Let me start with the fact that in 1912, the Kolesnikov Brothers and Volgar shipping company organized regular flights from the provincial Tomsk to the city of Kuznetsk. Throughout the entire navigation and in subsequent years, the cargo-passenger steamer "Smely" made weekly trips, transporting passengers and various cargoes. The Tom River is a special river for river boats. The constant movement of gravel at the bottom can shift the shipping lane in a month, so relatively small ships could easily overcome river riffles in narrow island channels. The steamer "Smely", with its half-meter draft and 35-meter length, just met these requirements. Otherwise, it simply would not have fit into the turning radii on such rapids as the Bull's Throat or Barzasky during the period of low water. And today, small boats of fishermen and tourists find pretzels between bottom rock outcrops. Thus, the fact of the presence of this vessel on the Tom River is recorded in many sources.

Unfortunately, there is only one photograph of this ship in the archives of the Samus Shipyard Museum. There, “Smely” underwent restoration repairs in 1952, which indicates its long and active activity in the Tomsk and Kemerovo regions. But the end of his journey is not recorded anywhere. There is no information about his death. It turns out that the ship has gone missing. Analysis and comparison from photographs of the geometry and technical features of the hull of the “Bold” and the nameless steamship lying at the mouth of the Lyagushya River allow us to argue about some of their single similarities, namely in the elements of the paddle wheel, features of the bow of the ship, its stem and anchor winch. Every steamer leaving the slipway shipyards the beginning of the last century, was somewhat unique, even if it belonged to any one series. This is explained by the fact that the ships were built according to a specific order. Therefore, the design of the anchor winch on the bow deck of the Bold is no longer found in photographs of other river steam ships, as is the design of the paddle wheel shape. But they are similar to similar nodes on our “frog” rarity. And now the most important thing. At the very beginning of November, I was sent a drawing of a steamboat made by an “old-timer” on the river and a fishing enthusiast. In his young seventies of the last century, he often visited with his father, a fisherman, in that area. He drew it from his childhood memories, lying on an even keel in the channel of the same name through a pebble spit from its current location. The ship shown in the picture is very similar to the steamship photographed in Samusski by a photographer in 1952. It turns out that in famous place the remains of the river steam engine “Smely” lie. In an unknown way, he found himself captured by the river shallows, and remained there forever. Perhaps the steamer, due to some serious breakdown, was assigned by its crew to repair and winter in the Lyagushya channel. Then the spring flood made adjustments to people’s plans, and the ship remained standing, overgrown with fast willow. Then another ice drift or flood aggravated the condition of the ship, demolishing the deck superstructures, moving it to the side, pressing it into the main shore, where today it, already overgrown with coastal trees, is slowly turning into rusty dust.

Perhaps someone will doubt my historical searches, but for myself personally, I have put an end to this question, which tormented me so much recent years, ever since I saw it and touched it with my hands, it’s a steam miracle. And what? Not a bad fate for a river ship at all.

One might also add that when I first saw the “frog barge” in 2012, as the remains of the ship were nicknamed by local fishermen and hunters, I noticed a violation of the proportions of the vessel relative to its length and width. I remember I also discussed this topic with the tourists I met - watermen. And a little later, while collecting information about the development of the Tomsk Shipping Company, I read Vil Lipatov’s novel “Even before the war,” where the writer describes the small steamer “Bold” as a ship plying along the Ob and having one design feature, namely some rolliness on the move and low sides. I remember my joy at adding another fact to my searches. In the 80s, director Boris Savchenko shot a feature film of the same name, which was filmed in the area of the ancient village of Yarskoye, located on the Tom River, forty kilometers from Tomsk. True, a river crew boat with a fake superstructure appeared there as a famous steamship, but that’s another story.
Taken from here.

Last September, the regional newspaper Kuzbass published an article about the old remains of a steamship lying on the left bank of the Tom River at the mouth of the Lyagushya River. This place is difficult to reach, there is no communication, let alone roads. Therefore, except for rare fishermen and water tourists, no one comes here. I remember that this note caused a certain resonance among readers. There was even a small controversy about the origin of this steam rarity. We talked and talked, but a common opinion on this issue was never developed. On my own behalf, I can say, or rather, I can only repeat what I have already told readers in my various publications.

