Obi

o'be, a great river of western Siberia. Its sources lie in the Altai Mountains. The general course is northerly. It empties into the Gulf of Obi. Its lower course is frozen solid during the winter season. The Obi drains a basin of 920,000 square miles. In this respect it is the fifth river in the world. With its branches it has 9,000 miles of navigable waters. Though there are but few steamers at present, geographers expect that the river will one day be of commercial importance, and that the valley will become one of the great food-producing regions of the world.