THE TUNKIN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT/THE TUNKIN VALLEY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000300540009-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 18, 2013
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: November 30, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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C;LASII-IUA HUN eLAI\LV".1.aLW.L\11"21115/02.JUUrt1:11 I h/
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
INFORMAZION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION REPORT
USSR/Mongolia
CD NO.
50X1
DATE DISTR. JO Nov 1953
The Tunkin Highway Construction Project/ NO. OF PAGES ,6
The Tunkin Valley
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFICTINO THIT NATIONAL 0101551
OF THI 05I050 SSSSSSS WITHIN THI MtANINO OF TITLI II, SICTIONS 700
AND 704, OF TNt U.S. COOL, AS AMENDED, ITS TTTTTT IISION OR 5E01.
LATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR ReCtIPT NY AN UNAUTHORIZIO POISON IS
PROHIBITED 01. LAW. TOO REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITtO.
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NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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The length of the highway is given accurately. The other kilometer figures are
approximations.
The Old Highway
1. The old Tunkin highway was an ordinary country road, improved in places, with old
wboden bridges over rivers that were too wide for fording. The highway-began
at a small railroad station, KUltuk, on the railroad circling the southern end
of Lake Baikal. There was a plan to extend the highway beyond Ktltuk to the
more important station of Slyudyanka, 7 kilometers away, which was equipped with
an engine shed and which served the mica mines and a large village nearby.
2. On leaving Ktltuk the highway crossed a mountain range through a narrow valley.
At about the 20th kilometer, it crossed the Bystraya River and the Bystraya
Village. The river at this point was not deep and had a stony bed. Traffic
crossed it,by use of a ford. The highway then followed the slopes of the hills
to the Tubellti Village, where it entered a mountain-bordered plain stretching
to the Zangisan hills. For a short distance it went through marshes along
the Irkut River and crossed a rocky elevation at about the 50th kilometer mark.
At or about the 75th kilometer mark; the highway passed through the well-
populated settlement and rayon center; Kyren. Here were warehouses for cargoes
going to Mongolia and; in my opinion, further on to China. Kyren was also the
location of a border guard unit of the NKVD.
3.
From the Zangisan hills to the Mongolian border, the highway crossed broken and
difficult terrain and passed through the Mbndy Village, 4 kilometers from the
Mongolian border. The custom house, as well as another unit of NKVD border guard,
was located in Mondy... There was no custom house or border guard on the Mongolian
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side. Froarthe frontier of the USSR the highway followed a slope to Lake Kosogol
in Mongolia.
4. Beginning at the Bystraya Village, the highway followed the left bank of the Irkat
River Which flowed into the Angara River below Irkutsk. At Kharadaban it crossed.
the Irkut via -a bridge. The stretch of highway frdm this point tOwarda its end
oreased a sPur of the Sayan Range of the Tunkin Mountains. The highWaY Ilea over
loose grouhd-eadilY washed out during the spring and summeis months, the period, of
greatest Precipitation, and therefore was in bad condition. Additional difficulties
in travelling over the highway were encountered on the winding section near
Kharadaban which had steep rises and drops and, in the winter was covered with ice.
5. The Tunkin highway was of great strategic importance. It provided a short and -
Convenient reute not only into Mongolia but also into China. This was attested to by
the cargoes which Moved along the highwayta spite of its unimproved conditions.
Cargo moved from KUltuk Station to the border of Mongolia and then to the landing
docks at Turta on. Kosogol in Mongolia. From Turta it was transPorted by water
to the doCk8 at Khaytagol on the southern end of Lake Kosogola Two steamers ferried
the cargo, one was an old Mongolian steamer and the other had been brought from the
USSR in a dismantled condition in 1932. During the winter, cargo was transported
over the ice by trucks.
6. The highway was used by both horse and motor transport. Horse transport was chiefly
used during the winter. Food, textiles, ready-made clothing, consumers good in
general, as well as ergreat nuMber of disasseMbled one-axis frame carts were -carried
over the road .into the Mongolian People's Republic. The carts were manufactured in the
USSR for Mongolia as replacements for carts in use there, which were very heavy and
had octagonal wheels tightly sealed to the axle that produced eneugh noise to be heard
several kilometers away. On the return trip to the USSR, the horse transport brought
carcasses of wild goats and wild boars.
