Second important point the mouth of the Kama, lying just below Kazan, was conquered later, after a long and stubborn struggle. Finally, the Great Transformer of Russia, Peter, having connected the upper reaches of the Volga with the seas of Vlym and Baliski, finally secured Rosey and its mouth by conquering the Kasshi shores. Only from then on did the Volga become “the great Russian river of the Russian land,” the most important artery of the trade movement;
en!I, the significance of which not only does not diminish with the emergence and development of the network of Russian railways, but, on the contrary, increases with each new railway route adjacent to one or the other bank of the Volga.
It is not superfluous to say that, as a trade route, the Volga can be divided into 4 parts, called reaches: from Tver to Rybinsk, where the Volga receives the Sheksna, from Rybinsk to Nizhny, where the Oka flows into the Volga, from Nizhny to the mouth of the Kama, where a huge waterway separates from the Volga up the Kama into the northeastern provinces of Rosesh and from the mouth of the Kama to Astrakhan, where the Volga, flowing into the now Russian Castian Sea, opens the way to the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Of all the trading navigation times, the month of May annually seems to be the most favorable on the Volga; at this time the river shows unprecedented greatness; having risen with its waters near Astrakhan to almost two fathoms, near Saratov - five fathoms, and in the upper reaches and more, the Volga in many days seems like a whole sea; Its numerous branches, channels, or so-called “Volozhki”, merging with the main channel, completely disappear into the general giant channel; The wide floodplains and lowlands of the left bank are completely covered with water; there can be no talk of any shoals or riffles at this time; free fairway - everywhere. Wherever you look at this time, everywhere you see increased, almost feverish movement. Steamships, barges, barges and rafts scurry across the wide expanse; where you can see luxurious green meadows on the floor, during this period of your eyes you will meet ships of different types and sizes on the vast water surface, rushing in all directions.
As on all trade routes, and of course on the Volga, trade traffic represents the main essence of the matter, compared with passenger traffic, which is secondary. A lot of goods, such as bread, non-vegetable products, salt, fish, leather, lard in fabulous quantities are sent up the Volga. Astrakhan sends fish and non-vegetable products; Tsaritsyn sends salt; bread and lard come from the piers of Saratovskaya and Samara gubery. Part of these cargoes, being more urgent, is transferred to the railway roads adjacent to the Volga below the mouth of the Kama; the other, larger part, goes further along the Volga, to the mouth of the Kama; Here, huge cargoes from the piers of the Kama, Vyatka and Belaya come along the Kama, from top to bottom. From there, all this is sent up the Volga to Nizhny, gradually increasing along the way with the amount of goods that the Volga is supplied by the piers located between the mouths of the Kama and Nizhny Novgorod. From Nizhny, part of the cargo goes along the railway to Moscow, part along the Oksye Pristan, part along the Volta to its upper reaches, in the direction flax to Rybinsk, the vast majority remains in Nizhny until the fair. Quite a few goods are also sent down the Volga, mainly taking into account the amount of cargo: lye, matting, bast, bast and wood chips. As for the timber, be it logs, planks or firewood, there is so much of it in rafts and on boats (huge barges) that it would be almost impossible to determine the weight of this cargo; In all likelihood, this weight exceeds the sum of the weight of all other cargo moving along the Volta, and therefore, we are unlikely to exaggerate when we say that the total weight of cargo of this nature significantly exceeds 800,000,000 poods. Linen cargoes in different types are sent from the rivers of Unzha and Vetluga; gradually decreasing in numbers at various piers of the Volga, especially in Kozmodemyansk (the Japanese flax fair), they eventually reach Astrakhan. To accommodate with them another linen caravan, even larger in size."
Tugboat with barges.