The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-03-20
MUST DEPEND ON
GREAT RAILROAD
Will Line Across Siberia Stand
the TeSt2
HERE Is A BROKEN LINK
Lake 5aikal Is impossible sea of Ice
in Winter and Is Greatest Prob
lem Russia Has
to Face,
HERE IS A BROKEN LINK

to Face.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
VIII the Trans-siberian railroad stand
the test? Before the recent outbreak of
war between Russia and Japan it was the
general impression Of the western world
that Russia had her grip on Manchuria
and a large portion of northern China well
einched and that 1t was a mere few years
until she would have dashed around them
her elastic boundary lines 1t was argued
that in the case of complications she
could rush troops over the rrans-siberian
railway fast enough to overwhelm any
opposing nation or nations combined.
Now, feeling the smart Of am unexpected
defeat. 5000 miles away from the field of
conflict, a dreary waste of snow and ice
intervening she Is trembling lest another
blow may tell her that the Oriental Is
landers have been again victorious. The
issue of the struggle depends entirely
on that railway. about which opinions
widely differ as to whether it is an affair
at all capable of furnishing the service
AAiht Will Dc u ~ mum NdiAt " htis
Can this long, single track railroad, al
most twice as long as the route from New
York to San Francisco, do what is now
expected of it?
For thirty years and more this railroad
has been draining steady stream of gold
from the Russian treasury. which at no
time has been overlooking with resources.
But it is said of Russia that when she
once enters upon project she never halts
until it is completed, no matter what the
conditions of her exchequer may be- Such
in the building of this line.
At a Disadvantage.
If Russia proper were as close to Man
churia as Japan there would be no doubt
as to the outcome of the war. Or if the
Trans-Siberian railroad were entirely com
plete there might be less doubt There
is. however, one weak link in the chain
which it will require years to forge. Riv-
ers, several of them with beds mile wide,
shallow and treacherOus amid shifting
sand in summer, ieebound in winter rag
ing torrents when the ice broke up in the
spring, crossed the path of the railroad.
Its builders had bridged them.
The hills that barred the way they had
tunneled. The uninhabited wastes they
had peopled with coolie labor But Lake
problem tougher than all these
With length of 800 miles and an area
of 1000 square miles, 1t is directly in the
way of the plateau where the railway
reaches its highest elevation, 1900 feet
above the sea level. Hills from 5000 to
6000 feet high surround It. rising so alb
ruptly from the waters edge that build
Ing along their side without long tunnel
ing Is impossible.
The lake itself is so deep that It could
not be bridged It's surface is 1861 feet
above sea level, its bottom at the deepest
part is 1924 feet below. and it is subject to
frightful storms. From November to April
it Is practically icebound, so navigation
across it the whole year round is impossi-
BILE
Sedging Almost Impossible.
Even sledging over the ice is difficult
Under normal conditions it should be per-
feet. The lake begins to freeze early In
November, is completely icebound by the
middle of December and the ice does not
break up until May. Meantime its white
covering reaches a thickness of nine and
a half feet.
But there comes in the contrariness OF
this particular body of water No sooner
has the thick lee well formed than sub
aqueous disturbances, of a kind never
quite explicable 10 students of them, begin
constantly mar the surface.
These crevasses have a width of from
three to six feet, and are often more thar
third of a mile in length. They appear
suddenly, and as suddenly close, piling the
ice high in impossible windows loud
crash. almost like an explosion, marks the
forming of the crevasse. This is followed
by long, rolling reverberation. The rift
instantly fills with water to the level OF
no tao nd no ettrf pf the wafer is
so agitated by strong currents or other
forces that 1t is from eight to fourteen
DAYS before it is frozen over again.
Then the cracking begins again, to be
repeated endlessly all through the winter
In the spring the ice is nearly two months
in breaking up.
TO get around the end of the lake re-
auires a detour of nearly 100 miles, and
tunneling and cutting through rock under
the most adverse conditions. The cost of
such railroad section must be enormous.
A conservative estimate puts 1t at 10000,
600 rubes, or something less than $50 100000
How long it will take can hardly be esti-
mated-four or five years at any rate
Russia began to plan this greatest OF
the worlds railway enterprises early In
the 7O's when the annexation of the
Amur and usuri provinces in Siberia and
the internal reforms of the Carl Liberia
tor Alexander II. led her to realize that
her best opportunity for developing
her vast territory in the cast lay in better
communication with it and increased i'm
migration to fill it up.
From that time on Siberia gradually
ceased to be the dumping ground of al
that was worthless and restless in Russia
proper. 1t has grown in population at the
! rate of nearly quarter Of a million per-
sons a year
Brideed the Voga.
| In 1871 the bis railway had reached
/ Orenburg, and In 1850 the big bridge ovei
the Nolga was built and the section con-
| Meeting the Nolga and Obo river basins
was begun. On May 1891, the first work
on the real Trans-Siberian railway was
begun From that date the railway has
been steadily pushed forward. Successive
ears earnestly commanded It, 1t is d
single track Of rails laid through thous-
ands of miles Of uninhabited country. Al
the station called Manch0ria on the Chi
nese border line, II becomes, by the title
! only the Chinese Eastern railway, an6
| enters the war country. civcrging into
| two branches, almost ut right angles
! leading to Port Arthur and Nladivostock
| THAT is. 1000 miles or so of that thr
steel thread is in what may be called tho
| enemy's country Even If Russia should
make her railroad do all that hen friends
hope 1t can for her, how can she guard
! that 1000 miles of practically nonprotect-
ed track from her watchful enemy? All
| the soldiers in the cars army would be
| needed for the task.
n the railway does fail in this supreme
moment it will come very near to ending
one noble career, and it will make many
Americans. wholly apart from their sym
pathies either with Russia or Japan, very
Michael Il