7. Motor transport carried goods from Kultuk Station for transshipment at Kyren. From
Kyren the goods were moved by horse transport, Special shipments of wall-joined and
nailed-down grates were carried over the highway to the docks at Turta. These crates
were described as "tea kettles". This aroused sharp curiosity among the drivers because
of the large nutber and the excessive weight, also. because it was necessary to handle
the crates with special care. The drivers removed 's. board from a crate that had been
damaged Onring transsMement and found that the "tea kettle e" were gun shells moving
to Chiaaa, , The highway provided the shortest route tO one of the most
vulnerable spots in the USSR - the section of the Tranasiberian railway lying along.
the southern end of Lake Baikal, where the Transbaikal and !eastern areas May be cut
off from the USSR. This danger became less acute when a railroad was built along the
northern end of Lake. Baikal in 1937.
8. The difficulty of transporting over the old highway, the necessity of increasing its
traffic capacity, and the great political importance of the highway, forced the -
authorities to carry out the modernization of the existing old highway. A survey was
made in 1932 and plans for the new highway were drawn up. The new highway was projected
as a 3rd class road following the old highway and utilizing the bridges and improve&
sections of the old highway.
9. The -width of the highway, including the shoulders, was planned to be 8 meters. The
roadway was to be 6 meters wide. The maximum grades were to be 7%. The road was to be
covered with gravel to a depth of 17 centimeters and have a crown.
10. The length of the highway, from Kultuk Station to the Mongolian border, was 110 kilometer
and from the border of the USSR to the Turta docks, 14 kilometers, a total of 124
kilometers. The highway crossed six large rivers. Old wooden bridges were utilized
ter three of these rivers. At the 40th and 100th kilometer marks, girder type bridges
were used and at the 60th kilometer mark a Larosebarr brace bridge. There were plans
for three additional vrombar: brace type bridges to he constructed at the 20th
kilometer mark over the layetraya River, at the 90th over the Belle:lei River and at the
910t over the MalyyZamgiaan 'River. The length of the bridges varied between 50 and
150 meters.
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11, In the area of Obrub, at the 95th kilometreiti'll*highway follows th 7De of a
mountain range at an elevation of 9.).!.-'46-45 meters above the TrYot Rtver level, From the
Mondy village to the Mongolia0der lies the maxiMum upgrade stretch. FTOM the Irest
of the Tunkin Muntgtritig??-the highway began tr, descend. to-Lake Kosogol on the
Mongolian sidp.,01:A4e border and reached the maximum ,downgrade on the last three
kilomete,501trfore the Turta docks.
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Flmancing,the Construction
12. The financing of the construction of the highway was carried out by the USSR government.
An estimate for the Whole length of the highway, including the sections located in
?
Mongolia had to be submitted to and approved by the Main Admir4trattoi of Highways.
No shortages of funds were experienced except for one instanc when credit 50X1
was temporarily withdrawn because of a delay in the presentation of a financial report
on the construction.
13. Mongolia did not share in the expenditures of the construction. In fact Mongolian -
Participation was absent not only in the financial arrangements but also in the technical
supervision and advisory capacity. The USSR built the road according to its own plans
and behaved as though it were at home.
Technical Sapervision of the Construction
14. The builders and technical supervisors had before them a task of building a new
highway without interrupting the flOw of traffic along the old highway. While the
horse transport, Which moved only during the winter months, continued very satisfactorily,
the motor transport was in terrible shape. Deep mud in the spring and fall, heavy
rainfall in the summer, and the unfavorable contour of the road created great difficulties
for motor transport. Trucks became mired, motors went dead on steep upgrades:, and
many vehicles were put out of commission.
