"On the Chusovaya River"

On the western slope of the Ural Mountains, many mountain rivers and rivulets run down, which make up the main feeding branches of the basin of the high-water Kama River. Among them, without a doubt, in originality and beauty, the first place belongs to the Chusovaya River, which dug its rocky bed through rocks and mountains at a distance of several hundred miles. This mountain beauty presents almost insurmountable obstacles for navigation, and therefore it is especially interesting for us to get acquainted with how a simple Russian man, who does not even know literacy, overcomes this obstacle. Chusovaya takes its beginning a little south of Yekaterinburg, first flows to the north, and then slowly turns to the north-west, until it flows into the Kama River twenty versts above the city of Perm.

The rafting part of Chusovaya, that is, the one along which navigation is possible, stretches for 600 versts. The middle part of this current, which occupies 400 versts, is the most picturesque strip of Chusovaya and ends exactly at the place where the Ural railway passes through the river. Here Chusovaya finally runs out of the "stones", as the barge haulers call the mountains, and then flows along the low-lying plain, where the shores only occasionally rise with high hillocks, and on them, as an exception, those terrible coastal rocks, which the barge haulers call fighters, come across. The most beautiful part of Chusovaya is together and the most dangerous for floating barges: not only barges are "fighting" among the fighters, but dozens of people die as well.

Throughout its length, the Chusovaya is a completely deserted river, where coastal villages are some kind of exception. True, there are several large factories on Chusovaya, which, of course, revitalize the river, but there are too few of them; then the docks remain, from where the barges depart; but the marinas liven up only for one month a year, at the time of the spring rafting, and for the rest of the time they definitely fall asleep ...

Meanwhile, Chusovaya was and is of tremendous importance for the Urals, because more than six million poods of various cargoes are rafted along it annually, some barge haulers gather at the Chusov piers every spring up to twenty-five thousand people.

Several years ago I happened to sail almost the entire Chusovaya with a spring caravan, which I want to tell you about.

In the last days of April, when the snow had already melted in open places and the first pale greens appeared, I drove up along the most terrible road to one of the upper Chusovo piers. There was still ice on Chusovaya, loose and rusty; blackened snow lay in the forest, but spring was already felt in the air, and waves of warm spring light poured from the sky, forcing the green tendrils of young grass to pour out from under last year's leaves and swell the branches of birches, mountain ash and bird cherry. Spring in the Urals, as in other northern or mountainous places, comes quickly, all at once, so that, in fact, there is probably no spring that happens in the south: the transition from winter to summer is too abrupt, as well as the transition from summer to winter.

In the first minute I did not recognize the familiar pier, which I visited several times in summer and winter. An ordinarily quiet village, with fifty huts clung to a steep bank, now resembled a living anthill, where thousands of black dots swarmed. "Dubinushka" was heard here and there in the air:

Oh, dubinushna, uhnem!

Green, turn it up ...

The streets were crowded with barge haulers, so the crew could only make their way. Now behind the village, on a low promontory, there were a dozen and a half almost completely finished barges, it remained only here and there to dig the grooves (holes between the boards) and fill them with pitch. This work was not difficult, and the completely finished barges were just waiting for the moment when the ice broke on the river in order to float to the free spring water.

To Yermolai Antipych, - I said to my coachman.

My cart stopped at a low, one-story house with large windows overlooking the river. I have always loved this low log house, in which it was so warm and cozy, and between the fuchsias and geraniums that stood on the windows, every time the pink, smiling face of a little girl, Lyubenka, flashed. I must say that we were great friends, and Lyubenka met me loudly every time with one phrase: "Dad, dad! The city man has arrived!" Lyubenka was in her early sixths, and she had never been anywhere except her pier, which is why I got the name "city man" from her.

How else? You've even been to Moscow and Petersburg, ”said the girl, looking at me incredulously with bright eyes. - Of course, urban, but I am a village ...

The first time Lyubenka heard that I had been to Moscow and St. Petersburg, for a long time she did not want to believe such a miracle: none of the quayside had ever visited such a distance. Moscow and St. Petersburg can only be seen in picture books. Only when Yermolai Antipych convinced the little daughter that I was really so far away did Lyubenka finally believe and called me a city man. However, from the expression in her eyes, I sometimes noticed that she doubted her city man and was giving him a little exam.

Dad is not at home, - said Lyubenka this time. - He is on the shore where the barges are being built ...

The city man is tired, Lyubenka, and wants some tea.

I'll tell Martha now.

Lyubenka did not have a mother, who died three years ago, and the grumbling old Martha ran the entire household in the house. Yermolai Antipych's house was divided into four small, cozy rooms, of which one was occupied by Yermolai Antipych's study, Lyubenka lived in the other, and the last two bore the loud name of the living room and dining room, although they could be named differently, because in the dining room, for example, there was the master's bed, and in the living room is his long desk.

By the way, you have arrived, - said Lyubenka while I was stretching my broken, expensive legs in the living room.

Yes so ... The river will move soon, it will be very fun. The barges will run past us. Then we will send our caravan ... Why! .. They will shoot from the cannon on the shore ... I'm afraid when they shoot from the cannon ...

And when, Lyubenka, will Chusovaya get under way?

They wait from hour to hour ... The rafter Ilya was drinking tea with us yesterday and said that soon it would be. The barges are ready, the barge haulers have gathered ... Yes ...

The little hostess told me the latest news from the pier, which was mainly circulating around the same alloy.

The snows are deep these days, - Lyubenka said seriously, - Ilya is afraid that a friendly spring might strike ... Many barges will be killed in high water.

The girl conveyed only what she herself heard from others, and spoke in the language that is spoken only in Chusovaya: "the barge will be killed," and not smashed, because for the rafter Ilya, the barge is not a dead vessel, but a living creature: "a friendly spring will strike "," the snow has fallen deeply "," the river will move ", etc.

As soon as Martha had time to bring in the boiling samovar, the voices of Yermolai Antipych and the rafter Ilya were heard in the hall.

We have a city man, dad, - reported Lyubenka, jumping out to meet her father.

We are glad to have guests, - answered Yermolai Antipych, appearing at the door.

Hello, Ermolai Antipych, - I greeted, shaking hands with the owner. - How are you doing?

What we are doing: we live with Lyubenka, like teals in a swamp. Are you here for a rafting trip?

Yes, I would like to sail on a caravan to Perm ...

Well, good deed: there is a place. Here I am Now and will pass you from hand to hand to Ilya ... Where are you, Ilya?

I’m now, Ermolai Antipych, ”Ilya responded from the hall,“ I’ve dragged dirt on my boots from the street, I have to wipe it off, otherwise I’ll take out your whole room ...

Yes, go, nothing: the dirt is not greasy, - dried up, lagged behind ...

No, this is no longer order! How is it possible ... But the young lady won't let me into the upper room another time.

The rafter Ilya finally entered the upper room, prayed to the icon in the front corner and, shaking his hair cut into brackets, bowed to all three sides, although there was no one in the upper room except for the three of us. He was a small, wiry old man with a goat-like, dark beard that crawled out over a blue, homemade caftan with a wedge: Ilya's thin, yellowish face did not differ in anything special, except for deeply sunken, unusually lively gray eyes, which looked at everything with a cutting, narrowed gaze. Ilya's short, crooked legs walked slowly and firmly, like some hero was walking; hunched back and elongated, Long hands made his figure very ugly at first glance, but such backs and arms are found only in those workers who work without sparing themselves.

Well, you are living great, ”Ilya said, spreading his legs wide apart and thrusting one hand into the red woolen belt, which intercepted his blue caftan.

Hello, Ilya ... Sit down, so you will be a guest.

We sat at tea unnoticed for an hour; the conversation was going on all the time about Chusovaya: when it starts to move, how high the water will be today, but a friendly spring would not hit, and so on. - according to the proverb: whoever hurts, he talks about that. Such conversations in Yermolai Antipych's apartment probably have been happening lately, day after day, but they did not bother anyone, just as a musician does not get tired of talking about music, a hunter about hunting, an actor about a theater. Even Lyubenka did not find these conversations boring and inserted her own childish word into them in a thin voice. Ilya liked to "drink tea" and drank glass after glass while there was water in the samovar, and, like a mouse, he chewed off his piece of sugar and constantly shook the crumbs from it into his saucer; old Martha was always angry with the old man for his "appetite" for tea, because after the gentlemen she liked to indulge herself around the samovar, and here, if you please, set up another one for herself.

What does he only drink, this Ilya of yours? - Martha grumbled, angrily removing the empty samovar from the table. - I got to the master's tea, glad to have a bucket to drink.

Now we are going ashore, - suggested Ermolai Antipych, referring to me. “You don’t know how barges are built, too?”

Here Ilya will tell you everything, as if on fingers ...

We went out. The entire coast of the Chusovaya was filled with barge haulers; on the promontory, where there were shops and completely ready-made barges, people moved like a living ant heap. It was about half a mile from Yermolai Antipych's house to the cape, and we walked all the time between living walls. During the rafting on the Chusovo wharves, people are recruited from all sides: from the nearest districts of the Perm province, from Vyatka, Ufa and even Kazan. Some barge haulers come to the rafting for a whole thousand miles. Such a long journey into a spring thaw requires five weeks and responds extremely hard to barge haulers: faces baked in the sun with cracked skin, instead of clothes - some rags, bast shoes on the legs, behind the shoulders - a torn dirty knapsack, in the hands - a long stick, - by these signs, you will immediately distinguish the barge haulers from the distant bridge from the workers from the pier and the nearest factories.

We had a lot of burlachkov, - said Ilya, when we began to descend under the steep bank. - The starlings will arrive first, and after them the haulers ...

We descended along a clay path to the very promontory, where about two dozen completely finished barges were placed along the shore.

Here are our little dishes, - Ilya remarked lovingly, banging his fist on the side of one barge, which was still caulked. - So they look with their noses into the river ...

The rafter Ilya and the barge haulers in general regard the barge as a living being, which has its merits and demerits, desires and even whims. One barge "likes to dump the bow to the right," the other "spins on the move and presses the stern to the shore", the third "famously spreads the stream of the river," but "plays with the fighters," and so on. An experienced rafter, like Ilya, at first glance sees the merits and demerits of each barge, while to me they seemed exactly the same ...

The next day I was walking around the barges, when a general shout rang out along the entire bank: "The water has gone for profit ..." Crowds of people rushed to the river. Somewhere in the distance an indistinct, dull noise was heard.

It’s the water, ”Ilya explained. “It’s time for our nurse Chusovaya to open up, it’s obvious ... Look, how the ice pouted! Now it will move ...

The water came quickly; the ice lagged behind the shores and gave several cracks. The noise intensified, as if a huge animal were crawling along the river, with suppressed hiss and whistles. Soon all the ice began to stir and several fresh wormwoods formed, as if the ice floes had been torn apart by some strong hand.

The water was drained from the Revdinsky pond, - explained Ermolai Antipych. - Chusovaya sometimes stands for a long time, and spring water can escape under the ice. To break the ice, water is drained from the Revdinsky pond.

The Revda plant is located in the upper reaches of the Chusovaya, and its huge pond serves as the main supply of water for rafting down the river. As a rule, a huge rampart is released, which stretches along the river for two hundred versts; this is the flood along which the spring caravans float.

An hour later, the picture of the pier changed completely, as if everything came to life all at once around with a loud talk and a cheerful spring noise. Ice floes of all kinds of forms floated along the river in a long line: some were yellow from the spring ice, others were as if eaten away by worms. At turns, they collided and climbed one on top of the other, forming ice jams; the ice pressed especially strongly on the promontory where the barges stood; ice floes, as if alive, crawled out on the sand and scattered here sparkling ice crystals and white snow powder. A stream of cold pulled in the air, and the forest that stood on the Chusovaya made a dull noise. Crows came from somewhere and, with a restless croaking, flew from ice floe to ice floe.