It was not possible to find any data on a paddle steamer with similar characteristics. This refers to the features of the size and geometric shapes of the vessel. Comparing it with images of the first “wheelmen” who plied the Ob-Irtysh basin in the century before last also did not give any result.

It should be noted that there were not many such ships. Basically, these are ships owned by merchant Ekaterina Melnikova and various joint stock companies Tomsk and Novonikolaevsk.

Another difficulty lies in the fact that under Soviet rule, survivors civil war The ships, as a rule, were renamed and sometimes remodeled beyond recognition. This is exactly the fate that befell one of the first Melnikov steamships, the Breadwinner. And such updated ships sailed along the Ob and Tom, right up to the 60s of the last century. From my early childhood memories, I remember how a kind of fiery breathing steam miracle came to the city of Yurga. Or not to Yurga.... It doesn’t matter, the main thing is that the ships were still running at that time.

Thus, the result of efforts to identify our ancient object was zero. The small number of matches found was not enough to identify the model and name of the vessel.

Next. The children and grandchildren of “local” old-timers who know about this steamship call it a “barge,” which leads to certain thoughts about the way this grandfather of the wheeled fleet was used in the last years of his life. Perhaps that’s why no one will remember the name. What name, besides the side number, can a barge have?

But, then, reasoning further, it is possible to come to the idea of an earlier origin of the river ship. And here appears the memory of a Kemerovo amateur fisherman, an experienced water raftsman and an old-timer of these places, who in the seventies of the last century often visited these places with his father. This man remembers and knows about the ship, and while his father was fishing, he played pirates on board. He remembers the ship with a chimney, a wheelhouse and wooden superstructures, with a beautiful copper bell (non-ferrous metal was not in trend back then). What kind of barge is this? A real steamship, with pretty young ladies in hats and smart gentlemen officers on board.

But there is also a letter from the sports columnist of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Kuzbass" Viktor Sokharev, about how in his youth, or rather during the construction of the Krapivinsky hydroelectric complex, he walked with geological parties on both banks of the Tom River and nowhere, not a single steamer, did any of them see. This is the opinion of an experienced journalist, which already a priori inspires confidence. And if the ship was standing on a pebble spit separating the mouth of the Lyagushya River and the channel of the same name, then it was impossible not to notice it. It’s just as impossible not to see it even now, unless, of course, you walk in low water from above. Let me clarify that the construction of the reservoir began in 1975 and geological parties could go along the river into deep water when the steamer was hidden under water. And at that time the Tom River could still hold high level water for almost the entire navigation period (the forest along the banks had not yet been cut down). And if we imagine that the geologists passed the “steamer’s mooring” site not during the July low-water period, but at a time of higher water, then a version appears that explains why none of them saw it.

And there is still no answer today. People can't find the answer. Just a little more time will pass and this ill-fated and therefore almost mystical steamship will sink into oblivion, swept away by the next ice flood, and will sink into nowhere along with our memories of it.

But it’s not even about the ship. He is just a materialized particular. The main thing is the memory of the people who once stood on its deck. About the people who created the history of the country a hundred years ago. My country, by the way. And how you want to see in reality, and perhaps even end up on the deck of this steam miracle next to an interesting young lady with an umbrella in her hands, click your heels and approach her, introduce yourself and start a long conversation about poetry, the weather, and...

Today is a wonderful anniversary: the 115th anniversary of the start of steamship communication along the Tom River to our city.

June 6 (May 25, old style) 1898 came to Kuznetsk the first steamship since the founding of the city. This event had a long prehistory and a happy continuation.

The Tom River as a route and transport route has always been important in the life of our city. Already in early XVII centuries, when Kuznetsk first appeared, river vessels of that time actively sailed along it - planks, plows, kayaks and “small boats”, delivering servicemen and merchants, as well as their cargo to the border fort.

