Myths and legends of the peoples of Siberia. Legends about the underground cities of Siberia

For example, interesting legends can be heard from local residents about the mouth of the Lena River, that there is an underground city there, which is now empty. The entrance to this city is known to few, but even they prefer to remain silent about its location. The streets of this city are supposedly still illuminated by “eternal lamps” of an unknown design, which have continued to work for thousands of years.

Here is what Russian traveler, biologist, anthropologist G. Sidorov says about this and other legends of the peoples of Siberia: "There is an underground city, and maybe even this city is connected with the deep voids of the Earth. This is the mouth of the Lena River. Some people have been there, and they entered through the upper holes. What’s interesting: there were several Yakuts there - they later died out - and there were Russian geologists - they also died out. Their names are known, but this happened before the war.

What happened here? Once underground, they were shocked that everything inside was glowing (This is described by Shemshuk in the book “How can we return paradise”). Some eternal lamps stood, huge ones, they illuminated the streets of a huge city. Where these streets led is unknown. It's good there, in the North. There is ice on top, and underground the climate is such that you can live, and everything is illuminated, but there are no people, and there are not even traces, but it is obvious that these places were once inhabited by someone. This is all known, the special services are well aware of the underground labyrinths of the Lena River mouth, but now no one is allowed there. There is a border there, and the border guards are guarding it and foaming at the mouth, demanding that everyone leave. They have their own laws. Although, what is the border there?! The territory to the Pole is ours. This is all done to keep people out.

I was not there, but I was at the mouth of the Kolyma, at the mouth of the Indigirka, at the mouth of the Khrom. It's about the same there. Everywhere there are legends, stories - eyewitnesses speak in a whisper, in the ear, with caution, but underground labyrinths, giant underground cities stand along the entire perimeter of the Arctic Ocean. How to explain this? Very difficult. It’s not clear, but all this can be found.

Why did the ancient Arctic civilization need such underground cities? Obviously for the same purpose for which underground cities were built for the “elite” of our civilization around the world: to use them as a refuge in the event of a global natural disaster or a world war with the use of destructive weapons of mass destruction of people.

Here, by the way, is an interesting fragment of an interview between journalist D. Sokolov and writer, paleoethnographer V. Degtyarev, who is confident that the retreating ice of the Russian North will inevitably reveal the remains of the cities of the previous Arctic civilization, preserved under the ice in all their pristine state:

"- Vladimir Nikolaevich, in ancient myths and legends there is often a mention of Hyperborea as a territory of wealth and grace. If I’m not mistaken, we are talking about the circumpolar zone of Russia?

- Absolutely right. Thousands of years ago, the circumpolar territory of Russia and Scandinavia was not only developed, people lived and enjoyed life there, of course, until the last Great Flood, followed by the great glaciation of a territory with a diameter of 6,000 kilometers. Exactly the same picture emerged at the South Pole of the Earth. A planetary catastrophe literally occurred in one day and one night, after which the fourth civilization ceased to exist.

- What killed her?

- Among extraordinary, independent researchers, three points of view prevail on the origin of this catastrophe. I support the Sumerian cosmogony, which states that the Earth's poles shift every 12,500 years due to the precession of the Earth's axis. The earth's crust moves, and every 12,500 years we “travel around the globe” to another part of the world relative to the fixed stars.

Tomsk researcher N. Novgorodov, on the contrary, believes that crustal movement does not occur, but local glaciation of some territories occurs. With simultaneous warming in other places on the globe. This is a hypothesis recognized by the scientific world.

But the third researcher, the author of the “Fabric of the Universe” theory V. Kondratov, strongly advocates that the gods-colonizers of the Earth are constantly carrying out huge large-scale work on the planet to improve the surface of the globe: “The gods are constantly flooding, drying, raking out or adding that required in different parts of the planet.”

- So, after all, the gods are to blame. It turns out that the Bible describes real events?

- By the way, yes, confirmation of this fact is in the Bible. I rarely refer to it, but here I will refer to the text of the apocryphal Syrian Bible. It says that, having learned about the approaching planetary catastrophe, the gods destroyed their “houses and temples” and flew to heaven. And from there they watched what was happening. There, in the orbit of the Earth, a huge “Golden House of God” rotated. Jonathan Swift wrote about this, calling it “The Flying City.” And a large number of evidence of the presence of cities, workshops, and laboratories of the gods can be found in the folk epics of almost the entire population of the Earth.