Well, now we have the hottest work, just have time to get better, - said Yermolai Antipych. - We need to lower all the boats into the water tomorrow and load them in three days. Every hour is precious! After all, on each barge you need to put a load of fifteen thousand poods ... Some marinas have their own harbors, well, they manage to load in advance, but we have to load directly in the river.

The whole pier took on a completely festive look. Everyone dressed up in the best dress they ever had. The peasants of the marina dressed up in new chintz shirts and new caftans, the women were full of bright sundresses and red scarves. Only there was nothing for the barge haulers who came to the pier from afar. Probably, it became even more difficult for them from this other people's holiday.

Oh, it would be more likely to raft, - said the gray-haired old man, looking at the river.

Why, grandfather, are you in a hurry?

But how not to hurry, darling ... What time is it worth now? The day was in vain - a hungry week in winter ... How? The arable land does not wait for our brother while we are scampering along the piers ... Soon there will be Yeremey the harnessing ... Only a lazy plow in the field does not go to Yeremey ...

Eremey the harness-harvester, that is, May 1, is a great day in the life of a plowman; summer peasant suffering opens up to them, on which the earnings of a whole year depend. That is why the newcomer barge haulers-peasants are in a hurry to return home as soon as possible.

The next day there was a "list" of barges. Up to two thousand barge haulers gathered at the cape. "Slimes" were carried from the barges to the water, that is, thick logs smeared with tar; on these slimes the barge was pushed into the water. There was a lot of shouting and fuss at such an important event. On the one hand, the bark was pushed against with "chegen", that is, with wooden stakes, and on the other, it was held back with thick ropes and tackle. A hundred-voiced "Dubinushka" hung in the air, all faces were animated, a loud echo rolled far down the river and echoed loudly on the opposite bank. Ermolai Antipych was here from early morning, because it was necessary to keep up everywhere, to foresee everything, to give the necessary orders everywhere. The cry of the workers and the friendly burlak song on the list - all this for the first time made a deafening impression, as in a huge fire, where people completely lost their heads and in vain tear themselves up in aimless vanity.

The barge is stuck! .. - the cry of a dozen voices is heard near the barge being pushed off. - Give your right shoulder a bit ... Eumenes, grab the tackle!

The rafter Ilya shouted harder than the others, in one shirt, running along the barge, which was "stuck", that is, stopped while descending through the slimes. Dozens of voices argue and shout at the top of their lungs; everyone climbs with their advice, and no one wants to listen. "Left shoulder stuck!" - "No, the bilge is stuck!" - "The gate must be substituted, Ilya!" The barque was moved from the platform on which it was built, onto the slimes, but it does not go further.

It is necessary to lubricate the slugs, shyly ...

The matter ended with Ilya cursing all the uninvited advisers, he himself climbed under the barge and examined where she was stuck. Several wedges were brought in, and the boat slowly slid down the slimes, foaming the water with a wide shaft. Rare ice floes floated along the river, which seemed to be in a hurry to swim away from the general turmoil.

The barge, lowered into the water, was immediately taken on a rope to the shops with metals. Several gangways were thrown from shore to side; several hundred barge haulers were already waiting in line to start loading. I climbed onto the bow deck to see how the burlak work went. A healthy man with a red beard was in charge all the time while the gangway was being arranged; old man Ilya came up to me and, wiping his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief, sat down on a log.

Is this a rafter? - I asked, pointing to the red-haired man.

No, I'm a rafter, and the red-haired man is a water-carrier ... Call him Vavil. As the barge was lowered into the water, then the water-carrier must take it upon himself - the whole barge is his. Where it seems to flow, the tow will come out of the grooves, water has accumulated on the barge - all this is observed by the waterman ...

So, the real owner of the barge is a water-carrier, and not a rafter?

Water-lover, master ... Without his request, no one can enter the boat or get off, because he is responsible for everything. And the rafter is different: now I have to look after the load, so that it is loaded correctly, otherwise you will just kill the barge; then I have to present the barge intact to the very place ... This is my business ...

As soon as the gangway was ready, barge haulers with heavy loads in their hands moved in an endless line. Ilya's barge, as the best rafter, was loaded with high-quality iron, that is, the most valuable material that can lose a lot if it gets into the water. The barge haulers, like ants, dragged bundles of all kinds of shapes onto the barge; amid the clatter of hundreds of burlak feet and the sharp clang of the loaded iron, it was difficult to hear a human voice. Ilya barely had time to dispose of where and how to put the brought iron; Soon, near the sides and in the middle of the barge, the correct masonry of sheet iron formed ... The barque slowly sank deeper and deeper: Ilya constantly coped with the measure of the draft and estimated the descending part of the sides into the water with the help of a wooden outline, divided into tops.

In general, the work was in full swing. The red, sweaty faces of the barge haulers, grunts and tired movements testified to the hard work that fell to their lot. For an unaccustomed person, two hours of such work is harder than a whole working day somewhere on arable land; to drag an iron strip weighing 3-4 pounds - you need strength, and then skill. The barge haulers, accustomed to such a load, only laughed, and the peasants, who were on the rafting for the first time, were simply exhausted. Almost a whole science exists about how it is easier to lift such and such a grade of iron, how it is easier to drag it to the barge, and how to put it back. An inexperienced worker will first needlessly rip his hands on iron to the point of blood, and then he will learn how and what to do.

Now we have porridge brewed for three whole days, - said Yermolai Antipych, when he came to see how Ilya's barge was being loaded. - We will work day and night.

And when to sleep?

Barge haulers will work in shifts; while one shift is working, the other is resting. And we, it seems, are so ... If you take a nap for an hour or two a day, - your happiness, otherwise you will wear out your sleep on your feet. It is impossible, every minute is precious. We'll send the caravan, then we'll have time to rest. Why sleep: there is no time to eat ... Martha brought me lunch to the store; So I already ate something on the move: they tear you to all sides.

The workload continued for three days, and the work was in full swing at night, in the light of huge bonfires on the shore. The picture of the pier on such a night was striking, as if it were a robber's den, where at night they tried to seize what could not be taken during the day.

For me personally, these three days dragged on very slowly, as for a completely superfluous person in this hectic labor. I even got tired of walking and watching how the barges are loaded, because the same pictures, scenes and conversations were repeated. But on the other hand, on the pier itself, where barge haulers were swarming, there was something to see and listen to, and I spent whole days among the ragged and hungry people. Someone else was not in this motley, eternally roaring crowd! The people gathered from four provinces, and each brought with him his own dialect, cut of dress, his own peculiarities in habits and character. But there was also something in common in this multi-tribal crowd: everyone was gathered here by one force, whose name is need. Sunburned faces, rags and rags instead of clothes, and - patches, patches, patches ... It should be noted that only the very last poor people from the poorest villages and hamlets go to the spring Chusovo rafting: accidental misfortunes - like crop failure, drought, fire, bestial death and various other peasant misfortunes - they forced the strongest workers in the family to leave the village and sometimes wander a thousand miles.

When Yermolai Antipych said that he would not have time to dine these days, I didn’t believe at first - you never know what is said for a catchphrase - but then I had to believe, because he came home for only two hours a day, and everything else spent time near shops. Thus, Lyubenka and I remained alone and talked for a long time because there was nothing to do, especially in the evenings. The room is so warm and cozy, the samovar grumbles so friendly on the table, various buns and crackers peep out of the bread basket so appetizing - I really didn't even want to believe that here, now behind the wall, the most bitter poverty is spreading in a wide wave, which is glad for every moldy crust. Those little comforts, which you usually do not notice, now seemed to me an extraordinary luxury, for which I was simply ashamed: to sit in a warm, cozy room, have an excellent dinner, tea, a newspaper, a warm dress, when hundreds of people are starving and freezing, when there is, maybe , patients who have nothing to even buy simple rye bread; no, being warmly dressed, having a warm room, a good table is really the greatest happiness, which people, in most cases, do not know how to appreciate, just as healthy people do not know how to value their health ...

Do you know what, - Lyubenka once said when we were sitting at evening tea. - I sometimes think to myself, will our pier barges reach Petersburg? ..

Probably half will swim to St. Petersburg.

But I can’t believe it: some kind of pier barge will suddenly be in Petersburg!

Yes, and will, in all likelihood, go for firewood and fences. The honor is not particularly great.

Lyubenka, who has never left her pier, has formed the most fantastic concept of the capital, as of some magical city where the streets consist entirely of five-story buildings, wealthy carriages with smart ladies and men rush like a pavement, and nowhere, even the slightest shadow, is there anything like poverty or misery.

In the evenings, when Lyubenka had long been asleep with her dreams of Petersburg, I would open the window and for a long time admired the magnificent picture, rolling with a dull rumble of Chusovaya, a continuous forest that was rising as a green battlement on the other bank, distant mountains, slightly twined with a misty haze. ... The whole pier fell asleep dead at night deep sleep, which was disturbed only by the rare barking of chain dogs and a dull noise that came from the loading barges. From there, together with the cold and damp stream of air rising from the river, the resinous smoke of burning fires was drawn. The river was completely cleared of ice, and only occasionally did belated ice floes appear as white spots; they probably sailed from some brisk mountain tributary. Once, when I was sitting in this way by the window and admiring the sleeping pier, a flock of mallard ducks swept through the air with a noise and whistle. She could hear her sinking into the water near the opposite bank, and black dots plowed the dark stream of the river for a long time, leaving a long, double trail behind them. The river was opened, and now no less troublesome work was in full swing along the entire course than on the piers: mallards, pintails, gogols, teals and other representatives of the duck breed hastily built nests in different secluded places, so that in a few weeks they would swim to Chusovaya with a whole brood of tiny yellow ducklings. A corncrake was already creaking in the rising sedge, and across the sandy shoals one could see waders and snipe running all day.

Those white nights began, which usually happen in the Urals; the sky is completely transparent, and a trembling, trembling light pours from the bottomless blue heights, which covers everything with matte silver - the forest, the mountains, and the water.

While the load was going on, the water on Chusovaya dropped to almost the same level - the shaft released from the Revdinsky pond passed. Spring Chusovo caravans go down this rampart, which stretches along the river for two hundred versts; for this second, most important flood, water from the Revdinsky pond is sometimes released within two days. The water in the river rises by several arshins; but caravans can sail down only at a certain height of such a flood: it must stand above the summer water level on Chusovaya from 2 1/4 to 3 arshins. If the water is lower, then the caravans are in danger of becoming shallow; if higher, the barges run the risk of crashing near the soldiers. It is understandable, therefore, with what impatience they are waiting for the second wave on the piers: the entire success of the rafting depends on it ...

Water is coming ... Water! .. - swept along the street early in the morning, when I was still asleep.

The whole dock was gathered on the shore. The most ancient, half-blind old men and women crawled out to see with at least one eye how the caravan would "roll off" the pier. The drift of ice and the dump of the caravan are two great holidays at the marina for the old and the small. Everything that is alive and having even the slightest ability to move, every last person crawls onto the shore; crippled and crippled people appear from somewhere: one's leg was crushed under the load with a heavy iron blade, another was cut with a tackle "on the grip", the third one does not control either his hands or feet from rheumatism, obtained when shooting shallow barges. For these unfortunate invalids of the Chusov rafting, every ice drift and dump only reminds of their misfortune once again, but they still hustle on the shore: "If you want to have fun with the barge haulers for an hour, it's easier on your soul." Summer and winter are in debt, they will still have time to sit and lie down in the huts.

But the water is the most measured, - said Ilya, examining his completely finished barge. - Maybe we will swim little by little.

Do not think ahead, Ilya, - stopped the red-haired water-carrier, who was distinguished in general by a very "suspicious" character and distrustfulness.

