Istomino village

Istomino is a village that expanded after the resettlement of people from other flooded places. It was named in honor of the fighter for the Soviet power I.A. Istomin. It used to bear the name Istock; not far from it there are several homesteads that are still called Istock. This terrain that from the first glance seems to be unremarkable is connected with the names of important people and events in its history. With regard to individuals, I can mention that the head of the second Kamchatskaya expedition Commander Vitus Bering by order of Empress Anna Ioanovna set up here 10 post stations from the Baikal to the border of China in 1735. The post communication was necessary to secure the borders of Russia established with China by the peace treaty of S. Raguzinsky in 1727. These stations included Tvorogovo, Troitsko-Selenginsky Monastery, Udinsk, Selenginskaya Fortress, Povorotnoye, Kyakhta, etc. The total distance from Posolsk Monastery to Kyakhta was determined as 353 versts 50 sazhens that was a two day journey. To change horses it was supposed to spend 14 hours; the horses were fed near the post stations by locals.

Village Istock with facilities for production of fishing boats, located near Bay Prorva since the Second Kamchatskaya Expedition has become a shipyard for the construction of the first state boat the size of forty feet. The place for such an important case was chosen very carefully. First, it was very close to the Selenga delta, and it was possible to sail along the river from Lake Baikal to the Chinese border (Kyakhta); and along Rivers Chikoy and Khilock to the locality where the tributaries of the Amur sprang from. Second, Prorva Bay or now Sohr Cherkalovo, located to the southwest of the Selenga delta, was protected by headlands and islands from the harsh Baikal winds such as Sarma. But the most important reason was the pine forests near the village, where one could always find necessary material. Besides the most suitable ship larch forest grew nearby. The building of the shipyard initiated the Russian State Fleet at Lake Baikal and Rivers Angara and Selenga.

In the XIXth century not far from these places in the mouth of River Selenga on the Zhilishe Island opposite the village of Shigaevo the port settlement Chertovkino was located. Chertovkina Fair was held here every year. There was a shopping arcade and dozens of shop and other commercial buildings there. Once when there were a lot of precipitations the Selenga abruptly changed its course and flowed across the village. So there is no village here anymore.

The places near Lake Baikal in the Kabansk Region and farther on to Verkhneudinsk have always been remarkable for their richness and civil character of their inhabitants. The fertile soil suitable for arable farming and cattle-breeding; state roads going across this area to the east and China, and above all fish abundance of Lake Baikal and its rivers ensured peasants prosperity and their aspirations to keep up with the style of life of the population of the Russian centers. In 1863 P.A. Kropotkin wrote that Kabansk peasants, especially women always wore a German dress, and on holidays put on splendid damask blue or crimson coats of Russian cut called palty. Particularly profitable for Kabansk peasants in the XVIII – XIXth centuries was carting goods to Chita and further to the Amur. The goods, mostly grain, were gathered in Chita to be overloaded onto the barge that floated down the Amur. Kabansk carters confessed: “In the beginning Chita was something completely unknown in Ilyinsk volost; to go there people had to raise icons, to serve prayers; now Chita seems to be nearby". Carters had the most beneficial periods when it was necessary to give a lift to passengers onto arriving at Posolsk steamers or when it was necessary to transport cargo to the other Baikal shore to Goloustnaya or Listvyanka. In some cases carters charged an exorbitant price for their service, and the takers had to accept them having no other opportunities for a trip or transportation. The perspective of good life and the chance to enrich themselves attracted different businessmen to those places. In 1864 the well-known local historian of East Siberia N.V. Parshin called Kabansk a "promised land of Israel sons". 

See also

• The Many Faces of Multilingual and Mysterious Baikal. A.D.Karnyshev

Literature

1. A.D. Karnyshev "The Many Faces of Multilingual and Mysterious Baikal"© BSU Publishing House, 2011