The Falls City tribune., 1910-07-01

sun was a hall h0nf hlgH, and rs l
came 10 the dining car TO write n
few pages-and find | got up before
four o'clock Though the days are
long tperhaps four TO five hours of
mild darkness) they pass quickly. Our
last letter was dated lrkutsk, May g.
The grand scenery Of Lake Baikal
cannot be praised too highly. On
one occasion. when the railway was
a bit distant from the lake, William
inquired. when they dug this lake,
why didn't they did it nearer the
track?'-which has more point as the
lake is known TO be one of the deep.
est in the world. William also asked
recently. How does the train know
TO 90 whore the houses are?'
lrkutsk, the second city Of Siberia,
has y population Of about 0 1000 and
Is The center of government for The
province by that name. our third
change Of cars was made here. mere
ly stopping across into another and
tdhAiS Ntil AaIulpRAu dllis WHICH
will have been our "home" for near
ly a week when we leave it at Mos
COW. On the same day we passed
the convent of st. Innocent. founded
in 1879. The country after leaving
the lake region has been quite level
and rolling, with much OF it covered
with beautiful birch forests. with
some frs and recently oak trees.
just now tfor n day or sol the fine
land Is we'll cultivated and not a tree
Is in sight. Some of the birches
were nearly two feet in diameter.
Our powerful engines at first burned
wood, then soft coal, and now use
petroleum for fuel.
On Sunday, the Goth. Il helpful ser
vice was held in the dining ear, and
the day was a restful one. The jour.
ney Las been through a wealth of
wild flowers-blue, white and yellow
anemones. pansies, lilies of the val
ley. buttercups and lilies. On the
29th, we crossed the splendid bridge,
2940 feet long, over the great Yene-
sci River. 1t takes it's rise in Mon
golia and flows over 1000 miles to
the gulf Of Yenisseck. The bridges
are uniformly fine, or seem to be.
and they We're one of the big prob
lens in h construction of this great
line. There are Over thirty miles of
bridges in the 1876 miles of road. No
wonder the total cost OF the line
reached the 400 million mark. And
now we see everywhere work going
on for the double tracking of the
whole line-which includes many
minor changes of the line. Women
and eirls are nearly as much in evil
dence helping in the earthwork as
the men-and all have something of
an animal look and general appear
ance.
On the S1st. we crossed the IT.
fish river and two of its bic
branches and passed Omsk with its
100000 or more people, About this
time the country appeared much
like Illinois and the people more num-
erous
AT last We read and much enjoyed
a bundle of farewell letters given
us on leaving China. What. with
seeing, reading. resting and especial
ly caring for the children. the days
seem TO pass swiftly. Our fellow
passengers, including the Russian
bride and groom, are most c~ongenial.
Among them is a German, who is gov
ernor OF New Guinea, Ponape Island,
etc, asked about missions and he
~emphatically says that he fayors their
work so much that, whereas he has
Ill societies working in his domain
he wishes it were nineteen. DR.. Sid
ney Guliek tof Japan is on the
train and it appears that the gram
mar the governor used in learning
the Ponope language is one prepared
by DR.. Guliok's father!
Yesterday, early, we passed the big
stone pillar marked, Asia on one
side and Europe, on the other,so ST.
IBERIA. which is over o~ne-fourth of all
Asia, and one-half as large again as
the whole of Euroupe, is behind us,
and We are in Russia proper. One
car but rejoice that Russian exile to
Siberia is a thing of the past. South
ern Siberia is a great country with a
great future. The annexation of this
vast region began under Ivan the
Terrible, the end of the sixteenth
century. The frontier forts grew to
towns and cities, but the necessary
development by immigration is a
matter of the last twenty years. The
wheat, stock, butter, eggs, etc. are
principal articles of export-and will
be still more so. Siberia also pro-
duces about thirty tons of gold a year