Unpaginated      |      Vol_X-0190                                                                                                                  

KORIAK National Okrug

        KORIAK National Okrug, founded Dec. 10, 1930, has a population of approximately 15,000 in an area of 120,000 sq. mi. It is located [ ?] in northeastern

Siberia, occupies the narrow northern portion of the Kamchatka Peninsula (q.v. Kamchatka Oblast) , and the mainland to

the north there of., Taigonos Peninsula projecting into the Okhotsk Sea, and the [ ?] Bering [?]

Sea Islands of Karaginskii. and Verkheturov. It lies between 56° and 66° N., and 156° and

175° E. It has a long coast-line on both the Bering Sea and the Okhotsk Sea (specifically,

Penzhina Gulf and Penzhina and Gizhiga Bays within the latter, all constituting the

northeasternmost portion of the Okhotsk Sea). Bounded on the north by the Chukchi (Chukotck) N.O.(q.v) it It is the least-developed area of eastern

Arctic Siberia. As of Jan. 1, 1948, it contained no place of human habitation rated

above the level of village in the Soviet administrative scale: no town or workers' settle–

ment. It is administered from the village of Palana on the Okhotsk Sea coast of the neck

of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The relative size and location of the four counties into

which it is subdivided clearly indicate the concentration of population along the sea–

coast, and virtual absence thereof inland and to the north. The smallest county (raion),

Karaginskii, 18,700 sq. mi ., km. containing 6 townships (rural Soviets), consists of that

island and the Bering Sea coast of the neck of Kamchatka, opposite it across Litke Strait. [ ?] The seat is at Ossora village.

It is an important trapping and, particularly, fur-farming (silver fox, sable) region.

The next county, in order of increasing size, is Tigil, 57,200 sq. mi ., km. centered at

the village of that name, and constituting the southernmost portion of the Koriak N.O.,

geographically the Okhotsk Sea coast of northern Kamchatka Peninsula. It contains 18

townships, and is a very important fishery center, although [ ?] the workers in that in–

dustry constitute chiefly a seasonal population. It also contains [ ?] oil fields whose

development is in their initial stages. Next in size is [ ?] Oliutorskii County,

70,000 sq. km., consisting of the hinterland of the bay of that name. It contains 11

townships, and is centered at the village of Tilichiki, on the east coast where the

Kamchatka Peninsula joins the mainland. That village is on Korf Bay, containing import–

ant coal deposits being exploited for the Northern Sea Route Administration, and there–

fore constituting the leading industrial development in the Koriak N.O. to this date.

More than half of the Koriak N.O. is embraced in [ ?] Penzhina county, constituting the

Asiatic mainland territory from the Okhotsk Sea north to a few miles from the Arctic

Circle. It is 164,900 sq. m km. in area, [ ?] but is subdivided into only 19

townships. The population is chiefly on the coast - the county is centered at Kamenskoe

at the head of Penzhina Bay - and the coastal people are fishermen while those inland

are nomadic or semi-nomadic reindeer breeders.

001      |      Vol_X-0191                                                                                                                  
Koriak National District Agriculture

        Agriculture did not undergo the development it deserved within the territory of

the present-day Koriak National Okrug, prior to the advent of the Soviets. As one of

the aspects of a policy of colonialism, dictated from above by administrative means,

it penetrated the nomadic population to only a very limited degree. Whereas agriculture

existed almost everywhere in primitive forms, it had no commercial importance whatever

and was [ ?] only of negligible significance even in the meeting the needs of those

who practiced engaged in it.

        Vegetable gardening attained its widest extent in the Tigil district on the

western coast of the upper Kamchatka Peninsula, i.e., the southernmost portion of the

Koriak N.O. In 1926, the entire planted area there totalled thirty-two acres. The

crop consisted of 148 tons of potatoes and nine tons of vegetables. The immense Penzhina

district in the Far North had only five acres under crop, and harvested ten tons of

potatoes. Both these districts are on the inland side of the Koriak N.O. Those on the

Bering Sea side showed even smaller progress. The northeastern Karaginskii-Oliutorskii

region had only 23,569 sq. ft. under crop (half an acre), and produced a harvest two

tons in weight: 90% potatoes and 10% turnips. [ ?]

[ ?]

        At this time [ ?] stock-farming was at an even lower level.

