Peter Alexeivitch Kropotkin and John Thomas Bealby

“ The fisheries of the lower course and of the estuary are of considerable importance; and these, together with those of the lakes which are formed by the inundations, furnish a valuable addition to the diet of the people in the shape of carp, pike, tench, salmon, sturgeon and eels. ”

“ Nearly one-fifth of all the copper ore extracted in Russia comes from Orenburg (about 16,000 tons annually) ; and every year 16,000 to 20,000 tons of cast iron and 11,500 tons of iron are obtained. Agriculture is carried on on a large scale, the principal crops being wheat, rye, oats, barley and potatoes. ”

“ In other villages some 1200 men are employed in making sickles, knives and locks. Wooden vessels, boxes and baskets, lapti (shoes made of lime-tree bark, which are worn in Great Russia and are produced by the million) , wheels and sledges, sieves, combs, woollen stockings and gloves, sheep-skins and sheep skin gloves, felt toys, earthenwear and all kinds of woven fabrics, are specialties of other villages. In these petty trades Vladimir occupies the first rank in Russia, the annual production being one-third of the total output for the whole country. ”

“ The spring flood raises the level of the water 20 ft., and towards the mouth of the river submerges the gardens and vineyards of the adjacent country. In some years the general state of the water is so low that navigation is possible only for three or four weeks, while in other years it is so high that navigation continues without interruption ”

“ Horses, cattle and sheep are kept in large numbers and camels are bred. Kitchen-gardening gives occupation to nearly 11,000 persons. Various kinds of animal produce are largely exported, and by knitting “Orenburg shawls” of goats wool the women earn £10,000 every year. The growth of the industries is slow, but trade, especially with the Kirghiz, is prosperous. The chief towns of the five districts into which the government is divided are Orenburg, Orsk, Chelyabinsk, Troitsk and Verkhne-Uralsk. ”

“ Natural pastures are numerous, and support large herds of cattle. The principal crops are rye, oats, wheat, barley and potatoes. The peasants hold 5,591,000 acre's in communal ownership: of this 60% is arable land, 3,802,800 acres belong to private owners, 552,300 acres to the crown and 370,000 acres to the imperial family. The only important mineral is alabaster.
Vladimir ranks third among the governments of European Russia for manufactures. It has some 500 large factories, which employ over 100,000 persons (one-third women) ”

“ Except at the rapids the current of the Dvina is comparatively slow, as the average fall per mile is only 9 in. Till its union with the Vychegda, a river which exceeds it in volume, it flows for the most part in a single, well-defined and permanent channel ”

“ The extremely rich layers of rock salt at Iletsk yield about 24,000 tons every year. Very fertile “black earth” covers wide areas around the Urals. The government is traversed from north to south by the Ural river, which also forms its southern boundary ”

“ Numerous remains of the neolithic Stone Age are found, especially round the extinct lakes. The Baltic and Caspian Sea basins are connected by the Mariinsk, Tikhvin and Vyshniy-Volochok canals, while the Alexander-von-Württemberg canal connects the tributaries of the White Sea with those of the Baltic. ”

“ The Upper Carboniferous limestones, of which it is mostly built up, are overlain by Permian sandstones towards the east, and patches of Jurassic clays—denuded remnants of formerly extensive deposits— are scattered over its surface. ”