For example, in the Finnish epic Kalevala there is an incomprehensible “Mill of the Gods”. This is a global concept (see the myths of Hindustan). But this is not the Galaxy, as this image is now interpreted. Here, I believe, we are talking about the so-called “Fabric of the Universe”. If we comprehend this ancient knowledge and develop it in a practical way, we will be able to obtain energy literally from thin air. This is why, by the way, researchers do not find internal combustion engines, nuclear power plants, state district power plants, hydroelectric power stations, and so on among the artifacts of ancient civilizations. The ancestors did not need them.

- So there were cities in the Arctic?

- Yes! There were huge cities there. The Altai epic Maadai-Kara describes majestic buildings and structures with glass windows.

It is curious that the epic rarely mentions the use of wood and metal in building structures. Apparently, the nomadic descendants who retold the epic could not find an appropriate image. This is how they talked, for example, about glass: “We walked on thin, transparent pieces of ice, they crunched loudly, broke, but did not melt.”

The center of the Siberian (trans-Ural) territory of that civilization was the Taimyr Peninsula, in ancient syllabary - Ta Bin. This great name is “Heart”. That is, Taimyr was the center of civilization. (Well, for example, as the Moscow region is now for Russia.) There, even with the naked eye, you can see the foundations of settlements of a huge area. Ten years ago I talked in Novosibirsk with people who annually visited Taimyr and the surrounding areas. They found a prehistoric workshop there. The Sumerians called such “God’s” workshops Bad Tibir, that is, “metallurgical plant”. My acquaintances did not leave Taimyr without copper and gold. And no matter who talks about Taimyr, or Yamal, or the mouth of the Lena River (the city of Tiksi), they all unanimously talk about clear traces of the buildings of an ancient civilization that were subjected to destruction of unprecedented force.

- But this destruction was brought about by the waters of the Flood, wasn’t it?

- Water could have done something similar if there had been a somersault of the Earth, which happens on the planet (according to the Sumerians and Egyptians) once every 25,900 years. Last time, in the obligatory middle of this period, 12,500 years ago, the North Pole gently and smoothly (on a planetary scale) “crawled” from Hudson Bay to its current place. Independent researchers V.Yu. Coneles, G. Hancock, S. Kremer and many others confirm the “softness” of the cataclysm. At the same time, they are amazed at the force of destruction. The Bible says that “it just rained and the waters rose.” A hundred other earthly flood myths also describe a rapid rise of water. But even now the water level in the World Ocean is rising, this is constantly being recorded. It will become especially noticeable when water floods the lowlands and people have to climb to higher ground.

- So how, then, were the ancient cities destroyed?

- According to V. Kondratov’s hypothesis, the gods destroyed the city of Machu Picchu with water, and it is located at an altitude of three kilometers above sea level! The flood did not reach there, but the destruction there was of a water nature. I believe that to destroy their high-altitude laboratory, the gods used the “Inhuma” - an amazing cigar-shaped aircraft capable of taking 600,000 cubic meters of water, sand, stones - anything - into its “belly” at a time. Imagine, if you launch five Inkhuma devices, they will throw three million tons of water onto a strong stone structure (city) in five seconds. And water is far from a soft material when falling from a height.

But the picture is completely different with the destruction of coastal facilities along the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean! A proton strike was used there. And not alone. I will say that if they hit the shores of the Mediterranean Sea (Arctic Ocean) from the “Golden House of God”, then the diameter of the impact is 500 kilometers. It is not for nothing that in the beds of former Siberian rivers, distorted, intertwined, frozen bodies of animals are still found - mammoths, saber-toothed tigers and prehistoric hippos, people, deer and twisted trees. And the force of the flood has nothing to do with it. The animals escaped the rising water level by climbing to higher ground, and they were hit with a beam from above and turned like in a meat grinder.”

There is nothing supernatural in the existence of underground cities among ancient highly developed civilizations, especially since many of the ancient technologies remain inaccessible to us. But this does not prevent our “elite” from creating cities of refuge for themselves and their “servants” all over the globe.

