Having learned about the large finds of Yegor Lesnoy, Andrei Popov sent his people to him. They failed to find out where the gold was mined. Then Andrei Popov personally went to Yegor Lesnoy, but by the time he arrived, the hermit miner had already been strangled. On August 11, 1828, the merchant Andrei Yakovlevich Popov submitted an application to the Dmitrov volost administration of the Tomsk province for a plot on the Berikul River. According to one version, the location of the site was revealed by a pupil of Yegor Lesnoy. The government willingly issued permits for gold mining, but there were few willing to invest big money in exploration. Feodot Ivanovich Popov spent more than 2 million rubles on exploration. F. I. Popov died in Tomsk on April 20, 1832, and A. Ya. Popov died in 1833 in St. Petersburg, and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Start of production

The mine "1st Berikulskaya area" in 1829 gave 1 pood 20 pounds of gold. In 1830 - more than four and a half pounds, and in 1835, gold mining by the merchants Popovs on the Dry Berikul, Wet Berikul and several other small tributaries of the Kiya increased to more than 16 pounds.

Mass production

New gold deposits were discovered. In Western Siberia, along the rivers: Bolshoy Kozhukh, Tisul, Tuluyul, Kiysky Shaltyr, along the Bolshoi and Maly Kundustuyulam, along the Golden Whale. In Eastern Siberia, along the rivers Biryusa, Mana, along the Upper and Lower Tunguska, along the Pit and their large and small tributaries.

The gold rush has begun. In the 30s of the 19th century, more than 200 people were engaged in private prospecting. In the 40s of the 19th century, several hundred search parties worked in Siberia. Each party consisted of about a dozen people. Prospectors had to be provided with food, clothing, weapons, horses, tools, etc. The gold mining industry provided jobs for thousands of people. In 1838, only 102,843 people lived in the Yenisei province. In 1835, 5936 people lived in Krasnoyarsk. In 1834, 5927 people were hired at the mines of the Mariinsky taiga, of which 4863 were exiled settlers.

Gold mining contributed to the development of trade in Siberia. The volume of trade in bread and fodder in the Yenisei province grew from 350 thousand rubles in the 1830s to five million rubles by the end of the 1850s. In 1859, about 2 million poods of grain were delivered to the gold mines of the Yenisei province.

Horses were bought in large quantities for use in gold mines: only for the Yenisei gold mining region in the late 1850s, up to 8 thousand horses were supplied annually. Taking into account the cost of delivery, the gold miners of the Yenisei province spent annually up to 500 thousand silver rubles on the purchase of meat and horses. In 1854, 200 thousand pounds of meat were purchased for the Irkutsk gold mines. At the end of the 1850s, up to 15 thousand heads of cattle were supplied to the mines of the Yenisei province. The export of fish from the Turukhansk region in the 1840s tripled compared to the 1820s.

One of the most successful prospectors was the merchant Gavrila Masharov from Kansk. He discovered more than a hundred placers of gold, became the richest millionaire in the taiga. He ordered a 20-pound solid gold medal with the inscription "Gavrila Masharov - the emperor of all taiga"; for which he received the nickname "taiga Napoleon". The legendary mine “Gavrilovsky” discovered by him (belonged to the merchant Ryazanov) from 1864 produced 770 pounds of gold. The development of this mine continued after that for another quarter of a century. There were hundreds of such mines in the Yenisei taiga.

According to the estimates of the Main Office of the Altai Mining District, over the years, 35,587 pounds of gold were mined in Siberia for the amount of more than 470 million rubles. In 1861, 459 gold mining companies and partnerships were registered. 30,269 people worked at 372 mines. During the year they mined 1071 pounds of gold. By 1861, 1,125 gold mining permits had been issued. Of these, 621 (55.3%) permits were received by nobles, hereditary honorary citizens - 87 (7.7%), merchants of the first and second guilds - 417 people. (37.0%).

End of the Gold Rush

Siberian merchants occupied secondary positions in gold mining. For example, in 1845, Siberian merchants owned 30% of the mines, which produced 39.1% of gold. Most of the profits were exported from Siberia. Gold mining has led to an outflow of capital from manufacturing industries and other sectors of the economy. The capital accumulated in the gold industry was invested in shipping companies, trade with China in Kyakhta, through charity they were sent to education, and other social needs.

mountain filing

In 1828, after the permission of the private gold industry, a mining tax was first established in the amount of 15% of the gross gold production, which lasted until 1837. In 1840, the mining tax rate was increased to 24% for the mines of the North Yenisei District and to 20% for all other mines in Siberia.

Per pound fee

In connection with the mass unrest of workers in the mines of Siberia, since 1838, an additional tax was imposed on the maintenance of the police and the Cossack guards, which was called the "pound fee", an additional tax was levied in the amount of 4 rubles per each pound of gold mined. In 1840, the size of the per-pound tax changed: enterprises that mined up to 2 poods a year paid 4 rubles for each pound, enterprises that mined more than 10 poods paid 8 rubles. For the Ural enterprises, the rate per pound was two times lower than for the Siberian ones.

Taxation of the Verkhneudinsky and Nerchinsk mining districts

After the permission for private gold mining in Transbaikalia in 1843, the mining tax for private mines in Transbaikalia was set at 30%. The pound tax was set at 5-10 rubles for the maintenance of the mountain police and the Cossack guards. High taxes from the mines of Transbaikalia largely hindered the search, exploration and further development of the gold industry.

Tax reforms

In 1849, the government established new rates of mining tax. All the mines of Siberia were divided into 10 categories, the mountain tax ranged from 5% to 35%, depending on the volume of gold mining. This led to a decrease in gold production and a drop in state revenues. The Crimean War increased the state's need for gold. In 1854, the state passed a new tax law. The maximum tax rate was reduced from 35% to 20%, the minimum rate remained unchanged - 5%.

In 1858, all gold mines were divided into three categories, the maximum tax was reduced to 15%. For the first time in the history of Russia, a progressive scale of taxation was applied. This tax regime was maintained until the passage of the "Private Gold Mining Act" in 1870.

In 1870, in addition to the mining tax and the pound tax, the planting fee, the payment for transporting gold, the payment for alloying and approbation were introduced. The total tax was more than 25% of the net income of the mine. This led to a decrease in gold production, and the state canceled the mining tax. In 1881, the mountain tax was restored. The amount of tax and planted payment was set separately for each region. The highest was the mountain tax in the Lena and Amur districts - it was respectively 40% and 25% of net profit.

In 1895-1897, S. Yu. Witte carried out a financial reform. The free circulation of gold was allowed, the mining tax was replaced by a trade tax.

In 1902, the trade tax law came into force. The gold mining industry was equated with other non-ferrous metallurgy mining industries. Taxation was carried out not on the gross proceeds of the enterprise, but on the amount of profit.

Gold mining in Siberia today

Currently, the leading company engaged in gold mining in Siberia is Polyus Gold. It develops ore and alluvial gold deposits in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (deposits Olimpiadinskoye, Blagodatnoye, etc.) and the Irkutsk Region (Western, Verninskoye and Chertovo Koryto, 94 alluvial deposits in the Vitim river basin).

