The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880-1884, Fred Richard Belk, 1976

onward, for they knew that the prayers and money of kinsmen stood behind their efforts. Calculating the dis- tance from Kungrad to Orenburg at well over 650 miles, they planned Migration to America 18] ms i FO ae ae Myer ae i" io na : > Boe ee ie aE = ee ages : ate OC eu es ony a “a vt 4 p an. . oe > oF. BSI ee eS ae eS ate wb : Pee ats BD. tT eat Henry H. Wiebe and his first wife, Maria Jantzen, with their son John H. Wiebe, about 1890. 182 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites on traveling about two miles per hour and arriving at their destina- tion in 300 hours. They subsequently discovered the distances to be much farther, but they would make it in less time than they had planned.'” With this long distance facing them it was imperative that they hire a guide with special qualifications: knowing the quickest route and where water was available as well as being a capable leader of camel drivers. They found such a man in a Tartar named Kardijigit, who was immediately hired. With him leading the way the wagons and the heavily loaded camels set out on May 1, toward the city of Kara- kamish (Temirskoye Ukreplinie in the Russian language) far to the north of Aral Sea. After three days they reached Aral Sea and proceeded along its western shore below the Ust-Urt Mountains farther to the west. This would be a new experience for all of them; on their passage into Central Asia they had seen only the eastern side of the Aral. Ap- proaching this area, which Kardijigit told them had never been crossed by a wagon train, they had to detour through muddy alfalfa fields. The Abraham Jantzen wagon slowed the line down when it sank in deep mud. After it was pulled out they bore closer to the seashore on a caravan road that was fairly level but totally devoid of supplies of fresh water. In order to reach the plateau that rose some 600 feet above the sea, the group encountered their most difficult day of travel in four years of wandering. Foregoing their usual noontime rest, the men la- boriously pushed the heavy wagons up the steep incline, as the women and children walked behind. Rocks had to be placed behind the wheels at almost every step in order to prevent the wagons from rolling backward into the sea. At the end of four hours of tedious, back- breaking labor they had succeeded in moving only 600 feet nearer to their destination." After a most welcome respite at a cold spring atop the plateau, they renewed their weary journey." For two weeks the trail carried the wanderers between the rug- ged cliffs of the Ust-Urt and the vast Aral Sea.'* Then, after fording the bed of the Chegan River, they entered the bleak wasteland to the North. Kardijigit skillfully led the caravan across country so bar- ren of forage that had their trek occurred in summer, it would have been impossible to find adequate grazing for the horses. Familiarity with shortcut trails and the location of grass and water w