The Network of Railway Settlements of the Tobolsk Province in the Late XIX - Early XX Century

Akberdeeva Dinara Il'gizarovna Junior Research Assistant, Tobolsk Scientific Station of Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 626152, Russia, Tyumen region, Tobolsk, Academician Yuri Osipov str., 15 akberdeeva.dinara@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Zagorodnyuk Nadezhda Ivanovna PhD in History Senior Researcher, Tobolsk Scientific Station of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 626152, Russia, Tyumen region, Tobolsk, Academician Yuri Osipov str., 15 niz1957@yandex.ru

The formation of a settlement network is an integral part of the development of the productive forces of any territory, its transport infrastructure. In this regard, the issue of establishing settlements during the construction and operation of railways remains relevant. The socio-economic factor had a huge impact on the formation and functioning of settlements for railway employees and their family members.

In modern historiography, several works are distinguished concerning the problem under study. The article by S. S. Belousov analyzes the influence of railways on the development of the settlement network of the Astrakhan province in the late XIX – early XX centuries . The author notes that the appearance of railway transport introduced new features into the process of settlement of the province, the formation of a settlement network in the exclusion zone of the railway became a continuation of the policy of priority development of communication routes. The construction of railways played a positive role in the development of the settlement structure: there was an expansion of the settlement network, an influx of population not only to newly founded railway settlements, but also to old-time settlements, near which the railway lines passed ^[1].

A. I. Tatarnikova, considering the formation of planned and spontaneous settlements in the Tobolsk province in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries, notes that settlements with the status of "railway stations" were first recorded in the "List of populated places" for 1903. Based on published sources, she claims that over the decade their number has increased 10-fold ^{[30, p. 22]}, which requires clarification.

There are no special works devoted to the history of the emergence and formation of the railway settlement network on the territory of the Tobolsk province in the period under review.

The purpose of the article is to determine the number, typology, and population of settlements formed in the exclusion zone of the Perm-Tyumen and West Siberian railways on the territory of the Tobolsk province in the late XIX – early XX centuries.

This study is based on a comprehensive analysis of various sources. The authors introduced into scientific circulation the materials of the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897 in the Tobolsk province, stored in the fund I417 "Tobolsk Provincial Statistical Committee" of the State Archive in Tobolsk (GA in Tobolsk). First of all, household census lists are of interest, in which there is information about settlements, the number and features of buildings, registered households. The location of the railway settlement was determined by specifying the distance from the initial station of the road section in versts.

To determine the dynamics of the number of settlements, their typical structure at the beginning of the twentieth century, the information published by the provincial statistical Committee in the "Lists of settlements of the Tobolsk province" for 1903 and 1909 was used ^{[28, 29]}. In these publications, information about the number of settlements is incomplete. Unlike the results of the 1897 census, which took into account both permanent and temporary settlements with any number of inhabitants, there is no information about small railway settlements (barracks, booths, etc.) in the directories. In addition, in the "Lists" the population of railway stations was included in the settlements of the same name.

In the last quarter of the XIX century, a new impetus to the development of the region's economy was the construction and commissioning of sections of the Ural and Siberian railways. On the territory of the Tyumen District of Tobolsk Province, the main line of the Tyumen section of the Perm-Tyumen (originally Yekaterinburg-Tyumen) railway with a length of 308.88 versts, put into operation in December 1885, was laid. This route connected the county towns of Yekaterinburg and Kamyshlov, Perm province, with Tyumen, Tobolsk Province; the final destination was the Tura station, located in the county town on the right bank of the Tura River. The site included 16 stations, of which 11 were located on the territory of Perm, and five (Tugulym, Karmak, Perevalovo, Tyumen, Tura) – Tobolsk province ^{[27, p. 131]}. The distance between the stations was estimated at 20-25 versts.

The lands of the southern (Kurgan, Ishim, Tyukalinsky) districts of the Tobolsk province were crossed from west to east by the West Siberian Railway, commissioned in 1896. It originated from the eastern terminus of the Samarovo-Zlatoust railway. From Chelyabinsk station, the railway line passed through Shadrinsky District of Perm, then Chelyabinsk District of Orenburg province to Tobolsk province. At 465 verst, the road entered the Akmola region and then again ran through the territory of the Tobolsk province and further northeast to Tomsk ^{[27, p. 199]}. During this section, 34 stations were built ^{[27, pp. 191-192]}, five of them in Kurgan county (Zyryanka, Kurgan, Vargashi, Lebyazhya, Makushino), Ishim – two (Petukhovo, Mamlyutka), Tyukalinsky – one (Kormilovka) ^{[3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,14, 19]}. Information about the Kalachinskaya and Shadrinskaya stations under construction was not included in the census documents, since train traffic in this area began in 1898.