Gold Rush in Russian Literature

• Shishkov V. Ya., "Gloomy River"
• Mamin-Sibiryak, Dmitry Narkisovich, "Gold".
• Latkin N. V. "In the gold mines." Novel.
• Masyukov P.F. "Echoes from the upper reaches of the Amur and Transbaikalia." In 2 volumes. - Blagoveshchensk, 1894. Collection of poems.

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Literature

• Drobysh-Drobyshevsky A. A.(pseudonym Umansky) "Essays on the gold industry in the Yenisei taiga", St. Petersburg, 1888.
• Ignatkin Yu. A.“Across the wild steppes of Transbaikalia (Essays on the gold of Transbaikalia)”, Chita, 1994.
• Latkin N.V."Geographical and statistical information about the remarkable gold-bearing rivers of the Yenisei district." 1865.
• Latkin N.V."Essay on the northern part of the fields of the Yenisei district or the so-called northern system". // Notes of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. 1869.
• Skaryatin V.D."Notes of a Gold Miner". SPB. 1862.
• Zadornov Nikolai Pavlovich"Golden fever". 1969.
• Sergeev Yu.V."Stanovoi Ridge". 1987.

see also

• Minusinsk (Netherlands-Siberian Society of Gold Mines)

Notes

1. Evtropov K. N.. - Tomsk: Printing house of the diocesan brotherhood, 1904. - XXIII, 423 p., p. 75 Reissue: Evtropov K. N. History of the Trinity Cathedral in Tomsk. - Tomsk: D-Print, 2008. - 476 p. - ISBN 978-5-902514-35-0.. The book is cited from a facsimile electronic copy of the first edition.
4. Danilevsky V.V. Russian gold. The history of discovery and production until the middle of the nineteenth century. Moscow: Metallurgizdat, 1959.
5. N. Iv-ko, Yanovsky A. E.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
6. Khrolenok S.F. Gold industry of Siberia (1832–1917): historical and economic essay. Irkutsk. ISU Publishing House, 1990.
7. Mining industry in Russia. Edition of the Mining Department. SPb., 1893.
8. Sharapov I.P. Essays on the history of the Lena gold mines. Irkutsk. Irk. region state publishing house, 1949.
9. Alexandra Terentyeva. // Vedomosti, December 10, 2010, No. 234 (2752) (Retrieved December 10, 2010)

Links

• Valery Privalikhin. .
• Latkin N.V.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

An excerpt characterizing the Gold Rush in Siberia

Why are you so gloomy? Nesvitsky asked, noticing the pale face of Prince Andrei with sparkling eyes.
“There is nothing to have fun,” answered Bolkonsky.
While Prince Andrei met with Nesvitsky and Zherkov, Strauch, an Austrian general who was at Kutuzov’s headquarters to monitor the food of the Russian army, and a member of the Hofkriegsrat, who had arrived the day before, were walking towards them from the other side of the corridor. There was enough space along the wide corridor for the generals to disperse freely with three officers; but Zherkov, pushing Nesvitsky away with his hand, said in a breathless voice:
- They're coming! ... they're coming! ... step aside, the road! please way!
The generals passed with an air of desire to get rid of troubling honors. On the face of the joker Zherkov suddenly expressed a stupid smile of joy, which he seemed unable to contain.
“Your Excellency,” he said in German, moving forward and addressing the Austrian general. I have the honor to congratulate you.
He bowed his head and awkwardly, like children learning to dance, began to scrape one leg or the other.
The General, a member of the Hofkriegsrath, looked sternly at him; not noticing the seriousness of the stupid smile, he could not refuse a moment's attention. He squinted to show he was listening.
“I have the honor to congratulate you, General Mack has arrived, in perfect health, only a little hurt here,” he added, beaming with a smile and pointing to his head.
The general frowned, turned away, and walked on.
Gott, wie naive! [My God, how simple he is!] – he said angrily, moving away a few steps.
Nesvitsky embraced Prince Andrei with laughter, but Bolkonsky, turning even paler, with an evil expression on his face, pushed him away and turned to Zherkov. That nervous irritation into which the sight of Mack, the news of his defeat, and the thought of what awaited the Russian army had brought him, found its outlet in bitterness at Zherkov's inappropriate joke.
“If you, dear sir,” he spoke piercingly with a slight trembling of his lower jaw, “want to be a jester, then I cannot prevent you from doing so; but I announce to you that if you dare another time to make a fuss in my presence, then I will teach you how to behave.
Nesvitsky and Zherkov were so surprised by this trick that they silently, with their eyes wide open, looked at Bolkonsky.
“Well, I only congratulated you,” said Zherkov.
- I'm not joking with you, if you please be silent! - Bolkonsky shouted and, taking Nesvitsky by the hand, he walked away from Zherkov, who could not find what to answer.
“Well, what are you, brother,” Nesvitsky said reassuringly.
- Like what? - Prince Andrei spoke, stopping from excitement. - Yes, you understand that we, or officers who serve their tsar and fatherland and rejoice at the common success and grieve about the common failure, or we are lackeys who do not care about the master's business. Quarante milles hommes massacres et l "ario mee de nos allies detruite, et vous trouvez la le mot pour rire," he said, as if reinforcing his opinion with this French phrase. - C "est bien pour un garcon de rien, comme cet individu , dont vous avez fait un ami, mais pas pour vous, pas pour vous. [Forty thousand people died and our allied army was destroyed, and you can joke about it. This is forgivable to an insignificant boy, like this gentleman whom you have made your friend, but not to you, not to you.] Boys can only be so amused, ”said Prince Andrei in Russian, pronouncing this word with a French accent, noting that Zherkov could still hear it.
He waited for the cornet to answer. But the cornet turned and walked out of the corridor.

