In the 17th century the Russian criminal code was ruthless: men were impaled on stakes, hanged and beheaded for offences that today would not be considered criminal. Lesser offences were punished by flogging with the `knut' (a whip with leather and metal thongs) or `bastinado' (cane), branding with hot irons, amputation, or cutting out tongues. An exile system evolved to get rid of these criminals who were too mutilated to be of use to anyone.
With the discovery of gold, silver and coal in Siberia, exile was developed as a way to alleviate the shortage of laborers to work them. The range of crimes punishable by exile was extended to include desertion, assault with intent to kill, vagrancy and a host of other, absurd offences (fortune-telling, prize-fighting, snuff-taking, driving with reins). In the 18th century demand for labor in the mines was still high. Drunkenness, wife-beating, cutting down trees by serfs, begging with a pretense to being in distress and accidentally setting fire to property were added to the roster of crimes punishable by exile. With the abolition of the death penalty in 1753 all capital crimes except for attempting to assassinate the tsar received sentences of exile to Siberia.
The exile system was disorganized and corrupt. Men were herded over the Urals to prisons, labor camps and the mines, with little attention paid to their basic needs. Consequently, many died along the way. In 1817 a series of exile stations (crude log cabins with wooden sleeping platforms) was built to provide overnight shelter for the marching parties. Forwarding prisons were also built at Tyumen and Tomsk.
The quest for increased knowledge of Siberia's riches demanded easier access to the region and prisoners were put to work to upgrade the track worn by chained gangs of convicts. Convict labor reinforced sections of the trail with logs, and posting stations were built at 25-mile intervals along the way. The stations provided travelers with fresh [V 003 / horses], carriages or sledges, foul meals and shabby accommodation. Until the Trans-Siberian was constructed, this was the only route east and was known as `the Great Siberian Post Road.' By 1900 over one million people had taken this route to a life of hardship.
