Excerpt from Russia: Report on the Waterway Between the Baltic and Black Sea As this latter project has attracted considerable attention, I have ventured to gather a few facts concerning the character Of the rivers here mentioned, the measures that have been taken to improve their navigation, and the possibility of carrying into effect a scheme Of such magnitude as that referred to. More than a century ago the Duna was connected by a series of canals with the Berezina, one of the tributaries of the Dnieper, and produce from the central provinces of Russia, found its way to Riga by this route. But, with the introduction Of railways, water transport gradually died out, and everything, with the exception of timber, is now carried by rail. From time to time efforts have been made to induce the Ministry of Ways and Communications to improve the condition Of this waterway, and to render it more available for the transport Of timber, if for nothing else, but beyond granting small sums Of money for the purpose of putting the locks into repair, nothing has been done. As far back as the early forties, the urgency for improving the navigation of the rivers and canals was strongly represented to the Imperial Government, and a few years latter attempts were made to Obtain concessions for private companies, who were prepared to undertake the much-needed work, the Government, apparently. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.