Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Means of Communication
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
they carry their goods by means of two connected
poles drawn along the ground by a horse.
In recent times the construction of roads has been
carried on in the same manner as other public work
in Finland, at once with great energy and careful
financing. There are now about 44,000 kilometres
of roads, 25,000 kilometres of highroads, and 19,000
of by-ways. This is an average of about 17 kilometres
per 1000 inhabitants. The State has maintained the
old obligation of the landholders to construct roads,
but has assisted them where it was necessary to
undertake larger works in the public interest, especially in
bad years when the people had need of work. The
State has itself made roads in the Lapmark, where the
sparse population could not do it, and where also the
Crown owns the largest part of the country. It has
been possible to make good roads with the gravel and
brash which are so common in the country and which
equal the macadamised pavements of other countries.
The work of the men and horses evidently does not
cost much, since the expense of the highroads is
reckoned at 6000 marks and of the by-ways at 3000
marks per kilometre, and the whole initial cost is
about 220 million marks with a yearly cost of
between 3½ million and 4 million marks.
Railways were only first decided upon after the
Crimean War in 1856, when Alexander II. had become
Emperor and visited Finland. Colonel Alfred Stjernvall
had earlier proposed a horse tramway to connect
Helsingfors with the lakes in Tavastland. Herr J. V.
Snellman, the great patriot and popular leader, adopted
the idea, and the plan of a railway between Helsingfors
and Tavastehus was thereupon drawn up by Colonel
Knut Stjernvall, who later entered the service of
Russia and became Inspector-General of the Russian
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
