From such important points as Orel, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, and Saratoff, the oil was readily distributed throughout the surrounding country to supply the heavy demands of the win ter season. Occasionally shipments following this route found their way across the frontier into Ger many or from Riga across the Baltic to Scandi navia. But the main consumption was at home. Kerosene was in great demand wherever it could be secured, while astatki, after it had been adopted for fuel for all vessels on the Caspian, began to be used generally on locomotives, and, by its cheap ness and abundance, it led many industrial estab lishments to locate in the Volga district. At every point the Nobels were the leaders in placing the business on a profitable basis, their persistence in sticking to innovations never failing even in the face of opposition from every other operator in the region, and generally being rewarded sooner or hiter by the silent approval of direct imitation.
The building of the Trans-Caucasus railroad in 1883, connecting Baku with the port at Batoum on the Black Sea, for the first time offered a conven ient outlet to the sea and opened a vast new field for the activities of the Russian operators. Where Baku oil before had been obliged to go over 2,000 miles to Riga on the Baltic to be shipped by sea, it could now go only 560 miles to Batoum and reach a " tidewater " port. The encouraging prospect of building up a profitable foreign trade gave the whole industry a new lease of life. Russian pro duction immediately began to rise.
About the same time the Rothschilds firm, a powerful English concern, appeared in the field with the avowed object of "producing, refining, transporting, and selling Russian petroleum." Wild rumors at once whispered that they intended to monopolize the entire industry and great con sternation prevailed among the smaller operators. These fears proved ungrounded, however, for, like most of the investments of English capital there, the advent of the Rothschild company was of de cided benefit. The firm greatly assisted the re finers both by extending the market for Russian exports and by buying kerosene in large quantities, frequently paying in advance. These practices often carried operators over impending crises and made it possible to work when they otherwise could have done so only at a loss.
The inevitable outcome of these progressive steps is easily foreseen. Batoum rapidly became an im portant commercial town and one of the greatest oil ports in the world. Enormous storage tanks were established, a fleet of tank steamers was nec essary to carry oil regularly to European ports, while tramp steamers from all nations began to appear in the harbor. By 1885 Russia had to be
considered as a rising factor in the world's oil busi ness, although the United States was still produc ing nearly twice as much as all others combined. The railroad, at first fully capable of handling the oil traffic to Batoum, was quickly outgrown. Abundant capital, both Russian and English, stood ready, eagerly waiting for permission to construct a pipe line parallel to the railroad, for trunk lines to the seaboard in this country had enjoyed un qualified success and had greatly stimulated the whole industry. There was absolute certainty of success here, too, but the authorities, fearing a decrease in the revenues of the railroad, the profits of which were guaranteed by the government, per sistently refused to grant the necessary concession.
Finally, however, in 1897, the congestion of traf fic had become so serious a problem that the old conditions could be tolerated no longer and the government itself undertook the construction of a pipe line over part of the route where a steep grade hampered the heavy traffic. The early example of the Nobels had, after many years, borne valuable fruit. This original section of pipe line was later extended, until now a continuous line about 600 miles long connects Baku with its chief port. Batoum, as a result, has since come to be an important refining center as well as the ship ping point, thus again following the example of the American industry in piping the crude oil and making the refined products at the point of ship ment.
The last important addition to the transporta tion facilities was completed in 1898, when the main system of Russian railways was connected with Baku by a line along the Caspian shore. The water transportation during the open season is so much cheaper that the old regime continues to a large extent, but the main advantage of the rail road is in affording ready means of communication in winter.
The location of Baku has, as a result of this gradual evolution, ceased to be a disadvantage. Quite to the contrary, its position now opens to it enormous areas where no other countries can suc cessfully compete for the trade. The Caspian and Volga routes would be valuable assets for any oil field, affording as they do, for eight months of the year, thousands of miles of the cheapest kind of transportation to th0 centers of domestic consump tion. The Trans-Caspian railway gives access to the market of immense areas in the provinces of Western Asia. The direct connection with the Black Sea offers unlimited possibilities abroad.