Krasnoyarsk Krai: Encyclopedia Arctica 10: Soviet North, Geography and General

4,700 words ^ 5,000 ^ ^ Mandel ^ ^ Sept ^ [: ] KRASNOYARSK KRAI (Territory) of the U.S.S.R., 928,000 square miles in area, ^ with a population of 1,940,000 in 1939 ^ , constitutes the basin of the Yenisei River (qv) emptying into the Kara Sea (qv) of the Arctic Ocean, and also includes the Severnaia Zemlia Archipelago (qv) in the Arctic. ^ Excluding these islands ^ , [: ] it extends from the northernmost mainland point on the face of the globe, Cape Cheliuskin, (qv) [: ] ^ 77°41′N. ^ of the Taimyr Peninsula (qv) south to 51°15′, where it bor– ders the Tuva Autonomous Oblast. Severnaia Zemlia, however, extends the latitude of the Territory north ^ ward ^ to 81°16′. Approximately half of the Territory lies north of the Arctic Circle, and includes such well-known Arctic developments as the lumber-export city of Igarka (qv), the mining settlements of Nordvik ^ (qv) ^ and Norilsk ^ (qv) ^ , and the Arctic ports of Dickson, (qv). ^ and Dudinka (qv). ^ Except for Igarka, they all lie within the northernmost subdivision of the Territory ,^-^ the Taimyr ( National Okrug , ^ - ^ whose native inhabitants are chiefly Dolgan and Nenets, with some Yurak, Nganasan and Yakut. How– ever, this Okrug is the most thinly populated portion of the Eurasian Arctic, and the majority of the ^ its ^ population are Russians in the four [: ] towns and^ ^settlements listed above. [: ] South of the Taimyr National Okrug, but also largely north of the Arctic Circle, is the Evenki National Okrug (qv), which parallels the Yenisei River to the east, but does not quite approach it. This is be– cause, from Igarka south, the majority of the populati on along the river, rural as well as urban, is Russian.

^ 43% of the Krasnoyarsk Krai is covered by tundra or mixed tundra and forest, while ^ A^a^lmost the entire Territory is Arctic or sub-Arctic in two ^ three ^ respects. First, the average annual temperature is below freezing except along and south of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which is at about 56°N. Secondly, the entire north and east of the Territory is [: ] under– lain by permafrost. Only the narrow strip from the Yenisei River west to the boundary of the Territory, from 66° southward, and the narrower strip east of the river to the beginning of the East ^ Central ^ Siberian Plateau, are free of permafrost. In the east, permafrost extends southward to

Kranoyarsk

the very border of the Territory, which there lies at 52°-53° N. In other words, the permafrost line takes an unusual direction in this portion of the U.S.S.R., running north-south instead of east-west. This is also the dividing line between Russian and native rural popula– tion, the Russians not having settled en masse as yet in the rugged eastern plateau country, whose rugged physical [: ] structure and soil conditions [: ] make agriculture more difficult and less profitable.

On the east, Krasnoyarsk Territory is bounded by the Yakut A.S.S. Republic (q.v.) along the northern half of that border, and [: ] by Irkutsk Oblast along the southern half. On the west, running from north to south, it is bounded by Tiumen Oblast (qv), Tomsk Oblast, Kemerovo Oblast (the Kuzbass heavy industrial region) and Altai Terri– tory.

In addition to the Arctic Taimyr and Evenki National Okrugs, Krasnoyarsk Territory includes the non-Arctic, mountainous Khakass Autonomous Oblast in the extreme south. [: ] ^ The territory between, inhabited ^ ^ mainly by Russians, is chiefly sub-Arctic. ^ [: ]

Physical and Geographical Description . The southwestern [: ] corner of Krasnoyarsk Territory is occupi t ed by spurs of the Sailiugem Range, from which the [: ] Western Saian Mts. extend northeastward. They merge with the Eastern Saians in the Kansk White Mts. The eastern slopes of the Kuznetsk Ala-Tau Mts. penetrate the Territory from the direction of Kemerovo Oblast. The area east– ward from them to the Yenisei River is occupied by the steppes and forest-steppes of non-Arctic Khakassia, intersected by Batenev Ridge and other low ranges., and interrupted by low mounds in the steppes. The area between the Angara and Podkammenaia Tunguska Rivers, right tributaries of the Yenisei, is occuped by the mountainous Yenisei Ridge. [: ]

The Central Siberian Plateau, between the Yenisei and Lena (qv) Rivers, is also intersected by [: ] low mountain chains. The Terri– tory in general slopes from South to North. Individual peaks in the Western Saian rise to 6,600 ft., but in the plateau lands of the Upper, Podkammennaia and Lower Tunguska Rivers the average heights are between 1,000 and 1,600 ft., while the settlements between the Saians and the Angara River, usually lying in river valleys, are at altitudes of 325 to 1,000 ft., Lowlands are also encountered along the left (west) bank of the Yenisei and along the Arctic coast.