The Pavlograd Hussar Regiment was stationed two miles from Braunau. The squadron, in which Nikolai Rostov served as a cadet, was located in the German village of Salzenek. The squadron commander, captain Denisov, known to the entire cavalry division under the name of Vaska Denisov, was assigned the best apartment in the village. Junker Rostov had been living with the squadron commander ever since he caught up with the regiment in Poland.
On October 11, on the very day when everything in the main apartment was raised to its feet by the news of Mack's defeat, camping life at the squadron headquarters calmly went on as before. Denisov, who had been losing all night at cards, had not yet returned home when Rostov, early in the morning, on horseback, returned from foraging. Rostov, in a cadet uniform, rode up to the porch, pushed the horse, threw off his leg with a flexible, young gesture, stood on the stirrup, as if not wanting to part with the horse, finally jumped down and called out to the messenger.
“Ah, Bondarenko, dear friend,” he said to the hussar, who rushed headlong to his horse. “Let me out, my friend,” he said with that brotherly, cheerful tenderness with which good young people treat everyone when they are happy.
“I’m listening, your excellency,” answered the Little Russian, shaking his head merrily.
- Look, take it out well!
Another hussar also rushed to the horse, but Bondarenko had already thrown over the reins of the snaffle. It was evident that the junker gave well for vodka, and that it was profitable to serve him. Rostov stroked the horse's neck, then its rump, and stopped on the porch.
“Glorious! Such will be the horse! he said to himself, and, smiling and holding his saber, he ran up to the porch, rattling his spurs. The German owner, in a sweatshirt and cap, with a pitchfork, with which he cleaned the manure, looked out of the barn. The German's face suddenly brightened as soon as he saw Rostov. He smiled cheerfully and winked: “Schon, gut Morgen! Schon, gut Morgen!" [Fine, good morning!] he repeated, apparently finding pleasure in greeting the young man.
– Schonfleissig! [Already at work!] - said Rostov, still with the same joyful, brotherly smile that did not leave his animated face. – Hoch Oestreicher! Hoch Russen! Kaiser Alexander hoch! [Hooray Austrians! Hooray Russians! Emperor Alexander hurray!] - he turned to the German, repeating the words often spoken by the German host.
The German laughed, went completely out of the barn door, pulled
cap and, waving it over his head, shouted:
– Und die ganze Welt hoch! [And the whole world cheers!]
Rostov himself, just like a German, waved his cap over his head and, laughing, shouted: “Und Vivat die ganze Welt!” Although there was no reason for special joy either for the German who was cleaning his cowshed, or for Rostov, who went with a platoon for hay, both of these people looked at each other with happy delight and brotherly love, shook their heads in a sign of mutual love and parted smiling - the German to the barn, and Rostov to the hut he shared with Denisov.
- What's the sir? he asked Lavrushka, the rogue lackey Denisov known to the whole regiment.
Haven't been since the evening. It’s true, we lost,” answered Lavrushka. “I already know that if they win, they will come early to show off, but if they don’t until morning, then they’ve blown away, the angry ones will come. Would you like coffee?
- Come on, come on.
After 10 minutes, Lavrushka brought coffee. They're coming! - he said, - now the trouble. - Rostov looked out the window and saw Denisov returning home. Denisov was a small man with a red face, shining black eyes, black tousled mustache and hair. He was wearing an unbuttoned mentic, wide chikchirs lowered in folds, and a crumpled hussar cap was put on the back of his head. He gloomily, lowering his head, approached the porch.
“Lavg” ear, ”he shouted loudly and angrily. “Well, take it off, blockhead!
“Yes, I’m filming anyway,” answered Lavrushka’s voice.
- BUT! you already got up, - said Denisov, entering the room.
- For a long time, - said Rostov, - I already went for hay and saw Fraulein Matilda.
– That's how! And I pg "puffed up, bg" at, vcheg "a, like a son of a bitch!" shouted Denisov, without pronouncing the river. - Such a misfortune! Such a misfortune! As you left, so it went. Hey, tea!
Denisov, grimacing, as if smiling and showing his short, strong teeth, began to ruffle his thick, black, tousled hair like a dog with both hands with short fingers.
- Chog "t me money" zero to go to this kg "yse (nickname of the officer)," he said, rubbing his forehead and face with both hands. "You didn't.
Denisov took the lighted pipe handed to him, clenched it into a fist, and, scattering fire, hit it on the floor, continuing to shout.
- The sempel will give, pag "ol beats; the sempel will give, pag" ol beats.
He scattered the fire, smashed the pipe and threw it away. Denisov paused, and suddenly, with his shining black eyes, looked merrily at Rostov.
- If only there were women. And then here, kg "oh how to drink, there is nothing to do. If only she could get away."
- Hey, who's there? - he turned to the door, hearing the stopped steps of thick boots with the rattling of spurs and a respectful cough.
- Wahmister! Lavrushka said.
Denisov frowned even more.
“Squeeg,” he said, throwing a purse with several gold pieces. “Gostov, count, my dear, how much is left there, but put the purse under the pillow,” he said and went out to the sergeant-major.
Rostov took the money and, mechanically, putting aside and leveling heaps of old and new gold, began to count them.
- BUT! Telyanin! Zdog "ovo! Inflate me all at once" ah! Denisov's voice was heard from another room.
- Who? At Bykov's, at the rat's? ... I knew, - said another thin voice, and after that Lieutenant Telyanin, a small officer of the same squadron, entered the room.
Rostov threw a purse under the pillow and shook the small, damp hand extended to him. Telyanin was transferred from the guard before the campaign for something. He behaved very well in the regiment; but they did not like him, and in particular Rostov could neither overcome nor hide his unreasonable disgust for this officer.
- Well, young cavalryman, how does my Grachik serve you? - he asked. (Grachik was a riding horse, a tack, sold by Telyanin to Rostov.)
The lieutenant never looked into the eyes of the person with whom he spoke; His eyes were constantly moving from one object to another.
- I saw you drove today ...
“Nothing, good horse,” answered Rostov, despite the fact that this horse, bought by him for 700 rubles, was not worth even half of this price. “I began to crouch on the left front ...” he added. - Cracked hoof! It's nothing. I will teach you, show you which rivet to put.
“Yes, please show me,” said Rostov.
- I'll show you, I'll show you, it's not a secret. And thank you for the horse.
“So I order the horse to be brought,” said Rostov, wanting to get rid of Telyanin, and went out to order the horse to be brought.
In the passage, Denisov, with a pipe, crouched on the threshold, sat in front of the sergeant-major, who was reporting something. Seeing Rostov, Denisov frowned and, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb into the room in which Telyanin was sitting, grimaced and shook with disgust.
“Oh, I don’t like the good fellow,” he said, not embarrassed by the presence of the sergeant-major.
Rostov shrugged his shoulders, as if to say: "So do I, but what can I do!" and, having ordered, returned to Telyanin.