Over time, the role of Tom as a cargo artery from Kuznetsk to Tomsk only increased. Local residents and small traders of Tomsk actively used the river to float along it on rafts knitted from tree trunks with timber, bread, honey, pine nuts, building stone and lime, and since the 1890s coal to the lower reaches of the Tom. However, only a very limited amount of cargo could be delivered in this “old-fashioned” way. In addition, platoon navigation (up the river) required a lot of labor - it was carried out using a towline using horse traction.

But in the early 1890s, in connection with the construction of the Siberian Railway (and the construction of a bridge across the Tom River in the area of the village of Polomoshnoye - modern Yashkinsky district), they intensified research papers on the river itself. In 1893, near Kuznetsk in the village of Khristorozhdestvenskoye (now the Verkhnyaya Ostrovskaya district) A water metering post was opened to monitor the regime of the Tom River(time of breaking up from ice and freezing), fluctuations in the water horizon, meteorological records were kept. Similar observation posts were also established in the villages of Krapivinskoye (204 versts from Kuznetsk), Shcheglovoy (291 versts) and in the aforementioned village of Polomoshnoye (383 versts). The materials of these observations, as well as surveys along the river bed, showed that the Tom is quite navigable along the entire section to Kuznetsk. What were considered rapids among raftsmen turned out to be ordinary rapids, which could interfere with steamship communication only in low-water years due to their insufficient depth. It turned out that The underwater channel of the Tom along the fairway is characterized by acceptable cleanliness: there are no or very few pitfalls and dangerous rocky ledges. These encouraging research results have inspired new life to the idea of opening steamship traffic along the Tom River above Tomsk.

The first experience in this direction was carried out in 1894-1895, when, during the construction of the Central Siberian railway and bridge in the Polomoshna area transportation building materials and transport from the “mainland” to this section began to be carried out using state-owned and, more rarely, private steamships. In 1894, steamship traffic here did not stop throughout the entire navigation from May 1 to September 12, and the next year, which turned out to be a low-water year, steamships nevertheless sailed with cargo to the Polomoshninskaya pier within 70 days. Let us note that in these same years the steam longboat “Tobol” ascended in the direction of Kuznetsk to the village of Sheveli (247 versts from the city): in 1894 in September, and in 1895 in June. However, with the completion of the construction of this section of the railway line, steamship traffic along the Tom River also ceased.

The steamship “Tom” was a small river vessel, even at that time, with a capacity of 30 horsepower, about 36 meters long and 7 meters wide, single-deck with a draft depth of just over half a meter. It was a completely “domestic product”: the body, engine and boilers were manufactured relatively recently, in 1895 at the Zhabynsky (Tyumen) mechanical plant of Kurbatov and Ignatov (by the way, this plant produced almost a third of the entire steam fleet by 1917, who walked along the rivers of the Ob-Irtysh basin). The steamer, making night stops to load fuel, or more simply put firewood, reached the village of Sheveli by 7 o'clock in the morning on May 23, and on the morning of May 25, he appeared at the roadstead of Kuznetsk, but, quietly passing by Topolnikov from the side of the river and without entering the Ivantsevskaya channel (at that time this branch of the Tom separated Kuznetsk from Poplar Island), he proceeded past the sleeping city at the mouth of the Kondoma and climbed up it to 15 versts, initially hoping to reach the Telbes mine, but then, for fear of running into karchi (underwater trees with protruding roots), he abandoned this idea and at 11 o’clock in the morning he returned to Kuznetsk, causing, according to one of the eyewitnesses, a real sensation.

On this day, or more precisely, on this beautiful sunny afternoon, I quite by chance passed by the cathedral with a friend. It was probably the river flood that attracted us: children will never get tired of admiring such things.

And then something extraordinary happened: the wonderful, clean, transparent Kuznetsk air suddenly trembled, came to life, and gave its voice. Some kind of gigantic Aeolian harp, like the one that the city elder had in the garden, but of incredible size, suddenly sounded and filled the whole sky, the whole city with a beautiful, harmonious chord.

Steamboat!!! - we both shouted: I immediately remembered the images of steamships in the pictures. We were overcome with such delight that we didn’t really know what to do: either run home and quickly tell our mother, brothers and sisters, everyone, everyone, everyone that a steamer was sailing past Kuznetsk, or, perhaps, run along the shore after the steamer until he disappears?..

