Russian engineers
busy with the huge ice-breaking ferryboat
that is to carry whole trains across the lake
TWO years hence, but they are preparing to
carry the line on hand around the head OF
the lake so that there will be the smallest
FISK, IN stress or military movements, of an
interruption OF traffic. From the engineers
he learned a little of the impending changes
IN their original plans in consequence of the
Russian occupation of Port Arthur From
Lake Baikal" he writes. 1.-THE line has al
ready been graded as far as Strelinsk, about
goo miles east of Baikal, and the whole of
tnat 500 miles was intended to be laid next
year. But since that was arranged a great
change has come on the whole plan of the
tranSba1k3 section OF the line. Port Ar
thur and Talien-Wan have been acquired
and running rights have been obtained
through Manchuria- The earliest objective
of the line is no longer VladiVoSt0k-it is s
Fort Arthur. AS q consequence, the orig
inal plan, nay, even the second plan Of
the line has been reconsidered. 1t is being
proposed to vary section of the amended
scheme in favor of a more direct route to-
Port Arthur. That more direct Port Arthur
route is now being surveyed, and, substan-
TALLY, it is proposed that the place of di-
vergence from the original and from the
still later route shall be at or near Chitai,
point some 500 miles east of Lake Baikal
and some considerable distance short OF
Strelinsk, to which latter place. as have
said the line is already graded. Speaking
broadly, this means something more than u
saving in distance 1t meanS-I quote the
talk of Siberian railway eng1neers-that for
all practical purposes of railway admins
tratiOn and shipping facilities the real ter-
minus of the Russian railway system shall
be in the Gulf of Pe-ch-H. To put 1t plainly.
the great railway to VladivoStok will cease
to be main line to VladiVostok. twill be-
come railway to the China sea, with a
branch to Vladivostok."
Apparently the railway is promoting the
economic projects of the Russian govern
ment no less efficiently than 1t serves its
military plans. Everywhere" says Mr..
Reid, I'VE met emigrant trains from the
south, from the densely peopled agricultural
districts of Russia, carrying settlers to peo-
pie Siberia. Sometimes we met three or four
such trains in day, long trains of fourth
but whole families. 1t is for these people
that the food stalls have sprung up at the
stations. 1t is for these people that the adj
minstration, with kindly forethought pro-
vides boiling water at every station. l UNI
derstand that the scheme of Siberian immi-
grafton included no less than 100000 families
in the present year, and that an equally
large movement is expected next year.