This means that ancient myths and legends do not lie. Oral legends, passed down word for word from generation to generation by the keepers of these traditions, are generally impossible to falsify, unlike written sources. And oral mythology can only be destroyed together with the people. Fortunately for us, the falsifiers of history did not bother to “clean up” folk tales and legends.

Consequently, this is where one of the sources of information about the true history of mankind is located. So, it turns out that the myths of many peoples talk about the ancient “war of the gods”. And it is possible that the destruction of many ancient megalithic structures is associated with it. Considering the scale of these destructions, we can conclude about the destructive power of the “weapons of the gods.” It was to protect against this destructive force that ancient underground cities were created.

Sasha Thump

…That was a long time ago. We met the beautiful Ka-Khem, which means “Small River”, and the mighty Biy-Khem, which means “Big River” near the impenetrable Sayan taiga. And they had a son out of great love. And they called it Ulug-Khem, which means “Great River”. In honor of the father of Biy-Khem, the grandfather of Ulug-Khem - Ulug-O - “The Great Conqueror of the Mountains”.

The son quickly gained strength, the strength of his parents, the wayward steppe disposition of his mother and the strength of his father and grandfathers seethed in him, he strived for open spaces, it was cramped for him.

But the parents did not want to let their son go. They explained to him that behind the mountains there was a wide steppe, that the Spirits of the Mountains and the Spirits of the Steppes had agreed that not a single river would disturb the expanses of the steppe, that the rivers had given their word not to disturb the peace of the steppe mounds and feather grass. But the son was wayward.

The father and mother turned to the Spirits of the Mountains to help them hold their son. The Spirits erected an impenetrable wall on the border of mountains and steppes. The Spirits of the Mountains asked the Spirits of All Living Things to help them restrain the obstinate Ulug-Khem. The spirits of the All-Living Placed the largest bear to guard the wall, turning it into a huge mountain. And they named the mountain Aba - which means “bear”. The Spirits of the Steppe received the news about border protection with joy and gratitude.

Ulug-Khem became sad. But it was not for nothing that the blood of his grandfather, Ulug-O, flowed in Ulug-Khem. He turned to Khan-Tegir (Kantegir), which means “Lord of the Sky,” to help him destroy the wall. Kantegir was also noisy and obstinate; his name was given to him by the highest peaks that supported Heaven and gave birth to him, feeding him with the powers of Heaven.

This is how Khan-Tegir and Ulug-Khem became friends. They met almost at the very wall and Khan-Tegir said: “Take me with you!” I will be your friend and helper. With me you will gain the power of Heaven.” And Ulug-Khem felt within himself the immense strength of his parents and grandfathers, the hardness of the highest mountains and the purity of the thoughts of the Great Blue Sky.

And then one night Ulug-Khem ran away and hit the mighty wall with his chest. The Sayan Mountains shook from this blow. As if with a heroic sword he cut through the wall of Ulug-Khem and broke free.

“Kar-kar-kar,” announced Raven, the caretaker of the entire Land of the Spirits of the Mountains, and the Spirits of All Living Things, and the Spirits of the Steppes, about the act of Ulug-Khem. The Spirits began to move the mountains - to open them, to close the broken door, but there was not enough strength. Mount Aba began to help them - but from the tension, the veins on the paws burst and two streams of blood burst out from under them, merging into one.

But Ulug-Khem did not hesitate - he gained strength, and strived forward, pushing the doors of the door wider and wider with his powerful shoulders. Ulug-Khem sees the endless steppe in front of him. I remembered the words of my father and mother about the agreement - not to disturb the peace of the steppe. He stood, thought, and turned right, bypassing the possessions of the Spirits of the Steppes. He hears a voice nearby.

The red river is catching up with him. “Who are you?” asked Ulug-Khem. “I am Aba-kan, which means “bear’s blood.” Take me with you. I will be your friend and helper. With me and all living things you will find a language, and all living things will rejoice in you,” answered the river.