Our confusion was immediately resolved beyond our control, because the steamer, having rounded Topolnik, suddenly turned towards the city and, now quickly moving downstream, approached the embankment “under the Stone”, a few steps from the cathedral, and stopped here and moored.
It seems that the ship was not expected. Unless the river administration notified the city administration by telegraph, and even then it was unlikely, because then, as I remember, there were complaints from the river authorities who arrived on the ship that no one officially met him on the shore. And it was true. In any case, if the city administration knew anything about the expected arrival of a steamship from Tomsk, that is, from the lower reaches of the Tom River, then it did not bother to notify the city population about this.

Little savages, a crowd of children and I almost did not leave the embankment during those two days that the ship stood here, and did not take our eyes off this amazing structure, studying every detail of it, every manifestation of life on it, every movement, every step of those who arrived with him of people who, from the captain to the last sailor, seemed to us, of course, extraordinary people. The steamboat delighted us! Everything about it was new to us. The small river steamer “Tom” seemed to us a colossal ship - of course! - compared to our Kuznetsk boats. Everything on it and in it amazed us: the steam coming out with a hiss, the chimney, the design of the rudder, the size of the anchor, the round windows of the cabins, the captain's bridge, the stairs, the mast, and especially, perhaps, the electric lantern that self-ignites in the evening on the deck - this was again a new discovery, because, of course, there was no mention of electricity in Kuznetsk at that time.

Many citizens - I mean, of course, honorable, respectable citizens - went to inspect the ship from the inside. They were “let in.” We, the guys sitting on the shore, of course, could not even dream of such happiness. I remember how eagerly I listened to the adults' stories about internal structure and the decoration of the ship: about the car, about cabins with bunks, about the dining table in the wheelhouse, about light bulbs, lighting up in the evening, etc.”

This story is complemented by Valentin's brother Veniamin Bulgakov (born in 1888) in his memories of his childhood in Kuznetsk.

“...On this May morning of the majestic flood of the Tom River and the Ivantsevka channel, suddenly an extraordinary trumpet howl was heard from the side of the rocky coastal ledge of the river called “Bychok”. The city of Kuznetsk has not heard such a sound since its founding, in all its three hundred years of life. From the shore houses, alarmed people poured out to the water. Along the Tom River, overcoming the fast current, a floating white house with big pipe, smoking black smoke.

Old men, old women and God-fearing aunties crossed themselves as they looked at the floating two-story house, at this unprecedented monster, which whipped the water with its paws and filled the peaceful, sleepy, quiet air of the city with the vociferous roar of its whistle...

Schoolchildren were the first to call this wonderful floating and screaming house with a smoking long chimney, moving through the water on two spinning wide wheels, a steamboat. In their books, schoolchildren looked at pictures of steamships, but in Kuznetsk such a wheeled steamship appeared for the first time 90 years after its invention in 1807 by Fulton. Thus, for the city of Kuznetsk, the “age of steam and electricity” began, although on this day the floating white house appeared on Tom and Ivantsevka, not a single “Edisson light bulb” was in any private house or office.

And this smoking and humming steam monster, when it was read on board native word“Tom” stopped frightening everyone... And when the gangplank was thrown ashore from the ship, hundreds of citizens who had come running cheerfully greeted the ordinary Russian people who had descended onto the Kuznetsk land. These people shouted in Russian: “Hello, blacksmiths! Receive guests from Tomsk.”

The district police officer himself and his assistant soon arrived ashore at the pier, and three city guards arrived in full armor, that is, with sabers on their belts. The captain of the ship invited all these representatives of the supreme power of the city of Kuznetsk to his ship as guests of honor. We, dozens of schoolchildren and smaller citizens of the city, watched with great envy as the police officer and his retinue disappeared into the tiny cabins of the ship along with the captain.

The captain apparently explained to the authorities that the steamer Tom was a scout for possible regular flights between Tomsk and Kuznetsk, and that tomorrow the Tom would leave on a return voyage down the Tom River. The sailors unloaded a dozen or two cargo boxes ashore. The boxes were transported on carts to the addresses of their owners. By lunchtime the shore was deserted.

