Smeinogorsk

city Smeinogorsk Змеиногорск coat of arms Federal district Siberia region Altai Rajon Smeinogorsk head Alexander Dudarenko Founded 1735 City since 1952 surface 33  km² population 10,955 inhabitants (as of Oct. 14, 2010) Population density 332 inhabitants / km² Height of the center 450  m Time zone UTC + 7 Telephone code (+7) 38517 Post Code 658480, 658481 License Plate 22nd OKATO 01 214 501 Geographical location Coordinates 51 ° 10 ′  N , 82 ° 11 ′  E Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 0 ″  N , 82 ° 11 ′ 0 ″  E

Situation in Russia

Location in the Altai region

List of cities in Russia

Smeinogorsk ( Russian Змеиногорск ) is a city in the Altai region in southern Western Siberia ( Russia ) with 10,955 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010).

geography

The city is located 270 km southwest of Barnaul around the Snake Mountain (gora Smejewaja) on the southwest flank of the Kolywan ridge of the Ore Altai ( Rudny Altai ). The Korbolicha River , a tributary of the Alei in the Ob river system, and the Smejowka stream flow through the village . In the vicinity of the city, the steppe areas of the northern Voraltai merge in a south-easterly direction into mountain taiga .

The climate is continental with a mean January temperature of −15.5 ° C and a mean July temperature of +19.1 ° C. The mean annual rainfall is 516 mm.

The city of Smeinogorsk is the administrative center of the raion of the same name .

The city is located on the R370 Pospelicha – Tretyakovo regional road (distance via Pospelicha to Barnaul 335 km) and has no railway connection.

history

In 1735, rich silver ore deposits were discovered in the area and a year later a mine and the associated settlement were built. The name of the mine and the place was initially Smejow and was derived from the Russian word smeja ("snake") (see "snake mountain " - gora Smejewaja and Schlangenbach - Smejowka ). The mining of silver ores was carried out both above and below ground.

In 1754 the mechanic and inventor Ivan Polsunov began to work in Smeinogorsk , who built the first sawmill in Russia here.

In 1757 a (wooden) fortress was built. The name of a hill in the urban area ( sopka Karaulnaja - "guard hill", 636  m ) reminds of the former military importance.

From 1763 to 1798 in zmeinogorsk the hydraulic engineer and inventor worked Kosma Frolov . In 1786 he had the Smejowka dammed up into a pond with an 18 m high earth dam, on the basis of which mining equipment for the extraction of ores and water retention in the mine were built. Some of these facilities have been preserved to this day.

In the 1770s and 1780s the region's first mining school, the first mountain hospital and a church were built.

1806–1809 built Kosma Frolov's son, the mining engineer Pyotr Frolow, the first horse-operated railway line in Russia with a length of about 2 km between the mine and the silver works opened in 1804. Cast iron rails were used; the track width was 1067 mm.

Until about the middle of the 19th century, the mine and site played a prominent role in Russian mining. About half of the silver mined in the Altai came from here. Scientists such as the German naturalists and geographers Peter Simon Pallas and Alexander von Humboldt , the German botanist Carl Friedrich von Ledebour , the German-Russian zoologist Alexander von Bunge and the mechanic Iwan Kulibin visited the site.

By the end of the 19th century, however, the ore reserves were largely depleted, so that the ironworks ceased operations in 1893. At this time, the place name Smeinogorsk finally prevailed, which was also used earlier next to Smejow or Smejowski, but the place had practically lost its meaning, became a trading settlement with small industry of local importance and lost its town charter.

In the 1920s and 1930s, deposits of polymetallic ores ( lead , zinc , copper ) were discovered in the area and several mines were built on their basis. As a result, Smeinogorsk first received the status of a workers' settlement and in 1952 again that of a city.

Population development

year	Residents
1897	7,378
1939	11,800
1959	13,774
1970	11,432
1979	10,605
1989	12,232
2002	11,625
2010	10,955

Note: census data

Attractions

Fragments of the mining facilities of the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved (Smeinogorsk, Petrovski-, Tscherepanowski- and Ekaterinen mines), including the "mountain pond" (Gorny prud) with a dam from 1786 and an underground water wheel in a 22 m high chamber (currently not accessible). In today's center of the village, in the area of ​​the former trading suburb ( Torgowaja sloboda ), the main square with the so-called trading rows , the administrative building of the Kolywan-Voskressensk mines, the house of the mining officers and traders' houses from the middle of the 19th century has remained practically unchanged. The mining museum, originally founded by Pyotr Frolow in 1827 and reopened in 1985, is also located here . The spirits factory building was built in 1901-03. Outside the center, around the mountain pond and along the road towards Kolywan, some villas have been preserved.

economy

Mining (polymetallic ores) is carried out in the area. There are also light and food industries (dairy, spirits). Smeinogorsk is also an agricultural area (agriculture and livestock farming).

Web links

• Smeinogorsk on the Altai Territory Administration website (Russian)
• Smeinogorsk on mojgorod.ru (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)