Telyanin sat still in the same lazy pose in which Rostov had left him, rubbing his small white hands.
"There are such nasty faces," thought Rostov, entering the room.
“Well, did you order the horse to be brought?” - said Telyanin, getting up and casually looking around.
- Velel.
- Come on, let's go. After all, I only came to ask Denisov about yesterday's order. Got it, Denisov?
- Not yet. Where are you?
“I want to teach a young man how to shoe a horse,” said Telyanin.
They went out onto the porch and into the stables. The lieutenant showed how to make a rivet and went to his room.
When Rostov returned, there was a bottle of vodka and sausage on the table. Denisov sat in front of the table and cracked pen on paper. He looked gloomily into Rostov's face.
“I am writing to her,” he said.
He leaned on the table with a pen in his hand, and, obviously delighted with the opportunity to quickly say in a word everything that he wanted to write, expressed his letter to Rostov.
- You see, dg "ug," he said. "We sleep until we love. We are the children of pg`axa ... but you fell in love - and you are God, you are pure, as on the peg" day of creation ... Who else is this? Send him to the chog "tu. No time!" he shouted at Lavrushka, who, not at all shy, approached him.
- But who should be? They themselves ordered. The sergeant-major came for the money.
Denisov frowned, wanted to shout something and fell silent.
“Squeeg,” but that’s the point, he said to himself. “How much money is left in the wallet?” he asked Rostov.
“Seven new ones and three old ones.
“Ah, skweg,” but! Well, what are you standing, scarecrows, send a wahmistg “a,” Denisov shouted at Lavrushka.
“Please, Denisov, take my money, because I have it,” said Rostov, blushing.
“I don’t like to borrow from my own, I don’t like it,” grumbled Denisov.
“And if you don’t take money from me comradely, you will offend me. Really, I have, - repeated Rostov.
- No.
And Denisov went to the bed to get a wallet from under the pillow.
- Where did you put it, Rostov?
- Under the bottom cushion.
- Yes, no.
Denisov threw both pillows on the floor. There was no wallet.
- That's a miracle!
“Wait, didn’t you drop it?” said Rostov, picking up the pillows one at a time and shaking them out.
He threw off and brushed off the blanket. There was no wallet.
- Have I forgotten? No, I also thought that you were definitely putting a treasure under your head, ”said Rostov. - I put my wallet here. Where is he? he turned to Lavrushka.
- I didn't go in. Where they put it, there it should be.
- Well no…
- You're all right, throw it somewhere, and forget it. Look in your pockets.
“No, if I didn’t think about the treasure,” said Rostov, “otherwise I remember what I put in.”
Lavrushka rummaged through the whole bed, looked under it, under the table, rummaged through the whole room and stopped in the middle of the room. Denisov silently followed Lavrushka's movements, and when Lavrushka threw up his hands in surprise, saying that he was nowhere to be found, he looked back at Rostov.
- Mr. Ostov, you are not a schoolboy ...
Rostov felt Denisov's gaze on him, raised his eyes and at the same moment lowered them. All his blood, which had been locked up somewhere below his throat, gushed into his face and eyes. He couldn't catch his breath.
- And there was no one in the room, except for the lieutenant and yourself. Here somewhere,” said Lavrushka.
- Well, you, chog "those doll, turn around, look," Denisov suddenly shouted, turning purple and throwing himself at the footman with a menacing gesture. Zapog everyone!
Rostov, looking around Denisov, began to button up his jacket, fastened his saber and put on his cap.
“I’m telling you to have a wallet,” Denisov shouted, shaking the batman’s shoulders and pushing him against the wall.
- Denisov, leave him; I know who took it,” said Rostov, going up to the door and not raising his eyes.
Denisov stopped, thought, and, apparently understanding what Rostov was hinting at, grabbed his hand.
“Sigh!” he shouted so that the veins, like ropes, puffed out on his neck and forehead. “I’m telling you, you’re crazy, I won’t allow it. The wallet is here; I will loosen my skin from this meg'zavetz, and it will be here.
“I know who took it,” Rostov repeated in a trembling voice and went to the door.
“But I’m telling you, don’t you dare do this,” Denisov shouted, rushing to the cadet to restrain him.
But Rostov tore his hand away and with such malice, as if Denisov was his greatest enemy, directly and firmly fixed his eyes on him.
– Do you understand what you are saying? he said in a trembling voice, “there was no one else in the room except me. So, if not, then...
He could not finish and ran out of the room.
“Ah, why not with you and with everyone,” were the last words that Rostov heard.
Rostov came to Telyanin's apartment.
“The master is not at home, they have gone to the headquarters,” Telyanin’s orderly told him. Or what happened? added the batman, surprised at the junker's upset face.
- There is nothing.
“We missed a little,” said the batman.
The headquarters was located three miles from Salzenek. Rostov, without going home, took a horse and rode to headquarters. In the village occupied by the headquarters, there was a tavern frequented by officers. Rostov arrived at the tavern; at the porch he saw Telyanin's horse.
In the second room of the tavern the lieutenant was sitting at a dish of sausages and a bottle of wine.
“Ah, and you stopped by, young man,” he said, smiling and raising his eyebrows high.
“Yes,” said Rostov, as if it took a lot of effort to pronounce this word, and sat down at the next table.
Both were silent; two Germans and one Russian officer were sitting in the room. Everyone was silent, and the sounds of knives on plates and the lieutenant's champing could be heard. When Telyanin had finished breakfast, he took a double purse out of his pocket, spread the rings with his little white fingers bent upwards, took out a gold one, and, raising his eyebrows, gave the money to the servant.
“Please hurry,” he said.
Gold was new. Rostov got up and went over to Telyanin.
“Let me see the purse,” he said in a low, barely audible voice.
With shifty eyes, but still raised eyebrows, Telyanin handed over the purse.
"Yes, a pretty purse... Yes... yes..." he said, and suddenly turned pale. “Look, young man,” he added.
Rostov took the wallet in his hands and looked at it, and at the money that was in it, and at Telyanin. The lieutenant looked around, as was his habit, and seemed to suddenly become very cheerful.
“If we’re in Vienna, I’ll leave everything there, and now there’s nowhere to go in these crappy little towns,” he said. - Come on, young man, I'll go.
Rostov was silent.
- What about you? have breakfast too? They are decently fed,” continued Telyanin. - Come on.
He reached out and took hold of the wallet. Rostov released him. Telyanin took the purse and began to put it into the pocket of his breeches, and his eyebrows casually rose, and his mouth opened slightly, as if he were saying: “Yes, yes, I put my purse in my pocket, and it’s very simple, and no one cares about this” .
- Well, what, young man? he said, sighing and looking into Rostov's eyes from under his raised eyebrows. Some kind of light from the eyes, with the speed of an electric spark, ran from Telyanin's eyes to Rostov's eyes and back, back and back, all in an instant.
“Come here,” said Rostov, grabbing Telyanin by the hand. He almost dragged him to the window. - This is Denisov's money, you took it ... - he whispered in his ear.

