Topographic and statistical description of the border line of Petrozavodsk and Povenets uesds with Finland

III. Roads and connections.

It is impossible to describe all connections going across the border, as in winter the roads directions depend on the decisions of the carriers, making it through the frozen marshes and lakes.

In summer of land connections only state post roads, connecting towns are more or less convenient for driving. Small and big villages are often lays far from the towns and are connected with other settlements only by very bad country roads, especially in the North, where quite often carriage roads exist only in winter and in summer one have to go by water or by feet.

There are two post roads going from Petrozavodsk:

1. To Olonets.

Station Polovina 24 miles 10 horses
Station Pryazha 24½ miles 8 horses
Station Svyatozero 15¼ miles 8 horses
Station Keskozero 31¼ miles 8 horses
Station Toros-Ozero 24½ miles 8 horses
Station of Olonets 28½ miles 8 horses
  148 miles  

2. To Povenets.

Station Shuja 17 miles 2 horses
Station Suna 24½ miles 2 horses
Station Kondopoga 16½ miles 2 horses
Station Mänselga 17¼ miles 2 horses
Station Lizhma 15 miles 2 horses
Station Käppeselga 33¼ miles 2 horses
Station Perguba 26 miles 2 horses
Station Lumbusha 17 miles 2 horses
Station of Povenets 18¾ miles 2 horses
  185¼ miles  

Big local road from Petrozavodsk to the Vosnesenie goods station on the Svir river and to Vytegra:

Local station Derevyannoe 23¾ miles 4 horses
Local station Pedaselga 10 miles 4 horses
Local station Shoksha 24 miles 4 horses
Local station Sheltozero 21 miles 4 horses
Local station Rybreka 16 miles 4 horses
Local station Gimreka 14 miles 4 horses
Local station Voznesenye 19 miles 4 horses
  128 miles  
Post station Oshta 18¼ miles  
From Osta to Vytegra by St.-Petersburs-Archangelsk post road 59½ miles  
  77¾ miles  
Total from Petrozavodsk to Vytegra 205¾ miles  

Local cart road from Pedaselga station to Ladva township, in Petrozavodsk uezd:

Ladva township 24 miles
Ivina village 25 miles
Ostrechiny settlement 10 miles
Up to Svir river 1 mile
  60 miles

Summer cart road from Petrozavodsk to Suojärvi cast-iron mills, in Salma uezd, Viborg gubernia, by Olonets post road:

Station Pryazha 48¼ miles
Kindosovo village 12 miles
Sämozero 24 miles
Essoila 9 miles
Ugmoila 1 mile
Chasovenskaya 10 miles
Veshkalitsy 12 miles
Savilachu 9 miles
Masselga 10 miles
Chalki 9 miles
Kongozero 5 miles
Border 7 miles
  156¼ miles
Finnish customs post 2 miles
Möki inn 5 miles
Ehkele 5 miles
Suojärvi township 8 miles
  20 miles
Total 176¼ miles

From Suojärvi township to Suojärvi mills:

by summer road 16 miles
by winter road 10 miles

Note. In Kindosovo there is a raft ferry crossing on Shuja river, the raft is made of 14 5-yards logs; there is a wooden bridge on piers over Säpsä river (tributary to Shuja river) between Kindosovo and Sämozero villages.

The cart-way from Essoila village to Olonets uesd connects with Olonets post road near Keskozero station; it crosses Petrozavodsk uesd villages:

Korza 5 miles
Rupchaila 6 miles
Salmenizhsky township 13 miles
Mikkelitsy 2 miles
Gongolitsy 6 miles
  32 miles

and Olonets uesd villages:

Small Kuchozero 5 miles
Kuchozero 2 miles
Utkina-Gora 10 miles
Keskozero 15 miles
  33 miles
Total 65 miles

Cart-track from Veshkalitsy township:

to Potkuselga village 6 miles

Then riding path:

to the border 6 miles
Gautovaara village 6 miles
Lepis 17 miles
Suojärvi mills 8 miles
  43 miles

Another riding path from Gautovaara:

Eliniemi village 17 miles

And then cart-way to:

Kuikiniemi 6 miles
Leppiniemi 2 miles
Akemisto 3 miles
Tuhanvaara 4 miles
Suojärvi township 3 miles
  35 miles

Note. There is a Finnish custom post 2 miles from the border with a turnpike and foot quardes, and in Ehkele village, 12 miles from the border, stays mounted border guard squadrun.