15. The construction crews were at a loss as to Whether they should build a new. highway Or
make essential repairs to the existing old highway so as to keep traffic moving. It
was necessary to make repairs to the old highway and also necessary to keep a separate
crew of workmen ready to pull out trucks that became stuck in the mud, sometimes marooned
for Several days, and to escort them over dangerous sections of the road. All this had
to be done with a limited and poorly qualified labor force. The difficulties of technical
management were very real. However, an order had. been issued that traffic was to
continue inspite of everything and that the new highway was to be built. Disobedience
to the order, for any reason whatsoever, meant imprisonment in a concentration camp at
best.
16. The construction project was based on the necessity of using local materials, lumber and
Stone. All the buildings on the highway were to be out of wood. The paving of the
roadway was to consist of gravel, limestone and shale. The latter pulverized so easily
that sections of the road became dusty and wore out rapidly. All work was to be done by
hand without any machinery. The lack of tools was felt very quickly. There were not
enough measuring instruments. Working tools were both few in number and worthless in
quality. The only exception was an explosive called "ammonals for rock excavation.
Holes for this explosive were bored by hand.
Technical Personnel and Hired Laborers
17. As far as the technical personnel was concerned, the situation at the construction
project was very bad. There was either none at all or it was very poor in quality.
Engineers appointed to the construction project were young and had no practical experi-
ence. With higher wages and monthly travelling expenses the services of more experienced
technicians and foremen from the Ukraine were obtained, 50X1
18.
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The construction work, which
had begun in 1932, was in a most unsatisfactory condition. The Main Administration
of Highways resolved to reorganize the whole construction set up under a different
leadership with a new technical staff. When the local population refused to work on the
construction of the highway, it became necessary to bring labor in from the outside.
The local population preferred to do their habitual work of hunting and carting Which
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provided theiirwith a much better income than working on the construotion project.
The low wages, high production quotas; and poor fooa further distraCted them.
two SoVietlsAttalions ofsrearsistits:of
specialized military personnel. The battalions had been working on road conatruction in
Belorussia and the Ukraine for about two years and consisted of Young men of draft age
whe had "been deprived of their political rights. They were the sens Of former army
officers and government officials, rich peasants or merchants, victims of persecution,
and, in-geherdl, all the disenfranchised. They were formed into battalions and sent
to construct roads Where it was said, "they were forged anew". They Were given food
which was bad. As for clothing, they Troe whatever they brought from home. They were
sheltered in crowded barracks, in s dugout or in old, torn, army tents. They received
no 74'; Bach of the two battalions consisted of less then 300 men. Later the battalions
were merged into one unit. This was all the labor force we had,
20. The 1933 construction plan was only 40% complete when certain sections of the highway
were put into use. These were the Kyren; Zangisan; and Kharadaban sections. The
traffic along the highway greatly facilitated further construction.
21. In the spring of 1934 a road machinery crew arrived. This crew brought the following
equipMent: 3 heavy 12-foot American type graders; 3 light 9-foot American type graders;
20 power shovels (Baker) with a capacity of 0.75 cubic meter; several plowetype trench
diggers; several road plows and steam rollers. All of the machines were equipped with
tractor power.
22. The road machinery crew undertook to complete the dirt bed road over the remaining lengtt
of the highway with the exception of the stretches where the ground was rocky. The
presence Of this crew and an improvement in food supply for theconvicts and construction
battalions, made it possible to complete the highway in 1934.
23. The administration of the portion of the highway carrying through traffic from KUltuk
to Turta was then transferred to the Operational and Routing Administration under the
Irkatsk Highway Department of the Eastern Siberia Kray. The section in Mongolia also
came under this direction.
24. Because the highway stretch's located in Mongolian territory was so short and was
constructed with great speed; it is quite impossible to form any opinion on the attitude
of the Mongolian population to the construction project and the people engaged in it.
25.
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Additional Labor Forces
In 1933, in order to increase our labor force, a battalion
in Moscow, arrived at our construction project. The waifs
berame a heavy bnraen on the oresnization,
it had become necessary to remove tnem 'rum moscow.