[: ] Geologically, Krasnoyarsk Territory is composed, for the most part of archaic Paleozoic, [: ] strata, and only the [: ] portions lying within the West Siberian and North Siberian lowlands and on the southern boundary of the Central Siberian Plateau are overlain by Jurassic, Tertiary and Quaternary rocks. ^ strata ^ In the course of a succession of geological periods, these deposits were subjected to a variety of tectonic disturbances, which [: ] ^ resulted ^ in the formation of a number of folded regions of radial movement with breaks in their continuity, filled by magmatic [: ] ^ extrusions ^ reaching to the surface. These dislocations facilitated vigorous formation of ores in the contact zones. On the other hand, the depressions occupied by bodies of water witnessed the depositing of various salts and organic - vegetable - deposits, leading to the formation of true and brown coals.

The climate of the Territory is continental. The average winter temperature ranges from −0.4°F. in the south to −29.2°F. in the north, with [: ] temperatures a dozen degrees lower in both cases not at all uncommon. The summer averages range from 64.4°F. to 68°F. in the southern, agricultural areas. [: ] In the northern tundra the range of averages is between 50°F. and 57.2°F., but on Dickson Island, im– mediately off the coast, it is only 39°F. to 41°F. It has already been

Krasnoyarsk

mentioned that from the city of Krasnoyarsk south, the average annual temperature is about [: ] 33.8°F. Everywhere else it is below freezing, reaching 7°F. to 3°F. in the Far North. The greatest precipitation is encountered in the mountains, where it reaches 38 inches. In the forest zone it is 16 to 20 inches, and in the southern forest steppe, 8 to 12 inches. The heaviest precipitation is during the summer. In the winte winter, the snow attains a considerable depth, 24 to 32 inches, only in the forest zone, in ^ some ^ portions of the tundra and in the mountains. In the forest steppe, however, it reaches only 8 to 16 inches.

The Yenisei River serves to this day as the chief transit artery in the Territory, spatially speaking, [: ] for there are only 400 miles of railroad track within its borders. However, they carry far more traffic than does the waterway system. But it is the Yenisei and its tributaries which give the territory geographic and economic unity. There is no north-south highway or railroad. The Yenisei has therefore retained its [: ] 350-year-old role as the [: ] link between the [: ] thinly-populated Far North and the economically more advanced south of the territory, served by the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The Northern Sea Route on the one hand, and aerial transport on the other, are secondary to the riverway as a means of effecting that north-south connection, although the Arctic waterway has established a link with other parts of the country hitherto virtually lacking.

The Yenisei exercises a modifying climatic influence upon the northern portion of the Territory by carrying a large mass of warm water from the south. This reflects itself in annual temperatures and, therefore, in the absence of permafrost along its [: ] shores. Rising in the Tuva National Oblast, the river is navigable virtually the entire length of the Territory, from Dedushkin Rapids to the Kara Sea, a distance of some 2,000 miles. Its eastern tributaries, the ^ Kan and the ^ great Upper (Angara), Podkammenaia and [: ] Lower Tunguskas, are far

Krasnoyarsk

larger than the western: Kas, Sym, Elogui and Turukhan. The navigable upper reaches of the Chulym, a tributary of the Ob, give the southern agricultural regions of Krasnoyarsk Territory access to that other great river system of the north. The Taimyr Peninsula has its own river systems in the [: ] Piasina and Taimyr, which [: ] empty into the Kara Sea, and the Khatanga, whosemouth is in the Laptev [: ] Sea. There are numerous lakes both in the north and south. Several of those in the south - Shira, Shunet, Altai andBei, are salt. The lakes of the tundra, of which Piasino and Taimyr are the largest, give indications of glacial origin. Many of them are con– nected by natural waterways and connected to the great rivers of the area.

