Gold miners of Transbaikalia (the middle of the XIXth - the middle of the ХХth century)

The article is dedicated to gold miners of Transbaikalia, who were presented by people of different nationalities – Russians, Buryats, Chinese and various religions - Orthodox Christians, Old-Believers, Buddhists. The author provides features of every group of gold miners – hired workers, zolotnichniki (gold miners themselves), “rascals”. One more important group of gold miner foreigners were Chinese. For gold mine owners the work of Chinese was more profitable and less costly if compared with local population. Particular emphasis in the article is paid to Old-Believers, who being cereal growers and husbandry men during their free time were occupied with gold mining. Old-Believers are a group of the Russian long-time residents of Transbaikalia, that are ancestors of old-Believers who were departed from Poland to Siberia by Catherine II in the XVII century. Residents of the villages of Khasurta and Unegetei made the core of miners of goldmines at the Kurba River and its feeders. History of these villages has started from the early XIX century, when Baptized Buryats accepted Old Belief turned to settled way of life and did farming and gardening. The article provides analysis of reasons of peasants’ leave for industrial production, peasants’ adaptation to new life conditions is shown. The chronological framework is from establishment of Transbaikal gold mines in the middle of the XIX century till the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). The research work is based on the documents of the National Archive of the Republic of Buryatia and the National Archive of the Transbaikal Krai, periodicals and research monographs, recollections of old residents.

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