cost of labour, the difficulty of obtaining fuel in many places, and the fall in the price of the metal, made silver mining an unprofitable enterprise.
Recently, however, the improved method of extracing silver from lead by chemical process has been introduced into the Altai, and the result has been to cheapen the cost of production, thus renewing the possibility of again developing the silver mining industry of Western Siberia. Silver is as usual found in company with lead in these districts. A very rich silver area is to be found north of Semipalatinsk in the South-West Altai, and is being worked successfully at the present time.
Of all minerals coal has probably the most important prospect of development in Western Siberia. It is found in very large quantities in a certain basin in the north-east of the main Altai system. Stretching from the town of Tomsk southward to Kuznetsk in the upper waters of the Tom River, this coalfield covers an area of about 280 miles in length and 120 miles in breadth. The coal is of carboniferous age, and the lower seams of the basin are very good in quality, having good heating properties and about 80 per cent, of carbon. It is estimated that there are in the Beryosof district alone over 250,000,000 pouds—4,000,000 tons—of untouched coal. This coalfield is thus one of the greatest in the Russian Empire, and will in time provide the fuel for all future industries that may develop in Siberia. The demand for coal is even now brisk, and will undoubtedly largely increase in future both for the Siberian railway and for local industries.
At present the principal capital working the
