As an engineer Garin-Mikhailovsky was involved in construction of the
Laspi Pass highway and the
Trans-Siberian Railway. In 1891 he headed the surveying party that chose the place for building a railroad bridge over
River Ob for the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was Garin-Mikhailovsky who rejected the option of raising a bridge in
Tomsk. This decision later resulted in the foundation of
Novosibirsk and played a vital role in development of the city. He came down in the history of Russian literature as the author of the story ''Tyoma's Childhood
(1892) and the short story Several Years in the Country
. His travels in the Far East resulted in the travel notes Around Korea, Manchuria and Liaodong Peninsula
(1899) and Korean Tales'' (1899). One of his stories was published in the first volume of
Maxim Gorky's
Znanie collections in 1904. His short story
Practical Training is available in English translation in
The Salt Pit, Raduga Publishers, 1988. ==Legacy==