Before the railroad was constructed, Siberia was an infinite frontier, with scattered areas of development but little infrastructure between. Travel was difficult.

Yet even while famous explorers were still writing books of discovery about the vast expanses of Siberia, machinery salesmen and land developers were coming to Siberia, both from within Russia and from outside. Here's a typical 1899 "wealth of the future" piece, from HARPER'S WEEKLY.

External link: “Who Will Exploit China?” asks this French article, from its translation as published in THE LIVING AGE for December 18, 1897.

External link: “The Way of the Cross,”as published in HARPER'S MAGAZINE for March, 1899, is a fictionalized account of one traveler's journey across Siberia and into Palestine.