Ilya's barque was called "kazenka" because a caravan clerk was sailing on it, and on this occasion a small cabin was arranged on the deck, near which an "eye" rose, that is, a high mast with a multi-colored feather at the top, something like a peacock's tail. The same breeches are set up at all the piers; with them there is a special class of barge haulers, known as "inert". The inert ones are chosen from the best barge haulers and flaunt during the entire caravan in kumak shirts and in hats with multi-colored ribbons: these ribbons are used to distinguish the inert ones of different marinas. The inert ones got their name from the inert boat, on which they drive from barge to barge with various orders of the clerk ...

I was also offered to fit in the breech, in the clerk's cabin, and as soon as the water started to profit, all my belongings from Yermolai Antipych's apartment went into the cabin.

Are you not a coward? - Yermolai Antipych asked me at parting.

Nothing so far, but I can’t vouch for the future ...

Remember only one thing, - the good old man advised, - there is no need to rush ... The people are stupid: as soon as the barge touches the fighter, they all go into the boat; and where in one can fit sixty people? They drown each other ... And you look at the rafter: what he will do, so you do.

I could only thank for the good advice.

Ermolai Antipych and Lyubenka accompanied me to the very bureau, where Ilya was busy with the barge haulers and inert. All barges were ready to set off and stretched out along the coast in one line. The water kept coming and coming, noisily; planks, logs and fresh wood chips were carried along the river, captured by the water along the upper docks. The barge haulers had long ago settled in the barges and dragged their knapsacks under the decks; it would take four days to sail on the river, it was necessary to stock up on bread, crackers and some welding just in case. The work ahead was hard, and it was especially necessary for the tired barge to sip something hot, so as not to be completely exhausted ...

Well, Ilya, it's time to get off, - decided Ermolai Antipych, glancing at his watch. - As if from above the caravan ran up ... How much water does it cost?

Eleven quarters, Ermolai Antipych ...

Get off, Ilya, get off! ..

Ermolai Antipych and Lyubenka were the last to leave our barge. The barge haulers stood up to the diarrhea *, the water-carrier threw down the gangway. The day was sunny, bright, the entire coast was covered with the first pale greenery, the birds that had flown in flooded in the forest ...

* Weeping, or potesi, are huge logs that replace the steering wheel.

Ilya pulled his felt hat deeply over his head, looked back at the shore strewn with people and commanded:

Give me the tackle! ..

There was a fuss on the shore, and a thick rope fell heavily into the water; the barge just gave a start and began to separate from the shore.

Nose to the left, well done! - Ilya shouted, and the nasal squeezes flopped heavily into the water, throwing it open into two wide, foaming waves.

A fire flashed on the shore, and the first cannon shot echoed down the river, followed by another, a third ... White smoke soared upward, as if an armful of fluff had been thrown into the air. The entire coast with houses, hundreds of people, shops and firing cannons seemed to float back from us, up the river. One barge rolled off after another, starting to rake in hard water with potties. I stood at the stern and looked for a long time at the floating shore, where a white dot flashed in the air: it was Lyubenka who was waving her handkerchief to the city man.

The river soon made a sharp turn, and the pier was completely out of sight. The barge was sailing on the steep green banks exactly between the two walls; the water froth and gurgled under the bow of the barge and beat against the shore in a foaming wave ... Chusovaya was unrecognizable ... The river was precisely "playing," as barge haulers say about the spring flood; it is difficult to find a better name. Even in the reaches, that is, in places where in summer the water stands quietly, like a mirror, now a mighty wave rolled in a wide current, which turned into a mad animal at sharp turns. Near the concave part of the coast, maidans formed, that is, rows of strong waves, which crashed noisily near the sides of the barge and climbed ashore with a wild roar, greedily sucking on the coastal stones.

Poddorzhi stern, well done! .. - Ilya shouted, waving his hand. - Feed the feed ... Feed ...

The squabs fell into the water with a dull noise, and the barge shuddered from the stamping of the burlak's feet. Now she was really alive, one huge whole, blindly obeying one will. The individual faces of the barge haulers merged into one solid mass, as if a gray wave were walking along the deck, and the bobs were drilled, churning the water like huge wooden hands.

For a long time I admired the rafter Ilya, who was now standing on his bench in his blue caftan and red girdle, like a real commander: by one movement of his hand, like feathers, they flew in the hands of the burlak arms, and the barge slowly turned its nose to where it should turn ... The former Ilya, who drank tea with us at Yermolai Antipych's, seemed to be gone at all, but was a completely different person, on whom the fate of not only the barge depended, but all the barge haulers. A calm expression on his face, a confident gaze of narrowed gray eyes, a firm voice - in a word, Ilya was immediately reborn.

Well, sir, is our Chusovaya playing well? - Ilya asked me when the barge swam out onto a wide stretch.

Never mind...

But the pebbles will fit, there she will comfort us, my dear ... The sky will seem like a sheepskin out of habit!

With every step forward, a majestic mountain panorama unfolded in front of my eyes as an endless ribbon. The mountains gave way, protruding into the river with huge rocks several dozen fathoms in height. Usually, such rocks stood at sharp bends of the river, on its concave bank, so that the water jet directly carried the barge to such a rock, to a soldier. Here, on these bare cliffs, the results of the destructive action of the water could be seen. For millennia, the river, step by step, washed away the stone mountains, exposing huge, stone walls, as if created by the hands of some giants, and not by a blind elemental force. There are too many such battle sites on Chusovaya to describe each one separately; the most dangerous fighters have their own names, and the less dangerous are simply called battle places ...

As I now see one such battle place. The river rolled on relatively low banks, the mountains were left behind; the barge floated on a free stream easily and freely. A dense spruce forest was green on the shore; individual trees came up to the river itself and stretched out pawing, shaggy branches far above the water ...

I peered ahead for a long time - the river was rolling in the same green banks as before, only a dull noise was heard ahead. "These are probably the" bunnies "playing," I thought, trying to discern a dangerous place. In a minute the whole matter was explained; a low rocky mountain blocked the road to the river, and the river formed a steep knee under it, almost at a right angle. The water here boiled and froth terribly, and a frothy bed of large waves rose far up the river. Soon the barge hit the "bunnies", it was picked up by a strong jet and quickly carried forward, straight up the rocky hill. The turn was so sharp that for a minute I considered the danger inevitable, especially since the barge flew like an arrow over the "bunnies" right on the stones. The challenge was to get past the opposite bank; the stern muddied the water, touching the shore, the bow was turned towards the stream, which also beat it to the shore. One moment, and the barge flew like a bird under the stone, leaving the playing "bunnies" back.

In the third year, three barges were killed here, - said Ilya, when the barge was again calmly sailing along the wide and smooth reach.

It was necessary to see how the barge haulers worked near the "bunnies". On the barge - not a sound, everything froze, and Ilya's team barely had time to break away, when the squatters began to row the water furiously, scattering a wide foamy wave along the entire river.

The barge haulers work nicely, - I remarked to Ilya.

Nothing ... Look at our wharves ... dearly. All the power is in them, and the newcomers get in the way. Look how the quaysters throw up diarrhea ... A toy, not a job!

Soon the Bush Duck, - said Ilya. - And there, right up to Kyn, we will all run in stones ...

Boundary Duck, like a pier, a very beautiful village, one and a half hundred yards; there is an old chapel on the shore, on the spit between Utka and Chusovaya there is a beautiful caravan office and a very good harbor where barges are built and loaded. Strong huts located according to the plan, several houses on two floors, benches - all this gives the Landing Duck a prosperous and contented look ...

There they are, pebbles, - said Ilya, throwing his head back. - Look up, and you will lose your hat ...

At the very top of these stone palaces, rickety wooden crosses turn black. This is the only monument that the barge haulers leave over their dead comrades, buried somewhere on the opposite bank, where the willow bristles with its drooping branches.

Do many barge haulers die on the rafting? - I ask Ilya.

Anything happens, sir ... Another alloy, the Lord will carry all the caravans mercifully; only this rarely happens. A man of heels - a dozen will still die from the barges ... There have been such springs that all a hundred people drowned. A lot of our brother, barge haulers, along Chusovaya were buried on the shore.

Soon we actually saw what the crosses on the rocks spoke of. Below the village of Permyakova, when our barge began to bend around the steep cape, there was a general cry:

The killed barge! .. The barge was killed! ..

Ilya, shading his eyes from the sun with his hand, gazed into the distance. Half a mile away from us, a formless mass floated out from under the soldier, which was difficult to take for a barge. It was evident that something big was floating along the river, with sticking out boards and running people.

Oh! she scooped up water with her left shoulder, heart, - said Ilya, continuing to observe the killed barge. - There are people like swarming in the water, like cockroaches!

Closer was the stern of the sinking barge with the diarrhea hanging powerlessly in the air; the broken barge sank lower and lower into the water, quietly turning down the stream, stern ahead. Black dots flashed in the water: these were barge haulers from a broken barge. The inert boat sailed along the rock without people, filled to the brim with water. Probably, in the confusion, the workers threw themselves into it, and the boat capsized from the unbearable weight.

Oh, rubbish business ... How would she not block the river for us, - Ilya fussed. - Look how cleverly it was: so a dead cow and floats on the river ... Hit, brothers, nose to the left! Hit hard, hit it hard, well done! .. Hit it, darlings! .. Nose to the left! .. Nose to the left! ..

The soldier approached us and quickly grew into a large limestone rock, resting against the river with a sharp ridge. The unfortunate barge was probably hitting this crest. On the shore, the workers who had come out were running idly, some sat and looked indifferently at the broken barge sailing past. A gray-haired old man in a red shirt was running along the bank towards us, waving his arms and shouting something loudly. Behind the sound of the waves and the creak of the cliffs, nothing could be heard.

Hit the stern-on-horse !! - Ilya shouted furiously when our barge flew like an arrow towards the soldier. - Darling, do not betray!

It is difficult to convey the solemn moment that had come: deathly silence reigned on the barge, the barge haulers unanimously picked up the command, and they flew like feathers. There are already a few fathoms left before the fighter, you can clearly see each notch on him; the water rushes and roars like mad at its foot ... We were separated from the fighter by some half an arshin when the barge slowly turned its nose away from him and the danger passed. The water bubbled all around like a cauldron, the waves surging on the sides like a hungry pack of wolves.

Sabbat-nose-off! - Ilya commanded, taking off his hat to cross himself.

The boat was on free water and was sailing quietly on, past the crowded people on the shore. They were all wet, many without hats; shouted something after us, but their screams were difficult to hear. Someone was immediately pumped out on a stretched caftan. One could only see how his head dangled helplessly and his white bare feet jerked.

Two of them choked, - Ilya remarked shortly.

On the shore, under the talovy bushes, two motionless figures could be seen, covered with a leaky zipun. A flashed blue face with wet hair, convulsively clenched hand- but only. Who are these rafting victims? In which village will two families mourn the dear dead, perhaps the only breadwinners? What children were orphaned at some quarter of an hour? .. It was sad and hard to look at this too ordinary picture for Chusova ... a nameless forest bird.

We soon overtook the "killed" barge, she was sailing quietly near the very shore; the deck was torn off, and matte coolies peeked out from under it. The entire load was tarnished.

See, how distorted, - said Ilya. “You don’t know what to apply to ...” I hit the fighter with my left shoulder, and the diarrhea nose tore off. Oh-ho-ho! ..

Still deceased, - Ilya remarked.

The inert ones returned to the barge with nothing. They could not carry out further searches, because their own barge was not waiting, and the dead man did not need anyone's help. All the same, a crazy wave will throw somewhere on the shore, on a sandbank, and there kind people will pick up and bury.

A little higher than the Kynovskaya pier, a small mountain river Serebryanka flows into Chusovaya, and about twenty versts below the Serebryanka river on Chusovaya there is the Kynovsky plant, or, as the barge haulers call it, simply - Kyn. Is not Russian word, but passed to us from the Permian language: in Perm, "kynu" means "cold". Indeed, it is difficult to imagine anything more homeless and wilder than Kyn. Imagine a deep canyon carved out of stone on purpose; a small river rolls along the bottom of this gorge, and along its banks there are factory houses, a factory factory, shops for metals. In the depths, a strip of the factory pond turns blue, and several blast furnaces are smoking; closer - a white stone church, a factory office and a few more houses with iron roofs.