The group was made up of children of dispossessed rich peasants, children of broken
families, children of victims of persecution, and children of parents who had been shot
or sent to penal institutions by the NKVD. They were also children of the street,
simply delinquent children, etc. In the summer the children disappeared into the big
cities, lived in sewers and drain pipes, and in basements of wrecked buildings. They
stole and robbed in the city markets for their food. When ,the winter came they
migrated southward. Most of them were between 10 and 15 years of age. 50X1
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of homeless children, collect'
refused to do any work. They
they had been deceived beta;sse they were promised that they
woald be taken south to a rich estate where they were to get good lodgings and excellent
food, andswhere there was a lake, a beach, and boats. They tevolted When they realized
that they were taken eastward. The NKVD guards subdued them by dogs. Each railroad
car had three dogs, one at each end and one in the middle. When any child stirred; a
dog would jump at him. This created a panic. The children calmed down and surrendered
finally on the condition that the dogs would be removed.
27. Naturally the homeless children did no work. Wherever they were lodged, stealing began.
They stole everything they saw, whether they needed it or not. They stole from habit
and for recreation. They stole cattle from the local people, slaughtered it in the woods
ate to satiety; and when there was no cattle, they vent hungry. Unable to stand the
extreme harshness of the living conditions, some of them died. Some ran away but were
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caught at previously letup eoad blocks. The more clever ones who knew how to get
around these danger points disappeared, or perhaps became the prey of wild beasts.
At the insistanee of the construction management and the local administration, the
children had to be removed from the construction area.
28. The Main Administration of Highways finally realized thortage and soon
after the departure of the homeless chil he were notified
that a normal labor force was being sent This force was designated by the
initials SSISD3 (Highway Construction f3). It turned out that the labor force was
nothing but 4 party of "Bytoviki" (petty offenders). No country in the world except
the USSR .and its satellites has the kind of criminals known as "bytoviki". A man may
pick up a few ears of grain, or even a few grains from the fields after harvest for
50X1 his hungry family, and he is called a criminal and sentenced, to 3 or 5 years, or even
Langer, to a concentration camp. these "byteviki" upon their
arrival reasons for their punishments. They all said the same
"The children colleeted grain in the fields after the crops had. been gathered, so I
became a criminal".
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29. The s :laborersarrived badly weakened by their stay in confinement and their travel.
Since no living quarters were provided for the part of the force was settled in
half ruined houses and the remainder in homes from which the NYVIs TIRI removed the
tenants. Atter making repairs to the half ruined houses:, the laboreraerere,!fOUndel
se weak that they could hardly drag themselves around_ the construction project.
30. The famine of 1933 also affected the eonetruction project. The sepply organizations
could not satisfy our needs. Everyone went hungry including the engineers and, technical
staff. Party representatives were the only exceptions. They received their supplies
from special distribution agents. The convicts 5ytoviki7 were the chief sufferers.
Starvation led to scurvy and many died. The whole construction project became a sort
of infirmary but without doctors or medicine. A local plant called "Ramson", eaten
by the local pOpulation as a cure for scurvy, did not help. The engineering and
technical staff had strict orders to state that there was no famine, no sickness, no
deaths, and that everything was fine. However, the situation, obvious3y became known
to Moscow and in the fall of 1933, a commiseion of ISKVID representatives deseended upon
us. It consisted of eight evert members and several covert members. It is interesting
to note that among the members of the commission there was a former engineer of the
Main Administration of Highways vho vas convicted of ;sabotage. He was under constant
:surveillance of one of the covert agents and vas continuouely followed. The commission
investigated the construction for three weeks and then departed. Other than the arrests
or the chief of the finance section and the chief of the supply section, no changes
were made and the fandne continued until late in the fall when the supply situation
improved somewhat.
The TUrikin Valley
31, The Tunkin valley is a narrow strip of land lying between two spurs of the Sayan Range.
It lies between the Villages of Bystraya and Kharadaban. Through this valley flared
the rapid and very winding Irkut river. The soil was 'eltony end without vegetation
near the villages of Kharadaban and Mandy. Near Zangisan it became marshy changing
to forests. The entire valley was interspersed with light soils and mud deposits and
was subject to erosion.
