Omaha daily bee., 1900-12-02
BILE shaft and kiss the name Europe" 9

| BILE shaft and kiss the name Europe" 9
| final farewell.
Leaving the boundary the road passes
| down the eastern slopes Of the Urals In Z
| due eastern direction to Omsk, where II
crosses the Irish river over q bridge four
miles long. supported by enormous piers
to withstand the Ice jams which are OF
such size and force as to be almost ir-
restible. In order to obviate the necessity
for rebuilding the bridge every spring the
engineers placed huge stone prows on the
upper side OF each pier for the purpose
Of splitting the Ice as 1t rushes down the
river.
Strange to say, the road does not touch
Tobolsk. the Siberian capital 1T is con-
nected by a branch line), but passes In a
southeasterly direction to Lake Baikal, the
largest lake in Central Asia. II is as long
as England and contains 49, .430 square miles
Of surface. Up to this point, those In
charge OF building the road experienced no
great difficulty. but the lake caused them
much anxiety. 1t Is surrounded on all sides
by precipitous mountains. covered by i'm
mense forests and as, owing to the extreme
depth Of the water. bridging was out OF the
question. a long detour had to be made
around the southern end of the lake. From
A/ahc bdihoi, tue TOau hsCeuuS 10 hnakarO-
Kaat an altitude Of 3.412 feet above the
sea level. the highest point reached. where
It extends into three branches, one to
Vladivostok, one to Newchwang and the
other (yet unbilD to Corea.
A County of Great Fertility.
Contrary to general belief. the road does
not pass through a sterile, barren country.
Siberia. except In the far north. LIS i'm
censely fertile. For hundreds of miles
along the road stretches prairie land COW
cred with grass which often reaches a height
of six feet. Millions OF cattle Craze there.
A little further north are beech wood forests,
whose richness is incalcuable. Villages
and towns are springing up everywhere with
a rapidity Of growth that is truly American.
The paternalism Of the Russian govern
ment Is responsible for this for 1t has
determiedde to turn the waste lands OF
Siberia into the granary of the world.
Every train carries hundreds OF settlers,
every male among them supplied with
deeds to tract OF land, free transporta-
tion and enough seed to SOW the greater
part OF the as yet unborn farm.
The Transsiberian railroad will bring
these products Of Siberia and the Amur
region to the more westerly markets, as
wei tue HOTc WtbttTly
beings to the regions where they are most
needed.
Leaving aside the commercial aspect Of
the road, II will also serve to preserve the
military supremacy OF Russia In Asia. BY
means OF the road. Russia was enabled to
transport more than 100, 900 troops into
Manchuria within two weeks-and this
when the road was only semi completed.
According to the plans Of the car, he will
be able TO throw half a million men and
a suficient quota Of horses into Manchuria
and the Amur region within six days as
soon as the road and it's various branches
are finished.
Hindrances to Work of Constructiom.
The actual construction OF the road was
an herculean task. Nature seemed to take
umbrage at mans audacity in invading her
widest precincts and everywhere placed
obstacles In the path Of the road. In the
winter she piled up enormous drifts OF
snow, through which the hardy Cossacks
had to tunnel their way that the engineers
and laborers might continue their work
In the summer she sent such swarms OF
mosquitoes that the workmen had to live
In high towers to get respite from these
pests. And when she played no such pranks
she reared enormous mountains OF iinty
granite, through which tunneling was i'm
possible and over which the road had to
be constructed at great additional cost.