This is where Kyn sits for us, ”Ilya explained, pointing to the back of his head.

Why?

Yes, so ... You see how Chusovaya bends here, the Kynovskaya dock is in the very bend and stands, well, like a stream, and blows our barges straight to the dock, to the Kynovskie barges. And below it, there is an overkill: either you will kill yourself on the Kynovsky barges, or on the search ... Choose whatever is best. Here barge haulers will steam up their foreheads to their fill! Well, darlings, walk around, nose to the right! ..

We passed under Kyn safely, although the barge haulers got a good deal. One could be surprised at their endurance, but meanwhile there were still two days ahead - this is in a happy case, of course.

In a day, then all eighteen hours with a diarrhea will withstand, - said Ilya about the barge haulers.

Why, this is horse work! ..

What will you do! The river won't wait for us ...

And when to rest?

But soon there will be rest: we will grapple under Oslyanka. There is such a pier, lower than the Kyn, well, there will be a grip behind it ... We will stand for six hours at the shore, let the water catch up with us, And people also need to rest ...

I was looking forward to the grip. Even earlier, I had to hear a lot of different stories about such grips on a spring rafting: how the grip pulled out, for which the tackle was wound, how this grip or flint burned out, how people were killed and maimed by a burst tackle, etc. It is not an easy task to stop a barge with fifteen thousand poods of cargo on such a fast river as Chusovaya.

Vavilo, the tackle needs to be prepared, - said Ilya, when we sailed the Oslyanka, the last pier where the barges are loaded. - It is dawn to grab it.

Indeed, the sun was already beginning to set, and long shadows stretched along the river from the rocks and the forest. Night falls here with amazing speed, and along with the night dusk a piercing spring cold is approaching, which creeps onto the river from deep dens, where the snow that has not melted yet lies.

The waterman Vavilo, a taciturn, stern man, silently went behind the rear deck and silently began to put in order the tackle, that is, a thick rope, coiled in regular rings. The latter is very important so that when you grip the tackle does not get confused, but unfolds freely.

Done, - said Vavilo, standing near the flint.

Sluggish, get on the boat! - Ilya commanded.

Six selected inert men went to the boat and took with them half of the unwound tackle.

Here, good fellows, as the barge runs out over the cape, there is a bend, - Ilya explained to the inert, - and in the bend, on the left bank, there is a seasoned stump ... Here for him and support the tackle!

The boat rounded the cape, and in front of us a wide pool flashed, with the bend about which Ilya spoke. The water rushed here not as fiercely as before, and the boat went noticeably quieter. To further detain her, Ilya gave the order to "hold up the stern," and the boat went astern almost near the very shore. There are two cedars on the shore, and a hardened stump, which Ilya spoke about. The boat with the inert ones separated from the barge and rushed towards the shore like an arrow. Somehow, having adhered to the shore, the inert ones jumped out of the boat at once and dragged the tackle dragging along the ground to the cedars. At that time, the barge had already sailed past them, and Vavilo quickly lowered the unwound tackle into the water so that it would not be pulled out of the hands of the inert.

Ready! - came from the shore.

Support the tackle! - Ilya commanded.

The waterman threw a prepared loop over the flint and pulled the rope over its free end. The barca shuddered, as if someone had grabbed her by the bottom with a mighty hand. The tackle slapped heavily in the water several times, and then quickly stretched out and trembled like a string. The barge almost stopped completely.

Grass the tackle! - Ilya shouted.

Vavilo lowered several turns, the tackle again plopped heavily into the water, and the flint began to smoke. Barka made an attempt to free herself from the bridle that held her and went forward again.

Tackle grass! .. Tackle grass! - Ilya shouted.

Thick smoke poured from the flint in white clouds, but it was immediately flooded with water. The tackle was taut again, but now the barge had already lost half of the speed gained from moving along the river and as if it had approached the bank itself.

Fasten the tackle tightly, - ordered Ilya.

The tackle was wrapped around the flint in a loop, and the barge stood.

Ilya thanked the barge haulers for the friendly work and congratulated them on a happy grip.

Thank you, Ilya Maksimych! - answered dozens of voices. - We hold on to your head ...

The gangway was thrown ashore, and the barge haulers pulled from the barge in single file.

Soon bright bonfires blazed on the shore. Around them were dozens of barge haulers, like Chinese shadows on the screen of a magic lantern. Who cooked porridge in a cast-iron pot, who warmed frozen hands by the fire, who chewed a dry black crust, exposing their back to the fire, who simply pushed between other people to stretch their legs swollen from standing. Some sat, others went to bed. Right there, near the light, he will curl up in a ball, put his fist under his head, and he sleeps in such a sweet dream that the rich probably never sleep on their down jackets and spring mattresses.

A short spring night with its soft gloom, coldness and feverishly burning stars was already hanging over Chusovaya. Again there was the sound of ducks, and somewhere in the swamp the corncrake creaked endlessly ...

In the early morning, when I was still asleep, the barge rolled away and "ran" forward. Through sleep I heard Ilya's command: "bow to the right", "lift the stern", but I slept like a dead man. The clatter of burlak feet on the deck, the noise of the water near the sides and the bobbing of the diarrhea somehow completely merged with the erratic night dreams: it seemed that the barge was flying directly at the soldier, then the desperate cry of the drowning could be heard, then an ominous, dead silence came ...

On the water, as probably happened to be observed by many, appetite develops especially, and then the deepest sleep overcomes. I continued to lie on my bench, wrapped in a blanket, when exactly what was scribbled along the bottom of the barge. But these were trifles: the barge probably touched the edge of the underwater rock, and then again calmly floated forward. I was asleep when a strong jolt made me jump up. A dull rustle was heard, as if the barge was rolling over dry peas.

Nothing, they touched a little bit, ”explained my companion, lighting a cigarette. - Now it's not dangerous ... Barka almost completely ran out of the stones; if we get stranded somewhere, it’s not a big deal. Below the Kamasin, there will be work ...

Yes, lower than Kumysh ... Have you heard about the Molokov fighter?

Well, it's worth a look there.

When we talked like that, the rustle was repeated several times, and then the barge at once crashed into something soft and stopped. Only the water boiled dully near the sides, but the diarrhea continued to beat in vain to the right and to the left. I went out on deck. The barca ran aground.

Rubbish business, - said Ilya, going down from the bench.

The barge haulers stood indifferently on the deck and waited for what the rafter would say.

What are we going to do now? I asked.

But, after all, it is necessary to get rid of it.

Obviously, we ran out of the mountains. Ahead and on each side was a wide plain, where among the forest fields flashed in regular squares, green winter, and somewhere far, far away, on a steep bank, a village could be seen. Blackened, loose ice floes slowly floated down the river; on the opposite bank, a shallow barge stood sideways.

Where does the ice come from? - I asked Ilya.

Yes, from Koiva, sir, - the old man reluctantly answered, who was now not up to me. - There is such a river, it is called Koiva, well, the ice comes out of it ... Look, he will cut the barge even further.

What is it like?

And so: he will begin to cut an ice floe behind an ice floe along the barge, well, and they will cut through the side ... Oh, you, what a sin it has come out! Never at this very place was there a small piece, and then suddenly a small piece.

And what is the village ahead?

Yes, it's Camasino ... Oh, what a sin it has come out! .. ah! ..

The village of Kamasino serves as a sharp edge for Chusovaya: here she finally runs out of the mountains, in front of it lies an undulating plain covered with forest, arable land and flooded meadows. In the distance, one could see the railway bridge thrown across the Chusovaya on high stone foundations. Here Chusovaya is crossed by the recently built Uralskaya Mining Railway. There are a number of dangerous shoals near Kamasin, because the river here spreads very widely in the low banks.

Well, brothers, how are we going to lift the barge? - Ilya asked, referring to the barge haulers.

The barge haulers shuffled and did not answer. Ilya grunted impatiently, threw his leather mittens onto the deck and turned to the inert ones.

Let go of the bondage ... Let's try first of all forcibly to take off, maybe we'll get off the little one.

Bondage is called a huge log, hewn from both sides; it is like a huge board, several inches thick. There are usually two such captives at each barge, and they float near the sides, somewhat protecting the sides from striking the fighters.

Five minutes later, the inert ones were ready, that is, they took off their caftans and boots and remained in only shirts. One of them, a healthy man with a light brown beard, rolled up his trousers and, holding on to the side of the barge, got into captivity.

Ah, it’s cold, ”he said, tasting the cold water with his bare foot,“ the water is burning ...

Well, well, don't talk! - Ilya shouted. - Vavilo, untie the bondage, and you, Sergei, go to the end.

A young guy in a red shirt shook his hair, crossed himself and at once jumped over the side to captivity.

Prepare chegen, Please!

Done, - responded a man with a light brown beard, measuring the bottom with a short stake, which the barge haulers call "chegen". - It will be five quarters, - he said ...

Apparently, there is nothing to do, we will have to go into the water, - Ilya decided. - Captivity does not take ... Well, who of the thugs is not afraid of water? Well, guys who are younger, take off your clothes and get to work!

The inert and about ten young barge haulers took off their bast shoes, zipuns and remained in only shirts. It was necessary to go down into the water under the left shoulder in order to move it with chegeny. Working in cold spring water is hard and extremely dangerous. Barge haulers do not like her, but they have to get into the water, because time is running out. Several barges have already sailed past us. It was enviable to look at them when his own barge lay on the sand like a turtle.

Well, brothers, chegeni left shoulder! - Ilya commanded, running along the front deck. - And you, as the diarrhea will hit, - he shouted inertly in captivity, - turn captivity ... Yes, at once, brothers! All at once ...

About fifteen barge haulers lined up under the left shoulder of the barge and grabbed him with their chegeny.

For some, the water reached up to their chests. Faces turned blue, many had teeth chattering from the cold. The situation was the most ugly ... What was it worth to catch a cold in this icy water and lose not only health, but also life. From such filming, many barge haulers go to the grave or remain crippled for life.

When captivity was prepared, and the barge haulers were at the diarrhea, Ilya himself pulled on "Dubinushka".

Guys, they calmed down, Ali wanted to drink ...

The barge haulers picked up.

Oh, dubi-inushka, let's hoot!

She will go green herself, she will go ... Let's pick it up! ..

The barge is coming! - Ilya shouted, measuring the water with a long pole. - Another little mannechko! .. Nose to the left, well done! .. - Ilya shouted. - Feed the feed ... feed! poop!

The barge, like a turtle, turned the stern, extremely hard with its nose drilling the sand, which formed a whole mountain under the left shoulder.

Hit your left shoulder !! - Ilya shouted. - Well done, make some scary! .. Ah yes, well done! .. One more razik! ..

The barge has gone ... The barge has gone !! - Dozens of voices shouted, and barge haulers with chegen, like cats, began to climb the sides.

The boat was already on the free water and quietly swam stern forward, "smoked", as the barge haulers say.

Well, thank God, - said Ilya, - thanks, guys! .. A glass of vodka for my brother! ..

After such an icy bath, vodka was a necessity to warm up at least a little. Some barge haulers had nothing to change their wet shirts with, and they put their sermyags on them.

The diarrhea will keep warm beckoning, - explained Ilya. - Such a sin came out ... Come on!

Why don't you have fire on the barge, Ilya? - I said. - That would be the barge haulers and warmed up ...

Well, no, sir, if from the icy water to the fire, then you're finished ... We even know that very well! The barge haule, if he can't bear it like that, but sticks himself to the fire, is now gone. That's right! .. This is always so. Someone's hands will be taken away from someone's legs, and someone else will die completely.

Yes, it's good to say when everything is dry on you, but what is it like for them, who are standing on deck in the wet ...