Almost 95% of the gold mined in Russia is extracted in 15 regions located in Siberia and the Far East. The largest share of the production of yellow metal falls on the development of primary deposits, but alluvial mining is no less important. The gold mining industry in Russia is based precisely on placer deposits: our country is the undisputed world leader in the extraction of placer gold. The gold of Siberia, the main part of which falls on the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk Region and Altai, allows Russia to remain a leader in the extraction of the yellow metal.

The gold rush in the Siberian lands began in the first half of the 19th century, the impetus for the mass production of the precious metal by everyone was the decree of 1812 that all Russian citizens were given the right to search for ores of precious metals and engage in their development with the condition of paying taxes to the state budget. The extraction of yellow metal in Siberia began with the development of territories on the Sukhoi Berikul River, the wine merchants Popovs invested a lot of money in the exploration of these places.

During the following years, gold deposits were discovered on the Wet Berikul and other tributaries of the Kiya River, in the Salair Ridge, in the Krasnoyarsk and Minusinsk districts of the Yenisei province. A little later, the development of gold deposits in Western Transbaikalia began. During the 19th century, the development of the lands of the Yenisei province was largely due to the spread of gold mining: during these years, the population increased, trade developed, and there were shifts in transport communication.

Successful gold mining in Siberia earned the attention of foreign geologists, who began to look for territories similar in geological and geomorphological features to the gold-bearing Siberian zone. According to the results of research in the middle of the 19th century, gold was found in the territory of American California, where its own “gold rush” began.

By the end of the 19th century, the Siberian gold rush began to decline. A similar phenomenon was due to the fact that a huge part of the profits from gold mining was exported by industrialists and invested in shipping and trade, and did not remain in the industry. A significant outflow of capital led to the fact that by the 20s of the last century, the production of solar metal from the bowels of Siberia fell sharply, with the advent of Soviet power, private gold mining in these territories was completely eliminated.

To date, the largest company developing the gold reserves of Siberia is Polyus Gold, the leader of the Russian and world markets for precious metals. The company is working on the most famous deposits of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region, including almost a hundred alluvial deposits located in the Vitim River basin.

Metal mining in the Irkutsk region

The largest part of gold mining in the Irkutsk region is concentrated in the Bodaibo region, more than 90% of all gold mined in the region is extracted here. For one and a half hundred years of development, 1.2 thousand tons of yellow metal have been mined here. Gold mining is the leading direction of the region's work and, in value terms, accounts for more than half of all mined minerals. The Irkutsk region is the leader in the production of alluvial gold in Russia, ore deposits are developed to a lesser extent. With their development, experts associate the further development of the gold mining industry in the region.

Until the 2000s, the annual gold production in the Bodaibo region was just over 10 tons, which consisted mainly of alluvial gold. In the past two decades, production has stabilized at a higher level, reaching a figure of almost 15 tons of the yellow metal. In the coming years, it is planned to significantly increase the production of aurum through the development of ore deposits.

One of the most famous deposits, territorially belonging to the Bodaibo region, is the Sukhoi Log deposit, which is one of the most unique gold mining sites in Russia. A huge part of the reserves that make up the gold of Siberia is concentrated here.

Active work on the development of Sukhoi Log began in the 60s of the last century, when geologists investigated the geochemical anomaly of the area and analyzed rock samples. Preparing the deposit for subsequent exploitation took many years and required large financial investments, but the costs were justified. Today, Sukhoi Log is the largest gold ore deposit not only in Russia, but also in the world. The gold ore giant can be called the national treasure of the country, capable of exerting a decisive influence on the volume of production of the yellow metal on a national scale.

In addition to Sukhoi Log, the following deposits are of great importance for gold mining in the Irkutsk region:

• Zapadnoye, located next to the Sukhoi Log and similar to it in terms of the type of ore deposits;
• Chertovo Koryto, belonging to the Bodaibo district and having a forecast volume of reserves in the amount of 226 tons of metal;
• Verninskoye, forms a single ore cluster with the Pervenets and Zapadnoye deposits, which is characterized by great prospects in terms of exploration of new reserves.

The gold of Siberia in the Irkutsk region is also represented by the Zheltukta and Verkhne-Kevakta promising sites, the Babushkin, Ostantsovy, Prodolny, Kopylovsky, Voznesensky and Khodokansky sites, as well as the Uryakhsky ore field.

If the favorable situation in the gold mining industry continues and taking into account the launch of the mining and processing plant in Sukhoi Log, the Irkutsk region in 10-20 years can achieve metal production of 50 tons annually, displacing the Krasnoyarsk Territory from the first line of the rating of gold mining regions.

Gold of Altai

Gold mining on the territory of Altai dates back to the 18th-19th centuries, when in these places it was smelted together with silver for the royal treasury. With the advent of Soviet power, the extraction of gold reserves here practically ceased and appeared only fragmentarily, despite the great potential of non-ferrous ore deposits. The southwestern territories that remained part of Russia after the collapse of the USSR are rich not only in gold, silver and copper, but also in rare and trace elements, the extraction of which in the future can bring significant economic benefits.

Alluvial gold mining resumed in Altai in the 1980s, when artisanal artels took over, but it was characterized by small volumes. By 1995, it was possible to achieve an indicator of only 135 kg. It took another ten years to resume commercial ore mining. Today, thanks to the commissioning of modern production in the Rubtsovsky district and the opening of several mines, including the Korbolikhinsky deposit, Altai is regaining its lost positions in the gold mining industry. The development of the situation contributes to the development of untouched deposits of polymetallic ores.

Almost all mineral deposits are concentrated in the southern and eastern territories of the region. Gold reserves belong to the North Altai gold belt and include several metallogenic zones. To date, deposits of alluvial gold, polymetals, groundwater and building materials are being developed in Altai. A promising direction is the development of primary deposits of the yellow metal.

Placer gold mining in the Altai Territory produces only a few tens of kilograms of solar metal, an increase in volumes is possible only through the development of ore deposits. One of the priority areas for work remains the Topolino ore field, which has an area of ​​96 square kilometers and is characterized by predicted gold reserves of 50 tons.

Experts inextricably link the future of gold mining in Altai with the search for and development of ore deposits, the development of which will increase the volume of the extracted precious metal up to 1.5 tons per year.

Investments in the gold deposits of Siberia

In recent years, investments in the gold mining industry of the Siberian Federal District have increased markedly. Along with the regions that are leaders in the extraction of the yellow metal, the interest of investors is caused by sites located in Altai and Kuzbass. During the summer of 2015, local government authorities in charge of subsoil use held more than 10 auctions to buy out the rights to use mineral-rich areas.

The largest part of these sites is located in Kuzbass. The reserves of the precious metal in this region are incomparable with the deposits of coal, which is called "black gold" here. Gold mining is promising in Kuzbass. According to geologists' forecasts, up to 500 tons of yellow metal are stored in the Kuzbass lands, but this estimate remains unconfirmed.

To date, alluvial gold is mined with the help of dredges passing along the bottom of the rivers. In this way, metal is extracted in the territories near Spassk and in Us. New alluvial plots, which were transferred to the distributed fund, have reserves of almost 800 kg, predicted resources are characterized by a figure twice as large.

Three more sites are currently in the stage of preparation for bidding. Work on two of them is complicated by the fact that, in addition to gold, they contain huge reserves of coal, and the third is rich not only in alluvial gold, but also in ore. The predicted volumes of ore in this territory are estimated by specialists at 12 tons of metal. The development of these new sites will be handled by the company that wins the auction in autumn 2015.

Interest in Kuzbass gold is growing every year. To date, one and a half hundred gold deposits have been discovered here, most of which are of placer type. Attention to the development of both placer and ore deposits is shown by both local companies and mining giants in neighboring regions. The enterprises of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region are seriously interested in gold deposits in the Kuzbass, the extraction of which already now yields more than a ton of yellow metal annually.

The gold of Siberia is the basis of the gold mining industry in Russia. The region has a high potential for increasing production volumes both through work on already explored well-known deposits in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region, and through the exploration and development of ore deposits in Altai and Kuzbass. The Altai and Kuzbass lands, rich in gold and other important minerals, are of the greatest interest to investors in terms of future income, as geological exploration confirms the presence of gold, coal, and rare polymetals here.

