Arizona republican., 1904-02-29
Russia's Transportation Problem.

Golfers Weekly contains an article on "Russias Transportation Problem in Siberia" which gives a better idea of this phase of the situation in the for east than, perhaps, any other pub
 llcation on the same subject.
 The article is written by Chase $. Osborn, who was commissioner of rail- Sroads fer the state of Michigan for several years, and who has just return ed to the United States after an ex- tended trip through Russia ir Asia, where he had exceptional opportunities for studying the matters concerning which he now writes. Particularly interesting are his observations con corning the famous Lake Baikal which has figured so prominently in the dis patches recently. first as having been the cause of the death Of 500 Russian soldiers. and, later, of three whole regiments.
 After all is said and done, MT. Os- born says, "the exact measure of the possible volume of through traffic ever the transsiberian railroad in time of peace or war, is just what can be moved across Lake Baikal = the weakest link in a rather weak chain" There has never been any very clear explanation, since the beginning of the present conflict, of why the railroad was not built around Lake Baikal, thus avoiding the terrors and difficult ties which are so clearly associated with the task of crossing the forty odd miles Of water between the two ends of the road MT. Osborn ex- plains that the failure to build a cir cum -Baikal line was wholly due to the desire of the Russian government to economize, although subsequent de- velopments have proved that it would have been much cheaper and much more satisfactory to build around the end of the lake than to adopt the svs- tenn of ferrying which is now causing so much trouble. To have gotten around the lake, Mir. Osborn explains. would have required a detour of some 300 versts Ca verst is $500 feet, or about two-thirds of a mile) and the construc- tion of at least two or three tunnels. The Russian engineers decided it would cost less to install the ferry sys- tenn and acted accordingly They have had much cause for regret ever since.
 Russian experts were sent to study the ice-breaking ferries in use at the straits of Mackinac, in Michigan, and at one time partial arrangements were made for the building of the ferry boats in this country. Later the plans were changed. however, and the yes sels were constructed in England. There are two Of them, the Baikal, of 42OO tons displacement, and the An gara, a much smaller vessel which is used as a tender. Tn theory the Baikal is able to break through any ice which might form on the lake, but it has never been successful The lake be- gins to freeze in November and by the first. to the middle Of December is completely ice bound. It continues in this condition for fully five months, or until the last CT middle of April. The average thickness of the ice is about nine and one-half feet, and this would make sledge traffic possible were it not for the crevasses which are continual ly appearing. These crevasses are from three to six feet in width and a mile or so in length. The open wat CT which their breaking presents sell ] dom freezes in less than a week or two. since it is constantly agitated. ! Frequently the crevasses close and pile up high windrows of broken ice which a sledge team could not .possi- bly surmouEt.
 It Is the continuous formation O: these crevasses which prevents the successful construction cf line of | railroad across the lake. The ice breaking ferry can hardly be gotten under way for two months or so, and | it seems that in the meantime the Rus | sian authorities will find the matter | of moving troops from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Mukden, Harbin, Vladl- vostok and Port Arthur so extremely | difficult as to give them reason for the gravest appreheusions. Under the | most favorable circumstances from | three to four weeks are occupied in | making the trip from Moscow to Port | Arthur or Vladivostok. and even in | the summer, when both the Baikal and i the Angara can be used, it will not be | possible to move more than LOCO troops | per day across the lake. For the next | two months the trafic must nccessar- fly be much lighter than this. and even | after then more than SO.O0O soldiers per | month will doubtless be needed to | properly reinforce the forces already at the front. Thus, though Russia's total