What to do, they will bear it ... It's not the first time ... Here at Molokov's and at the Robber's everyone will warm up, the sweat will break through. Oh, you, you think, what a sin came out! .. Huh ?!

We sailed past the village of Kamasino, under the railway bridge, and then soon the small village of Kumysh appeared. This last village is remarkable in that below it are the most dangerous fighters in the whole Chusovaya - Molokov and the Robber. Many barges beat against them, especially in high water. The Chusovaya goes here in low banks, in a wide flood, far overflowing the floodplain meadows; Molokov and the Robber are, as it were, the last and most terrible obstacle with which the old Ural man blocks the path of the mountain beauty Chusova once again.

Under Molokov, Chusovaya makes a turn, and at the halt of this turn, where the barge is blown away by a jet, there is a terrible fighter. The stone itself from a distance does not represent anything particularly terrible: it is a large rock, which turned towards the water with its sloping edge. It is on this slope that the water runs high up to the fighter himself, and then, with a terrible roar and groan, runs back into the river, forming a real hell of foaming waves under the fighter. Even from a distance you can hear the river roaring under Molokov, and closer you can only see that all the water here turns into a continuous stream of white foam, as if milk is boiling under the fighter. Hence the name of the fighter himself - Molokov.

Hats down! - commanded Ilya, when our barge with deathly silence began to approach the soldier. - Try, dear ones! ..

Of course, the barge haulers have nothing to ask for work, they themselves are aware of the importance of the upcoming moment and will spare no effort so that the barge flies like a bird under the most terrible fighter.

Our barge was picked up by the jet and with terrible speed it was carried straight to the soldier.

The river narrows towards the fighter, and you feel how the barge is picked up by a mighty elemental force and with increasing speed rushes to the terrible stone ledge.

Now we are in a strip of foaming water, which, like mad, climbs its gray ridges on the sides of our barge ... Here is the formidable Molokov himself ... It is as if it grows with every second and is rapidly approaching us. The consciousness of one's own movement is somehow lost in this chaos of sounds, the head is spinning, and it seems that the shores are running past the barge, and an inexorable, boiling abyss awaits ahead. But here's a few fathoms to Molokov ... there is water dust in the air ... One more second, and we will be swept away in a terrible whirlpool ... At the most critical moment, when general death seems inevitable, Ilya's command is heard, the diarrhea fell into the water at once , and the barge quickly passed under the fighter, in some two arshins from the fatal ledge.

We are saved. I can’t believe that the danger passed so quickly. And the Robber is waiting ahead, but now he is no longer terrible for us, because the barge is sailing on the suvodi.

Walk around, well done! - Ilya shouts cheerfully, patting his leather mittens.

The barge passed safely under the Robber. Everyone felt relieved. Laughter and cheerful talk are heard. Someone hums a song under their breath. There is a forest on the bank, beyond fields, hedges, and there a tiny nameless village nestles on a high bank, at the very Jurassic and gaily looks down the mountain, where under the steep a string of bells run.

Are there other places on Chusovaya like Molokov and the Robber? - I asked Ilya.

There are no such people, and there are some ... Rafter with Druzhny, Stove with Vysoky: they have only music, perhaps. Nothing, good, funny fighters! ..

If in the mountainous part of Chusovaya one can find broken barges, then shallow barges began to come across below Kamasin. In some places they were removed from the piles, like we did at Kamasin, others were completely dry and stood half in the water without any signs of life. The workers left, and only water carriers were guarding the load.

The rest of our journey, apart from historical memories, was nothing special. There were a few villages that flaunted on a high bank, and there - either meadows or a forest. All the way from Kamasin to Perm, almost at a three hundred verst distance, there is only one village, these are the Upper and Lower Chusovskie Gorodki, which for the present time have only historical interest, as one of the first Russian settlements on Chusovaya.

On the fourth day we safely landed in Perm. Here, on the steamer, sitting in a common second-class cabin, I spent a long time going over the impression of a disturbing journey along Chusovaya. Only after experiencing all the dangers of rafting on a barge will you truly appreciate all the comforts of travel, even on the most nasty steamer.

Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak - On the Chusovaya river, read text

See also Mamin-Sibiryak Dmitry Narkisovich - Prose (stories, poems, novels ...):

Newcomer
I The children's world, as I said, is expanding in concentric circles ...

Naughty
Story I Spirka was sitting at the window of his hut, looking towards the Bashkirs ...

Northern Urals: mountains, peaks, main ridges, map, geographical location, climate, rivers, lakes, relief.

Northern Ural- part of the Ural Mountains, stretching from Kosvinsky Kamen and neighboring Konzhakovsky Kamen in the south to the northern slopes of the Telposiz massif, or rather, to the bank of the Shchuger River, which bends around it from the north. The territory of the Northern Urals is huge. The area of ​​the mountainous area alone is about 90,000 square meters. km ..

Northern Ural- one of the most remote and inaccessible regions of the Urals. Bearish Angle - this is the name of one of its peaks. North of Ivdel, Vizhay and Ushma there are almost no settlements and, accordingly, roads. Impenetrable forests and swamps approach the mountains from the east and west. The climate here is already quite severe. There are many snowfields in the mountains that do not have time to melt over the summer. There are also spots of permafrost, and up to the latitude of Konzhakovsky Kamen. And although there are no glaciers in these regions, two small glaciers were found in the carats of Telposiz, the highest massif of the Northern Urals.

Northern Ural rich in minerals. Bauxite, manganese and iron ore, brown coal and various ores of the Serov group of deposits are mined here.

The entire territory of the Northern Urals is located in the taiga zone. Everywhere there is a forest, without end and edge, now creeping along the marshy lowlands, now draped with a green cloak over gentle ridges and hills, now climbing the rocky steeps of mountain ranges. The forest is the wealth of the region. Such valuable tree species as pine, larch, cedar and spruce are harvested in huge quantities in the basins of Vishera, Kosva, Pechora, Lozva, Severnaya Sosva and sent to many regions of the country and for export. Sable, marten, otter, ermine, squirrel and fox have long been hunted in the taiga. In the clear waters of the tributaries of the Pechora, Kama and Northern Sosva, there are many valuable species of fish, of which whitefish, salmon, grayling, taimen, cheese and herring are of great commercial value.

The bowels of the Northern Urals are rich in oil, oil shale, gas, coal, peat, rock crystal, gold, lead, rock and potassium salts. The development of the Northern Urals was closely related to economic development country.

The Northern Urals consists of a number of parallel ridges and ridges of meridional extension, separated by longitudinal depressions and transverse valleys of the upper reaches of the Shchugor, Ilych, Podcher'e, Pechora, Vishera rivers and their tributaries. The total width of the mountain strip is 50-60 km, and together with the foothill ridges, 80-100 km. The central watershed ridge, known as the Belt Stone, is below the ridges adjoining it from the west: its average height is 700-750 m, and only some peaks exceed 1000 m (Oyka-Chokur-1279 m, Otorten-1182 m).

In the relief of the northern part of the mountains, the western ridge is most clearly expressed - the Telpossky; its individual peaks rise more than 1300 m above sea level (Telposiz-1617 m, Horaiz-1326 m). In the region of the ridge, traces of ancient glaciation are visible everywhere in the form of huge boulders, moraines, glacial lakes. The steep slopes of the ridge are dotted with kars and circuses, at the bottom of which there are snowfields, small glaciers (2) and picturesque lakes.

A number of high isolated massifs are located on the narrow Trans-Ural foothill ridge; the highest mountains reach: Chistop (1292 m), Denezhkin Kamen (1493 m), Konzhakovsky Kamen (1569 m), Kosvinsky Kamen (1519 m), composed of intrusions of ultrabasic rocks - gabrodunites and peridotites. From the west, at a distance of 30-50 km, the axial mountain strip of the Northern Urals is accompanied by a chain of foothill ridges, the so-called parmas (Ovinparma, High Parma, Ydzhidparma, Vuktylparma, etc.), composed of Paleozoic limestones and quartzites. The heights of the parma do not exceed 500-700 m, their gentle slopes are overgrown with taiga forests of spruce and fir with an admixture of birch, and the peaks are thick with tall grasses and flowers.

A characteristic feature of the relief of the Northern Urals is the difference in the steepness of the western and eastern slopes.

The western slope, mostly gentle, gradually passes through the belt of foothill elevations into the Russian Plain, while the eastern slope for the most part descends steeply to the West Siberian Lowland, which is due to the erosion activity of the Tertiary Sea.

The ridges of the Northern Urals have flat or rounded peaks with well-developed mountain terraces, among which in some places bizarre tower-like outliers, the so-called blockheads, made of sericite-quartzite schists, rise.

The highest peaks of the ranges, rising over 1000 m above the river valleys, give the area a particularly picturesque look. The width of the longitudinal mountain valleys reaches 10-12 km, the transverse ones are much narrower (0.5-2 km). The valleys are covered with dense forests, and only in the alpine belt their slopes are covered with stone placers. The valleys of the Shchugor, Ilych, Northern Sosva and some other rivers in the upper reaches are heavily swampy in places and overgrown with bushes. The slopes of some ridges cut off rather steeply to the river valleys, but the passes through the main dividing ridge are relatively low (400-600 m) and do not rise above the forest vegetation within the territory between 62 ° 20 "and 64 ° N.

Numerous deep rivers originate from the Northern Urals, carrying their waters to the Caspian, Barents and Kara Seas. The main rivers flowing from the western slope of the ridge are tributaries of the Kama - Kosva, Yayva, Vishera. On western slope The largest river of the European North also originates - the Pechora with its tributaries - the Unya, Ilych, Podchery and Shchugor. Northern Sosva and its left tributaries - Tolya, Nyays, Manya, Yatriya and tributaries of Tavda - Lozva, Vizhay, Ivdel, Sosva flow down from the eastern slope.

Most of the rivers in the mountainous region of the Northern Urals are typical mountain streams. They are distinguished by a weak depletion of a longitudinal profile, a steep fall, a fast, in places violent current, the presence of rapids and rifts in the channels. The most characteristic in this respect are the rivers of the northern part of the Northern Urals, the territory of which for a long time was covered with ice, which delayed the deepening of the valleys. The rivers here have a steeper dip, and, consequently, higher flow rates than the rivers of the southern part of the Northern Urals (basins of the Vishera, Yaiva, Sosva, Lozva, etc.), which managed to cut through deeper valleys and lost most of the rapids and rapids.

As a rule, especially rapids and stormy areas, with a low-water flow rate of up to 15-20 km / h, are noted in places where rivers break through the meridional ridges and ridges (Shchugor, Podcher'e, Ilych). In longitudinal valleys, the flow of rivers is calmer (up to 5 km / h), and the channel is more meandering.

Upon leaving the foothills to the West Siberian Lowland and the Russian Plain, the rivers change their character and flow calmly in wide valleys, forming numerous meanders, channels, islands and sand spits. The current speed decreases to 0.5-1 km / h. The longitudinal profiles of most of the rivers have the form of a concave curve with a steeper part in the upper reaches. The magnitude of the water fall fluctuates within significant limits - from several tens of meters per 1 km in the upper mountainous areas to several centimeters per 1 km in the flat part of the current.

Most of the rivers on the western slope of the Northern Urals (Shchugor, Podcher'e, Ilych, Pechora, Vishera) in their upper reaches flow between longitudinal ridges in wide, often swampy valleys. Numerous short, but water-bearing tributaries with a large drop in the channel (up to 20 m / km), flowing down from the steep slopes of the ridges bordering the valleys, rapidly increase the water content of the rivers. Turning further to the west, the rivers cut through ridges and ridges and carry their waters to the plains. In places where the ridges break through, river valleys often narrow and represent deep gorges with steep rocky walls 60-100 m high.

The rivers of the eastern slope, due to the marginal position of the watershed ridge and, as a rule, the latitudinal strike of the valleys within the mountainous region, have narrow valleys, much smaller length and greater slopes of the channels than the rivers of the western slope.