August 19th, 2016

A very popular topic, as well as about that. What do we know about Russia?

The era of gold rushes in Russia began in the 19th century, after the adoption by the Senate in 1812 of a law that allowed Russian citizens to seek and develop gold ores with payment of taxes for this to the state. Until that time, they were still looking for gold. But they did it secretly and under the threat of severe punishment.

It is said that the Demidovs mined gold and silver in their estates in the Urals. But only secretly! They also claim that they minted coins from the mined. The same rubles, from the same silver as the state in its mint. But these actions were then called "theft."

Learn more about gold mining in those days...

On May 28, 1812, the Senate adopted a decree entitled "On granting the right to all Russian citizens to find and develop gold and silver ores with payment of taxes to the treasury." The law for the first time defined the relationship between the state and private individuals involved in the extraction of gold and silver. Gold mining was allowed only to certain estates.

Egor Lesnoy

Gold mining in Siberia began in 1828 on the Dry Berikul River in the Tomsk province (now the Tisulsky district of the Kemerovo region). Prior to that, Yegor Lesnoy, an Old Believer peasant (according to other sources, an exile), mined gold on Dry Berikul. Yegor Lesnoy lived with his pupil on Lake Berchikul, fifteen to twenty kilometers from the Dry Berikul River. Egor kept the place of production a secret.

Preliminary exploration of deposits

In 1827, wine merchants - the merchant of the first guild Andrey Yakovlevich Popov and his nephew Feodot Ivanovich Popov, decided to engage in gold mining. Having received permission to search for gold sands and ores throughout Siberia, they went in search of gold to the Tomsk province. Having learned about the large finds of Yegor Lesnoy, Andrei Popov sent his people to him. They failed to find out where the gold was mined. Then Andrei Popov personally went to Yegor Lesnoy, but by the time he arrived, the hermit miner had already been strangled. On August 11, 1828, the merchant Andrei Yakovlevich Popov submitted an application to the Dmitrov volost administration of the Tomsk province for a plot on the Berikul River. According to one version, the location of the site was revealed by a pupil of Yegor Lesnoy. The government willingly issued permits for gold mining, but there were few willing to invest big money in exploration. Feodot Ivanovich Popov spent more than 2 million rubles on exploration. F. I. Popov died in Tomsk on April 20, 1832, and A. Ya. Popov died in 1833 in St. Petersburg, and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Start of production

The mine "1st Berikulskaya area" in 1829 gave 1 pood 20 pounds of gold. In 1830 - more than four and a half pounds, and in 1835, gold mining by the merchants Popovs on the Dry Berikul, Wet Berikul and several other small tributaries of the Kiya increased to more than 16 pounds.

In 1829, next to the mines of the merchants Popovs in the system of tributaries of the Kiya River - Wet Berikul, Dry Berikul, Makarak, Maly Kundat - new mines were discovered. They belonged to the companies of merchants Ryazanov, Kazantsev, Balandin.

In 1830, the Popovs discovered gold in the Salair Ridge, in the Koktekba, Krasnoyarsk and Minusinsk districts of the Yenisei province. In 1832 - in the Achinsk district along the rivers Uryupa, Abakan, Iyus and Kazyra. In 1831, the Popovs already owned more than one hundred and twenty mines. More than thirty mines belonged to the companies of Ryazanov, Balandin, fifteen - Astashev. In 1838, gold deposits were discovered in the Kansk and Nizhneudinsk districts.

On May 31, 1843, private gold mining was allowed in Western Transbaikalia. In the same year, the private Verkhneudinsk Mining District was created. In Eastern Transbaikalia, private gold mining was allowed on November 3, 1863, and in 1865 a private Nerchinsk mining district was created in Nerchinsk.

Mine Stary Berikul, Miner street, Tisulsky district, July 2006

Mass production

New gold deposits were discovered. In Western Siberia, along the rivers: Bolshoy Kozhukh, Tisul, Tuluyul, Kiysky Shaltyr, along the Bolshoi and Maly Kundustuyulam, along the Golden Whale. In Eastern Siberia along the rivers Biryusa, Mana, along the Upper and Lower Tunguska, along the Pit and their large and small tributaries.

The gold rush has begun. In the 30s of the 19th century, more than 200 people were engaged in private prospecting. In the 40s of the 19th century, several hundred search parties worked in Siberia. Each party consisted of about a dozen people. Prospectors had to be provided with food, clothing, weapons, horses, tools, etc. The gold mining industry provided jobs for thousands of people. In 1838, only 102,843 people lived in the Yenisei province. In 1835, 5936 people lived in Krasnoyarsk. In 1834, 5927 people were hired at the mines of the Mariinsky taiga, of which 4863 were exiled settlers.

Gold mining contributed to the development of trade in Siberia. The volume of trade in grain and fodder in the Yenisei province grew from 350,000 rubles in the 1830s to five million rubles by the end of the 1850s. In 1859, about 2 million poods of grain were delivered to the gold mines of the Yenisei province.

Horses were purchased in large quantities for use in gold mines: only for the Yenisei gold mining region in the late 1850s, up to 8 thousand horses were supplied annually. Taking into account the cost of delivery, the gold miners of the Yenisei province spent annually up to 500 thousand silver rubles on the purchase of meat and horses. In 1854, 200 thousand pounds of meat were purchased for the Irkutsk gold mines. At the end of the 1850s, up to 15 thousand heads of cattle were supplied to the mines of the Yenisei province. The export of fish from the Turukhansk region in the 1840s tripled compared to the 1820s.

Gold was searched everywhere - practically within the city limits. In Krasnoyarsk, gold was found on the Bugach River, some gold was found on Mount Afontova (not far from the railway station). A team of prospectors worked at Stolby; because of their activities, the stream got the name "Roev" - from the word "dig". The situation in Krasnoyarsk was appropriate - ostentatious luxury, revelry, cards, fights, theft.

Krasnoyarsk gold miner N. F. Myasnikov made business cards from pure gold. The cost of one such "trinket" exceeded five rubles. In the 1950s, a pood of sturgeon caviar cost five and a half rubles. In the 1850s and 1860s, gold miners began to go bankrupt: the richest deposits were depleted, difficulties in hiring workers, high wages, risky lending (interest on loans reached 10% per month), a wasteful lifestyle, lack of competent management led to bankruptcies.

Kiyskaya Sloboda, which became a gathering point for prospectors, in 1856 turned into a district town, which in 1857 received the name Mariinsk in honor of Empress Maria.

One of the most successful miners was the merchant Gavrila Masharov from Kansk. He discovered more than a hundred placers of gold, became the richest millionaire in the taiga. He ordered a medal of pure gold weighing 20 pounds with the inscription "Gavrila Masharov - Emperor of the Taiga"; for which he received the nickname "taiga Napoleon". The legendary mine "Gavrilovsky" discovered by him (belonged to the merchant Ryazanov) from 1844 to 1864 produced 770 pounds of gold. The development of this mine continued after that for another quarter of a century. There were hundreds of such mines in the Yenisei taiga.