According to the First General Census of 1897, the entire available population of Tobolsk province was 1,433,043 persons of both sexes ^{[26, p. VIII.]}, who lived in 5,177 separate settlements, permanent and temporary ^{[26, p. X]}. At least 128 railway settlements of various types were stationed in the southern counties of the Tobolsk province: stations, barracks, booths, barracks, guard houses, forest gatehouses, etc. (Table 1). Railway settlements accounted for 2.47% of the total number of all settlements in the studied region.

Table 1

Table 1

Number of railway settlements

of various types in the Tobolsk province (1897)

The number of railway settlements of various types in the Tobolsk province (1897)

Sources: counts. by: GA in Tobolsk. F. I417. Op. 2. D. 1360-1365, 1904-1913, 3265, 3286, 3287, 3631-3633.

The analysis of the census materials made it possible to identify nine types of settlements. The most numerous type of settlement were railway booths, they accounted for more than 40% of the total number of settlements. The number of semi-barracks (or small barracks) exceeded the data on barracks by one and a half times. A tenth of these settlements are railway stations. It is known that there were special stopping points for parking trains on the railways: stations and sidings. Attention is drawn to the fact that there were no sidings on both road sections. This feature can be explained by the limited movement of trains, so there was no need for traveling at that time.

The population of railway settlements in comparison with the general provincial data was insignificant – 2317 people (Table 2). If 277 people accounted for one settlement in the province ^{[26, p. X]}, then 18 people accounted for the railway.

Table 2

Table 2

Population in railway settlements

 on the territory of the Tobolsk province (in 1897)

The population in railway settlements on the territory of the Tobolsk province (in 1897)

*included temporarily staying members of locomotive crews in the number of 15 people.

Sources: counts. by: GA in Tobolsk. F. I417. Op. 2. D. 1360-1365, 1904-1913, 3265, 3286, 3287, 3631-3633.

Of the 13 railway stations (Table. 3) the largest were located on the outskirts of the cities of the same name Tyumen and Kurgan with a population of 325 and 376 people, respectively.

Tyumen station was built on the territory of the city pasture, but outside the residential land ^{[2, l. 7]}. According to the project of the Perm-Tyumen railway, all railway settlements were located on the right side of the number of mileposts from Yekaterinburg, the buildings were built of wood. On the territory of the Tobolsk province, the exception was the railway station and the locomotive depot of the Tyumen station, built of red brick with partial granite cladding ^{[25, p. 20]}.

Employees and work stations with their families lived in 26 residential and office buildings. From 2 to 13 households in each were settled in eight residential buildings, a total of 36 households (160 people) ^{[20, pp. 34-52, 57-61, 67-81, 103-143]}. The remaining 165 people were placed in office premises: passenger building – 9 families (53 people); commodity office – 2 families (5 people), locomotive building – 3 families (12 people) ^{[20, l. 17-23, 62-66, 82-102]}, Tyumen department of the Yekaterinburg gendarmerie police department of the railway – 9 ranks of the railway gendarmerie ^{[21, l. 10-11]}. At the time of the census, 13 families (48 people) lived in three barracks intended for track workers – repair workers and their families ^{[20, l. 24-33,160-170; 21, l. 20-28]}. In seven guard booths, which had a small area, 1-2 farms were inhabited, with a total of 22 people ^{[20, L. 2-3, 144-159, 171-178]}. Living quarters for 16 people were allocated at a blacksmith shop, a greenhouse, a cholera barrack and a wood-laying barrack ^{[20, l. 4-16, 53-56]}.

From the Tyumen station, skirting the city buildings, in the direction of state-owned and private piers, there was a four-verst railway track to the Tura station. During the railway track, the river banks were reinforced with slopes, so that the wagons came close to the steamers for the convenience of loading and unloading ^{[27, pp. 136-137]}. Nine families (29 people) occupied premises in one residential building, three barracks and a water pump building ^{[20, l. 179-198]}.

The third-grade Kurgan station of the West Siberian Railway was located 1.5 versts from Kurgan ^{[27, p. 193]}. On its territory, census takers recorded 60 families (203 people), in addition, there were 12 households (41 people) in the barracks ^{[9, L. 2-125; 15, L. 68-92.]}.

Both planned and spontaneous settlements appeared in the exclusion zone of railways. With the opening of train traffic in the area of the Kurgan station station, a spontaneous settlement of 24 houses with 31 households (132 people) was formed, some of which belonged to road workers, some to commercial industrialists ^{[10, l. 30-81]}. Since 1893, the Voznesensky Settlement was formed at the Petukhovo station from the displaced peasants of the Poltava and Chernihiv provinces ^{[27, p. 199]}. The resettlement settlement was formed at the Kormilovka station ^{[27, p. 227]}. Near the Zyryanka station in the exclusion zone there was a state-owned forest cottage, from where timber and firewood for the railway were supplied ^{[27, p. 199]}. Residents of the village of Ushakova, Tyumen County, taking advantage of the proximity of the railway, ceded part of the land to workers for the construction of houses. Enterprising householders rented housing to railway workers' families ^{[22, l. 65-89]}.

