It was the end of June, 1735, before the main forces were under way
again for the Pacific. From Yakutsk to Okhotsk on the Pacific, the
course was down the Lena, up the Aldan River, up the Maya, up the
Yudoma, across the Stanovoi Mountains, down the Urak river to the sea.
A thousand Siberian exiles were compelled to convoy these boats.[11]
Not a roof had been prepared to house the forces in the mountains. Men
and horses were torn to pieces by the timber {16} wolves. Often, for
days at a time, the only rations were carcasses of dead horses, roots,
flour, and rice. Winter barracks had to be built between the rivers,
for the navigable season was short. In May the rivers broke up in
spring flood. Then, the course was against a boiling torrent. Thirty
men could not tug a boat up the Yudoma. They stood in ice-water up to
their waists lifting the barges over the turbulent places. Sores broke
out on the feet of horses and men. Three years it took to transport
all the supplies and ships' rigging from the Lena to the Pacific, with
wintering barracks constructed at each stopping place.
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