EASTERN SIBERIA.—The greater part of Eastern Siberia is imperfectly known, as far at least as its economic resources are concerned. Most of the land is covered with forest, and the pro portion fit for agriculture is believed to be much lower than in Western Siberia. The climate also is more severe, and tends to restrict agriculture to such favoured localities as the southern part of trans-Baikalia and the more sheltered districts in the valleys of the Amur and the Ussuri. The amount of grain grown is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the inhabitants, who are obliged to import it from Western Siberia. Timber will probably prove a valuable source of revenue in the future, more especially near the coast where it can be easily worked, and even now a considerable quantity is exported, mainly to Australia. Fishing is an important pursuit along the lower reaches of the Amur and in Kamchatka, where large quantities of salmon are caught. From the Amur, caviare is now exported to European Russia, but the fisheries of Kamchatka are mainly in the hands of Japanese. Herring are found along the coast and in Sakhalin.
But it is for its mineral wealth that Eastern Siberia is chiefly important at the present time. The region produces the greater part of the Siberian output of gold, much of it being obtained from the districts of Vitixnsk and Olekminsk in the basin of the Lena, from those of Zeiski and Boureynsky in the basin of the Amur, and from the valley of the Ussuri. For working the alluvial sands, which alone are exploited to any extent at present, steam dredgers have recently been introduced. The richest deposits are believed to lie near the coast, and a strip of land extending inland for about 66 miles has, until lately, been closed to private mining enterprise. Coal of poor quality occurs in the basin of the Ussuri and elsewhere, but the richest deposits of that mineral are said to lie along the west coast of Sakhalin, from the Russo-Japanese frontier northwards.
COMMUNICATIONS.—The rivers of Siberia, although they are, with one or two exceptions, closed by ice for more than half the year, are of considerable value as waterways. The Ob is navig
able as far as Biisk, and, along with the Tobol and the Irtysh, is used for the conveyance of grain from the agricultural regions to Tiumen on the Tura, whence it is sent by rail to Kotlas to be floated down the Dwina to Archangel. The Yenisei, notwith standing its great volume, plays a less important part, and is used mainly for local purposes, such, for example, as forwarding the grain of Minussinsk to the mining districts further north. These two systems are connected by a short canal, which has not proved of great value. The Lena is of some service to the mineral districts of Vitimsk and Olekminsk, while the Amur is navigable nearly to its source and carries on a considerable amount of trade. But the most important route of all is undoubtedly the trans-Siberian railway which runs from Cheliabinsk, where lines meet from St. Petersburg and Moscow, by Omsk and Irkutsk, round the southern end of Lake Baikal, and across Manchuria by Harbin to Vladivostok. Two important lines to connect with it are at present under construction : one is intended to run from a point a short distance east of Lake Baikal, by Kiakhta and Urga, to Kalgan in China, and so connect with the Chinese railway system ; while the other will leave the main line several hundred miles further east, and follow the courses of the Shilka and the Amur for the greater part of the way to Khaborovsk, where it will meet the line running to that place from Vladivostok along the valley of the Ussuri. The first of these will shorten the journey to Pekin by several days, while the second will provide an all-Russian route across Siberia to Vladivostok. The completion of the trans Siberian railway has undoubtedly been the most important factor in the economic development of the country. Between 1861 and 1895 (the year in which the line was opened to Irkutsk) less than 1,000,000 emigrants entered the country. Since then over 3,000,000 people have moved into it from European Russia, the present rate being over half a million per year.