“Come on, it’s more fun together. Yes, and I will miss without my father and mother and without the Sayan Mountains. And a strong shoulder won’t hurt on the road,” answered Ulug-Khem. And he accepted living blood into himself, and he began to understand all living things. And all living things began to call him “Father”, for his kindness, for his understanding, for his care and kind nature. Since then, bears always bring cubs to its shores so that they drink the water, so that they become strong and noble, like their great-grandfather - Aba, who gave his blood to Ulug-Khem. When the Spirits of the Steppe and the Spirits of the Mountains saw that the agreement was not being violated, they calmed down. The Spirits of the Mountains paved the way from the doors of the door opened by Ulug-Khem with multi-colored marble and granite, seeing him off on his way and wishing him good luck. And people first called the door through which Ulug-Khem left his father and mother simply “The Raven’s Door”, the mountains on the left and right were called “Folds”, and then, so as not to remember in vain, not to disturb the Raven - the faithful and closest servant of the Spirits of the Earth became call it “Karlov Gate” - in memory of the cry of the Raven. About the cry that announced the birth of the Great River. And no one knows anymore how it really happened. Either Raven called Ulug-Khem on the road and helped him overcome the wall, or wished him good luck on the road, or shouted to the Spirits of the Mountains so that they should not try too hard to hold him back.

People immediately settled there; they went through the “Door” to the Sayans and protected them from selfish people. And they began to call them the Karlovs. They were not tall, but they stood firmly on the ground.

It is only later, after the merger of the mighty Ulug-Khem with the beautiful, beloved daughter of Baikal - Angara, the Evenks will translate his name into their language as Yene or Yene, which simply means “Great”, and sometimes “Ioanes”, and the Keta people will return the name and will add again to the word “Great” - Ses or Syes - which means “River”. And for simplicity, Russians will combine “Eneses” and “Yen-Esyes” into one word “Yenisei”. And under this name the Yenisei will become known to the whole world as the Greatest River on Earth, but all peoples will leave it the name given by all living people once - “Yenisei-Father”.

The lands of the Siberian regions contain centuries-old legends and secrets, little known to the west of the “Stone” (Ural Mountains) - for many centuries civilizations existed here, little known to the Russian state, and almost unknown to distant Europe. One of the most ancient and famous myths, which gives chances to almost all regions of Siberia, is the legend of the “Golden Woman”.

However, recent centuries have left many stories about the events of these places - although not very distant, they are already quite forgotten.

Omsk region attracts with its legendary and “Navel of the Earth” not far from one of the lakes.

There are a lot of material assets in the Omsk region that were left in the Omsk lands by many generations:

Pioneers, Cossacks of Ermak's squad and Kuchumov's warriors;

First settlers, servicemen and civilians of the Tobol-Ishim fortified line;

Wealthy people, mainly from the urban population, who left Omsk before the arrival of the Red Army;

Guardians of the valuables of Admiral Kolchak and the treasures of the imperial family of Nicholas II..

Some of the hidden wealth of the Omsk region is already allocated to lucky people.

In Omsk itself, a treasure of the “house of Kabalkin” (1980) and a “Zubarevsky” treasure of gold coins of royal mintage (1964) were found.

The demolished house of the merchant Elizarov revealed a whole bucket of gold and silver coins.

In the Omsk region - a treasure of silver and bronze beads in Krasnoyarsk (1999), a hundred-kilogram cache of copper coins of the 18th century in the village of Gornaya Bitiya, Ulyanovsk region (1954).

A similar find was made in the area of ​​the pioneer camp near the holiday village of Chernoluchye (1956)

It is unknown how many more treasures the Omsk land hides, but there are plenty of legends about undiscovered riches.

The most desirable find is the treasure of Admiral Kolchak. But not the remains of the “gold reserve”, but the relics of the Holy Synod and the treasures of the royal family. Its expected location is the lands along the Irtysh from Omsk to Surgut, where the valuables were allegedly sent for preservation. There is a version that this treasure is hidden under the ruins of a blown up monastery.

No less interesting are the treasures of Khan Kuchum - his treasury, hidden from the advancing troops of Ermak Timofeevich. Legends say that Kuchum’s treasures are reliably hidden from human eyes under water in the border areas of the Tyumen and Omsk regions. These treasures are stored in lakes - Bolshoi Uvat in the Vagai district of the Tyumen region and Lake Teka in the Tevriz district of the Omsk region.