We, the Kuznetsk guys, quickly ate cabbage soup at home and again, with pieces of bread, sat in several rows on the shore, enchantedly looking at the first steamship that had entered our native waters... And what admiration gripped us when in the evening the whole ship, inside and out, was illuminated by electric light bulbs... It seems that that evening, out of the three thousand population of Kuznetsk, all healthy and slightly ill people were here, except for infants and seriously ill people...

The next morning the steamer sounded its first roaring whistle. Again hundreds of blacksmiths rushed to the pier. It was Sunday. There were no classes at school, and all the children from the parish and district schools ran ashore. Not a single student, of course, visited not only inside the ship, but also on its deck. A second beep sounded. Some screamed in fear, many covered their ears. The horse, tied at the gate of a nearby house, broke the bridle and rushed along the shore at a mad gallop and galloped out of the city... The third, farewell whistle was heard. The ladder was removed, the ropes were pulled onto the steamer, and the white beauty, although small, set sail from the shore. Having beautifully turned around at Ivantsevka, giving short farewell beeps, “Tom” headed for the main channel of the flood-swept river. The wheels slapped with their splined boards often and often. And “Tom” went quickly along the river - to Tomsk.

Hundreds of people shouted “Hurray!”, waving their caps, scarves, or both hands at once!
Soon our dear river guest disappeared behind the ledge of the mountain, behind the “Bychk”.

To these priceless memories of Kuznetsk eyewitnesses one can only add dry documentary figures. The steamer reached Tomsk on the same day, May 26, 1898, at 10:40 p.m. spending only 19 hours and 40 minutes on the way back along the river, while on the way up he spent 62 and a half hours.

Despite such a successful experience of traveling to Kuznetsk, the “Tom” voyage, while remaining the first and important milestone in the history of the development of the Kuznetsk shipping company, had little impact on the then existing state of affairs regarding the further prospects for correct, that is, regular movement along the Tom above Tomsk. The second steamship voyage to Kuznetsk was made only in 1902. That year, navigation along the Tom River began on May 6. On this day, at the Tomsk pier on the state-owned ships “Ob”, “Tom” and “Tomsk”, decorated with festive flags, a solemn prayer service was held in honor of this significant event. After the prayer service, the steamship “Tomsk” left with the empty barge “Oka” to the village of Polomoshnoye, so that it could be loaded with seed grain from the railway (15 thousand pounds of seed grain were intended for those affected by the shortage of crops in previous year foreigners of Kuznetsk district). While the barge was being loaded, the “Tomsk” returned to the city of the same name, so that the next day, accompanied by the long-time “Kuznetsk scout” steamship “Tom”, it would again go to the upper reaches of the river. On the steamship “Tom”, as for the first time, the leadership of the expedition was carried out by the same tireless assistant to the head of the Tomsk district, Mitrofan Chernyshev. In addition, the “Tom”’s campaign also pursued quite practical goals - 300 pounds of bread were loaded on board for the Kuznetsk prison. Having reached Polomoshnaya, “Tomsk” again took in tow a barge already loaded with bread, and on May 10, 1902, a small caravan consisting of two steamships and a barge, at 13:45, continued on to Kuznetsk. Along the way, the steamships stopped for day and night loading of firewood and spent the whole day unloading part of the grain in the village of Ilinskoye. As a result, only a week later, on May 17 at 10 am, the ships entered Kuznetsk, spending 105 hours of pure sailing from Polomoshnaya to the city.

The state-owned steamer “Tomsk” - the main “face” of the second Kuznetsk expedition - just like “Tom”, rolled off the stocks of the Tyumen plant of Kurbatov-Ignatov (in 1898), but with the same width and a slightly longer hull (exactly 40 meters) he had a much more powerful machine with 50 horsepower. All this allowed him to very easily deliver a substantial cargo to the upper reaches of the Tom. Already on May 19, after unloading, both ships with an empty barge returned to Tomsk, spending exactly 24 hours on the return journey.

(To be continued.)

Peter Lizogub

The Tom River, as a route and transport route, has always been important in the life of our city. Already at the beginning of the 17th century, when Kuznetsk first appeared, river vessels of that time actively sailed along it - planks, plows, skiffs and “small boats”, delivering servicemen and merchants, as well as their cargo to the border fort.

