Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/421

Rh to connect your oil regions with the seaboard, will probably be established before long between Baku and Batoum; the oil will be pumped from Baku to the crest of the pass through the Caucasus Mountains, and from there it will run by gravity like a mountain stream down to the shores of the Black Sea. There it can be loaded into tank-steamers, or placed in barrels for distribution wherever it can find a market.

"Perhaps I may be building castles in the air," said the gentleman, "since I am not of your nationality, but I look upon the European market for American petroleum as doomed to destruction. The Baku petroleum has driven your American product from Russia, and is rapidly driving it from the markets of Germany, France, and Austria. We think it quite equal to your petroleum, and in some respects superior. American oilmen claim that theirs is by far the better article, and as each side can bring the opinions of scientists to prove the correctness of its claim, the question resolves itself into one of cheapness of production and transportation. For the market of Europe and Asia we think we have a great advantage in being nearer to it. It is as far from Batoum to England as from New York, and therefore you may be able to supply Great Britain with petroleum, by reason of the cost of transportation.

"Two plans are under consideration for overcoming the disadvantages of the closing of the Volga route by ice for one-third of the year. Look on the map of Russia and see the position of Vladikavkaz at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. The railway reaches that point, and it has been proposed to extend it to a connection with the Batoum-Baku line at Tiflis, a distance of one hundred and ten miles. The line would be very costly, as it must run through the Caucasus range; a longer but less expensive line would be from Vladikavkaz to Petrovsk, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, half way between Baku and the mouth