 Until its completion, a train ferry transported railcars across the lake from Port Baikal to Mysovaya for a number of years.The lake became the site of the minor engagement between the Czechoslovak legion and the Red Army in 1918.At times during winter freezes, the lake could be crossed on foot, though at risk of frostbite and deadly hypothermia from the cold wind moving unobstructed across flat expanses of ice.