Horses and cattle, originally introduced from Yakutia, had acclimatized themselves

beautifully, but had attained a very limited distribution, and then chiefly among Rus–

sians. This was even truer of the horse than of cattle, for there was little use for

the horse, the dog being the main draft animal. The great northern Penzhina district

had a total of 107 head of cattle, and 104 [ ?] horses in 1926. Pigs, sheep and goats

were entirely absent. The Karaginskii-Oliutorskii region had 52 cattle and 51 horses,

of which 30 were owned by nomads, who used them as steeds for reindeer-cowboys and for

the hauling of goods between trading post and nomad camp. The horses are of the typical

Kamchatka breed: small, [ ?] capable of enduring great hardship, and requiring little

food or care. The cattle native to the Oliutorskii Gulf area are superior to those in

the Karaginskii district, being larger, [ ?] of better breed and giving more milk.

        In 1931, after the separating of the Karaginskii-Oliutorskii district into two,

the former had 50 head of cattle, 21 horses and 57 pigs; the latter 22 cattle and 42 horses

002      |      Vol_X-0192                                                                                                                  
Koriak N.O. Agriculture

By that date, a few settled nomads were engaging in stock-raising, in addition to the

Russians.

        The southwestern, Tigil, area, had in 1926, 752 head of cattle and 384 horses, or

more than the rest of the Koriak N.O. combined. As indicated by the following table,

there was virtually no change in the livestock picture between 1926 and 1932:

County	Cattle		Horses		Pigs		Fowl
	1926	1932	1926	1932	1926	1932	1926	1932
Tigil	752	764	384	456	0	0	0	0
Karaginskii	52	50	51	21	0	57	0	0
Oliutorskii	52	22	51	42	0	0	0	0
Penzhina	107	39	104	32	0	6	0	22
Total	911	875	539	551	0	63	0	22

        The slight increase in the number of horses during this period was a result of

increased need at the Tigil fisheries, and the first appearance of swine and fowl, how–

ever few, is to be noted. On the other hand, there was a decline in the Penzhina area.

Unpaginated      |      Vol_X-0193                                                                                                                  
Koriak N.O.

        Coal Industry

        The industrial exploitation of the Korf Bay coal deposits under the Soviets began in 1929. This coal is found

at the very shore of skrytaia Haven, a protected harbor with good anchorage At that point, There are

several veins, 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 ft. in thickness, consisting of long-burning coal of low

ash content. The local population made use of it for its own needs long before that

date. Whereas consecutive [ ?] working of the veins dates from 1929, ships occasionally

put into Korf Bay for coal during the 19th century, as it was readily available through

the efforts of the crews themselves. Early in the 20th century, [ ?] the Russian–

American fur-seal company also made use of this resource. Finally, in 1917-22, between

the overthrow of the Tsar and the triumph of the Soviets in this area, [ ?]

Korf Bay coal was dug by the Japanese on an industrial scale, under a concession ob–

tained by the puppet governments they supported in Vladivostok and at Petropavlovsk–

on-Kamchatka:

        A Under the Soviets, the first detailed investigation of a portion of the Korf

Bay field was made in 1928 by I.A. Preobrazhenskii, with industrial exploitation be–

ginning the following year. He found the [ ?] coal field to embrace a territory of 660

square miles. He located 11 coal strata in all, averaging 6″ 6′6″ in thickness, and

he estimated the probable total reserve at 31,000,000 tons. The [ ?] three veins being worked

in the early ′30s, the Left, [ ?] the American and the Burning (Gorelyi) , produce coal [ ?] with

a calory rating of 4,722 and an ash content of 7.47%. Mashkovtsev hypothecated the

extension of the field along the Tylgyvei River , a tributary of the Vivniki, and along the

Telichikia. He believed it probable that the entire area from the Vivnik River to

Tilichiki village was coal-bearing, and that a huge field extended from the Pacific

at Korf Bay westward to Rekinnik Bay on the Okhotsk Sea. With the inclusion of the

Penzhina district and the Okhotsk seacoast, as well as the Anadyr field in the Chukot sk

National Okrug (q.v.), which borders the Penzhina field on the Main and Orlovka Rivers,

there is ground for the hypothesis that the entire region is one immense coal-bearing

zone, in which case the resource would total some 40,000,000,000 tons.

