Opening a [V 005 / roadway] through thick [G 20 / taiga] forest where no man had stepped before was a monumental task. The taiga's surface remained frozen until mid-July, shielded from the warming rays of the sun by the dense vegetation. Workers wallowed in mud two feet deep when warmer weather turned it into a vast bog. After drainage canals were dug, shallow-rooted evergreens lost their hold in the ground and imperiled lives when they crashed into the clearing. The soggy subsoil then needed to be probed for solid ground in order to firmly construct bridges and trestles.
Stone for these structures sometimes had to be brought from as much as 100 miles away. Of the [P 025 / endless stands of timber in the taiga, little was suitable] for using as rail ties or timber for [V 006 / bridges]. Therefore, it had to be brought from sources 75-300 miles away. Once these arrived there was scarcely three months of weather suitable for track-laying. Long, hard winters saw temperatures drop to as low as -60 degrees Fahrenheit.
