A product peculiar to Siberia and highly appreciated by the inhabitants on account of its edible qualities is the cedar nut found in all of the northern forest region. So great is the demand for these nuts that in Tomsk alone thousands of tons are sold each year. They resemble pine nuts. A gum called larch-tree sulphur, chewed by both natives and settlers, is also obtained from these forests. Bee-keeping, especially in eastern Siberia, is an important industry which has been followed from remotest ages. The annual yield of honey is estimated to be upward of three million pounds.
The camel is usually associated with the hot desert regions of the Sahara and Arabia, yet in Siberia immense numbers of camels are used. It is not an uncommon sight to see them in midwinter hauling sledges along frozen roads and ice-covered rivers.
The richest gold fields are in the swamp and forest sections of central Siberia and in the Ural and Altai Mountains, although the metal is widely scattered all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. The word Altai means gold. The world's supply of platinum virtually comes from the gold-mines of Siberia as a by-product. In many parts of the mining region, as in Alaska, the frozen ground must be thawed by fires before it can be worked.
The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has wrought a wonderful transformation in Siberia by giving a great impetus to agriculture and other kinds of business. This great achievement, begun in 1891, was practically completed in eleven years, at a cost of one hundred and seventy-five million dollars. Subsequent work, together with equipment, double tracking, and the building of additional lines, has doubled the first cost.
The eastern terminus of the main line is Vladivostock; a branch line across Manchuria reaches Port Arthur and Dalny, or Tairen, as it is now called. The continuous railway route from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur is five thousand six hundred and twenty miles, four thousand five hundred miles of which is in Siberia. The first rails used, proving too light for the tremendous traffic, were replaced with heavier ones, and the road-bed itself has been widened and strengthened.
The fare on the road is very reasonable. For long distances it ranges from about a cent per mile to less than half that rate, accordingly as one travels first, second, third, or fourth class. Riding first class one can secure sleeping accommodations equal to the best that one finds on the roads of the United States, and in addition one may have the luxury of a bath.
Since the completion of the road the government has done everything possible to attract Russian emigration from Europe in order to settle and develop the country. The consumer in Russia becomes a producer in Siberia. The number of Russian emigrants who have settled along the line during the past five years will average one hundred and fifty thousand annually.
To start the Russian farmers in these new regions the government gives each man of family a certain amount of money or an equivalent in stock and tools; and in addition loans him small amounts at a low rate of interest, to be repaid in five years, with a proviso that if there be bad crops the time will be extended. For the year 1908, nine million five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to assist the peasant farmers.
Following in the wake of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, additional steamers have been placed on all the large rivers to meet the growing demands of commerce. Hundreds of steamers ply upon the rivers during the open season, but no vessels attempt the route by way of the Arctic Ocean on account of the long distance and frequent ice obstructions.