] 46 ilHEKlA. 



The value ol' the chief products ol' the iniuiiig and metalhirgical industries is estimated 

 at Irom twenty to iwonty-live million metallic roubles. 



The southern portion of Siberia contains considerable deposits of every kind of mineral, 

 and a milling' imliistry has existed in its iliU'erent regions for about two centuries. But greai 

 mineral wt-alth still lies untouched in the bowels of Siberia, and its exploitation will become 

 possible when tli(! oxistinf,' economical Cdiiditions will be modified by the construction of th"- 

 Great Siberian llaihvay. 



The chief mineral riches of Siberia include, among metals, gold, silver, copper and 

 iron. There are also deposits of mercury and tin ores. Among the carboniferous and 

 combustible substances there are, coal and lignite, graphite, sulphur and naphtha; and amon(/ 

 salts, cominuM and glauber salts; besides which, Siberia is rich in all kinds of rare stones. 



Gold. 



At the lime when the gold industry of the Urals was extending more, and penetrat- 

 ing to their utmost northern limits, the existence of gold was not known in Siberia and it 

 was only in J831 that it w^as found by private individuals in the mountains between the 

 rivers Toma and Yenisei in the system of the river Kiya. And for a certain period all thf 

 endeavours of the gold workers were concentrated in this district. In 1836 they transferred 

 their prospectings further to the east in the spurs of the Sayansk mountain chain, to the 

 borders of the governments of Yenisei and Irkutsk. There rich deposits of gold were found 

 in the wildest and most inaccessible places along the river Birusa. But the activity of the 

 gold miners, whose number was constantly increasing, did not long restrict itself to the gold 

 bearing system of the Birusa. It was enough for one daring gold miner to push tow^ards 

 the north, to the rivers Toungousk, to be followed by many others, and in 1840 and 1811 a 

 large number of rich and very durable gold deposits were discovered between the Verkhnaya 

 and Podkamenuaya Toungouski, which presented a vast store of gold exceeding all those 

 known at that time. The prospectings were pushed further and further to the east, and in 

 1849 the gold deposits of the Olekminsk system in the government of Yakutsk were put 

 under exploitation. In 1854 the gold industry was established in the Bargouzinsk region of 

 the Transbaikal province. In the Xerchinsk mining region the exploitation of gold has been 

 carried on by the State since 1832, and private individuals were first permitted to prospect 

 for gold in 1864, and in 1865 the exploitation of gold by private individuals was started. In 

 the Littoral province prospecting for gold was permitted in 1866, and in 1868 it was begun 

 in the Amour province. And lastly the discovery of gold deposits in the tributaries of the 

 river Boureya, which fall into the Amour from the left side, was only made in 1875. 



At the present time the Siberian gold industry extends over a vast area, and gold is 

 exploited in the basins di the Obi, Yenisei, (with the Baikal) Lena and Amour, within the 

 limits of all the governments and provinces of Siberia. The gold bearing localities along 

 the Obi, Yenisei and Lena are situated in the basins of rivers flowing from the east 

 that is, along the western declivity of the mountain chains which descend into the north- 

 ern Siberian lowlands from the mountains which border the Arctic Ocean on the south. 

 There are rare exceptions; the gold deposits in diiferent parts of Siberia lie at different 



