The Meeker herald., 1904-03-12

A4AAc 4bAthoA PAoROSCA NtASu1h"
Baikal railroad has not been con-
structetl, and could not be built pos
sibly within two years, and then only
under most favorable conditions.
Consequently Lake Baikal is the
weakest link in a rather weak chain.
Lake Baikal, meaning "Holy Sea-"
but really being .holy terror to
the Russian railroad management, is
the largest body Of fresh water In the
Old World, except the Victoria Ny
ANA, in Africa. Lake Baikal IL
nearly 1900 square miles In extent,
and therefore inferior only to Super
ior and Huron among the great Amer
lean lakes. 1t is 600 versts long,
with width varying from q to 10
versts. 1t is 3ls5 feet deep. The
surface is 1861 feet above the level of
the sea. The bottom Is 1924 feet be-
low the sea level. The Trans-Siberian
is broken by the southern end Of this
lake, where 1t Is 60 versts or about 40
miles wide. This Is the gap that
disasterously impairs the utility of
the Trans-Siberian for the moving of
troops and war supplies to the Man
churian and Korean frontiers. Bal
kal begins to freeze in November,
and is completely ice-bound by the
first to the middle of December, re-
manning so for five months. The ice
burden freezes to II thickness Of nine
and half feet which would make
sledge traffic perfect, were it not for
the fact that wide assures break
In its surface, which have
way of frequently closing up and
piling the ice high into impossible
These crevices have a
width of three to six feet, and are
often more than verst in length,
forming u serious impeachment to
progress on the ice and rendering next
to impossible the marching of troops
across the lake or the safe sledging
of supplies. A thunderous crash, as
of an explosion, marks the forming
of the crevice, followed by II long
rolling reverberation. The rift in
stantly fills with water to the level of
the ice, and Is SO agitated at the sur
face by currents or other forces that
eight to fourteen days are required
for it to freeze over. When it Is
frozen over again the operation Of
cracking begins anew, and is re-
peated throughout the coolest por-
ton of the winter.
GETTING AROUND THE LAKE.
To get around the end of the lake
would require detour of nearly 300
versts and the construction of several
tunnels, one of them no less than
nearly four versts In length, and cost
ing over 5000, 600 rubles. Instead of
building this proposed circun-B aikal
line, the Russian government unfor-
tunately determined to endeavor to
copy the ice-breaking ferries so sue
cessfully used at the Straits of Mac
mac in Michigan. A royal Russian
engineering commission spent IL VIM
ter on these ferries. studied their
operation, obtained their plans, and
partially arranged to havesduplicates
built at Detroit, where the great
Michigan car ferries We're built.
However, the Russians changed their
minds and gave the order to the Arm
strong works in England, where n
great ice-crusher called the Baikal
was constructed. Whether some es-
sential in the plan was omitted, or
whether the nine and half feet of
ice on Lake Baikal was too much for
any crusher, the ferry has been prac-
tically a failure, Mt least during much
of the winter. The great ferry was
built 'knocked-down' Of solid steel.
The pieces We're shipped by rail to
the lake shore and there set up by
English and Russian workmen. She
is of solid Siemens and Marten steel,
length 800 feet, beam 81 feet, draught
IS feet fore and 2Ofeetaft, speed p 1-2
versts and displacement 1900 tons.
She has three tripple-eNpansion en-
gines, with Il total of 1850 horsepower
Two engines are placed in the stern
and are separated by longitudinal
partition. An engine in
the fore part of the vessel serves to
work the fore screw which is sup
posed to break the ice. She can run
ice four feet thick, but Lake
Baikal makes ice over nine feet thick.
The ice crusher has three sets of
tracks on the main deck that will
hold twenty-five cars and has passen-
for $50. a second
ferry, the Angarn, with