Soils and Vegetation . The slopes of the Kutznetsk Alatau, the Saian Mts. and the Yenisei Ridge are covered with coniferous trees, chiefly cedar and Siberian larch. On the west side of the river, in the forest zone, [: ] ^ fir trees ^ occupy the flatlands, while pines grow in sandy spots and at the bases of the hills. Birch and asp are also to be found. ^ South of 66° [: ] , the irregular border with the forest-tundra, ^ the plateau occupying the eastern portion of the territory is also a solid mass of conif d ers, Siberian [: ] larch and pine, with cedar, fir and spruce encountered less frequently. on the southern border of the plateau, between the taiga and the mount– ains farther south, there are extensive islands of steppe and forest– steppe with fertile black soils. The taiga itself has weak podzol soils, as well as marsh and alluvial types.

Fauna . Hoofed, predatory and fur-bearing animals are abundant in the taiga and the mountains. The chief animals sought by hunters and trappers are the polar fox and reindeer in the tundra, and the squirrel, ermine, sable, wolverine, fox, rabbit, bear and elk. There is a wide variety of birds, chiefly migratory types which nest along [: ] in summer along the Yenisei, its [: ] tributaries and the numerous lakes and marshes of the tundra and forest-tundra

Krasnoyarsk

The forests and the forested portions of the mixed forest-steppe are rich in wildfowl: partridge, grouse, nutcrackers and the like. The Yenisei is rich, particularly in its lower [: ] reaches, in fish of high marketability: sturgeon, sterlet, and others. The lakes and small rivers have pike, carp, perch, ruff, etc. Neither the fish nor the wildfowl resources have been evenly remotely tapped to their capacity.

[: ] Tundra, forest and grassy steppe are the chief forms of landscape encountered in the Territory. Tundra extends southward to 69°25′ N. along the Yenisei, and occupies 26% of the Territory, [: ] i.e., it covers an area of 266,500 sq. mi. The next zone south is that of mixed forest and tundra, occupying 17% of the Territory, or 162,600 sq. mi. South of that comes an enormous unbroken stretch of virgin coniferous forest, or taiga, extending southward to approximately the 57th parallel, with tongues reaching below that in some areas. This covers 42% of the surface of the Territory, or 415,700 sq. mi. Below that is the area of mixed forest and prairie, or steppe, constituting only islands in the unbroken forest, of which there are four, the Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Berozovo and Kansk. A glance at the map will indicate that these are also the names of the most important cities in the Territory. That is to say, Russians settled in the type of area most familiar to them as Europeans and best suited to their economy. Although forest-steppe embraces only 3.6% of the Territory, some 35,880 sq. mi. in all, it includes rich cultivated lands.

Steppe proper occupies the lower portions of the Yenisei-Chulym and Minusinsk bowls, but constitutes only 1.6% of the area of the Territory, or 16,138 sq. mi. Finally, there is a sixth geographical area, the mountain zone, found chiefly in the southern and central portions of the Territory, and consisting of the Yenisei Ridge, the Eastern and Western Saians, and the Kuznetsk Alatau. This constitutes 10% of the area of the Territory, 92,800 sq. mi.

Mineral Resources . Gold in reef and alluvial form has been mined and washed ^ on a large scale ^ for many years in the Yenisei Ridge, the headwaters of the Abakan River on the eastern slopes of the Kuznetsk Alatau, and in the Western Saians. Deposits of iron on the Abakan, at Irdzhinskoe and in the Minu– sinsk steppe, deposits of brown hematite and of sphero-siderite between Krasnoyarsk and Kansk have also been known for a long time. Copper ores are located in the Minusinsk basin, at Mainskaia, Yuliia, Ulen and else– where. Amorphous graphite is found on the Arctic Circle along the river Kureika (scene of Stalin's exile for the last four years prior to the Revolution), while nickel, platinum, gold and copper are mined in the mountains of Norilsk (q.v.). Iceland spar and graphite are found along the Lower Tunguska. Coal is located at various places in the Territory: at there are the [: ] ^ Black Mountain ^ and Izykh mines in the Minusinsk [] depress– sion; large brown-coal deposits at Kansk along the Trans-Siberian; the Chulym-Yenisei area northwest of Krasnoyarsk; and the enormous Tungus Basin, 400,000 sq. mi. in area, embracing almost the entire North of the Territory except the Taimyr Peninsula - which has its own coal - and separate deposits of which have been found along the Yenisei, the Lower Tunguska and the Angara.

