CHAPTER III. 



METALLURGY. 



' ABOUT 180 years ago/ writes Barry in 1870, ' there 

 lived two blacksmiths at Tula, who had heard of the 

 immense quantities of iron that lay, scarcely covered by 

 the soil, throughout the Empire ; of the abundant forests, 

 that seemed to offer an inexhaustible supply of fuel ; and 

 of the advantages offered by the Government to any who 

 would take in hand the development of those stores of 

 wealth, 



' The names of the two blacksmiths, Demidoff and 

 Botachoff, are now household words through the length 

 and breadth of the Empire. Both were men of great 

 genius, and extraordinary energy ; when one looks at the 

 work they did, and considers the difficulties they had to 

 contend with, we do not know whether most to admire the 

 magnitude and boldness of their conceptions, or the 

 patient energy and perseverance of their conduct. They 

 both prospered nearly alike. 



' Demidoff, branching out from his first works, which he 

 established at Neviansk, in the mouth of the Ural, had 

 soon availed himself of every spot where water could be 

 collected, and he founded an ironworks there, 



'No authentic record, I believe, exists of the precise 

 number of foundries which he built; but Botachoff, who, 

 it is known, followed closely in his wake, left behind him 

 twenty-five large works, extending over something like a 

 million and a half acres, and employing a population of 

 upwards of fifty thousand souls. 



' After the death of Demidoff and Botachoff their pro- 

 perties were cut up and divided, constantly increased by 

 their successors, and again partitioned in another genera- 



