what is the exact distance and what towns would you have to pass
through to get from Raguva, Lithuania to Lazdijai (Lazdei) Lithuania
in 1898-1905[ not current].It is essential to the answer that it is
described according to maps drawn during 1898-1905

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 05 Jul 2004 04:49 PDT

Hello ashleyd80

I've been looking at an 1882 map and a map published in 1909.

It's pretty clear what the most likely route would have been, using
the major roads of the period, although there is no road shown on
either map for the last 15-20 miles to Lazdijai. There are four towns
marked along the way, and I could work out a reasonable estimate of
the distance by comparing with modern maps.

Before working on distance, checking place names etc., I thought I'd
ask if an answer like this would offer you enough detail and accuracy,
since it would not be exact to the nearest mile. Please just let me
know if you'd like me to go ahead.

Thanks - Leli

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Clarification of Question by ashleyd80-ga on 05 Jul 2004 13:56 PDT

ok - could you please provide the 4 towns and detail the distance
between each as well as speculate what the approximate distance was

Many thanks

Ashleyd80

Hello again Ashleyd80 - thanks for your message.

From Raguva/Rogov there was a road heading south to Vilkomir/Ukmerge.

Raguva-Ukmerge    40km

At Vilkomir/Ukmerge you would turn onto the major road going SW to Kovno/Kaunas.

This road passes through Jonava/Janov.

Ukmerge-Jonava    35km

Jonava-Kaunas     30km

From Kaunas you would take the road for Mariampol/Marijampole - 

Kaunas-Marijampole     50km

 - then on to Kalwari/Kalvarija.

Marijampole-Kalvarija  18km

From here the road continues towards Poland and we have to guess that
there would be a left turn onto a road or track linking Kalvarija and
Lazdijai. (The modern road looks very full of twists and turns,
suggesting hilly terrain.)

Kalvarija-Lazdijai   35km

So the overall distance is about 208 km or 129 miles. 
This is more likely to be an underestimate than an overestimate, and
you might want to add a few miles for extra bends in the road!

From Ukmerge to Kalvarija I used distances given on websites about
Lithuania. The distances from Raguva-Ukmerge, and Kalvarija-Lazdijai I
estimated by looking at modern online maps.

The maps I used were:

 * Russian Empire-Central and South Russia (c.1908-9)
http://feefhs.org/maps/harm/h97-300.jpg
(Click to enlarge)
From:
Harmsworth Atlas and Gazetteer [London, circa 1908-1909]
http://feefhs.org/maps/harm/harm97m.html

and:

 * Russia, Baltics: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (1882)
http://feefhs.org/maps/ruse/re-balt.html
From:
Blackie & Sons Atlas (Edinburgh, 1882)


Since some countries have their best roads leading in and out of the
capital, I considered the possibility of a longer way round via
Vilnius, but this would undoubtedly have been much slower as the route
goes through the Baltic Highlands. If you headed west from Vilnius for
Alytus/Olitte, you would cross the hilliest part of Lithuania, and the
period maps show no main road connecting the two cities. Even today
there is no direct major road between them.

This map gives a general idea of flat and hilly areas in Lithuania:
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/lgcolor/ltcolor.htm

The 1882 and 1909 maps come from the "Map Room" of The Federation of
East European Family History Societies:
http://www.feefhs.org/newest_map.html

Mapquest was useful too:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/main.adp?countrycode=LT

Searches for distances were done using place names and km, e.g.
Jonava Ukmerge km
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=jonava+ukmerge+km&btnG=Search&meta=

Placenames were checked with searches like:
Vilkomir Ukmerge
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=vilkomir+ukmerge&btnG=Search&meta=

I enjoyed working on this "puzzle", and hope the results of my
research will be helpful to you. Please let me know if there is
anything I could clarify.

Best Wishes - Leli

thanks for the most comprehensive answer

Possibly, someone travelling to Lazdijai in 1898-1905 would have gone
by train as far as Sestokai. However, I do not know when this line was
built.

Having a look at modern maps may be helpful when trying to establish
the route taken a hundred years ago:

Lithuania, interactive map (choose a town name from the list below the map):
http://www.zemelapis.lt/cgi/profile.cgi?r=597

Railway:
http://www.litrail.lt/KelEN.nsf/
http://www.litrail.lt/KelEN.nsf/zemelapis.gif?OpenImageResource

Lazdijai:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=54.2333&longitude=23.5166

thanks  but I need an exact distance as well.

You're welcome!

Leli