Rock salt and oil have been discovered in the high Arctic at the mouth of the Khatanga River (qv), which empties into the Laptev Sea (qv). Table salt and sulphates are found in the salt lakes of the extreme South. Polymetallics ores, bauxites, asbestos, kaolin and building stone of vari– ous types are also found within the Territory.

Population . ^ (qv Yenisei) ^ When the first Russian musketeers and cannoneers made their appearance in this area, they encountered no large state on within its bounds capable of offering them serious resistance. The region was populated by small tribes, whose very names are today known only to hist– orians - the Arin, Kott, Kalmazh, etc. The Russians reached the Yenisei overland (i.e., via rivers and portages) from their Arctic outpost of

Krasnoyarsk

Mangazeia (qv) on the Taz Gulf - a branch of the Gulf of the Ob - to the northwest. This eastward progress along the extreme North of Asia resulted from no ingrained Russian love of the Arctic, but from the consideration that Mongol and Chinese [: ] empires to the South presented a force too powerful for Russia to enter into collision with so far from its center [: ] of reinforcement and supply at Moscow.

The first settlement on the Yenisei was a wintering station built in 1607 at the junction of the Turukhanka River, ^ just south of the Arctic Circle. ^ First called New Mangazeia, it later was renamed Turukhansk. Shortly afterward, moving eastward from the Ob River, Russians reached the mouth of the Kacha and the Angara (Upper Tunguska). In 1618, therefore, the ^ y ^ founded Fort Yeniseisk ^ at 58° ^ (now the northern– most site of large-soale agriculture, ^ in Krasnoyarsk Territory) ^ as distinct from Arctic gardening and stock-raising for anti-scorbutic and diet-variation purposes). In 1628, having advanced upstream, they founded Fort Krutinskii, later Krasnoyarsk. South of this point, as they emerged from the forests into natural grass– lands where cattle-raising and agriculture were easier, the Russians made slower progress with their conquest, for the steppes supported fairly numer– ous native peoples capable of offering strong resistance to the tiny forces with which Russia took Siberia. This is the historical reason underlying the fact that the Soviet border is, to this day, a relatively short distance [: ] south of Krasnoyarsk.

The entire expanse of the Krasnoyarsk Territory of today was in Russian hands by the first quarter of the 18th century, i.e., a century after their first appearance there. The Russian population along the Yenisei at that time numbered [: ] seven or eight thousand. At the outset the Territory was populated chiefly by the military stationed there for the purpose of sub– jecting the natives and extracting the yasak - tribute in furs. There were also some serf peasants, sent there to grow food for the military. The fur– ther growth of population was from three sources, mainly: exiles, soldiers sent here as punishment for infractions of regulations, and peasant serfs

Krasnoyarsk

of the Crown itself. A fourth source consisted of runaway serfs of land– owners. The building of the Trans-Siberian railroad at the end of the 19th century, [: ] subsequent to the abolition of serfdom, was followed by large-scale settlement along the railroad, the chief source being peasants [: ] for whom freedom had meant deprivation of land as well as liberation from a master. In other cases it had meant land redemption payments beyond the means of the freed serf to pay. To quiet unrest, particularly after the unsuccessful Revolution of 1905, and to populate this empty territory, the Tsarist government brought 200,000 settlers to Krasnoyarsk Territory in the 23 years from 1895 to 1917.

The Territory may be divided into three zones of population and economic development. The southernmost, [: ] zone, non-Arctic in these respects, extends up to the Angara River. 133,000 sq. mi. in area – embracing, that is, one-seventh of the Territory - it has 94% of the population, and embraces virtually all the agriculture and most of the industry. ^ Population density is 12 per square mile. ^ The next, or sub-Arctic zone, consisting of the virgin forest north of the Angara, embraces an area of not quite 80,000 sq. mi., and had a population of 54,000 in 1933, when the density was 0.6 per sq. mi. The Arctic area, including the Taimyr and Evenkii National Okrugs (qv) and the Turukhansk region, totals 618,000 sq. mi., or two-thirds of the Territory, and had a population of 45,000 in 1933, or 0.07 per sq. mi., or, in other words, seven in [: ] a square measuring ten miles on each of its sides. Since then, the further expansion of Igarka (qv) and the founding of Norilsk ^ (qv) ^ and expansion of Dudinka (qv), have resulted at least in doubling and, more likely, in trebling, the population of the Arctic area. A similar ratio of increase has undoubtedly been brought about in the sub-Arctic zone through increased lumbering, for that was the purpose of founding and enlarging Igarka.

