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

s as the earlier Mennonite immigrants, but with the following exceptions: first, exemption from military service was to be granted for a period of 20 years, after which the colonists had to pay a spe- cial fee; second, they were not to enjoy the right to brew beer, make vinegar, nor distill whiskey. Each family also had to deposit with the Russian embassy in Berlin a sum of 350 thalers to assure its estab- lishment without any financial help from the Russian government.”’ To the Volga A tract of 17,301 dessiatines (about 46,712 acres) was set aside for newcomers in the province of Samara, in the immediate neighborhood of the great “‘Salt-Trakt,’’ a road upon which the salt from the Elton Sea was conveyed to the interior provinces. Hence the settlement is known as the “Trakt Settlement.’’ The actual settlement began only in 1855 and was not completed until 1873, during which period the following ten villages were founded: Hahnsau (1854), Képpental (1855), Fresenheim, Lindenau and Hohendorf (between 1856 and 1862), Lysanderhéh (1864), Orloff (1871), Ostenfeld and Medemtal (1872), and Valuevka (1875).** It is impossible to ascertain how many families originally settled in these colonies, but according to one authority, 120 families arrived in Russia between 1853 and 1857.” The years from 1854 to 1873 saw the Trakt region growing agriculturally and economically. The raising of wheat, cattle, and horses provided important livelihoods. Red winter wheat made two crops possible yearly, thus increasing income. Dutch cattle brought from Prussia were crossed with the German “‘red cow” of the Ukraine, and the cattle industry developed. These ‘“‘Menno-Dutch’’ cattle were noted for milk production of exceptionally high quality and quantity. The “‘colonist horses’ were in quality and appearance superior to common horses. The breed was improved by crossing it with Belgian and Dutch sires and some Russian stock. By 1873, the Trakt commu- nity had a strong economic base. Each village within the Trakt consisted of from 25 to 30 farms. Each family received a building site of about four acres in the village and a plot of several acres immediately behind it. These were com- monly known as the “‘house-field’”” and were used as a meadow, for raising vegetables and grains, or for domestic use. The rest of 1 4 From the Vistula to the Volga wap “‘SeBaiIA US) $31 JO UO1JED0) @Yy Buimoys ‘jUeWIE;2205 HAIL OUL T> ) ---J...------ So — ms +, Ye ~> 0 BS ° On, +s www weer eee, yunsuoyA efnyrsjesuezt, fyyes)assesjsye¢ Cm Juesjol!gIhQ wIssSPL/S{iog C—— ada /uey — varyasdfrog ~*---- 3 “= eee mwa we wee ee eee - FHT 42 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites the land served as common pasture for village sheep and cattle. Only by the late 1850s, when farming began to supplant stock breed- ing, was this land divided into plots allotted to each farmer. * There were