Over time, the role of Tom as a cargo artery from Kuznetsk to Tomsk only increased. Local residents and small traders of Tomsk actively used the river to float along it on rafts knitted from tree trunks with timber, bread, honey, pine nuts, building stone and lime, and from the 1890s, coal to the lower reaches of the Tom. However, only a very limited amount of cargo could be delivered in this “old-fashioned” way. In addition, platoon navigation (up the river) required a lot of labor - it was carried out using a towline using horse traction.

The agenda included the issue of steamship development of the Tom River below Tomsk, where the first steamship arrived half a century before its appearance in Kuznetsk, namely in 1844. What prevented the earlier inclusion of Kuznetsk into the general river shipping network of Western Siberia? One of the reasons was that the Tom River (above Tomsk), despite its significance already in the Kuznetsk region due to the mass of water of the Kondoma, was for a long time considered unsuitable for navigation due to its fast current and the presence of several dangerous and shallow rapids with “ speaking” names: “Killed”, “Crazy”, “Bull’s Throat” and others. But in the early 1890s, in connection with the construction of the Siberian Railway (and the construction of a bridge across the Tom River near the village of Polomoshnoye - modern Yashkinsky District), research work on the river itself intensified. In 1893, near Kuznetsk in the village of Khristorozhdestvenskoye (now the Verkhnyaya Ostrovskaya district) a water-measuring post was opened that monitored the regime of the Tom River (time of breaking up from ice and freezing), fluctuations in the water horizon, and meteorological records were kept. Similar observation posts were also established in the villages of Krapivinskoye (204 versts from Kuznetsk), Shcheglovoy (291 versts) and in the aforementioned village of Polomoshnoye (383 versts). The materials of these observations, as well as surveys along the river bed, showed that the Tom is quite navigable along the entire section to Kuznetsk. What were considered rapids among raftsmen turned out to be ordinary rapids, which could interfere with steamship communication only in low-water years due to their insufficient depth. It turned out that the underwater channel of the Tom along the fairway is characterized by acceptable cleanliness: there are no or very few pitfalls and dangerous rocky ledges. These encouraging research results breathed new life into the idea of opening steamship traffic on the Tom above Tomsk.

The first experience in this direction was carried out in 1894-1895, when, during the construction of the Central Siberian Railway and the bridge in the Polomoshnaya area, the transportation of building materials and machinery from the “mainland” to this site began to be carried out with the help of government officials and, less frequently, , private ships. In 1894, steamship traffic here did not stop throughout the entire navigation from May 1 to September 12, and the next year, which turned out to be a low-water year, steamships nevertheless sailed with cargo to the Polomoshninskaya pier within 70 days. Let us note that in these same years the steam longboat “Tobol” ascended in the direction of Kuznetsk to the village of Sheveli (247 versts from the city): in 1894 in September, and in 1895 in June. However, with the completion of the construction of this section of the railway line, steamship traffic along the Tom River also ceased.

The practice of steamship traffic between Tomsk and Polomoshnaya showed the possibility of developing shipping as far as Kuznetsk. Now, after studying the navigable properties of the Tom, the administration of the Tomsk Railway District (the state structure in charge of the river routes of Western Siberia), having at its disposal accurate plans of the river with the designation of depths and the fairway during low-water periods, could safely send its steamships on test voyages until Kuznetsk. By May 13, 1898, the Tom River was completely cleared of ice. And so on May 21, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, after a “heartfelt wish of good luck,” the state-owned steamer “Tom” set off from Tomsk on the “Kuznetsk voyage.” On board the ship, as the head of this mission, was one of the main inspirers of the idea of introducing steamship communication along the Tom River, assistant to the head of the Tomsk Railway District, State Councilor Mitrofan Stepanovich Chernyshev. The steamer “Tom” was a small river vessel, even at that time, with a power of 30 horsepower, about 36 meters long and 7 meters wide, single-deck with a draft depth of just over half a meter. It was a completely “domestic product”: the body, engine and boilers were manufactured relatively recently, in 1895 at the Zhabynsky (Tyumen) mechanical plant of Kurbatov and Ignatov (by the way, this plant produced almost a third of the entire steam fleet by 1917, who walked along the rivers of the Ob-Irtysh basin). The steamer, making overnight stops to load fuel, or, more simply, firewood, reached the village of Sheveli by 7 o'clock in the morning on May 23, and on the morning of May 25 it appeared at the roadstead of Kuznetsk, but quietly passing by Topolnikov from the river and without entering the Ivantsevskaya channel ( at that time, this branch of the Tom separated Kuznetsk from the poplar island), proceeded past the sleeping city at the mouth of the Kondoma and climbed up it 15 miles, initially expecting to reach the Telbes mine, but then, for fear of running into karchi (underwater trees with protruding roots) abandoned this idea and at 11 o’clock in the morning returned to Kuznetsk, creating, according to one of the eyewitnesses, a real sensation.