Table 3

Table 3

Population of railway stations

on the territory of the Tobolsk province in 1897

The population of railway stations on the territory of the Tobolsk province in 1897

Sources: counts. by: GA in Tobolsk. F. I417. Op. 2. d. 1360. l. 3-31, 33; d. 1361. l. 24-41, 56-63; d. 1362. l. 3-27; d. 1904. L. 2-125; D. 1905. L. 30-81; d. 1906. L. 2-28; d. 1907. L. 4-27; D. 1908. L. 2-32; D. 1909. L. 2-91; D. 1910. L. 18-30, 46-48, 68-92; D. 1364. L. 5-23; D. 3265. L. 36-76, 158-159; D. 3286. L. 179-198; D. 3287. L. 10-11, 20-28; D. 3631. L. 26-49; D. 3632. L. 19-45; d. 3633. l. 24-44.

The stations were the largest type of railway settlements. From 9 (Tugulym, Tura) to 103 families (Kurgan) lived in them. On average, 93.8 people lived at one railway station of the Tyumen section of the Perm-Tyumen Railway, 105.25 people lived at the West Siberian Railway, and 100.8 people lived in the province as a whole.

To provide living conditions for road employees, residential premises were built not only at stations, but also on the stretches between them, and represented buildings standing separately on the exclusion zone – settlements in the form of barracks, semi-barracks, booths, etc.

On the stretches, the barracks served to house artels of workers for repair work. In archival documents we find the differentiation of these residential buildings into barracks and semi-barracks (West Siberian Railway) and large and small barracks (Perm-Tyumen Railway). The plots were built at intervals of 10 years, this affected the typology of settlements. The buildings differed in size: the barracks had to have an interior of at least 26 sq. fathoms, the semi–barracks - half as much. For high-quality maintenance of the railway tracks, the barracks were located at a certain distance from each other, so the number of barracks on individual sections was directly proportional to the length of the railway track: there were 9 barracks of both types on 65 versts of the Tyumen section of the Perm-Tyumen Road, 38 barracks on 300 versts of the West Siberian Highway. This type of settlements accounted for more than a quarter (26.6%) of all railway settlements.

In two large barracks of the Perm-Tyumen Railway, 4 farms (26 people) lived ^{[22, l. 17-25; 24, l. 45-53]}, on average, 13 people; in 11 barracks of the West Siberian Railway – from 1 to 11 farms (179 employees and their families) ^{[6, l. 4-13; 8, l. 10-20; 15, l. 3-17, 31-45, 59-139]}, on average, – 16.3 people.

In seven small barracks of the Tyumen section, 3-4 farms (81 people) were housed, both permanently and temporarily residing ^{[22, l. 4-12, 54-62, 96-104; 23, l. 4-12, 50-56; 24, l. 8-16, 60-68]}, on average, 11.6 people; in 27 semi-barracks of the West Siberian roads – from 1 to 7 farms (347 people) ^{[4, l. 6-17, 42-53; 5, l. 37-45; 6, l. 17-26; 7, l. 26-34; 8, l. 3-7; 16, l. 4-160; 19, l. 9-18, 23-35, 77-85, 108-122, 145-157]}, on average, – 12.8 people .

Guard booths are the most common type of settlement, they made up almost half of all railway settlements in the province. In 21 of the 22 guard booths of the Tyumen section of the railway, one household lived, and only one had two households ^{[22, l. 2-3, 13-16, 50-53, 63-64, 94-95, 105-108; 23, l. 13-16, 46-49, 57-58; 24, l. 4-7, 17-23, 54-57, 69-70]}. On average, there were 4.8 people per living room. On the section of the West Siberian Railway, this figure is higher – 5.2 people. In 31 guard booths, scribes recorded from 1 to 5 farms, from 1 to 10 people, permanently and (in rare cases) temporarily residing ^{[4, l. 4-5, 18-23, 54-55; 6, l. 14-15; 7, l. 3-4, 24-25, 35-36; 8, l. 8-9, 21-29; 18, L. 2-35]}. At that time, the area of this type of structure was 6 sq. sazhens. The overpopulation of dwellings can be explained, first of all, by the fact that only in 1896 this section was opened for train traffic, and the need to eliminate shortcomings and maintain a satisfactory condition of the road led to the attraction of additional labor. In addition, the census lists included temporarily staying members of locomotive crews in the number of 15 people ^{[24, l. 71-74]}. As a rule, the closeness of the premises was partially compensated by outbuildings.