The native peoples include Kett and Selkup along the Yenisei north of Yeniseisk, and Nentsy, Yuraks, Nganasan, Dolgan and Yakuts, all in

Krasnoyarsk

very small numbers, on the Taimyr Peninsula. The Evenki dwell in an im– mense area along the right tributaries of the Yenisei, and [: ] ^ the ^ Khakass live in the non-Arctic ^ mountains of the ^ south, although their way of life, includ– ing use of the reindeer, is closely [: ] related to that of the Arctic peoples.

Total population of the Territory is approximately four times as high as at the census of 1897, and three times as high as at the time of the Revolution, in 1917. [: ] ^ The growth of the chief city ^ has been as follows:

In 1936, the other non-Arctic cities had the following populations: Kansk - 30,000; Minusinsk - 25,000; Achinsk - 23,000; Yeniseisk - 18,000; Abakan - 17,000. In the Arctic, Igarka, newly-founded, had 25,000 on the eve of World War II; Norilsk had some 30,000 in its mining camps and refinery, and there were 3,000 at its port of Dudinka.

The Tsars used Krasnoyarsk Territory, and particularly outlying villages in the Arctic and sub-Arctic along the Yenisei, as the site place of exile for its most dangerous political opponents. Its worst hard-labor camps were also situated there. Lenin was exiled to Shushenskoe in the extreme south from 1897 to 1900; Stalin to Kureika on the Arctic Circle from 1913 to 1917 (he is a native of the sub-tropical Caucasus) and Jacob Sverdlov, the first President of the Soviet Republic, to Kureika and Selivanikha in the same years.

Economic Geography . It has already been pointed out that the vast maj– ority of the population of the Territory was born or came there after the Revolution which brought the present regime to power. Moreover, the one railroad had h penetrated the region only a generation earlier. It is not surprising, therefore, that the economy of the area was at an extremely low level when the Tsarist government was overthrown. The native population had been pushed northward into the taiga and tundra.

Krasnoyarsk

Ruthlessly exploited by Russian merchants and oppressed by the official– dom, [: ] the natives were in the process of dying out. Except for gold mining, industry was hardly in existence at all. The Territory was, how– ever, one of the chief sources of gold and furs, i.e., commodities enabl– ing Russia to purchase abroad. The productivity of agriculture was low, and its techniques very backward. The building of the railroad did away with the isolation of at least the southern part of the Territory, and led to the shipping of wood, grain and livestock products out of the area, but as yet in negligible quantity. Despite the considerable influx of settlers after the building of the railroad, and [: ] a notable increase in acreage under the plough[], there remained a considerable amount of arable land immediately adjacent to the railroad, as well as in the North, which had not been brought into cultivation, or other use. More– over, as the Trans-Siberian railroad was the artery along which the Civil War and Intervention proceeded in the years 1918-20, the most developed portions of the Territory suffered most grievously. Bridges were destroyed, warehouses burnt, etc. However, from the mid-' twenties, with the beginnings of industrialization, and the early 'thirties, with the collectivization and mechanization of agriculture, the economy of the Territory advanced with extreme rapidity, as indicated by the fact that the largest industrial city, Krasnoyarsk, almost trebled in size in the 13 years 1926-39.

Particularly noteworthy were the measures taken to master the Far North and to place the Arctic tribes on the road to economic and cultural progress. Their areas of habitation were delimited and established as governmental units with some degree of autonomy and special measures of assistance from the central government. Igarka was founded, on the basis of assured navigation of the Kara Sea under icebreaker convoy. The mining of coal and graphite on the Lower Tunguska (Nogin mines, 64° N.) was begun. Schools and hospitals were founded at the various "Cultural

Krasnoyarsk

Bases" established for the native nationalities (Oron and Tura at 64°, etc.). Expeditions of exploration and survey narrowed the white spots progressively, and numerous polar stations were founded. In latitude, they extended from 80° (on Sovernaia Zemlia, where there were three) to 64°. Mainland stations in 1936 included 10 on the Arctic coast proper and offshore islands (13 [: ] including Severnaia Zemlia) and 12 more inland.

The gold-mining industry remains the most important in the Territory. Lumbering is next, its products largely being exported to the outside world. Trapping, graphite and mica mining are also of national importance. Industry and Power . The industrialization of the Soviet East, beginning in the 1930s, and centered at the Kuznetsk Basin, adjoining Krasnoyarsk Territory to the west, naturally affected this area as well. In addition to the thorough reconstruction and expansion of old industrial enterprises, considerable numbers of new ones were built, including sawmill and wood– working enterprises, gold and coal mines, a large boot factory, etc. Later heavy machinery plants were built, chief among them a major enterprise at Krasnoyarsk building gold-dredges and railway cars. A paper mill was also established.