This is how our wonderful fellow countryman, the famous writer and Tolstoyan scholar Valentin Bulgakov (born in 1886), described this outstanding historical event in the life of the city in his memoirs. "Spring. Full spill of Tomi. The huge island, occupied by a “poplar tree”, is completely flooded with water. The border between the Tom and its Ivantsevka channel has completely disappeared: both rivers have merged. The expanse of water, together with the hill on which the Transfiguration Cathedral stands, presented a majestic picture. It came close to the foot of this hill and came close to the high embankment of the section of the city “under the Stone” adjacent to the cathedral. And there, on the other side of the river, the water spilled almost all the way to the Sokolovy Mountains. And all this mass of water did not stand still, it rushed with the same strength and speed, characteristic of the Tom as a mountain river, past the city from the southeast to the west. On this day, or more precisely, on this beautiful sunny afternoon, I quite accidentally walked past the cathedral with a friend. It was probably the river flood that attracted us: children will never get tired of admiring such things. And then something extraordinary happened: the wonderful, clean, transparent Kuznetsk air suddenly trembled, came to life, and gave its voice. Some kind of gigantic Aeolian harp, like the one that the city elder had in the garden, but of incredible size, suddenly sounded and filled the whole sky, the whole city with a beautiful, harmonious chord.

We stopped, dumbfounded. The wonderful sound lasted steadily for one or two minutes and suddenly fell silent. Then only we began to look around, looking for the direction from which it came. And then suddenly they both gasped. A new and no less miracle appeared before our eyes. There, far out on the water, from behind the left edge of the flooded Poplarnik, from behind the tall trees barely pubescent with young foliage, their trunks immersed in the water, smoothly floated, like a wondrous vision, like a fantastic great swan, white, with a red stripe along the bottom, floating house: handsome ship. - Steamboat!!! - we both shouted: I immediately remembered the images of steamships in the pictures. We were overcome with such delight that we didn’t really know what to do: either run home and quickly tell our mother, brothers and sisters, everyone, everyone, everyone that a steamer was sailing past Kuznetsk, or, perhaps, run along the shore after the steamer until he disappears? Our confusion was immediately resolved beyond our control, because the steamer, having rounded Topolnik, suddenly turned towards the city and, now quickly moving downstream, approached the embankment “under the Stone”, a few steps from the cathedral, and stopped here and moored. It seems that the ship was not expected. Unless the river administration notified the city administration by telegraph, and even then it was unlikely, because then, as I remember, there were complaints from the river authorities who arrived on the ship that no one officially met him on the shore. And it was true. In any case, if the city administration knew anything about the expected arrival of a steamship from Tomsk, that is, from the lower reaches of the Tom River, then it did not bother to notify the city population about this. Little savages, a crowd of children and I almost did not leave the embankment during those two days that the ship stood here, and did not take our eyes off this amazing structure, studying every detail of it, every manifestation of life on it, every movement, every step of those who arrived with him of people who, from the captain to the last sailor, seemed to us, of course, extraordinary people. The steamboat delighted us! Everything about it was new to us. The small river steamer “Tom” seemed to us like a colossal ship - of course! - compared to our Kuznetsk boats. Everything on it and in it amazed us: the steam coming out with a hiss, the chimney, the design of the rudder, the size of the anchor, the round windows of the cabins, the captain's bridge, the stairs, the mast, and especially, perhaps, the electric lantern that self-ignites in the evening on the deck - that was again a new discovery, because, of course, there was no mention of electricity in Kuznetsk at that time. Many citizens - I mean, of course, honorable, respectable citizens - went to inspect the ship from the inside. They were “let in.” Of course, we, the guys huddled on the shore, could not even dream of such happiness. I remember how eagerly I listened to the adults’ stories about the internal structure and decoration of the ship: about the car, about the cabins with bunks, about the dining table in the wheelhouse, about the electric light bulbs that come on in the evening, etc.” (To be continued.)