Due to the difference in climatic conditions between the southern and northern regions of the territory, the timing of opening, the establishment of freeze-up and the duration of navigation on the rivers are not the same. First of all, usually at the beginning of May, the rivers of the southern regions - Yaiva, Vishera, Ivdel - are cleared of ice. Lozva; at the latest, in the last days of May, the ice drift ends at Shchugor. On the larger rivers of the western slope - the upper Pechora, Vishera, Shchugor, Ilych and Podcherie - spring ice drift is very rapid, with high rises in water levels, powerful ice jams. There are especially large congestions on Shchugor near the Srednye Vorota, where the river channel narrows from 250 m to 70 m.In this place, an ice dam is often formed, due to which the water level rises sharply 12-14 m above the low-water level, as evidenced by traces, left by ice floes on sheer limestone rocks.

In the mountains of the Northern Urals, there are only 212 lakes with a total area of ​​about 36 km2, of which 173 are located in the mountain-taiga belt of the eastern slope at altitudes from 200 to 500 m above sea level. There are 39 lakes on the western slope. Basically, these are small, but deep and very picturesque reservoirs of glacial origin, located in quads and circuses at altitudes from 500 to 1000 m (34 lakes). The shores of most of the mountain lakes on the western slope are treeless, in some places there are only bushes of polar birch, sedge, mosses and lichens, some lakes are completely devoid of vegetation, their shores are covered with stone placers (kurums). One of such alpine lakes in the Northern Urals is Telpos, located in the square of the northern slope of Mount Telposiz at an altitude of 1081 m above sea level and apparently the remnant of a recently melted small glacier. The lake area is only 0.25 km2, the maximum length is 0.75 km, the width is up to 0.36 km, the maximum depth is 49.5 m; this is the deepest of the surveyed tarn lakes of the Urals. The greenish water of Telpos is exceptionally clear. The rocky bottom is clearly visible at a depth of 9 m. Until now, it has not been established whether there are fish in the lake.

The lakes of the Northern Urals are almost unexplored: their fish wealth, depth, nature and topography of the bottom, transparency of water, its composition, color, temperature and level regime, etc. are not known. valuable data to expand our knowledge of the lakes of this wilderness.

There are much more lakes on the foothill plains than in the mountains; They are located mainly to the east of the Ural ridge in the valleys of Lozva, Northern Sosva and some of their tributaries. The abundance of lakes in the West Siberian lowland adjacent to the Urals is explained by the flatness of the relief, small slopes of the terrain and the presence of waterproof rocks near the surface, which impede the flow of melt and rainwater. Plain lakes are mainly small reservoirs with an area of ​​up to 5 km2, with shallow depths (up to 7 m) and low, often swampy shores. The water is fresh, sometimes dark in color, but quite drinkable. Bottom vegetation is well developed, the coastal parts of many lakes are overgrown with reeds and sedges.

The Northern Urals is a land of dense taiga forests, tall-grass subalpine meadows and swamps. The vegetation of the Northern Urals is very diverse. Only in the taiga forests there are about 200 species of higher plants, of which 28 are trees and shrubs.

Separate ridges of the Northern Urals, rising above the surrounding plains to 1000-1500 m absolute height, have a distinct change in vertical vegetation belts. The plains adjacent to the mountains are covered with dense and coniferous forests - taiga. To the west of the Ural ridge, the taiga is damp, with a thick moss cover of the soil. In the north, in the basins of the Shchugor, Podcherye, Ilych and in the upper reaches of the Pechora in the taiga, spruce with an admixture of birch predominates, in the south - in the basins of Vishera, I of willow and Kosva, in addition to spruce and birch, fir appears in the forest, in places mountain ash, honeysuckle, wolf bast; currants are quite common along the river banks.

In the spruce-fir taiga, there are a lot of blueberries, often moss and sedge bogs overgrown with polar birch, blueberries, cranberries and cloudberries. But the most extensive wetlands are found in the upper reaches of the Pechora, Ilych, Podcherye and Shchugor.

With the rise in the mountains, the taiga thins, less littered with windbreaks, the trees become lower, birch and cedar are more common, and in some places larch. Cedar is especially abundant in the upper reaches of the Pechora and Shugor.

Near the upper border of the forest, at an altitude of 500-800 m above sea level, the forest resembles a park with sparsely standing cedars, birches, larch and fir trees. Between the trees there are dense subalpine meadows with tall, human-sized grasses and flowers.

The upper border of the forest on the European slope is formed by a crooked birch forest with shrub thickets of wild rosemary, polar birch and blueberry. Due to the very harsh climate - severe frosts and winds - the trees here are undersized, with crooked gnarled trunks. Above the crooked forest belt, there are alpine meadows with low but lush grass. Alpine and subalpine meadows of the Northern Urals occupy the largest area in comparison with the area of ​​meadows in other regions of the Urals. In summer, collective and state farm herds of deer of the Mansi people graze here, now living in the river valleys east of the Ural Range.

Above the alpine meadows, the slopes of the ridges, due to an even more severe climate and intense frost weathering, are covered with stone placers (kurums), overgrown only with mosses and lichens.

Along the banks of the middle Pechora, in the upper reaches of the Vishera and Ilych, the forests are completely different: here dry pine forests dominate, where there is little grass and the soil is covered with a green carpet of moss, blueberries, wild rosemary, lingonberries and blueberries.

The vegetation of the eastern, Asian, slope of the Northern Urals differs from the vegetation of the western. On the eastern slope, the forests are mainly pine, in the south, in the Lozva and Sosva basins, with an admixture of birch, in the north, in the Northern Sosva basin, among the pine forests there are a lot of cedars, spruce and birch. There are many swamps in the vast plains to the east of the ridge. Especially large, impassable bogs are found in the Lozva and Severnaya Sosva basins, where they represent an alternation of mounds, ridges, urezhina and vast swamps. The swamps are overgrown with sphagnum mosses, polar birch, wild rosemary, heather and sedge. In some places, ridges and hillocks are covered with sparse forests of stunted undersized pines, cedar and birch. As the terrain rises, swamps disappear, and swampy forests are less common; More and more cedar, spruce, birch, and in some places larch appear in the pine forest; the undergrowth in these forests is characterized by juniper, raspberry, and along the river valleys, alder and currant.

Due to the lower amount of precipitation on the eastern slope in the upper zone of the forest, tall-grass subalpine lawns are rare. The upper border of the forest here is formed by park forests, consisting mainly of low, with a curved trunk of birch (upper edge), juniper and polar birch bushes. Slightly lower, tall, slender spruces with a well-developed symmetrical crown, with branches growing almost from the ground, are mixed with the birch. Above the crooked birch forest, shrub tundra begins, giving way to stone placers with mosses and lichens.

The forest rises into the mountains to an altitude of 500-800 m above sea level, and on the European slope the forest border is 100-150 m lower than on the Asian one, which is explained by the colder and shorter summer to the west of the Urals: birch and spruce.

The climate of the Northern Urals is sharply continental, with long, severe winters and short, cool summers. Spring is longer than autumn, since the transition from winter to summer is usually accompanied by frequent returns of cold weather. The general severity of the climate of the Northern Urals is due to its high-latitude geographical position, significant absolute and relative height and width of the mountainous region, and its deep and complex dissection. This determines the typically mountainous nature of the climate with a vertical change in climatic zones and significant variability in air temperatures, precipitation and wind speeds over short distances. The climate is also significantly influenced by the meridional elongation of the Northern Urals across to the prevailing wind direction (from west to east), which determines the difference in climatic conditions of the European and Asian slopes of the Urals, especially with respect to the distribution of precipitation. There is a lot of precipitation in the Northern Urals: in the most elevated regions of the western slope - from 1000 to 1200 mm per year, in the eastern - up to 700 mm. On the plains, the amount of precipitation decreases to 400-600 mm. Most of the precipitation (2/3) falls in spring, summer and autumn, the rest in winter.

Winter with negative average daily air temperatures and snow cover on the plains adjacent to the Northern Urals lasts on average about 7 months and from 8 to 9 months in the mountains (above 1000 m). On the plains, stable snow cover usually falls in the third decade of October and disappears in mid-May, while the mountains are covered with snow from mid-September, and the snow stays on them until mid-June. In early winter, snow covers the plains almost a month earlier (at the end of September), and in late spring, it lays 2 weeks longer than always (until the end of May). On the contrary, with a prolonged autumn, winter comes only in mid-November, and in early spring the snow melts 3 weeks earlier than usual (end of April).

The coldest winter month in the Northern Urals is January, with an average temperature of minus 19-22 ° and a minimum of minus 50-54 °; winters are colder to the east of the ridge than to the west. Almost the same cold weather is in December and February: the average temperature of these months is nowhere higher than minus 15-17 °, and in the coldest winters the alcohol column in the thermometer sometimes drops to minus 48-53 °.

Summer weather in the Northern Urals, especially in the mountains, is unstable and can change quickly. The change from dry, warm weather to bad, rainy one almost always occurs with westerly and north-westerly winds, which bring not only low continuous clouds and rains (sometimes snowfalls), but also a sharp cold snap. Eastern and southeasterly winds, on the contrary, bring dry and warm weather with a predominance of cumulus clouds. Rains during these winds, if they fall, are in the form of short, intense showers, often accompanied by thunderstorms.

Summer weather and the length of summer to the west and east of the ridge are not the same. Since much thicker snow accumulates on the western slope during the winter than on the eastern, and cold north-westerly winds often blow, spring is delayed to the west of the ridge, warm days come later, and autumn colds earlier than to the east of the ridge. In some years, more precipitation falls on the eastern slope during the summer-autumn period than on the western one, but the rains here are of a torrential nature (thunderstorms are frequent), are much more intense, but less often and occur mainly in August and partly in July.

On the western slope, the main amount of precipitation falls in September, it rains, as a rule, heavy, drizzling, more frequent, more prolonged, often accompanied by fogs.

At the same time, the weather west and east of the ridge is usually not the same. Repeatedly crossing the Ural ridge, we witnessed how cold rain and bad weather raged over the ridge and to the west of it, and a few kilometers to the east of the watershed the sun was shining brightly, it was quiet and warm.

Sable, marten, otter, ermine, squirrel and fox have long been hunted in the taiga. And such animals as wolverine, white hare, sable and reindeer, elk. In summer and autumn, in the taiga, you can meet the brown bear everywhere; he especially loves to go out on the berry fields to feast on ripe berries.

Basic moments

This mountain system itself, not only separating the two continents, but also being an officially delineated cordon between them, belongs to Europe: the border is usually drawn along the eastern foot of the mountains. Formed as a result of the collision of the Eurasian and African lithospheric plates The Ural Mountains cover a huge territory. It includes the vastness of the Sverdlovsk, Orenburg and Tyumen regions, the Perm Territory, Bashkortostan and the Komi Republic, as well as the Aktobe and Kostanay regions of Kazakhstan.

In its height, not exceeding 1895 meters, the mountain system is significantly inferior to such giants as the Himalayas and the Pamirs. For example, the peaks of the polar Urals are average in level - 600-800 meters, not to mention the fact that they are also the narrowest in the width of the ridge. However, there is an undoubted plus in such geological characteristics: they remain accessible to humans. And it's not so much about scientific research how much about the tourist attraction of the places on which they run. The landscape of the Ural Mountains is truly unique. Here crystal clear mountain streams and rivers begin their run, growing into larger bodies of water. Such large rivers as the Ural, Kama, Pechora, Chusovaya and Belaya also flow here.

For tourists, a wide variety of recreational opportunities open up here: both for real extreme lovers and for beginners. And the Ural Mountains are also a true treasury of minerals. In addition to deposits of coal, natural gas and oil, mines are being developed here, in which copper, nickel, chromium, titanium, gold, silver, and platinum are mined. If we recall the tales of Pavel Bazhov, the Urals area is also rich in malachite. And also - emerald, diamond, crystal, amethyst, jasper and other precious stones.

