branches to Tobolsk, has been built, thereby providing the shortest railway route from Western Siberia to the White Sea. In spite of the injury done to it by towns of newer growth, the annual trade of Tomsk is larger than that of any other commercial centre in Siberia, and is estimated at about 13,000,000 roubles (£1,500,000) a year.
The chief industries of Tomsk are spirit distilling, flour milling, skin curing, leather making and the manufacture of matches and glass. The first two comprise seventy per cent, of the total, showing clearly that the industrial development of Siberia is still in its infancy. In fact the country is still under the economic domination of the Moscow manufacturers, who have not yet established their cotton factories, ironworks, and other specialized industries on the east of the Urals. The only industries of any consequence, therefore, in Western Siberia are those of spirit distilling and flour milling, which can depend upon abundant supply of cheap raw material like wheat and rye.
The population of the principal towns of Western Siberia is steadily increasing, especially, as explained above, in those situated along the railway. Tomsk has at present over 50,000 inhabitants, Tiumen about 30,000, and Tobolsk, Kurgan Barnaul, and Blisk about 20,000 each.
3. CENTRAL SIBERIA (YENISEI GOVERNMENT)
Physical Conditions[1]
East of the Government of Tomsk in Western Siberia lies the most central province in the con-
- ↑ See Diagram of Physical and Vegetation Zones of Western and Central Siberia.