And at the bottom of Lake Zhivoe, near the village of Koshkul, Tara region, Kuchum’s “golden carriage” may still lie. Another place to search for the “golden carriage” is the swampy source of a small river near the village of Imshegal, which is also located in the Tara district of the Omsk region.

Another of the coveted treasures - the gold of Admiral Kolchak - is not actively sought in the Novosibirsk region, its estimated location is within the Kemerovo and Irkutsk regions. But even there, as nowhere else in Siberia, traces of this mysterious treasure have still not been found - so maybe the Novosibirsk region has a chance?

But the region is rich not only in hidden treasures - the Novosibirsk lands retain many secrets and legends of Siberia.

In the Zdvinsky district, a unique archaeological discovery was recently made - the oldest (IX-VII centuries BC, transitional time from the Bronze to Iron Age) urban-type settlement was discovered. There are very reasonable assumptions that the inhabitants of Chichaburg were people of the same Caucasian race, but of different cultures - as if they had gathered in the city from different places.

And to the southeast (near the village of Mamontovoe, Kargat district) there is a habitat for prehistoric animals - the last Siberian mammoths. Local residents have more than once found petrified tusks of ancient giants during the construction of cellars and wells. So the ancient fossils here are no longer a legend, not a myth, but an everyday reality.

In the Kyshtovsky district of the Novosibirsk region, bordering the neighboring Omsk region, there is one of the Siberian mythical lakes - Lake Danilovo (Danilino). Three of the remaining ones are located in the Omsk region, but the fifth, “Hidden” - the most mysterious - is still hidden from people. So it is quite possible that it is hidden somewhere in the north-west of the Novosibirsk region. According to legend, any of the “Five Lakes” gives a person health and long life.

Another lake, located at the junction of five districts of the region (Barabinsky, Zdvinsky, Kupinsky, Chanovsky, Chistoozerny), has been endowed by popular rumor with an unusual secret - the life of an unusual creature, a huge Siberian snake-like predator, mercilessly devouring people and animals.

Tomsk region remembers the mysterious old man Fyodor Kozmich.

The Kemerovo region keeps ancient legends of the ancient Shors. It is believed that Mountain Shoria is one of the probable places of existence of the “Bigfoot”. The years of civil war left hope that Admiral Kolchak’s treasure (“gold reserve”) was safely hidden in the northern taiga forests of the region.

The Altai region still does not forget the legends about the abandoned Demidov mines and the “Demidov caches”, but so far these treasures have not been found. There are also more ancient legends about the “Chudi” - the people who went “from the white king” underground along with all their treasures.

The Altai Republic hides many fabulous legends and secrets of the old zaisans, and some of them remained in the ancient writings of the Altai rock climbers. The 20th century brought new secrets - perhaps it is in the Altai Mountains that part of the “gold reserve” of the detachments of Admiral Kolchak’s army that left for Mongolia is still located.

The Krasnoyarsk Territory may also become the location of the treasure of Admiral Kolchak - there are suggestions that the “gold reserves” were transported along the Ob-Yenisei Canal. And somewhere in the northeastern taiga the palace of the golden taiga emperor Gavrila Masharov was lost.

The Republic of Khakassia is rich in legends of ancient history, which left behind a large number of burial mounds, the secrets of which have not yet been revealed. Menhirs stand silently here - guards of the mounds, and independent witnesses of a long-standing culture.

The Irkutsk region also gives hope to seekers of the treasure of Admiral Kolchak, and in the Tunkin Valley the golden “Dyominsky treasure” is still waiting for the successful treasure hunter.

In the Republic of Buryatia, a large number of legends are associated with religions - shamanism and Buddhism, and their priests - shamans and lamas, as well as with datsans - the centers of Buddhism in Buryatia. Genghis Khan also left his mark - his grave, along with a precious treasure, may well be located on the territory of Buryatia. The history of Buddhism in Buryatia intersects with the times of the Civil War, when the troops of Baron Ungern were defeated by the Red Army on the territory of Buryatia. However, the fate of Ungern's treasury is still unknown.

The lands of Siberia keep many secrets and unsolved mysteries that still attract people to this day. For many centuries, the land was inhabited by peoples little known to the state, who left their mark on history. Each region of Siberia has its own legend.