Another cart-way from Petrozavodsk to Suojärvi mills, goes through station Shuja of Povenets post road and Konchozero mills:

Station Shuja 17 miles
Kosalma village 15 miles
Konchezero settelment 13 miles
Spasskaya-guba 17 miles
Kenegi 11 miles
Nelgomozero 12 miles
Gongomuksa 12 miles
Ravon-gora 8 miles
Nälmozero 10 miles
Chalki 7 miles
Kongozero 9 miles
Border 7 miles
  138 miles

Cart-way from Petrozavodsk to Valazma state cast-iron mills, in Povenets uezd:

Station Shuja 17 miles
Kosalma 15 miles
Konchezero 13 miles
Spasskaya-guba 17 miles
Kenegi 11 miles
Vendjura 23 miles
Fomin-navolok 14 miles
Lindozero 17 miles
Pälvozero 30 miles
Valazma mills 7 miles
  164 miles

There is a steam boat going from Valazma mills by Suna river, though the lakes Poikolo, Chudozero, Kudomagubskoye, Ushkalskoye, Koero strait, (Koerosalmi), Gimolskoye lake, unnamed strait, Roik-Navolotskoye lake, Koldozerka river and on by waters of Vongozersko-Ostrovsky basin to Lenderi lake. The steamer belongs to Valazma mills and is powered by 12 HP steam engine with 2½ feet draft and tags barges with up to 160 metric tons of iron ore.

Valazma and Suojärvi mills are connected by 80 miles long riding path, crossing the border at 30 miles from Valazma mills. This road is mainly used by Finnish Orthodox Karelians, going on a pilgrimage through Povenets to Solovetsky monastery.

From Valazma one can go in winter by the sleigh-road and in summer by boat up the Suna River to:

Porosozero village 4 miles
Kudoma-Guba 25 miles

There is a riding path from Pälvozero to:

Kostomuksha 20 miles
Border 18 miles
Sali-järvi, Viborg gubernia 16 miles

Another riding path from Kostomuksha goes to:

Border 16 miles
Livus-vaara, Kuopio gubernia 15 miles

From Porosozero to Megra village laying at the Megri-järvi lake, at the border between Povenets and Ilomantsi uesds, they count 8 miles by land.

Winter way from Petrosavodsk to Suojärvi mills:

Vidana 24 miles
Markelitsy 30 miles
Chui-Navolok 17 miles
Lahta 8 miles
Masselga 30 miles
Border 3 miles
  102 miles
Kokoniemi (Kuikoniemi) 25 miles
Koibas 3 miles
Suojärvi mills 8 miles
  36 miles
Total 133 miles

Note. Near Kokoniemi village every winter a Finnish Custom post with turnpike is set. In summer the same quards protect Finnish shore of Ladoga lake on boats.

The roads going to Suojärvi and Valazma mills are especially important as they serve for rather busy traffic between the North-West part of Olonets Gubernia and adjoining Eastern Finland.

Aside of this roads there is also a so called Old Kajani road (former military road), quite convinient for carts. This road goes through:

in Petrozavodsk uezd.

Konchozero mills 43 miles
Munozersky township 10 miles
Ussunsky township 24 miles
In Povenets uezd.
Svyatonavoloksky township 30 miles
  109 miles

There is a riding path from Svaytnavolok to:

Justozero 28 miles
Soldozero 7 miles
Porosozero 30 miles
Kudoma-guba 29 miles
Svinaya-gora 30 miles
Lenderi 70 miles
Tulos-ozero 40 miles
Kolvas-ozero 17 miles
The border of Uleåborg gubernia 16 miles
  267 miles
Subtotal 376 miles
Alimainen 15 miles
Lamaspera 12 miles
Kuhmoniemi 20 miles
  47 miles
Total 423 miles

Notes:

1. In winter they count 12 miles from Kudoma-Guba to Gimolsky township.

2. There is a riding path from Svinaya-Gora village:

To the border 16 miles
Vustoniemi village, Ilomantsi uezd, Kuopio gubernia 16 miles

