Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

70 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. difficult part of navigation on the river Angara is at the Padun rapids ; and it was at this point that the barges from Krasnoyarsk came to a standstill, and all the material had to be landed. The Padun is probably the worst rapid on the river, although there are two others not far distant—the Peany and the Paghmaline—which are almost equally swift. The Russian word Peany means “ drunk, and to the erratic movements of the waters at this place is undoubtedly due the nams of this rapid. From the Padun to the Paghmaline rapid is a distance of about 30 versts. The material, after being discharged at the former, was all transhipped into very small barges, and hauled with great difficulty through the turbu- lent waters by the united efforts of horses and men. After safely negoti- ating the three rapids, it was again landed and tran- shipped into larger STERN VIEW OF THE “ BAIKAL.” (/«</. 5.) Barges delayed by the Strong Current. barges, which were taken in tow by small steamers as far as the city of Irkutsk. These steamers should have com- pleted the journey, but proved to be not nearly powerful enough to cope with the swift- ness of the Angara where it leaves the lake, so that the barges at this junction were often delayed a week or two awaiting more powerful steamers to take them in tow and bring them to their destina- tion. The journey from. Krasnoyarsk to the lake by this route occupied about four months, and it was most important, at this season of the year, that as much material as possible should be got through, seeing that the Siberian winter would soon set in and bring all trans- port to a standstill. This fact was readily recognized by the many workmen now em- ployed, and they toiled so well that by the middle of November some seven or eight barges had found their way through to the Baikal Lake. The importance of this will be better under- stood when it is stated that the next consignment did not reach the lake until the end of July in the following year. The ice - breaker Baikal was rebuilt at the extreme east end Qf the beauti- fully-situated village of Listvenitchnaia, stretching along the lake from the mouth of the Angara for about two versts, a straggling row of log-houses, with a back- ground of forest-clad mountains intersected by beautiful valleys and small rivers. These rivers become raging torrents in the spring of the year, when they drain the hills of their winter covering and empty their icy waters into the lake. A long stretch of level ground between the foot of the mountains and the lake was chosen as the building site. It had one draw-