The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-09-30
THE TRANS-SIBERIAN
RAILROAD

w washington, september Z9.--Ihe
vastness of the problem which Russia
has to face in maintaining herself by
the side OF her allies In the great war
is nowhere better exemplifed than in
the story OF the Siberian rail-
road When 1t is remem bered that in
normal times. it takes a mail train
thirteen days to make the run from
Vladivostock to Moscow. and that the
total distance between the two. cities
is 5.391 miles, it will he seen what a
tremendous haul is required for very
large percentage OF the munitions
which Russia must have to wage her
war In this connection, the follow
ing bulletin Just tssned by the Ma
tional Geogra phic society from its
headquarters in Washington, is OF in
terest:
Few people realize how great some
kof the difficulties are which the Rus
sian government has to face in keep
ing its armies in the field provisoned
and munitioned. These difficulties
are strikingly exenp,ified by the story
OF the Trans Siberian railroad. The
distance from the Pacific terminus at
Vladivcstock TO Moscow is 5,391 miles,
ana TO JeLTOEFad DyAGl. III TIE ddS
before the war. when the line was
we'll equipped and not .unduly bur
dened with traffic. the fastest express
train required nine days. to make the
run. while ordinary mall trains, which
probably made better time than the
hest freight time now can be, took
thirteen days The first class fare
on the Trans Siberian between Mos
COW and VIadivostock was approx
mately $50.
Much of the Trans Siberian road
Is still single track and the tremen-
dously heavy traffic or the past three
years has levied a heavy toll on both
equipment and roadbed. with the re-
suit that it is reported to he in far
from prime condition While in the
main grades are fair, yet it Is not to
be expected that on a road of such
length these could be com pared to the
Grades obtaining on our principal
lines. The result is comparatively
short trains, many engines and slow
progress.
/ so dffcult. indeed has been the
/ task OF transporting to the front even
! an adequate supply OF munitions, that
4 all through the war fleets of ships
/ have sailed from England and Amer
iica, through the Ice Of the Arctic
/ ocean TO the mouths OF the Yenesei
and Obi rivers, there discharginG their
cargoes into river boats which have
! carried the freight up the rivers to
/ the points where the railroad crosses
+ them, to be transshipped there and
hauled to the front. Even from the
, Obi river to Moscow is almost as far
as from Denver to New YORK while
the distance from the Yenesei TO Mos
COW equals that from our Atlantl, to
/ our Pacific coast.
Few people realize the magnificent
| distances that obtain in Siberia
Sta etching from the Eral mountains
! to the Pacific ocean, it is one and
half times as large as the United
States, and forty times as large as the
! United Kingdom OF Great Britain and
ireland If all of our own country
east OF the Mississippi river were add
ed to Europe, that continent would
still be smaller by some hundred thou
! sand square miles than Siberia alone.
j When It, Is remembered that for the
| major portion of the year Russia's
7 foreign supply Of munitions must
cross Siberia, either from the Arctic
ocean or the Sea of Okhotsk, ii will
become plain why Russia has faced
problems of supply such as no other
country on either side engaged In the
war has encountered
'On leaving Moscow, the Trans
siberian road runs through about 800
/ miles OF the vast great western plain
of European Russia to the city of Ufa
4 at the foot of the Ural mountains.
! Some $50 miles east of Moscow is a
| pyramid on the one side OF which is
inscribed the word Europe and on
/ the opposite side the word Asia
| This pyramid stands on the very apex
/ of the Trials The railroad at this
point is 1880 fe t above the sea level.
| Between Ufa and Tchelya binsk the
road rises from 21n feet elevation to
1850 feet and drops back again to
/ T60 feet. At the latter place are huge
wooden barracks where immigra It's
entering Siberia are chartered In
peace times waiting for transporta-
ton. IN 1913 more than q quarter
Of million Russians reversed our
own going West of generation ago.
and went East into Siberia
Across the vast stretches of west
ern Siberia th@-.Trafls Siberian rail-
road passes through grassy steppes
inhabited by horse breading kirk hives.
through long reaches of virgin forest.
and through many importa at agricui-
tural regions. Crossing OFT OF .eA
Tomsk government into that OF i ETH !.