The atmosphere of the Ural Mountains, regardless of whether you visit the Northern or Southern Urals, Subpolar or Middle - is indescribable. And their greatness, beauty, harmony and clean air charge with energy and positive, inspire and, of course, leave vivid impressions for the rest of your life.

History of the Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains have been known since ancient times. In sources that have survived to this day, they are associated with the Hyperborean and Riphean mountains. So, Ptolemy pointed out that this mountain system consists of the Rimnus mountains (this is the present Middle Urals), Noros (South Urals) and the northern part - the Hyperborean mountains proper. In the first written sources of the XI century AD, because of its great length, it was called nothing else than the "Earth belt".

In the first Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", which refers to the same XI century, the mountains of the Urals were called by our compatriots Siberian, Belt or Big Stone. Under the name "Bolshoy Kamen", they were also put on the first map of the Russian state, also known as the "Bolshoi Drawing", published in the second half of the 16th century. Cartographers of those years depicted the Urals in the form of a mountain belt, from where many rivers originate.

There are many versions of the origin of the name of this mountain system. EK Hoffman, who developed the so-called Mansi version of this toponym, compares the name “Ural” with the Mansi word “ur”, which is translated as “mountain”. The second point of view, which is also very common, is the borrowing of the name from the Bashkir language. She, in the opinion of many scientists, seems to be the most convincing. After all, if you take the language, legends and traditions of this people - for example, the famous epic "Ural-Batyr" - it is easy to make sure that in them this toponym not only exists since ancient times, but is also supported from generation to generation.

Nature and climate

The natural landscape of the Ural Mountains is incredibly beautiful and multifaceted. Here you can not only look at the mountains themselves, but also go down into numerous caves, swim in the waters of local lakes, and get a portion of thrills while rafting on rough rivers. Moreover, how exactly to travel, each tourist chooses for himself. Some people like independent hikes with a backpack on their shoulders, others prefer more comfortable conditions an excursion bus or a private car.

It differs in no less variety and animal world"Earth belt". The predominant position in the local fauna is occupied by forest animals, whose habitat is coniferous, deciduous or mixed forests. So, in coniferous forests squirrels live, the basis of the diet of which are spruce seeds, and in winter these cute animals with a fluffy tail feed on previously stored pine nuts and dried mushrooms. The marten is widespread in local forests, the existence of which is difficult to imagine without the already mentioned squirrel, for which this predator hunts.

But the real wealth of these places is a fur game, the fame of which extends far beyond the region, for example, the sable that lives in the forests of the Northern Urals. True, it differs from the dark Siberian sable in its less beautiful reddish skin. Uncontrolled hunting for a valuable fluffy animal is prohibited at the legislative level. Without this prohibition, it would probably have already been completely destroyed.

The taiga forests of the Ural Mountains are also home to wolf, bear and elk traditional for Russia. Roe deer are found in mixed forests. On the plains adjacent to the mountain ranges, the hare and the fox feel at ease. We did not make a reservation: they live precisely on flat terrain, and the forest for them is just a shelter. And, of course, the crowns of trees are well populated by many species of birds.

As for the climate of the Ural Mountains, the geographical position plays an important role in this regard. In the north, this mountain system extends beyond the Arctic Circle, but most of the mountains are located in the temperate climatic zone. If you move from north to south along the perimeter of the mountain system, you can see how the temperature indicators gradually increase, which is especially noticeable in the summer. If in the north, during the warm season, the thermometer shows from +10 to +12 degrees, then in the south - from 20 to 22 degrees above zero. However, in winter, the temperature difference between north and south is not so dramatic. The average monthly temperature in January in the north is 20 degrees with a minus sign, in the south it is 16-18 degrees below zero.

Air masses moving from the Atlantic Ocean also have a noticeable effect on the climate of the Urals. And although the air becomes less humid as atmospheric currents move from the west towards the Urals, it cannot be called 100% dry either. As a result, more precipitation - 600-800 millimeters per year - falls on the western slope, while on the eastern this figure varies within 400-500 mm. But the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains in winter fall under the power of the powerful Siberian anticyclone, while in the south, in the cold season, cloudy and cold weather sets in.

Such a factor as the relief of the mountain system also has a tangible effect on the fluctuations of the local climate. As you climb the mountain, you will feel that the weather is getting harsher. Different temperatures are felt even on different slopes, including those located in the neighborhood. Different areas of the Ural Mountains are characterized by an unequal amount of precipitation.

Sights of the Ural Mountains

One of the most famous protected areas of the Ural Mountains is the Olenyi Ruchyi park, located in the Sverdlovsk region. Curious tourists, especially those interested in ancient history, make a "pilgrimage" to the Pisanitsa rock located here, on the surface of which drawings made by ancient artists are applied. Caves and the Great Gap are of great interest. Olenyi Ruchyi has a fairly well-developed tourist infrastructure: there are special trails in the park, there are observation platforms, not to mention places for recreation. There are also cable cars.

If you are familiar with the work of the writer Pavel Bazhov, his famous "Malachite Box", then you will certainly be interested in visiting the natural park "Bazhovsky Places". The opportunities for good rest and relaxation are simply magnificent here. You can go for walks, as well as cycling and horseback riding. Passing along specially designed and thoughtful routes, you will take in the picturesque landscapes, you will be able to climb the Markov Stone Mountain and visit the Talkov Stone Lake. Extremists usually flock here in the summer to go kayaking and kayaking down mountain rivers. Travelers come here in winter as well, enjoying snowmobiling.

If you appreciate the natural beauty of semi-precious stones - just natural, not subject to processing - be sure to visit the Rezhevskaya reserve, which combines deposits of not only precious, but also semi-precious and ornamental stones. It is forbidden to travel to the places of extraction on your own - you must be accompanied by an employee of the reserve, but this in no way affects the impressions of what you see. The Rezhevsky river runs through the territory of Rezhevsky, it was formed as a result of the confluence of Bolshoy Sapa and Ayati - rivers originating in the Ural mountains. The Shaitan-stone, popular among travelers, is located on the right bank of the Rezhi. The Urals consider this stone to be the focus of mystical natural forces that help in various life situations. One may or may not believe in it, but the flow of tourists who come to the stone with various requests to the higher powers does not dry up.

Of course, the Ural attracts with a magnet lovers of extreme tourism, who gladly visit its caves, which are here great amount... The most famous are Shulgan-Tash, or Kapova, and the Kungur Ice Cave. The length of the latter is almost 6 km, of which only one and a half kilometers are accessible to tourists. On the territory of the Kungura ice cave there are 50 grottoes, over 60 lakes and countless stalactites and stalagmites. The temperature is always below freezing in the cave, so dress like a winter walk to visit the cave. The visual effect of the splendor of its interior decoration is enhanced by special lighting. But in the Kapova cave, researchers discovered rock paintings, the age of which is estimated at 14 thousand years or more. About 200 works of ancient masters of the brush have become the property of our time, although there were probably more of them. Travelers can also admire the underground lakes and visit the grottoes, galleries and numerous halls on three levels.

If the caves of the Ural Mountains create a winter atmosphere at any time of the year, then it is better to visit some sights in winter. One of them is the ice fountain, which is located in the Zyuratkul National Park and arose thanks to the efforts of geologists who drilled a well in this place. Moreover, this is not just a fountain in our usual "urban" sense, but a fountain of underground waters. With the onset of winter, it freezes and turns into a voluminous icicle of a bizarre shape, impressive also with its 14-meter height.

Many Russians, in order to improve their health, go to foreign thermal springs, for example, to the Czech Karlovy Vary or the Gellert Baths in Budapest. But why rush beyond the cordon, if our native Ural is also rich in thermal springs? To undergo a full course of healing procedures, it is enough to come to Tyumen. The hot springs here are rich in trace elements useful for human health, and the water temperature in them ranges from +36 to +45 degrees Celsius, depending on the season. We add that modern recreation centers have been built on these springs. Mineral waters They also treat in the health-improving complex "Ust-Kachka", which is located not far from Perm and is unique in terms of the chemical composition of its waters. Summer recovery here can be combined with boating and catamarans, in winter there are ice slides, skating rinks and full-fledged ski slopes.

Despite the fact that waterfalls are not so typical for the Ural Mountains, they are there and attract the attention of tourists. Among them is the Plakun waterfall, located on the right bank of the Sylva River. He overthrows fresh water from a height exceeding 7 m. Its other name is Ilyinsky, it was given by local residents and visitors who consider this source to be holy. There is also a waterfall near Yekaterinburg, named for its roaring "temper" Grokhotun. Its peculiarity is that it is man-made. He throws his waters down from a height of more than 5 meters. When the summer heat sets in, visitors are happy to step under its jets, cooling down and getting hydromassage, and completely free of charge.

Video: South Ural

Major cities of the Urals

The millionth Yekaterinburg, the administrative center of the Sverdlovsk region, is called the capital of the Urals. It is, unofficially, the third capital of Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg and the third capital of Russian rock. It is a large industrial metropolis that is especially charming in winter. He generously falls asleep with snow, under the veil of which he resembles a giant who fell asleep in a deep sleep, and you never know exactly when he will wake up. But when you get enough sleep, do not hesitate, it will definitely unfold at its full might.

Yekaterinburg usually makes a strong impression on its guests - first of all, with many architectural sights. Among them, one can single out the famous Temple-on-the-Blood, erected on the site of the execution of the last Russian emperor and his family, the Sverdlovsk rock club, the building of the former District Court, museums of various subjects and even an unusual monument ... an ordinary computer keyboard. The capital of the Urals is also famous for its shortest metro in the world, entered in the Guinness Book of Records: there are only 9 km of 7 stations.

Chelyabinsk and Nizhny Tagil also gained wide popularity in Russia, and above all thanks to the popular comedy show "Our Russia". The characters of the show, loved by the audience, of course, are fictional, but tourists are still interested in where to find Ivan Dulin, the world's first milling machine of non-traditional sexual orientation, and Vovan and Gena, unlucky and drinking-loving Russian tourists who constantly find themselves in frankly tragicomic situations. One of the business cards of Chelyabinsk are two monuments: Love, made in the form of an iron tree, and Lefty with a shod flea. The panorama of local factories located above the Miass River is also impressive in the city. But in the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, you can see a painting by Raphael - the only one in our country that can be found outside the Hermitage.

Another Ural city that has gained fame thanks to television is Perm. It is here that "real boys" live, who have become heroes of the series of the same name. Perm claims to be the next cultural capital of Russia, and this idea is actively lobbied by designer Artemy Lebedev, who is working on the external appearance of the city, and gallery owner Marat Gelman, who specializes in contemporary art.

Orenburg, which is called the land of endless steppes, is also a real historical treasure of the Urals and all of Russia. At one time, he survived the siege of the troops of Yemelyan Pugachev, its streets and walls remember the visits of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko and the wedding of the first cosmonaut of the Earth, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin.

In Ufa, another Ural city, there is a symbolic sign "Zero kilometer". The local post office is the very point from which the distance to other points on our planet is measured. Another famous landmark of the capital of Bashkortostan is the Ufa bronze sign, which is a disc with a one and a half meter diameter and weighing a whole ton. And in this city - at least that's what they say locals- the tallest equestrian statue on the European continent is located. This is a monument to Salavat Yulaev, who is also called the Bashkir Bronze Horseman. The horse on which this associate of Emelyan Pugachev sits rises above the Belaya River.

Ski resorts of the Urals

The most important ski resorts in the Urals are concentrated in three regions of our country: the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, as well as in Bashkortostan. Zavyalikha, Bannoe and Abzakovo are the most famous of them. The first one is located near the town of Trekhgorny, the last two - near Magnitogorsk. According to the results of the competition, which is held within the framework of the International Congress of the Alpine Ski Industry, Abzakovo was recognized as the best ski resort in the Russian Federation in the 2005-2006 season.

