The Route to the White Sea in the 19th Century. Part 1: Road State and Transportation Conditions

Abstract

From the Vyatka region, ways led to the north, i.e. to Arkhangelsk and the White Sea coast. Grain, flour, flaxseed, and hemp from the region’s towns – Khlynov (Vyatka), Slobodskoy, Kotelnich, and Orlov – as well as goods from the Volga and Kama regions were exported along these routes every winter for several centuries. Through dense forests and then on river barges, the cargo was transported to Arkhangelsk. Back to the south they sent fish and imported goods. This paper examines the state of roads that ran from the central part of the Vyatka region to the river piers (mainly in the 19th century). The purpose of this study is to determine how the condition of roads and roadside facilities affected interregional trade in agricultural
goods. This topic is considered here in the context of the so-called road tradition of Russia (in other words, road daily life, road culture, traditional travel culture). The road tradition is the conditions, circumstances, and situations that accompanied journeys by land over long distances. It was very difficult to get with cargo to the northern river piers along cart roads, since the way was long and ran through sparsely populated wooded areas. Winter roads were full of potholes; sledges would break down, and the horses would get completely exhausted. These problems hampered the economic activity of millions of people: costs were significant while earnings were low. In addition, the transported goods were raw materials or agricultural products with low level of processing. Bad roads stimulated the search for fundamentally different ways of delivering cargo to the White Sea.