3. There is a 20 miles portage from Lenderi lake to Saima basin

4. Exept the riding path from Kolvas-ozero to Alimainen, described ealier, there are two more riding paths from Povenets uesd to Kajani uezd:

From Koshki-Navolok to Alimainen 40 miles
From Rovkola to Kieki 30 miles

On the left side of the border, on Finnish territory, there are good high roads:

  1. From Suojärvi township, through Impilahti township to the town of Serdobol (Viborg gubernia), from where one road goes to Kexholm, and another to Viborg.
  2. Trough Korpiselka township to the town of Joensuu (Kuopio gubernia).
  3. Trough Ilomantsi township to the town of Kajani (Uleåborg gubernia).

The other nearest to the border point from where to roads go is township Pielis.

From here local post roads go to:

  1. Through Nurmis township to the town of Kajani.
  2. Through townships Juga and Kondialax to the town of Joensuu.
  3. To the town of Kuopio, that is connected with the high roads with all Finnish towns.

There are also steamers going from Kuopio to Viborg.

From the town of Kajani the road goes to Uleåborg, that stays on the so called big shore road, going along the whole near-sea Finland for 1 580 miles.

In winter, when rivers, lakes and marshes, with which the Finland is so rich, froze, connections inside the country become more convenient and numerous.

Except for land connections, there are water connections between almost all trading and production centers of Grand Duchy by different water and lakes systems, of them Saima system, covering about 1/4 of Finnish territory, comes close to the described border line. This system consists of big number of open waters with the same level, connected with numerous straits. The Vuoksa river connects these waters with the Northern (Finnish) part of Ladoga lake an Saima channel connects them directly with Viborg bay.

There are regular shipping lanes on Saima system, some going over than 1 000 miles. Main cargo here are timber products, iron and meat from upper Finland to Viborg and St.Petersburg and corn and salt in back direction.

It is possible to come from Saima basin to Uleå basin. To do that one has to go from Pielisjärvi lake, belonging to Saima system, (about 40 miles from the border in Pielisjärvi uezd, Kuopio gubernia), up by Lieksa river to Jongeri lake and then by portage over Maanselga ridge into Sauna-järvi lake, which through Lammas-järvi lake connects with Kajani river near Kuhmoniemi township. Onother route goes from the same Pielisjärvi lake up by Matku-Joki river into the small Maanselgan-lampi lake. From Maanselgan-lampi across narrow marshy neck, about a half-mile wide, one can portage into Kollio-lampi lake, that runs over into Kijando lake, belongin to Kajani river system. Kajani river or Kajani-elf, runs from the small lake Jortine-järvi at the foot of Maanselga mountains. This 150-miles river creates a continuos range of small lakes. After the exit of the last of them – Nuas-järvi – there are several perilous rapids and falls. The most known of them are Koinu-koski rapids and Emmä waterfall, the fist having 15 feet of downfall and the latter – 18 feet. Both rapids are situated quite near the town of Kajani and are surrounded by high mountains. There are lock-chambers built in the rocks to bypass these rapids. These locks, being 50 feet long and 8 feet wide serve for locking in boats since 1846. There is also a bridge built directly over Emmä waterfall on the road from Kajani to Paldamo.

Kajani-elf enters the Eastern part of Uleå-tresk (Oulu-järvi) lake that has about 70 miles in length and 25 miles in width. It is about 16 to 32 feet deep and lays at about 380 feet over the sea level. The waters of this lakes run into the Gulf of Bothnia by the Uleå river, that formes a formidable rapids Meri-koski quite near Uleåborg. the length of the Uleå river is about 110 miles, the width is from 170 to 320 yards and the depth is from 6 to 18 feet, except for the estuary, which is only 4 to 5 feet in depth because of the detritus; its current velocity is about 4 miles in an hour, rising to a 6 miles in an hiure during high waters in spring.

For better shipping seven rapids on the Uleå river are cleared and towing-paths are built on their shores. The shipping traffic on all the waters, that run to the sea by this river, is very active – it serves for the delivery of the one of the main Uleåborg export commodity – rosin.

  • Note: At the time described in this work they used the post stations for changing horses and drivers in postal and passenger transportation.

Part IV.