Gold mining for troops is carried out on the following basis. According to the existing provisions, every Russian subject has the right, in any place of public dacha, to demand the allotment of an area for gold mining, and the army is obliged to satisfy this demand, no matter how unprofitable it may be for him and the residents. Thanks to this order, “as soon as some village opens up to gold, the gold-mining crows will swoop in from all sides, with applications and withdrawals, and the poor Cossack
— 54 the dacha, in 2-3 years, will become like a sieve." *), True, in return for the land occupied for the mines, the residents are allotted additional plots, but this m$fra cannot compensate them for their losses, since the mines create a terrible gap for them, and the additional plot may be 200-300 versts away.
For such extensive use of military and public lands, the treasury gives the army a reward of only 42,857 rubles. per year, or about 50 kopecks. for a tithe. (In 1899, 90,000 dessiatines were occupied by land). If we take into account that the mines almost forever render the land completely unsuitable for agriculture, then the insignificance of the reward received by the army will become completely clear. Although in 1835, when establishing payment to the army for the right to use its lands for gold mining, Emperor Nicholas ordered “to inform His Majesty about the profit that the government receives from this, in order to see its proportionality with the 150,000 assigned to the Cossack (Orenburg) army for annual leave rubles" (asignash), but the army to this day continues to receive the same leave that was given to them 65 years ago, and meanwhile the extraction of gold, and consequently the income from it to the treasury, has increased many times over what it had previously.
In addition, the law of March 3, 1847 established in favor of the army rewards for the withdrawal of land to gold mines: for a tithe of land from Bnokosnaya for 3 rubles. and arable according to gr. 35 k. At a time when his own Cossack, in need of these lands, undoubtedly belongs to
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tegori-e$nokosnykh, or arable, pays the army 3 rubles. for a tithe per acre of grain, gold miners use them for free, under the pretext that these lands are steppe (located in the steppe zone), about which the law is not to say anything. Although this interpretation of the mentioned law is clearly casuistic, for in it the true meaning and spirit of the law are sacrificed to its letters, no less, thanks to it, the army suffers huge losses.
Thanks to this state of the “golden” matter in the army, the following picture is currently emerging: at a time when the military population, burdened with all kinds of duties, suffers a terrible need, without the opportunity to satisfy their most glaring needs, on its lands strangers are making millions of fortunes, without paying the Cossacks a penny for it.
Petitions were repeatedly raised to increase the army's reward for gold, as well as for the surface of the lands occupied by mines, but these petitions have remained unsatisfied to this day.
True, the Cossacks themselves are not forbidden to open gold mines on a common basis, but they very rarely become owners of such, partly due to lack of capital, and partly due to lack of intelligence and enterprise. All the participation of the military population in this region until now has been expressed only in simple artisanal work in other people's gold mines, which, given the current situation of the Blas, brings them more harm than good, because spoiling their land, distracts them from the economy and corrupts them morally. The possibility of easy extraction of a valuable nugget
It is impossible for a Cossack to value the little, but true, that he has, and to surrender to chance. He is prevented from devoting himself entirely to this young man by his official duties, which require his frequent presence in the village. Therefore, the Cossacks are doing this if... They are engaged in raiding, in fits and starts, and thus “they fall behind on one bank, but cannot reach the other” and only ruin their farms. The validity of what has been said is confirmed by the fact that in the villages near which gold mines are opened, many Cossacks abandon their farms, drink themselves to death and die.
The Cossacks are in a completely different position regarding their rights to iron and mineral ores. In this matter they are the full owners, and therefore could derive great benefits from it for themselves, but there is an inevitable “but” here. It's a small matter, namely: underbecomes capital, knowledge and intelligence. Posgoronnikh