Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tchita

TCHITA, capital of Transbaikalia, Eastern Siberia, stands 585 miles east of Irkutsk, on the Tchita river, half a mile above its junction with the Ingoda. It was founded in 1851; and military considerations led to the selection of this very small village to be the capital of Transbaikalia. Steamers on the Amur and Shilka do not penetrate so far as the upper Ingoda; they usually stay at Sryetensk, 320 miles distant. But the military supplies sent every year from Transbaikalia to the Amur region usually start from Tchita,—the forest-covered hills on the banks of the Ingoda supplying material for the construction of the barges (from 100 to 200 in number) on which these supplies are carried as soon as the melting of the snows in the mountains temporarily raises the water in the river to a sufficient height. Tchita is built of wood, with unpaved streets and wide open spaces. The dryness of the Buriat steppe close by prevents snow from accumulating to any depth, even when the cold is extreme; the merchandise accordingly which is forwarded from Irkutsk to the Nertchinsk district is brought to Tchita on carts, and is there loaded on sledges for the continuation of the journey down the frozen rivers. The population of Tchita in 1883 was 12,600. The inhabitants support themselves by agriculture, by trade in furs, cattle, hides, and tallow, which are bought from the Buriats, and in all kind of manufactured wares imported from Russia and Western Siberia.