32. At the 50th kilometer mark on the highway, in the Tunkin Mountains, was the Arshany
health resort. This resort was widely known throughout Sibtxia for producing amazing
results in the curing of kidney diseases. About 15 kilometers from Obrub was another
health resort called Nilova Pustyny (Nil's Hermitage). It was supposedly discovered
by an ailing monk named Nil. The resort was very primitive. The main building was a
crudely constructed wood frame house with a leaking roof. The inside partitions were of
rough boards with wide cracks in between. There were three rooms, each having a bath,
which were merely wooden holreq looking like coffins with rags stuffed in the cracks.
Wood pipes with 'wood shutoff .lugs fed strong sulphurous water fr6m nearby springs.
The sulphurous water had temperettirt-e of 35, 45, an3 55 degrees centigrade. Near the
main house there were fotIr small frame reidenceki. This was the entire resort. The
medit'insl baths were used only by th 1-cal inhabltaLt'.:. DElpf.tcT the amazingly
salubrious properties of the water, the resort w Local to the general publtc ecaucs
of its location in a frontier area. AAJIA:t-ston to the resort was authorize& only by
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#001474k. !sued b 4110 ngvp. Approximately 30 additional mineral Or a
verb-locate& in0 Tia 14ty but for the same reason they were not opened to the
general pdblic. The officials on the construction project used this health'
tisietirt'obnatantly:and devoted much time to it, the other employees were too busy with
their work.
33. Thepopulation iolated of Buryats and Th
Russian Itkutek Cossacks. e Cosiacke had
Settled aon the MOngolian frontier and had been charged with guarding the boder.
After the ReVOlUtiOn they were released from this duty and replaced by the' border
units of IIKVD4 The OosOacks were deprived of all their privileges. They were taxed
beyond their,e141,1tr to pay. Constantly watched, they were extremelt careful in their
50X1 *Or% 444 004700,04One. the Cossack; reeeited
por04004 frO4 the regiMe, to wear yellow stripes on their trousers and Caps with a
yellow ben
34. The Duxyat were sirVetirs and In Mena !Ore disinclined to MO 910. However
having op 4b awful way of life, and being ' Meld to'f3.44'$016MOUSiliktrabinaP
they ,oetjes woke tzenkly. The Buryste have spiritual bonds to the Leletil* VhotY
resente4t1e 4bB of their monasteries and the persecutions of lemelage V40 Lomas
eava70-bad isima Iglu/ince on the Buryat and they themselves were Odbjeat to the
authority of th 40041 Lama in Tibet.
35. At the foot of, the TUnkin range, between Eyren and Rbaradaban, lies 4 eauOttarY for
"andatra" rats (muskrats), 17 of Which were brought from the United States.
,
36. The people of tbe TUnkin Valley were carters and hunters. They vsry. willing to
,
. ,
cart gOods intO Mongolia because they were permitted to bring back to the USSR certain
foodstuffs, such as White flour, sugar, tea, vegetable oil, etc, which were unobtainable
in the local stores.
37. The hunting season wee in the late fall, the winter, and a short period during the
Opting. During the spring they shot wapiti, a form of spotted ell. Early in May
there was.elway; excitement in the hunting villages. It was at this time that the
wapiti shed their borne, The new borne, before they harden, were of greet value
(they are called "panty"). The hunter prepared a spot frequented by the wapiti by
spreading salt. Just before night the hunter would go to his shack, Which was near his
chosen spot, and. await the wapiti. This was repeated every night. Despite the
darkness of the night the hunters were extremely skilled and shot the animal seeing
Only its shadow. The hunting lasted about 10 days before the antlers hardened and
lost their value. The"pante obtained was taken to purchasing centers and exchanged
for drafts Which enabled the bunter to receive hunting equipment and other necessary
suppliee. A good panty weighed about 7 or 8 kilograms, thus providing a hunter and
his family with a modest, but better than average, living for a six-month period.
38. It Was not unueval:-for the hunters to go to the taiga for two or three months to hunt
squirrela,chipmunks? Wild cats, lynx, an occasional sable, wolves, wild boar's, bears,
and wild oats. The hunters would exchange the pelts obtained for drafts On special
stores where unobtainable household necessities and hunting equipment could be
purchased.
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