end they
would make a great steel structure more than thirty miles long. These
were all built too by Russian engineers. Lake Baikal is a long, narrow
body of water in the heart of Siberia. It is said to be the most
elevated lake on the globe and has the distinction of being the only
body of fresh water in which seals will live. In some places no bottom
has been found. When the railroad was first built trains were taken
across this lake on gigantic ferries.

As the winters are long and cold, great ice-breakers were built to take
the trains across during the winter time. It is actually said that these
ice-breakers would slowly plow their way through thirty-six inches of
ice. During the Russian-Japanese war these were too slow so they laid
down heavy steel rails on the ice and all winter long trains were
speeded across on this ice railway. Some time ago I made this statement
in a lecture and as soon as the last word was spoken a Russian came
forward saying: "I was a soldier in the Russian army and walked across
this lake on the ice and saw them laying the rails at the time. It was
then nearly sixty below zero."

Siberia is the greatest wheat country on earth. All our great northwest,
with Canada thrown in, is but a mere garden spot as compared with
Siberia. There are multiplied millions of acres of the finest wheat
fields in the world in this great country that are as yet untouched. The
Siberian women make the best bread of any cooks the world around. It is
as white as the driven snow and so good and nourishing that no one who
eats it can ever forget the taste.

Siberia is also one of the greatest dairy countries in the world. When
the war broke out Siberia was actually supplying a large portion of
Europe with dairy products. In two Siberian cities there were
thirty-four large butter and dairy establishments. The Russian
Government sent a professor of agriculture around the world to study the
science and art of buttermaking. The results of his investigation were
published in pamphlet form and sent to buttermakers and agriculturists.
It is said that sometimes a thousand tons of Siberian butter have been
delivered in London in a single week. It is also said that Great Britain
was purchasing five million dollars worth of eggs per year from Siberia
when the war broke out.

I learned something of the superstition of the Siberian peasant when
cream separators were first introduced. It is said that when these hard
working p