The Omsk region keeps the legend of " Five Lakes", one of which is the famous Lake Okunevo in the Omsk region. The village is the “navel of the Earth” Okunevo, which is considered the energy center of the earth. The village itself is a place where paranormal phenomena periodically occur. Someone saw a headless horseman here, others talk about a round dance of girls on the river bank that came from nowhere. The legend says that behind the girls’ backs translucent figures of enormous height appeared and disappeared. There are five lakes around the village, which appeared when five meteorites fell. The water in each of the lakes is considered healing; the location of the fifth lake is still a mystery.

The legend of Khan Kuchum is kept in the Novosibirsk region. It is believed that he hid his treasure in the region.

The Tomsk region can boast of its legend about the elder Fyodor Kuzmich. They say that Emperor Alexander I faked his death and became the wanderer Fyodor.

The Kemerovo region is considered the first and only place in the Siberian region where Bigfoot was seen. Also, they say that the treasure of Admiral Kolchak is kept on the territory of Gornaya Shoria.

There are legends in the Altai region about the lost Demidov mines, the treasure of which has not yet been found.

The Altai Republic also has its own legends. There are stories about Admiral Kolchak’s “gold reserves” here.

The Krasnoyarsk region also preserves legends about Kolchak’s treasure; it is believed that when he passed along the Ob-Yenisei Canal, it was there that he chose the place to bury his gold. There is also a legend about the lost palace of Emperor Gavril Masharov.

Due to the large number of mounds in the Republic of Khakassia, there are many unsolved secrets related to their origin. Menhirs stand mysteriously next to the mounds - these are simple megaliths placed vertically by humans.

The Irkutsk region also appropriates Kolchak’s treasure, which is hidden in the Deminsky Garden.

The Republic of Buryatia differs in its legends from other regions of the Siberian region. Most of the legends are associated with shamanism and Buddhism. Residents of the republic believe that the tomb of Genghis Khan with his treasures is kept in the depths of their lands.

Basically, all the legends of the Siberian region are associated with the names of great people who contributed to the history of the development of the regions. Each region, thanks to its legends, emphasizes its individuality, thereby attracting the attention of tourists.

The gold rushes of the world gave humanity jeans, the city of San Francisco and the stories of Jack London - you can list them in any order depending on your priorities. They also gave away various secrets and legends that inspire even modern gold miners, in particular, the heroes of the Discovery Channel program “Gold Rush”. They have been trying to find their own Eldorado for the seventh season in a row. However, it all began in the 30s of the 19th century in Siberia. Sib.fm publishes a historical investigation by Discovery Channel about the secrets of Siberian gold.

Do you remember how it all began?

In 1812, the Senate issued a decree “On granting the right to all Russian subjects to find and develop gold and silver ores with payment of taxes to the treasury.” He gave the official start to the gold rush in Russia, which, however, for some reason did not begin immediately, but almost 20 years later. Only in 1828, the Ural merchants Popovs submitted an application to the Tomsk province to develop a section of the Berikul River. How did the Ural merchants end up in Siberia and why did this not happen immediately after the Senate decree was issued?

The Popov merchants spent more than two million rubles on geological exploration in the Tomsk province in search of gold.

According to numerous testimonies, Yegor Lesnoy lived in these parts - either a former exile, or an escaped convict, or simply an Old Believer hermit. Previously, he worked as a miner in the Ural placers, but he handed over the mined gold not to the owners of the mine, but to illegal resellers - they paid many times more. For this, Yegor was sent into exile in Siberia. Having freed himself (or escaped), the peasant settled near Lake Berchikul, where he began mining gold on the Sukhoi Berikul River. Yegor did not communicate with anyone except his assistant, and kept the place of gold mining a secret from everyone.

But the earth is full of rumors: stories about a peasant who discovered a gold-bearing province in Siberia soon reached the Urals. The rich merchants Popovs first sent their people on reconnaissance, and a year later they themselves came to the Tomsk province. They no longer found Yegor Lesnoy alive: he died under mysterious circumstances, and many versions agree that the peasant, who did not want to reveal his secrets, was simply strangled.

