Russia Developing Eastern Siberia

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29001, 16 September 1959, Page 21

Russia Developing Eastern Siberia

(By N. N. NEKRASSOV. corresponding member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.]

Eastern Siberia occupies a tremendous area on the map of Russia, stretching from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the mountain ranges of Tuva and Sayan and the region of lake Baikal in the south. In all. it covers almost f a third of the total territory of Russia—nearly 2.800,000 square I miles, and is only slightly t smaller than the United States, • without Alaska. f It is a grim yet attractive region, famous for its endless prii meval forests or taiga, its mighty rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean and its great mineral I wealth. It is usual to speak of Eastern Siberia as a land of ice and permanent frost. This is only partly true. In the northern latitudes. I the winter is of course long and ' severe with temperatures that 1 sometimes drop to 58 degrees (F) below zero. But the southern parts of Siberia get as much sunshine as the Ukraine or the Lower Volga region. The number of sunny days and the duration of the sunshine are greater in some areas of Eastern Siberia than, for example, in Odessa or Crimea. Early in the seventeenth century, the first Russian landfarers. pioneer explorers of Eastern Siberia, opened the road for exploration and settlement of the huge territory, and the first atlas of Siberia, compiled by Russian geographers at the end of the 17th century made an important contribution to science at that time. The construction of the Trans Siberian railway about a hundred years later brought about a great change in the country’s economy. Purs and gold, rare metals, mica, graphite and coal were obtained from the area in ever-growing quantities. Industrialisation Begins Siberia's chief wealth, however, was still hidden from the eyes of r But a systematic study of territory, carried out chiefly in the post war period, has recently brought about a complete revaluation of its natural resouree* and the extensive jndustrialhetfon of the area is only just Ontil quite recently there was a legend current to the effect that Fijfern Siberia contained no signiCesfit desposits of iron ore. Today *»e of our biggest deposits have been discovered there—they are estimated at about 13,000 million tons. Another recent discovery is that of the South Yakutia coalfield containing something like 40)500 million tons of excellent coking coal. Hydraulic energy resources in Eastern Siberia are also colossal The three great Siberian rivers—faq Angara. Yenisei and Lena— Can produce over 400,000 million •k of electric power a year. And fa. recent times there has been grbwing belief in the discovery of Oil,and natural gas in the foreSeMble future, primarily in the basin of the River Vilyui (Yakutia). About half of the country’s timber resources are located in Eastern Siberia. And last a tretoendous diamond province has been discovered, covering the Whole northern part of Central Siberia. To exploit these fabulous riches the Seven-Year Plan has provided for the development and large•cale industrialisation of Eastern Siberia. The next few years will see the building of extensive Works, the first of which will be the Taishet metallurgical combine. Giant hydro-electric stations ■re being built at Bartsk and Krasnoyarsk and at Irkutsk, the first of a network of hydro-elec-tric plants on the Angara river, is already sending out current. A huae aluminium plant is being built in the Krasnoyarsk territory. Eastern Siberia will also be the country’s biggest centre for the chemical processing of Wood. Scientists in Vanguard The exceptional variety and Volume of Siberian resources and the gigantic new targets that have been set for their development demand a new approach to the organisation of scientific work. The West-Siberian, East-Siberian ■nd Yakutian branches of the Academy of Sciences were founded only ten years ago. And ■t present, one of the country's biggest scientific centres, the Siberian Division of the Academy of Sciences is being established near Novosibirsk. Already this body is responsible for guidance and corfelation of all scientific research in Siberia. It is a huge complex organisation consisting of many institutions working in the main branches of natural sciences—geology, chemistry, physics, math-

ematics, mechanics and many others.

This year the new University of Novosibirsk will open its doors to’ begin the training of young scientific workers.

Siberia’s scientific centres a’re being greatly expanded both by the organisation of new scientific and educational institutions and by the transfer of established scientific bodies from Moscow and Leningrad. In Irkutsk, institutes of chemistry, geology, and geography are being opened. In Krasnoyarsk new bodies will study the forests of Siberia an<| the Far East, permafrost, nonferrous metals and gold, while at Ulan Ude. in the Buryat-Mon-golian Republic, an important research institute was recently opened to study the country's natural resources, economy, geography and history. The setting up of this extensive network of scientific institutions coincides with the implementation of a gigantic development programme for the eastern part of Russia. One of the main objects of research in Siberia is therefore the provision of a scientific and technical basis for developing the area’s economy. This tremendous task is attracting large numbers of people to Eastern Siberia --engineers and workers, scientists and teachers.

But most of all it is the young people who are flocking in their numbers to these under-developed regions of our country drawn by the romance of conquering Siberia and the Far East. Year by year the population of Siberia is not only growing but is becoming more youthful. It is now about seven million—l 34 per cent bigger than in 1939. The settlement and housing of the newcomers constitute a serious problem for architects and builders. Whole new towns and settlements are rising in these once deserted lands and big local building industry is growing up to eope with the task of building quickly, cheaply and in accordance with approved modem standards. (U.N.E.5.C.0.).