1844. The beginning of the era of Siberian shipping company

Steam navigation on the rivers of Western Siberia

Regular communication in the Ob-Irtysh basin began in 1843 with a commercial flight of the Osnova steamship, with a capacity of 50 horsepower, between Tyumen and Tobolsk, a distance of 397 versts. The steamer was leading a barge with a carrying capacity of 15 thousand poods (240 tons). The steamship first arrived in Tomsk from Tyumen in 1844.

Soon the Tyumen-Tomsk line became the main route of freight traffic in the basin. In the late 80s of the 19th century, up to 48 thousand tons of a wide variety of goods were imported and exported through Tomsk. In addition, from various places in the Tomsk province, from 96 to 144 thousand tons of various raw materials were sent annually by steamship to European Russia and the Urals.

Most of the ships in the Ob-Irtysh basin were built at the expense of private capital - individual merchants, industrialists or shipping companies.

Thus, in 1893, 105 steamships were in operation, and in 1895 – already 120. Moreover, out of 120 steamships, 102 steamships were in the hands of private companies and owners, and only 18 steamships belonged to various government institutions, such as the Tomsk Railway District or Administration for the construction of the West Siberian and Central Siberian railways.

Passenger transportation also generated considerable income. Apparently, this is why the merchant of the 2nd guild from Barnaul, Evdokia Ivanovna Melnikova, built in 1892 at the Pearson-Gullet plant in Tyumen a small steamship “Breadwinner” (200 hp), intended exclusively for transporting passengers. Before this, all ships carried cargo and only passengers along the way. Thus, the Ob Shipping Company of E.I. Melnikova became the pioneer of passenger transportation in the Ob basin.

Two years later, the Tomsk merchant of the 2nd guild V. E. Edelshtein followed her example, building the passenger steamer Lyubimets at the same plant. And in 1899, another two-story steamship of Edelstein began sailing - “Eugene”, made according to the American model with luxurious interior and dining rooms.

Competition has begun.

From 1907 to 1909, the enterprising merchant Melnikova replenished her flotilla with seven large ships at once, distinctive feature which were beautifully decorated. Separate cabins were provided for passengers of the 1st and 2nd classes, and a “completely enclosed room” on the deck for the public of the 3rd class. The 1st class cabin housed a library and a piano. Passengers were offered a buffet, a kitchen, electric lighting, and steam heating. For information and tickets, you could contact the shipping company office at the address: Tomsk, st. Dukhovskaya (now K. Marx).

By 1912, six steamships were built by the trading house "M. Plotnikov and sons". But there were also many small owners. So, in the 90s in the Ob-Irtysh basin, 22 people each had one steamship.

Thus, steamships have become an integral part of the life of Tomsk residents. Certain traditions gradually formed: as soon as the ship entered the mouth of the Tom, a flag was raised on Voskresenskaya Mountain to announce its arrival. Many people learned to determine which steamer was approaching by the sound of its whistle, which sounded several kilometers before approaching the pier. Its timbre and melody were selected taking into account the taste of the customer.

You can read more on this topic in the articles posted on our website: E. K. Maydanyuk “Will the beeps sound over the river?” and A. Metelkin, G. Titov “Merchants and the development of shipping in Siberia”.


Steamship "Br. Melnikovs"	Steamship "Bogatyr"	Steamship "Engine"


Steamship "Votkinsky Plant"	Steamship "Wizard"	Steamship "Mining Engineer Vorontsov"


Passenger fare, 1st class	Passenger fare, II class	Passenger fare, III class