        The Soviet government's Kamchatka Company (AKO) offered the following figures for

production at Korf Bay: 1929 - 3,211 tons; 1930 - 1,219 tons; 1931 - 12,275 tons; 1933 –

4,613 tons. The number of workers was exceedingly small at that time. In 1932, for ex-

002      |      Vol_X-0194                                                                                                                  
Koriak N.O. Coal

ample, the total personnel numbered 174, of which 151 were productive laborers, and

23 constituted executive, bookkeeping and similar staff. At this early stage there was

also great turnover in labor, the number of workers in 1932 having reached 299 at one

point during the season. The difficulty lay in the fact that the industry depended upon

a seasonal working force, which fluctuated from year to year. It was only in 1932 that

the first permanent workers made their homes at Korf Bay. They were far more efficient,

as they came to know the special problems and techniques required.

        These optimistic estimates of the possibilities of the field and the quality of

its coal date from 1934 and earlier. However, in June, 1939, a discussion of local

coal supplies for the vessels of the Northern Sea Route refers to Korf Bay as the site

of diggings of purely local importance, where production was being carried on by very

primitive measures. Moreover, contrary to the earlier reports, it referred to the coal

as being of low quality and unsuited for use in ocean-going vessels. Finally, it is to

be noted that the Soviet maps of the Northern Sea Route dating from after World War II

do not show a branch of the route into Korf Bay, leaving the impression that the

Anadyr deposits were chosen for preferred development.

       

002      |      Vol_X-0195                                                                                                                  
Koriak N.O.

        Climatically, the Koriak N.O. is entirely in the permafrost zone, and its vegeta–

tion is entirely Arctic: moss, lichen and stunted brush tundra, except for a large island

of larch along the headwaters of the Penzhina River.

Unpaginated      |      Vol_X-0196                                                                                                                  

       

A      |      Vol_X-0197                                                                                                                  
Koriak N.O.

        Future Perspectives

        The geographic position of the Koriak N.O., which is located at the crossroads

[ ?]

of the Soviet northeast - between the Kamchatka [ ?] and Chukot sk Peninsulas, [ ?] and in on the

[ ?] narrow land bridge between the

[ ?]

Okhotsk and Bering Seas - as well as the fact that it is a short distance by sea from the great

[ ?]

maritime powers of the North Pacific, the United States and Japan, give it its overall

importance in the Soviet and Arctic scene. Its general development may be expected to

take the same lines as that of the rest of the Kamchatka-Okhotsk seacoast territory,

and that has been the case thus far. The factors determining its economic future are

three: (1) the human and natural resources of the area and the problems of their rational

use; (2) the place which this area should [ ?] occupy in the general national economy of

the USSR and in that of the Khabarovsk Territory (q.v.), i.e., the Soviet Pacific north–

east; and (3) the requirements of the development of the territory for the sake of its

own inhabitants.

        The most important resources of the area, at the present stage of its development,

are its riches in fish and sea mammals, reindeer and minerals. Second in importance are

hunting and fur-farming, agriculture, forestry and various subsidiary handicrafts and

occupations. Ultimately, it is logical to expect that the exploitation, refining and

even processing of mineral resources will take first place, but at the present time that

is no more than a reasonable deduction.

        In the general economy of the USSR, the function of the Koriak N.O., like that of

the rest of Kamchatka [ ?] Oblast and Khabarovsk Territory, is that of (a) serv–

ing as a source of foreign exchange, and (b) as a source of industrial raw materials.

The first of these roles is m indicated by the presence of fish, crabs, fur [ ?] and

ivory-bearing [ ?] sea and land mammals which have long commanded a world market;

the export possibilities of the oil, gold and even peat of this area (Japan has always

been sadly lacking in industrial fuels); and by its geographical isolation from the Euro–

pean portion of the USSR and relative proximity to its natural markets and suppliers,

Japan and the United States.

        As a source of raw materials, the Koriak N.O. is chiefly a [ ?] supplier

of the consumer-goods industries, in that it provides or is readily able to provide

fish for the food industry, leather and fats. Now that the USSR is in a position to

B      |      Vol_X-0198                                                                                                                  
Koriak N.O.

place greater emphasis on this aspect of its economy than when it was preparing to meet

the Nazi attack, there has already been (1946-49) and and it may be expected that there

will continue to be great expansion of the fishery and related industries.

        Another economic problem facing the Koriak N.O. is that of reducing its large and

expensive long-haul imports of many food products, fuels and building materials, so as

to transform it, in accordance with its natural and human resources, from a consuming

into a producing region. That process is now in progress. It success depends in the first

place upon the adequate proper coordination and utilization of its own resources, as well

as upon scientific advances in agriculture, and upon educating the people to make better

use of the materials offered by nature as well as of machinery and other products shipped

from other parts of the USSR.

        for history see Kamchatka Oblast