Apparently, his pupil told the merchants about the mine of Yegor Lesnoy, and already in 1828 the mine “1st Berikulskaya Square” began to work.

On November 23, 1851, such a coat of arms of Krasnoyarsk was approved. The lion symbolized strength and courage, and the sickle and shovel reflected the main occupation of the inhabitants - agriculture and mining, primarily gold.

Around the same time, the Popovs explored other major deposits in Siberia in the vicinity - on the Sukhoi and Mokroi Berikul, the Salairk Ridge, in the Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Kansk and Nizhneudinsk districts. Thus began the gold rush in Russia, which over 50 years gave the country 583 tons of precious metal.

Gold feeds, gold feeds, gold leads naked

The largest gold-bearing region of modern Russia is Krasnoyarsk: it is here that almost 50 tons of the precious metal are mined annually, which is 20% of total production. The region took a leading position a long time ago: back in 1851, the coat of arms of Krasnoyarsk was approved - a golden lion holding a shovel in its paws, the main tool of a prospector. Of course, the largest gold mine in Siberia gave birth to its own millionaires, and, as you know, the rich have their own quirks. So, gold miner N.F. Myasnikov ordered business cards made of pure gold: he paid five rubles for each, but with this money he could buy 16 kilograms of sturgeon caviar.

The merchant ordered a medal with the inscription “Emperor of the entire taiga”, for which he received the nickname taiga Napoleon.

According to legend, the medal on the chain “Emperor of All Taiga” weighed more than five kilograms, so Gavrila Masharov never wore it

Gavrila did not rest on this: right in the middle of the taiga, he built himself a house, more like a palace, as befits an emperor. Glass galleries, greenhouses where pineapples were grown, rose gardens, and in a factory built nearby, real Venetian velvet was produced.

It all ended predictably and not at all rosy: Gavrila went bankrupt, went bankrupt, and creditors declared a real hunt for him. Fleeing from them, Gavrila died - most likely in a labyrinth of underground passages that he dug under his house. The location of his palace still remains a mystery, and many who are haunted by the history of the taiga Napoleon are trying to solve this mystery.

On December 3, 2010, the first season of the TV show “Gold Rush” aired on the Discovery Channel.

Gavrila’s story once again confirms the veracity of the proverb popular among gold miners: “Gold feeds, gold feeds, gold leads naked.” However, you can seize the initiative even from fate. Modern prospector Tony Beets - a Klondike legend, a participant in the Discovery Channel's "Gold Rush" - is known for his experience and intuition. He does not blindly rely on luck, but prefers to create it himself, and instead of buying gold business cards and building palaces, he invests money in the development of his mine. So, he took the risk of investing a substantial amount in the restoration of a 75-year-old non-working dredge, although everyone around said that this ruin was not worth a good word. Tony calculated everything perfectly accurately: after putting the repaired machine into operation, the prospector made a profit of more than five million dollars.

Crime chronicles of Siberian mines

The so-called Demino gold is even more shrouded in mystery. Legend has it that almost a century and a half ago - in the mid-60s of the 19th century - a group of prisoners escaped from the Alexander Central prison, not far from Irkutsk. Surviving in the harsh conditions of the mountainous terrain of the Eastern Sayan was possible only for the most persistent and hardy - Dmitry Demin. He settled in the valley of one of the tributaries of the Kitoi River, where he built his winter quarters and hunted.

And then one day he accidentally stumbled upon a large deposit of ore gold.

Unlike Yegor Lesnoy, Demin did not intend to live as a hermit: he took the gold he mined with him and went to a relatively large settlement - Tunka. Here he bought his freedom by sharing the precious metal with a local official.

Afterwards, Demin married and settled in Tunka, and every few months he went to mine gold for his secret deposit. He revealed the secret only to his sons just before his death: supposedly the gold mine was located between the tributary of the Kitoy and the Shumak River, somewhere in the watershed area. But neither the sons of Demin, nor the gold miner Kuznetsov, who somehow found out about the secret mine, nor the mining technician Novikov, who spent more than three years searching, managed to find the legendary Eldorado of the escaped convict.

