Audiotour Kachugsky Tract – from Irkutsk to Verkholensk

We will make our journey along the legendary and historical route. Our way will lead us to the northeast of the upriver Lena; we will reach Kachug (a settlement) that is situated 250 km of Irkutsk (a regional center). This road, or tract as the Siberian people call it, is known as Kachugsky Tract. The road from Irkutsk to Kachug is but the part of Yakutsk Tract that goes along the river Lena up to the city of Yakutsk. All the main postal, cargo, and passenger transportations happened on the unpaved road of Irkutsk-Kachug (172,35 miles). The transportations could be rarely made along Kachug-Zhigalovo (92,8 miles). The main transportation from Zhigalovo was made by water (along the river Lena) and on the ice during the winter period. Carbases and pauses were the main means of transportation on the water. A carbass is an open vessel with a flat bottom or sometimes it is a big high-sided boat for water transportation of cargo. A pause is a boat for smaller cargo with a flat bottom that is used for cargo and people. A cloth tent or another kind of shelter was made on the boat to cover people and cargo from the bad weather. Besides high poles were placed on the sides of the boat for drawing the sails that help to speed the boat. In the middle of the XIX – the beginning of the XX around 80 post stations were established on the Yakutsk Tract in Irkutsk Gubernyia. 15 of them were situated on the route of Irkutsk-Zhugalovo. There were situated from 10,61 to 23,2 miles from each other. For our route, we picked some of the post stations that provided the development for big settlements. The stations were are mentioning were called Khomutovskaya, Zherdovskaya, Ust-Ordynskaya, Bayandaevskaya, Manzurskaya, Kachugskaya, Verkholenskaya. Kachugsky Tract was part of the transnational route that connected the Russian Empire’s capital, Saint Petersburg, with the eastern territories (Okhotsk, Kolyma, and the Pacific Ocean Coast).