Russian Travel Routes

Starting and ending his round the world journey in New York, Russel Farnham set foot in the following places: Falkland Islands, Hawaii, Astoria Oregon, Sitka Alaska, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, St Petersburg Russia, and Copenhagen Denmark. The exact path he traveled between Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and St Petersburg is unknown at this time, but most likely followed parts of the Russian mail and supply route from Moscow to Irkutsk that existed at that time called the Sibirsky Trakt - Сибирский тракт in Russian. This route generally follows the route of the Trans-Siberian railway. At other times he most likely follow the Lena river from Irkutsk to Yakutsk. From Yakutsk to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is anyones guess as few routes exist even to this day, but his route may have followed what is today the Kolyma Highway which is also know as the Road of Bones because the bones of inmates from the gulag camps that built it were incorporated into the road.

Our team hopes to research the Russian State Historical Archives (RSHA), Kiev Region State Archives (in Ukraine) and the Kazan Region State Archives to find documents mentioning Farnham's journey.