A whole scattering of ski resorts is concentrated in the regions of the Middle and South Urals. Thrill-seekers and just curious tourists who want to try themselves in such an "adrenaline" sport as alpine skiing come here almost all year round. Travelers will find good trails for skiing, tobogganing and snowboarding.

In addition to skiing, downhill skiing is very popular among travelers. Fans of such rafting, which also increase the level of adrenaline, go to Miass, Magnitogorsk, Asha or Kropchayevo for thrills. True, you won't be able to get to your destination quickly, since you will have to travel by train or by car.

The holiday season in the Urals lasts on average from October-November to April. During this period, another popular pastime was snowmobiling and quad biking. In Zavyalikh, which has become one of the most popular tourist spots, a special trampoline was even installed. Experienced athletes practice complex elements and tricks on it.

How to get there

Getting to all the major Ural cities will not be difficult, so the region of this majestic mountain system is one of the most convenient for domestic tourists. The flight from Moscow will take only three hours, and if you prefer to travel by train, then the journey along railroad will take a little more than a day.

The main Ural city, as we have already said, is Yekaterinburg, located in the Middle Urals. Due to the fact that the Ural Mountains themselves are not high, it was possible to lay several transport routes leading to Siberia from Central Russia. In particular, on the territory of this region you can travel along the famous railway artery - the Transsib.

Cis-Ural foredeep with a relatively gentle bedding of sedimentary strata in the western side and more complex in the eastern;

Zone of the western slope of the Urals with the development of sedimentary strata of the Lower and Middle Paleozoic, intensively crumpled and disturbed by thrusts;

The Central Ural uplift, where among the sedimentary strata of the Paleozoic and Upper Precambrian in places emerge more ancient crystalline rocks of the edge of the East European Platform;

The system of troughs-synclinoria of the eastern slope (the largest are Magnitogorsk and Tagil), filled mainly by Middle Paleozoic volcanic strata and marine, often deep-sea sediments, as well as deep-seated igneous rocks breaking through them (gabbroids, granitoids, less often alkaline intrusions) - the so-called. the greenstone belt of the Urals;

Ural-Tobolsk anticlinorium with outcrops of more ancient metamorphic rocks and widespread development of granitoids;

East Ural synclinorium, in many respects similar to Tagil-Magnitogorsk.

At the base of the first three zones, according to geophysical data, an ancient, Early Precambrian, basement is confidently traced, composed mainly of metamorphic and igneous rocks and formed as a result of several epochs of folding. The most ancient, presumably Archean, rocks come to the surface in the Taratash ledge on the western slope of the Southern Urals. Pre-Ordovician rocks in the basement of synclinoria on the eastern slope of the Urals are unknown. It is assumed that the basement of the Paleozoic volcanogenic strata of synclinoria are thick plates of hyperbasites and gabbroids, which in places come to the surface in the massifs of the Platinum-bearing belt and other related belts; these plates are possibly rejects of the ancient oceanic bed of the Ural geosyncline. In the east, in the Ural-Tobolsk anti-clinorium, outcrops of Precambrian rocks are quite problematic.

Paleozoic deposits of the western slope of the Urals are represented by limestones, dolomites, sandstones, formed in the conditions of predominantly shallow seas. To the east, in a discontinuous strip, deeper-water sediments of the continental slope are traced. Farther east, within the eastern slope of the Urals, the Paleozoic section (Ordovician, Silurian) begins with altered basaltic volcanics and jaspers, comparable to the rocks of the bottom of modern oceans. In places higher in the section, there are thick, also altered spilite-natro-liparite strata with deposits of copper pyrite ores. Younger deposits of the Devonian and partly the Silurian are represented mainly by andesite-basaltic, andesite-dacite volcanics and graywackes, which correspond to the development of the eastern slope of the Urals at the stage when the oceanic Earth's crust was replaced by a bark of a transitional type. Carboniferous deposits (limestones, gray-wackes, acidic and alkaline volcanics) are associated with the latest, continental stage of development of the eastern slope of the Urals. At the same stage, the bulk of the Paleozoic, essentially potassium, granites of the Urals, which formed pegmatite veins with rare valuable minerals, were introduced.

In the Late Carboniferous-Permian time, sedimentation on the eastern slope of the Urals almost stopped and a folded mountain structure was formed here; on the western slope at that time, the Cis-Ural foredeep was formed, filled with a thick (up to 4-5 km) stratum of detrital rocks, carried away from the Urals, - molasse. Triassic deposits have been preserved in a number of depressions-grabens, the emergence of which in the north and east of the Urals was preceded by basaltic (trap) magmatism. Younger strata of Mesozoic and Cenozoic platform deposits gently overlap folded structures along the periphery of the Urals.

It is assumed that the Paleozoic structure of the Urals was formed in the Late Cambrian - Ordovician as a result of the splitting of the Late Precambrian continent and the expansion of its fragments, as a result of which a geosynclinal depression with crust and oceanic sediments in its inner part was formed. Subsequently, the expansion gave way to compression and the oceanic depression began to gradually close and "overgrow" with the newly forming continental crust; the character of magmatism and sedimentation changed accordingly. The modern structure of the Urals bears traces of strong compression, accompanied by a strong transverse contraction of the geosynclinal depression and the formation of gentle scaly thrust faults - nappes.

The Urals is a whole system of mountain ranges stretched parallel to one another in the meridional direction. As a rule, there are two or three such parallel ridges, but in some places, with the expansion of the mountain system, their number increases to four or more. So, for example, the orographically very complex South Ural is between 55 0 and 54 ° N. sh., where there are at least six ridges. Between the ridges lie vast depressions occupied by river valleys.

The orography of the Urals is closely related to its tectonic structure. Most often, ridges and ridges are confined to anticlinal zones, and depressions - to synclinal zones. Less common is the reversed topography associated with the presence of rocks more resistant to destruction in synclinal zones than in adjacent anticlinal zones. Such a character has, for example, the Zilair plateau, or the South Ural plateau, within the Zilair synclinorium.

Lowered areas are replaced in the Urals by elevated ones - a kind of mountain nodes, in which the mountains reach not only their maximum heights, but also their greatest width. It is remarkable that such nodes coincide with places where the strike of the Ural mountain system changes. The main ones are Subpolar, Sredneuralsky and Yuzhnouralsky. In the Subpolar node, lying at 65 ° N. sh., the Ural deviates from the southwestern direction to the south. Here rises the highest peak of the Ural Mountains - Mount Narodnaya (1894 m). The Middle Ural knot is located about 60 ° N. sh., where the strike of the Urals changes from south to southeast. Among the peaks of this node stands out Mount Konzhakovsky Kamen (1569 m). The South Ural junction is located between 55 0 and 54 0 s. NS. Here, the direction of the Ural ridges becomes, instead of the southwestern, southern, and from the peaks Iremel (1582 m) and Yamantau (1640 m) attract attention.

A common feature of the Ural relief is the asymmetry of its western and eastern slopes. The western slope is gentle, passes into the Russian Plain more gradually than the eastern one, which slopes steeply towards the West Siberian Plain. The asymmetry of the Urals is due to tectonics, the history of its geological development.

Another orographic feature of the Urals is associated with asymmetry - the displacement of the main watershed ridge separating the rivers of the Russian Plain from the rivers Western Siberia, to the east, closer to the West Siberian Plain. This ridge in different parts of the Urals has different names: Uraltau in the Southern Urals, Belt Stone in the Northern Urals. Moreover, it is not the highest almost everywhere; the largest peaks, as a rule, lie to the west of it. Such a hydrographic asymmetry of the Urals is the result of the increased "aggressiveness" of the rivers of the western slope, caused by the sharper and faster uplift of the Cis-Urals in the Neogene in comparison with the Trans-Urals.

Even with a cursory glance at the hydrographic picture of the Urals, it is striking that most rivers on the western slope have sharp, cranked turns. In the upper reaches, the rivers flow in the meridional direction, following longitudinal intermontane depressions. Then they turn abruptly to the west, cutting through often high ridges, after which they again flow in the meridional direction or retain the old latitudinal direction. Such sharp turns are well expressed in Pechora, Shchugor, Ilych, Belaya, Aya, Sakmara and many others. It was found that rivers cut through ridges in places where fold axes fall. In addition, many of them, apparently, are older than the mountain ranges, and their incision took place simultaneously with the uplift of the mountains.

The low absolute height determines the predominance of low-mountain and mid-mountain geomorphological landscapes in the Urals. The peaks of many ridges are flat, in some mountains they are dome-shaped with more or less soft outlines of the slopes. In the Northern and Polar Urals, near the upper border of the forest and above it, where frost weathering is vigorously manifested, stone seas (turmeric) are widespread. These places are also characterized by upland terraces arising as a result of solifluction processes and frost weathering.

Alpine landforms in the Ural Mountains are extremely rare. They are known only in the most elevated parts of the Polar and Subpolar Urals. The bulk of the modern glaciers of the Urals is associated with these same mountain ranges.

"Glaciers" is not a casual expression in relation to the glaciers of the Urals. Compared to the glaciers of the Alps and the Caucasus, the Ural ones look like dwarfs. All of them belong to the tar and tar-valley types and are located below the climatic snow border. Total number glaciers in the Urals - 122, and the entire area of ​​glaciation is only a little more than 25 km 2. Most of them are in the polar watershed part of the Urals between 67 0 -68 0 s. NS. There are found tar-valley glaciers up to 1.5-2.2 km in length. The second glacial region is located in the Subpolar Urals between 64 0 and 65 ° N. NS.

Most of the glaciers are concentrated on the more humid western slope of the Urals. It is noteworthy that all the Ural glaciers lie in the carats of the eastern, southeastern and northeastern exposures. This is explained by the fact that they are inspired, that is, they were formed as a result of the deposition of blizzard snow in the wind shadow of the mountain slopes.

where are the Ural Mountains? and got the best answer

Answer from Vakhit Shavaliev [guru]
The Ural Mountains are located in Eurasia. The conditional border between Europe and Asia runs along the eastern foot of the Ural Mountains.
The Ural Mountains are a mountain system between the East European and West Siberian plains. The length is more than 2000 (with Pai-Khoi and Mugodzhary - more than 2500) km, the width is from 40 to 150 km.
In a narrow strip, almost meridionally, the Ural Mountains stretch for more than 2000 km from the Arctic seas to the sultry steppes of Kazakhstan.
The territory of the Urals is located in the interfluve of the great rivers Volga - Kama and Ob - Irtysh. From west to east, the Urals are conventionally divided into three parts.
The first part is the Western Urals, or the Urals, the Urals. Here the western foothills of the Ural Mountains gradually merge into the Russian Plain.
The second part is the Ural ridge, or the Ural Mountains. The Ural ridge is divided from north to south into Polar, Subpolar, North, Middle and South.
The third part is the Trans-Urals. The eastern slope of the Ural Range ends with a ledge into the West Siberian Lowland.
The Ural ridge, stretching for more than 2 thousand km, begins beyond the Arctic Circle, and its southern spurs end in Central Asia... It crosses the tundra, taiga, forest-steppe and steppe. Here are the sources of the rivers of the Volga and Ob basins.

Answer from IIFRA[guru]
Mountain system between the East European and West Siberian plains.

Answer from Yergey Sviridov[guru]
In Russia. Between Asia and Europe.

Answer from Avtor[guru]
Between the Alps and the Carpathians Near Elbrus there is still Everest not far

Answer from Ildar Akhmadullin[active]
... look at the globe of Russia ...

Answer from Striped giraffe Alik[guru]
You won't believe ... In the Urals.

Answer from Ivan Krotov[newbie]
In the Urals

Answer from Irina Petrak[active]
in Eurasia in the Urals !!!

Answer from Alisher begmatov[newbie]
between Asia and Europe

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

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