Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. The Upper Lena
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shallows are not in any way marked out. Instead, two men
stand at the bows, one on each side, by turns measuring
with long poles the depth of the river, which they call
out in a monotonous sing-song drawl.
On the 4th of June we arrived at Ust-Kutsk, picturesquely
situated on the western shore of the river, at the mouth
of its tributary, the river Kut. This place was originally
one of a series of forts established by the Kossacks along
the Lena in the 16th century; it derives its importance of
to-day from the salt-works, owned by the government, and
also from being the terminus of the road from Yeniseisk
connecting the Siberian railroad with the upper Lena. The
distance from Tulun on the Trans-Siberian railway to
Ust-Kutsk is only about 140 miles. Even now large quantities
of goods are transported by this road, and a branch line
to connect the Lena with the great Siberian railroad from
Tulun to Ust-Kutsk is probably only a question of time.
The historical interest of Ust-Kutsk ought not, perhaps, to
be altogether passed without notice, for it was one of the first
spots on the great river to be occupied by the Russians.
And here, perhaps, it would be as well to point out the
fact that it was originally the adventurous Russian hunters
and trappers who first penetrated eastward as far as the
Lena, and later to the Pacific Ocean and America,
preparing the way for the Russian dominion, and not the
Kossack warriors, who only followed the track of the
former and enrolled them as members of their marauding
expeditions. Thus it was ten hunters and trappers who,
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