But there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. There was a revolution in Russia, and then a civil war. Novikov ended up on Kolchak’s side. Fleeing with his officers from a detachment of partisans, Novikov accidentally stumbled upon gold. It is unknown whether this was the same Demino deposit, especially since the exhausted White Guards were hardly able to extract anything. However, there was little time to rejoice at the find: all three were soon arrested, and Novikov ended up in an Irkutsk prison. He left there only in 1927 and, together with his companions and hired workers - the Leonov brothers - immediately went in search of gold.

The thirst for profit, which did not disappear even after arrest and prison, turned out to be fatal: Novikov never returned back, nor did his companions.

Later their bodies were discovered, and the investigation quickly found the killers - the Leonov brothers confessed to everything. This is where the legend ends - and more or less reliable facts begin, confirmed by archival documents.

In December 1905, Alexander Kolchak received a golden weapon “For Bravery” - a saber with the inscription “For distinction in affairs against the enemy near Port Arthur.” Later, golden weapons were equated to the status of a state order of the Russian Empire

Several geological exploration expeditions following different routes, including those named by the Leonovs, ended in nothing. No gold was ever discovered in the area of ​​Kitoy and Shumak, which does not prevent modern gold miners from still hoping for a miracle: the Eastern Sayan annually attracts thousands of hunters for luck and at least grains of gold.

White Admiral's Yellow Gold

With the outbreak of the First World War, for security reasons, the evacuation of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire began, which at that time, after paying off all war loans, amounted to approximately 1.101 billion rubles. State treasures were transported by train from Petrograd to cities in the rear. So, in Kazan, captured in 1918 by White and Czechoslovak officers, half of the country’s entire gold reserve ended up - and this despite the Bolsheviks’ attempts to recapture it.

After Kolchak was proclaimed Supreme Ruler of Russia in November 1918, Kazan gold was nicknamed Kolchak’s gold - it has not gotten rid of this label to this day, although the admiral had practically nothing to do with it.

In total, the white movement had 650 million rubles in its hands - almost 500 tons of bullion.

1 gram of gold as of April 10, 2017 at the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation costs 2,313.7 rubles. For 500 tons of gold you can earn more than 115.5 billion rubles

These are the numbers that specialists from the State Bank branch in Omsk obtained during recalculation and verification, where the gold was transported through Samara and Ufa.

However, gold did not remain in Kolchak’s headquarters for long. On October 31, 1919, he was sent in 40 carriages along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which on the section from Novosibirsk to Irkutsk was controlled by Czechoslovak soldiers loyal to Kolchak at that time. In addition, the gold reserves were also guarded by officers of the white movement: they accompanied him in an additional 12 carriages. But all these security measures turned out to be useless: when the train arrived in Nizhneudinsk (a city in the Irkutsk region), representatives of the Entente forced Kolchak to renounce the title of Supreme Ruler and give the gold to the Czechoslovak Corps.

This change in political mood was caused, firstly, by the fact that the admiral dispersed the Ufa Directory, which served as the beginning of repression, and secondly, by the desire of the Czechoslovak Corps, first of all, to finally evacuate from Russia in turmoil. By returning the country's gold reserves to the Bolsheviks and handing over to them the chief admiral of the entire white movement, the Czechs actually made a deal and bought their freedom.

Kolchak was arrested and shot, the Czechoslovak Corps returned to its homeland, but the history of the gold reserves does not end there, but is just beginning. Whether the admiral guessed that he would be betrayed, or whether the Czechs kept part of the gold for themselves is unknown, but the fact remains: the People's Commissariat of Finance of the RSFSR in 1921 missed 236 million rubles, that is, 182 tons of gold.

It was established that Kolchak sent part of the money abroad and placed it in foreign banks, and spent another part on uniforms and weapons for his army, but still the missing amount amounts to tens of millions. The versions of historians and amateur researchers differ, and modern media periodically flashes information that a trace of Kolchak’s gold has allegedly been discovered, but there is still no reliable information about the fate of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire.

During the Soviet years - approximately from the middle of the 20th century - private gold mining was prohibited, that is, you cannot just pick up a shovel and go explore mines or small deposits. In recent years, a bill has just been discussed that would allow everyone to engage in individual fishing. If it is successfully approved by all ministries and departments, then it is quite possible that anyone can play with the heroes of the Gold Rush.