In addition to the above–mentioned types of settlements, barracks were found on both sites - temporary or permanent housing, as well as a settlement close in purpose to guard booths. Barracks – residential buildings were available at the Tyumen and Tura stations at the forge, greenhouse, forest warehouse, lower Tura pier. Two earthen and one wooden barracks were built at Kormilovka station in 1897. Temporary barracks were available at the stations Perevalovo, Mamlyutka. One barrack –settlement was recorded on both railway lines.

Nine guard houses – settlements were located on the section of the West Siberian Railway ^{[17, l. 2-25]}, two forest gatehouses - Perm–Tyumen railway ^{[22, l. 90-93]}.

In the Tobolsk province there were only 312 settlements with a population of 1 to 5 people (6.02% of the total number of settlements) ^{[26, p. X]}, of which 45 (14%) were railway settlements. In the province, settlements with the number of inhabitants from 6 to 50 people were most often found – 1119 villages (21.6%) ^{[26, p. XI]}. In the railway settlements, a slightly different picture was observed – in 125 settlements out of 128, from 1 to 50 people lived, which was 97.7% ^[3-24].

Referring to the sources of the beginning of the XX century, it is impossible to note changes in the population and typology of settlements. The "List of settlements of Tobolsk province" for 1903 included single information about the population of railway stations: 51 people lived at Shadrinskaya station ^{[28, p. 239]}, Kormilovskaya – 130 people ^{[28, 248]}; 12 stations merged with the settlements of the same name; there is no information about the population of Petukhovo station ^{[28, p. 92]}.

The "List" for 1909 contains information about 47 railway settlements (of which only three belong to the Tyumen section of the Perm-Tyumen Railway): 8 stations and 15 sidings, 8 booths and 4 crossings, 3 barracks and 2 semi–barracks, 2 settlements at stations and four near them, 1 railway bridge ^{[29, pp. 176-499]}.

A new station of the Siberian Railway was recorded – Urzhumka (Kurgan District) with a population of 3035 people ^{[29, pp. 236-237]}. There is an increase in the population in cities with railway stations – Tyumen and Kurgan: if the population of Tyumen increased by 8%, then Kurgan – by 44% (Table 4). This is partly due to the fact that after the opening of the West Siberian Railway, the value of the Tyumen section decreased significantly.

Table 4

Table 4

The population of the cities of Kurgan and Tyumen in 1897-1909 .

The population of the cities of Kurgan and Tyumen in 1897-1909

Sources: The First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897 / ed. [and with a preface] N. A. Troynitsky. Vol. 78: Tobolsk province. – 1905. – ^[4], XLVI, 247 p. s.XII; List of settlements of the Tobolsk province / Comp. Gubernia. stat. com. by order of the Governor, according to the information, delivered. volost. ed. in 1903 and checked. with correspondence. material. – Tobolsk: Gubernia type., 1904. – ^[5], IX, 341 p. s. III, VI; List of settlements of the Tobolsk province: [Comp. according to information on July 15, 1909, received. from the county. ispravnikov and volost. edit.]. – Tobolsk: Tob. lips. <url>., 1912. – ^[1], 634, IX S. S. 24.

The population of the Tugulym railway station from 1897 to 1909 increased by 2.7%, Zyryanka – by 4.2%, Lebyazhya – by 6.1%, Makushino – by 2.1%, Petukhovo – by 2%, Kormilovka – by 1.2% ^{[3, l. 3-31, 33; 4, l. 24-41, 56-63; 5, l. 3-27; 7, l. 5-23; 8, l. 36-76, 158-159; 9, l. 2-125; 10, l. 30-81; 11, l. 2-28; 12, l. 4-27; 13, l. 2-32; 14, l. 2-91; 15, l. 18-30, 46-48, 68-92; 20, l. 179-198; 21, l. 10-11, 20-28; 22, l. 26-49; 23, l. 19-45; 24, l. 24-44; 29, p. 178-179, 228-229, 232-233, 270-271, 466-467, 498-499]}.

Despite the fact that the level of representativeness of the published sources is significantly inferior to the materials of the 1897 census, the analysis of the documents allows us to draw some conclusions about the dynamics of the number, typical diversity, and population of railway settlements on the territory of the Tobolsk province in the late XIX – early XX centuries.

According to the documents of 1897, 128 railway stations with a population of 2,317 inhabitants were identified. In total, nine types of settlements were identified: stations, workers' settlements attached to them, barracks, semi-barracks, booths, barracks, guard houses, forest gatehouses, water pumps. The multiplicity of railway booths (53) is explained by the peculiarities of production activities. Of the 13 stations located in the region, the largest stations were Tyumen (325 people) and Kurgan (376 people). In general, 97.7% of railway settlements had from 1 to 50 people.

In the lists of settlements for 1903, information is provided only about stations and landing settlements; in a similar document for 1909, there is information about 47 railway settlements. During the further construction of the Trans–Siberian Railway, new types of settlements appeared - sidings, crossings, large booths, etc.