The [: ] gold-mining industry was founded in the 1840s, and within a decade [: ] this region was the source of 90% of all the gold originating in Russia. Careless exploitation led to the rapid exhaustion of the rich resources and to a considerable fall in output during the second half of the century. Under the Soviets considerable effort has been put into the rehabilitation of the gold industry in the Territory. In 1928-37, new mines were opened along the Saral River in the Khakass Autonomous Oblast in the south. Their equipment is the most modern. In all, more than 20 gold dredges were in operation in the taiga along the Yenisei in 1936. Good roads have been built to link the goldfields with the Yenisei and Angara. The result has been an increase in output. How– over, with the discovery and exploitation of greater fields in the Far

Krasnoyarsk

Eastern Arctic and sub-Arctic (Kolyma and Aldan Rivers, qv), the relative importance of Krasnoyarsk gold has declined, only 20% of the Soviet output now coming from this Territory. The industry is centered in three districts: the [: ] Khakass Autonomous Oblast, and Minusinsk and North-Yenisei counties. Systematic prospecting has revealed the presence of larger resources than formerly suspected.

The lumber industry has undergone particularly rapid development. Major [: ] sawmill and processing enterprises have gone up at Igarka, Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk and Kansk. The number of sawmill frames rose from 16 in 1917 to 49 in 1935, when almost four million cubic meters of lumber were cut in the Territory, of which one-quarter was for firewood and the rest for other uses. In that year 862,000 cubic meters of [: ] ^ lumber ^ was sawn in the mills, the rest being shipped out unsawn. At that time particular emphasis was being placed upon increasing the felling of larch as a substitute for deciduous woods in aviation, the building of railway cars and certain other fields. In a single year, the felling of that typically sub-Arctic species rose from 70,000 cubic meters (1934) to 170,000 (1935).

Shipbuilding for the Yenisei is an important industry at Krasnoyarsk. Prior to 1937 there was only a small yard with a single way, capable of launching 10 motorboats per year. But [: ] , just prior to World War II, a yard was built with a capacity of 200 wooden and 25 steel power-driven vessels, and 200 rowboats per year. During the same years, a paper-mill was erected with a capacity of 28,600 tons of newsprint, 35,900 tons of book and writing paper, and 3,500 tons of cardboard. More recently, a plant for the production of wood [: ] alcohol by hydrolysis was erected. It uses [: ] sawmill waste.

The coal industry had an output of 535,000 tons in 1935, of which 4/5 came from the Black Mt. diggings in the Minusinsk area. The Zaozernyi lignite mine in the Kansk area went into operation only in that year, when 90,000 tons were dug. Small quantities of coal are also dug at the Badalyk

Krasnoyarsk

workings near Krasnoyarsk. In the Arctic, the digging of coal near Norilsk for the Northern Sea Route was begun just prior to World War II.

Mica is dug in Rybinsk county. There are two mines and three enterprises for preliminary processing. 330,000 tons of raw mica were dug in 1934, and 650,000 in 1935. There is a manganese mine near Achinsk. 64,000 tons were dug in 1934, and 132,000 the following year. The ^ surveyed ^ resources [: ] ^ were then ^ estimated at 800,000 tons. Barite is mined in Khakassia for the paint industry.

As late as 1935, the metal manufacturing industry consisted chiefly of re[]^pa^ir and maintenance works. There was a locomotive repair shop in Krasno– yarsk and a plant making equipment for the lumber industry. However, just prior to World War II a [: ] major heavy machinery works was erected, [: ] capable of building 10,000 railway cars per year, as well as gold dredges and large river vessels. During the war major enterprises were [: ] permanently moved to Krasnoyarsk from the areas threatened by German invasion. One of them, a locomotive works, had 775,000 sq. ft. of floor space in 1945 in 15 shops. Likewise, a plant making harvester combines was moved to Krasnoyarsk.

The presence of wood and graphite led to the building, also on the eve of the war, of a large [: ] ^ pencil ^ factory with a capacity of 420,000,000 pencils per year - in excess of a million a day.

The main enterprises in the food industry consist of milling and dis– tilling, and meat-packing.

^ William Mandel ^