In 1836, Masharov was already living among the taiga in his huge house with glass galleries, covered passages, and a greenhouse with pineapples. Near the house he built a factory for the production of Venetian velvet. Expenses led Masharov to problems with creditors, he was declared bankrupt.

In 1842, in the Urals, near Miass, Nikifor Syutkin found the largest nugget in Russia weighing 36.2 kg. The nugget was called the "Big Triangle". Syutkin was paid 1226 rubles in silver. Died early.

As one of the first gold miners V. D. Skaryatin noted in his notes, the fishing of the first prospectors “looked more like a game in which you could snatch a million, or lie down with bones, than like a correct rationally conducted industrial business.” Only the richest placers were rapaciously exploited; areas with a lower gold content were filled up with waste rock, an imperfect sand washing technique led to the loss of almost a third of the precious metal contained in them. In 1861, steam engines were used in only three mines. Only the gold miners of the second wave, who came in the early 1860s of the XIX century, began to adhere to more rational methods of gold mining.

January 10, 1898. A nugget weighing 31.6 kg was found at the Spaso-Preobrazhensky mine in the Achinsk district.

The discovery of gold placers in the Urals and Siberia forced foreign geologists to look for similarities in the geological, geomorphological situation in various countries with the situation in the Ural-Siberian "gold" zones, finding those in California, Australia, Egypt and other places on the planet. “The snow chain of the mountains of California in its mineralogical structure is completely similar to the rocks of Siberia,” wrote the English geologist R. Murchison (Murchison). In 1848, gold was found in California. The famous "California Gold Rush" began.

According to the calculations of the Main Office of the Altai Mining District, from 1819 to 1861, 35,587 pounds of gold were mined in Siberia, worth more than 470 million rubles. In 1861, 459 gold mining companies and partnerships were registered. 30,269 people worked at 372 mines. During the year they mined 1071 pounds of gold. By 1861, 1,125 gold mining permits had been issued. Of these, 621 (55.3%) permits were received by nobles, hereditary honorary citizens - 87 (7.7%), merchants of the first and second guilds - 417 people. (37.0%).

Sudden wealth turned heads. One gold miner made his calling cards gold. The nouveaux riches bathed girls in champagne, built real palaces in the taiga, multi-storey ones with huge glass windows, with greenhouses in which even pineapples were grown. Whatever a suddenly rich person invents! Some of them went on to other businesses as well, but a great many newly-minted millionaires squandered huge wealth and became poor again when the gold deposits they discovered dried up.

From the Yenisei, the gold diggers went further and further east. In the second half of the 19th century, the development of the Lena gold-bearing region began, the Lena mines produced a large amount of gold. In the middle of the 19th century, about 20 tons of gold were mined annually in Siberia, which accounted for approximately 39% of the world's gold production.

End of the Gold Rush

Siberian merchants occupied secondary positions in gold mining. For example, in 1845, Siberian merchants owned 30% of the mines, which produced 39.1% of gold. Most of the profits were exported from Siberia. Gold mining has led to an outflow of capital from manufacturing industries and other sectors of the economy. The capital accumulated in the gold industry was invested in shipping companies, trade with China in Kyakhta, through charity they were directed to education, and other social needs.

In the early 1920s, gold mining in Western and Eastern Siberia was greatly reduced. In 1921, for example, only a little more than a ton of gold was washed in the West Siberian mines. In May 1927, the Joint Stock Company Soyuzzoloto was established and 1930 became the year of the final liquidation of the private gold industry in Siberia and the Far East.

Already today in Khabarovsk and, probably, in other cities in the Far East, tourist trips to the gold-bearing rivers are flourishing. Helicopter brings, you set up camp and for two weeks trying to pan for gold on weakly gold-bearing streams. Everything you find is ready to be bought at the state price. And they say people do find gold!

And gold mining in our time has shifted even further east, to the Magadan region. Here they are looking for gold and prospecting artels, and state-owned enterprises, and even “free prospectors”.

Gold mining in Russia has been on the rise in recent years. From 2012 to 2015, Russia rose from 4th place among gold-mining countries to 2nd, in 2015 the annual gold production amounted to 272 tons. After us - the United States and Peru, then Canada, South Africa and Indonesia.

What in the new "fever" is similar to the "fever" of the century before last? Thirst for quick and easy money, besides not associated with crime, and therefore without the risk of going to jail.
In the early 80s of the last century, on a beach in Sandy Hook, near New York, one of the locals found a Spanish doubloon in the sand. On the same day, his friend found another doubloon on the same beach. The population of the village rushed to dig up the beach. In a few days they dug up 5 more coins.

Reporters got wind of the event, took interviews, took a few pictures... Museum experts looked at the finds and issued an expert opinion that the coins date back to the period when a Spanish galleon known to historians with a cargo of gold could have sunk somewhere nearby...

New Yorkers rushed to these places in droves. Commuter trains were crammed with people and the roads were crammed with cars.

Serious drama played out on the beaches. Even with bloodshed. Someone was looking for gold, and someone was trying to stake out pieces of a public beach for themselves and got into a fight, preventing the rest of the “prospectors” from trying to find their piece of golden happiness ... Fights broke out in places. And the gold diggers fought each other with furious bitterness.

After a couple of weeks everything calmed down. 23 gold doubloons were found. But the sellers of hardware sold shovels, rakes and other entrenching tools to newly minted prospectors for several hundred thousand dollars. It was even suggested that it was they who buried a couple of dozen coins in the sand on the beach - to revive their business and to clear the warehouses of goods stale there.

NEW GOLD MINING RULES

The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Sergey Donskoy has already submitted amendments to the Law “On Precious Stones and Metals” for approval to the interested departments, as well as law enforcement agencies, where, in turn, they must assess the possible risks of criminalization of the industry.

Recall that, according to the draft law, Russian citizens will be able to go in search of gold by issuing only an individual entrepreneur. Then the entrepreneur will need to apply to Rosnedra and obtain a license to conduct excavations.

As the Ministry of Natural Resources explained, the Russians will get the opportunity to mine the precious metal where the deposits have long been explored and worked out for industrial purposes. Therefore, everyone who wishes will be issued a permit for gold mining in such a specific area of ​​​​not more than 15 hectares, where gold reserves are not more than 10 kg. People will be able to use manual labor or apply some new mining technologies. By the way, entrepreneurs do not even have to pay a mineral extraction tax (MET).

sources

10:47 / Oct 12 2017

The bowels of our beloved region are rich not only in black gold, native coal, but also ... deposits of that very precious (or damned) metal, about which legends are composed in almost all countries and cultures of the world. It was in the wilds of the Kuzbass taiga that the first stream of seekers of gold luck poured, and not in some California. Our region has been covered with golden legends since very ancient times. Traditions about our countless treasures have found a place in the annals and even in the heroic epics of other peoples and have survived to this day. We share interesting insights.

