T very mellow, dumped in batches into brine; After the salt has been freed from dirt and sand, it is thrown out of the brine onto solid layers, where it is placed in pyramids. Further, depending on the way in which the salt is transported, it is either loaded loosely into wagons, or transferred into canvas muffins in the case of sending it on oxen. Strictly speaking, the existing salt-carrying road could have completely killed the enterprise of transporting salt by oxen a long time ago; it would only be necessary to lower the transport tariff to the minimum level with which the transportation of salt by oxen could not compete. But it must be assumed that a proper reduction in the tariff has not yet been achieved, judging by the fact that oxen appear to this day; Meanwhile, the struggle between the two methods of transportation and 12 years ago remained in such a state that it would seem that transportation by oxen was living out its last days. r
It is a very impressive view to imagine Lake Baskunchak on days when the weather is clear and calm, then the bottom of the lake, covered with a sediment of hardened salt and, therefore, having a white color, is reflected in the calm surface of the water,
Salt mine on Baskunchak radiating an extremely delicate light blue tint; and if you take into account the constant movement that goes to the lake, this whole crowd of salt miners and Chumaks swarming on it, then one cannot help but say that its overall picture is very interesting and it is very, very worth looking at it.
As for the amount of product extracted from the lake annually, and how much it can be assumed to exist in the lakes, we will report some numerical data about it.
Baskunchak lake. with the lengths and widths we indicated above, it is spread over a space of 118 square meters. verst. But according to the calculations of mining engineer Glushkov, the amount of salt available for development in it is over 21/2? million pounds; that this figure, with all its enormity, is not an exaggeration, is proven by the following calculation: with a lake circumference of 45 versts, the layer thickness is 1 arshin per umaochimi su cha
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— 137 distances of one mile from the shore, taking into account the whole cube. fathoms of salt equal to 700 poods, it turns out to be 2,625,000,000 poods. In this calculation, the verification of which is accessible to everyone, not a single exaggerated multiplier is accepted; On the contrary, the thickness of the salt layer in the lakes undoubtedly exceeds one arshin in many cities and exceeds so much that, for example, according to another specialist, Mr. Gobel, the total amount of salt in the Baskunchak lakes is so enormous that it can be praised for an infinite time to satisfy the needs of the entire population of not only Europe, but also Az. Tm modest are the numbers of the amount of salt extracted from Lake Baskunchak in different years. So in 1874, 81 million poods of salt were extracted; until 1880, this number was constantly growing: in 1875 it was expressed in the figure of 5.5 mil. pud., in 1870 in figures 6.3 mil. pud., in 1877 6.3 mil. poods, in 1878 the figure was 75 mil. poods, in 1879 it immediately reached 11.2 million. pood. in 1880 it increased to 12 mil. pood. Since then, subject to various fluctuations in order to reduce salt production, the total average amount of product obtained annually from Baskunchak does not exceed 12 million. poods. Thus, it turns out that in 1880, in the absence of a salt railway, the same amount was mined as it was mined, and 12 years later the road and the latter were opened when the surprising to outsider glance first began
Yes, the struggle between rail traffic and the transport of goods by oxen.
Since we have already started talking about the salt mines of the Astrakhan province, we cannot remain silent about the other salt riches of the region.
30 versts southeast of Baskunchak rises a group of hills, the highest of which does not exceed 10 fathoms; These hills generally make up the Chipchach salt mountain. Around the hills there is a deserted steppe, almost devoid of grass, smooth for a vast expanse, covered in places with sandy mounds moving along the water, called dunes. The mountain consists almost entirely of pure solid salt. The extraction of salt on Chiptal began in 1861, and if it developed slowly, inconsistent with the natural wealth of the mountain, then, of course, mainly due to the considerable distance it had from the nearest Volga pier, Vladimtovka, which was located much more than 100 verts away.