The New Student's Reference Work/Baikal, Lake

Baikal (bī' käl), Lake, a large and very deep body of fresh water in Siberia, Russia in Asia, lying north of Mongolia and the vast range of the Altai Mountains. It is situated in the Department of Irkutsk, in latitudes 51° to 55° N.; longitudes 103° to 110° E., and is fed by numerous streams from the Baikal Mountains, a spur of the Altai Range. It has several outlets, the chief being the Angara River, a confluent of the Yenisei. The Trans-Siberian Railroad which connects St. Petersburg via Manchuria with the ports of Vladivostok, Dalny and Port Arthur on the Pacific, formerly crossed Lake Baikal, the trains being transported across the lake on an ice-breaking ferry-boat. The area of the lake, which is crescent-shaped, is estimated at 13,000 square miles, with a shore line 1,000 miles in length. Its depth off its southwest shore is close upon 4,500 feet, over 2,800 feet below the level of the ocean. It abounds in fish, including salmon, sturgeon and fresh-water seals. Steamboats have of recent years begun to develop trade on the shores of the lake, which are rich in mineral springs and petroleum wells. The region is subject to earthquakes.