Burton Holmes on the Trans-Siberian Railroad
Chapter 12: Streyetensk and the Shilka
But we did not fully appreciate the value of his good-will and eagerness to be
of service to the strangers in a strange land, until after our arrival in
Stryetensk at the conclusion of
THREE OF A KIND
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the four-day journey from Irkutsk. Stryetensk on the Shilka River was the
Trans-Siberian terminal in July, 1901; but since we passed by that way, the
Manchurian Line which branches off some distance west of the town of Stryetensk
has been practically
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MONGOLIANS
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ON THE PLATFORM
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BEGINNING OF THE MANCHURIAN LINE AT KAIDALOVO
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STREYETENSK
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completed, and over it the trains will soon be running direct to
Vladivostok. Russia
has abandoned the continuation of the line down the Shilka River
to the Amur, and thence
along the Amur's banks to Khabarovsk, the northern terminus of the Ussuri line, from
Vladivostok. The Manchurian agreement, enabling Russia to extend her railway across
what is nominally a Chinese province, has rendered this longer route superfluous.
In the summer of 1901, however, the tide of travel was still flowing down the
waterways. As we soon discover, it is not flowing easilythere is both a boat-
and a water-famine on the river. There is
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A MENDICANT
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STREYETENSK ON THE SHILKA
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OUR FRIEND THE PROFESSOR
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ISTVOSTCHIK
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very little water in the shallow Shilka, and as a result no boats in
port.The post-boat had left the day before our arrival, carrying off
the friends who had not lingered in Irkutsk but had hastened on to
make sure of the official steamer. We had taken our chances of
catching it; and had lost not only the
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steamer but also the receipt for one of our trunks; and here
it was that the professor proved himself more than a friend
and brother, for he devoted two days of time and all his skill
and patience to getting that unhappy trunk from the official
meshes of red tape in which it seemed inextricably entangled.
ILLUSTRATING THE NOVEL SIBERIAN FERRY SYSTEM (LEFT)
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ILLUSTRATING THE NOVEL SIBERIAN FERRY SYSTEM (RIGHT)
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This meant many wild-goose chases up and down the town, the signing of
many petitions, declarations, affidavits, releases, and receipts; a call
upon the Ataman or Cossack commander (for Stryetensk is not officially a
town, it is merely a Cossack settlement), a parley with the station-master,
gifts to all his underlingsin fact, an infinity of troublesome detail
through which the kind professor glided unruffled, like the patient, polite
Russian that he was. Fortunately, we could not express ourselves in Russian,
or we should be still in Streyetensk, waiting for the authorities to forget
and forgive what we had said, and to render up at last the captive trunk.
IN MIDSTREAM
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To us the most interesting feature of Stryetensk was the ferry. Never shall
we forget our initial crossing of the Shilka in the darkness of the night of
our arrival. Sitting on top of our innumerable bags and boxes, piled high on two
WAGONS BOARDING FERRY
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TROIKA COMING ASHORE
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barbaric wagons, we were whirled down a steep embankment, then out into the
river, the water rising to
the wagon-floor, then up a steep incline to the deck of an overcrowded barge,
which slowly swung part way across the stream, and there discharged its cargo,
the horses and wagons splashing through the shallows, and jolting over submerged
boulders until the shore is gained. Experienced by day all this may be amusing;
but in the pitchy darkness of a stormy night, when one cannot see ten feet ahead,
it is, to tired travelers, an ordeal almost terrifying.
Other pages about Holmes on the TSRR
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