The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-02-23
SURVEYING LAKE BAIKAL.

! Work the Russians Have Been Doing
on the Largest Lake in Asia.
Lake Baikal is the largest fresh water
lake in Asia, but the Russians do not
hesitate to call it the largest in the
world. In fact, it is thus ranked in
some of the biographies used in Rus
sian schools. The coimpilers of these
text books would seem never to have
heard of our great lakes and those of
central Africa.
The passengers on the Siberian rail-
way are now serried across the south
! ern part of the lake. 1t is sixty-five
miles wide; and it is no joke for pas
| sengers to be penned In their cars on
the big ferryboats for twenty to forty
hours at a time, as has occasionally
happened. These long voyages occur
only when storm on the lake or a
heavy fog has made it impossible to
reach port on the further side.
The government decided a while ago
that it would not depend upon these
ferryboats as a link in the Siberian
| railroad system, but would extend the
road around the steep and rocky south
coast so that the journey may be made
all the way by rail. Difficult engineer
ing problems are involved, but all who
| travel on this road will be glad when
the line Of rails is unbroken from sea to
sea. There is considerable good farm
| ing land and timber around Lake Bal
kal, and there is certain to be much
development on its shores. 1t is desira-
BILE therefore that the lake should be
| made thoroughly available for ship
ping. Until recently the conditions
| were very unfavorable. Sailing ves-
sells, the only means of transport, some
times took over fortnight in crossing
the lake. beating up and down and
| waiting for a chance to get to the
landing while storms were raging for
days and days. Steamboats, are now
supplanting the sailing vessels, and
before very long the lake will become
an important highway of commerce for
some hundreds of miles north and
south in the middle of Asia.
A few years ago Mr.. r. X. Drijenko,
a civil engineer, submitted to the Rus
sian government, plan for exploring
and surveying the lake. The work was
begun in 1897 on the lines he outlined
and it is now practically completed.
The cost was borne by the Siberian
railroad, except that the salaries Of the
scientific staff were paid by the minis
try of marine, which supplied the sur
veyors.
In the first place a number of sta
lions were established along the lake,
l., Ia4l lanr 40
actly determined, and from these sta
tons a network of triangulation was
carried along the shores and out to the
islands. This work made it possible to
produce & fine topographic map of the
shores and islands, which was carried
out on a scale of a verst to an inch.
This large scale enabled the surveyors
to map the smallest indentations of the
shore line. Everything Is, therefore,
now known and mapped about the
shores of the lake that is necessary for
purposes of navigation and develop
ment.
Then many thousands Of soundings
We're made and all this information was
put on the maps. so that at last the eX-
act conditions of navigation, so far as
1t is affected by depth Of water, are
known. Terrestrial magnetism and
particularly magnetic destinations were
studied so that marines may know the
effect OF the magnetic elements upon
their compassas. A long series Of me-
neurological observations were also
made so that the climatic conditions
may be better understood and weather
predictions may be possible.
The work was carried out on the
small steamer Innocent, with crew of
nineteen. ten scientific men, a physician
and seventy-five laborers. The irnme-
diate result Of the photographic explo-