Beri Kul: how the "wolf river" became the ancestral home of the gold rush

Tiny, lost in the folds of mountains overgrown with conifers, the river Berikul in Martaiga (as the locals call the Mariinsky taiga for short) - the right tributary of the Kiya River in its upper reaches - is actually not so simple. It was this gold-bearing river, in the remote Siberian taiga, somewhere at the junction of the Krasnoyarsk and Altai territories and the Kemerovo region, that became the mother of all known gold rushes in the world.

And, like all places associated with gold mining, Berikul is shrouded in many legends, one more entertaining than the other. There are, for example, stories about the origin of the name of the river, they are told with sincere conviction by the inhabitants of the villages in the vicinity of Berikul. In time immemorial, several convicts fled home to Russia from Eastern Siberia from custody. We came across this river, then still unnamed. First, one large nugget was found on the shore, then the second, third, fifth, and so on. It turned out that the banks of the river were literally strewn with gold nuggets, large, medium and tiny. The fugitives, forgetting about fatigue, about food, about sleep, only had time to collect them. “Yes, there is so much gold here - at least take a sack, but collect it!” One of the convicts exclaimed in excitement. And with the light hand of fugitive people, as the legend says, the river got its name. From the merger of the two words "take" and "kul".

Maybe it is, of course, or maybe not. Linguistic scientists studied the issue and came to the conclusion that the name is nevertheless formed from the Ket "boro" - "wolf" and the Ket-Assan "kul-ul" - "river". Then it turns out that "Berikul" is the "river of the wolf."

Well, now, in fact: it was on the "river of the wolf", Dry Berikul (today's Tisulsky district) that the first Siberian gold was actually found in 1828, which gave rise to the Siberian gold rush long before the Klondike. And (this is according to another legend), it was not runaway convicts who found him, but an Old Believer peasant (according to other sources, an exiled settler) Yegor Lesnoy.

Yegor Lesnoy lived in a hut with his pupil on the shores of the large lake Berchikul, which is fifteen to twenty kilometers from Berikul. From time to time he went to the remote mountain taiga, from where he returned with gold. Gold was then secretly washed by a lone prospector, not to be counted in pounds. And once I found a real curiosity - a kilogram (!) Nugget. This was found out by other visiting merchants Andrei and Fedot Popov, who also arrived in Siberia for gold and immediately staked out Yegor's plot for mining, followed by dozens of others on the Dry and Wet Berikul, tributaries of the Kiya, the Salair Ridge, in Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Kansk and Nizhneudinsk districts.

Mines were opened wherever they found at least a handful of gold. For half a century, prospectors have mined more than five hundred tons of precious metal in Siberia. However, they did not have time to enjoy wealth and for some reason died one after another.

Emperor of the Taiga, Kuzedey's Treasure and the Golden Woman

The most fortunate prospector Gavrila Masharov from Kansk. He, having found his first mine in 1836, became fabulously rich. He built a palace with glass galleries in the Kuzbass taiga, a velvet factory and ordered a medal of the emperor of the taiga weighing ten kilograms. Waste ruined Masharov, and he died at the hands of creditors, but, they say, a rich vein was found under his mansions, which yielded almost 13 thousand tons of gold. But where the palace of the taiga emperor is located is still not known.

Another legend says that almost 500 tons of Kolchak's gold can be hidden not at the Taiga station, but near Lipov Island in the Novokuznetsk region, near the village of Kuzedeevo. Enthusiasts are still searching for treasure under relic black lindens, although historical facts say that Kolchak and his army have never been in this part of Kuzbass, but the legend is still alive today. According to the legend of the inhabitants of Gornaya Shoria, in the 15th-16th centuries, the head of the Shors, Kuzedei, shot a bow into the mountain (just opposite the legendary Kolchak cave), so that the enemies of the tribe would go there and disappear forever. That's where, they say, the legendary gold is hidden.

But perhaps the most famous story is about the giant Golden Woman, or the Siberian Pharaoh, as those who know gold call it, and treasure hunters. The statue depicting an old woman with a child has been known since the time of the Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator. And he even depicted a giant golden wonder on his cards. The same idol, allegedly belonging to the Bjarmian tribes, is also mentioned in the Scandinavian Saga of Olaf the Holy. And the Golden Woman was also mentioned in the Russian chronicles of 1396. The chroniclers settled the Siberian pharaoh either behind the Vyatka, or at the mouth of the Ob. Whether it ever existed at all or not, and where it is hidden now, still remains a mystery.

Befriend Earth Grandpa

Like representatives of any other professions, miners have their own signs, and many of them have not changed for centuries. For example, all seekers of gold and other valuables know that it is best to dig in rainy weather. There will be no luck if, before excavations, you quarrel with one of your relatives, wash a shovel, or do not put your most successful find in your pocket as bait.

The first find should be worthless - if something worthwhile immediately comes across, the rest of the search will be empty. Seekers don't wear found jewels and don't talk while digging. At the mine, you can’t swear with obscene words, because in this way you can anger the Earthly Grandfather, and he will not give the gold to the impolite prospector. To appease this spirit, you need to thank him for every find, and before excavations, spoil him with small coins or sweets, burying gifts in the ground.

Finding the treasure is easiest on New Year's Eve and Easter, but the best time to search is May 23, the day of memory of the Apostle Simon the Zealot, whose name was associated with the word "gold" in the old days. Treasure seekers have many conspiracies, and all of them are aimed at luring success. In a business where luck plays a major role, the role will be so great that sometimes stories about those who do not observe them turn into legends. Colleagues in the gold shop, in the US state of Arizona, even have their own Mountains of Superstition. According to legend, the Hohokam Indian tribe has been living there since the Middle Ages, and the treasures keep the souls of the dead elders who go to the Lower World through the sacred grotto. There is just the most gold in this grotto.

In 1846, the German Jacob Waltz, nicknamed the Dutchman, found this grotto and took seven million dollars worth of nuggets from there, promising the Indians to keep their secret, but he did not keep his word. Since then, anyone who dared to try their luck in the Mountains of Superstition was found dead. The last were three prospectors from Utah today. Curtis Merivors, Ardyn Charles and Malcolm Minks disappeared in those mountains in 2010, found them a year later. So the old legend, no matter what lies behind it, remains valid.

We live on gold

Well, now about the pleasant. The gold mining industry in our region is gaining momentum today. Geologists estimate the reserves of this metal in the Kuzbass lands at about 500 tons. In total, there are almost 150 deposits in the region, most of them are placers. The largest are located in the Tisulsky district on the Bogorodsky stream, the Voskresenka, Gromotukha and Bolshoi Tuluyul rivers.

Today, Kuzbass is among the top twenty gold mining regions. Every year we produce about a ton of precious metal. The region's balance includes complex, gold and alluvial deposits. And according to experts, due to new technologies that allow extracting gold from placers even in the form of dust, production volumes can be increased by 2020 to 3.5 tons per year. And then Kuzbass will already be in the top ten in terms of gold mining in the Russian Federation.

Photo: Yandex. Pictures, Google Images