Siberian Resorts

SIBERIAN RESORTS, therapeutic localities located on the territory of Siberia, including according to the current (1933) administrative division the eastern part of the Uralsk Oblast, the northeastern part of the Kazakh ASSR, the West Siberian Krai, the East Siberian Krai with the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR, the Far Eastern Krai (with Kamchatka and Sakhalin) and the Yakut ASSR. - General characteristics of S.R. On the vast territory of Siberia with its diverse geological, soil, orographic, hydrological and climatic features, there are numerous and varied S.R.: salt and mud lakes, various mineral springs, climatic stations on the plains and in the mountains and kumis sanatoriums. At present, according to Dikovsky, there are more than 350 mineral springs and 75 therapeutic lakes on the territory of Siberia, and these numbers are constantly increasing. In character, S.R. sharply differ between the western and eastern halves of Siberia, the boundary between which is the Yenisei River (Kurlow). The western half of Siberia (from the Urals to the Yenisei) has a small number of hot indifferent springs in the Altai, while the larger part of Western Siberia is a plain, whose southern steppe part is abundantly covered with salt, bitter-salt and mud lakes and favors the development of kumis therapy. The eastern half of Siberia abounds with carbonic, sometimes pure, sometimes alkaline-earth slightly ferruginous and hot indifferent springs (akratotherms). The numerous mountain ranges of the eastern half of Siberia make it possible to organize mountain climatic stations. S.R. by individual regions of Siberia. In Western Siberia in the steppes of Ishim, Bel-Agach, Kulundinsk, Barashinsk, Kachinsk and Iyus, there are several thousand salt lakes, many of which can be used for therapeutic purposes. In the literature there are indications of the use for treatment of mineral water and mud from 55 lakes (of which 7 lakes are classified as brine, 20 as salt, 19 as bitter-salt, and 9 of other water composition; 26 lakes have therapeutic mud). The mud deposits of Western Siberia are divided into groups: Ishim, Borovsk, Irtysh, Baraba and Yenisei (see Mud treatment areas). The best known lakes are: Karachi (see Karachi, Resorts), Krivinskoye, Lebyazhye, Medvezhye, Muyaldy, Solonovka (mud lagoon of Kuchuk Lake), Sor, Ustyantsevskoye, Uchum, Shira (see Resorts), Shunet, Bolshoye, Yarovoye. Climatic treatment in Western Siberia is conducted in Borovoye (see Borovoye, Resorts), Aul, Lebyazhye (see Resorts), in the mountainous regions of the Altai (Chemal, Katon-Karagay) and in sanatoriums and rest homes in the vicinity of large cities and industrial centers: Chernoluchye and Karyer near Omsk, Berdsk and Tutaletska near Novosibirsk, in the vicinity of Barnaul, Biysk and Shcheglovsk, Basandayka and Arkhimandritka near Tomsk, Yaya near the Anger coal mines. In the eastern part of the Kazakh ASSR and in Western Siberia there are about 20 kumis therapy points. The kumis therapy area here is located between 46° and 56° north latitude, and in Siberia the most favorable part of this area is the space from 49° to 52° north latitude (Darkhsevich). With the crossing of the Irtysh River, the climatic conditions favorable for kumis therapy deteriorate and disappear completely without crossing it (Multanovsky) (see Kumis sanatoriums). There are few mineral springs in Western Siberia (13): mostly warm and hot. The best known are Belokurikha (see Belokurikha, Resorts), Rakhmanovskiye and Abakan. - In connection with the growth of industrialization of Western Siberia and the construction of the Urals-Kuznetsk Combine, the need for resort and sanatorium construction near the large industrial centers of the Kuznetsk Basin is increasing. Special balneological expeditions are surveying both old S.R. and new areas suitable for therapeutic use, and the prospects for further development of the resort business in Western Siberia are being clarified. The therapeutic localities of Eastern Siberia are mainly located east of Lake Baikal (see Transbaikal resorts). To the west of Lake Baikal between the Yenisei and Baikal there are more than 50 mineral springs (6 hot, 22 salt, 2 brine, 2 carbonic, 3 ferruginous and about a dozen springs of other composition). The best known are the balneological and climatic resort Arshan (see Resorts) and the balneological resort Usolye (see Resorts). The balneological use of salt springs in Ust-Kut on the bank of the Lena has begun. In the area from the Yenisei to Baikal there are five lakes, which were previously used or are now used for therapeutic purposes. The most studied and used is the mud resort Tatarskoye (see Resorts). The development of a balneological resort on Lake Solenoye near Kansk is beginning. Climatic treatment is conducted in sanatoriums and rest homes on the climatic station of Malta, in Listvenichnoye and on the Kaya River near Irkutsk, in rest homes near Krasnoyarsk, Kirensk and Bodaybo. Kumis therapy as an auxiliary method is conducted in Usolye. In the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR there is the Central Kumis Sanatorium ( see Kumis sanatoriums, Resorts). - The therapeutic localities of the Yakut ASSR are little studied and little used. There are about two dozen mineral springs known: salt, hot, sulfur and ferruginous; only 2-3 are used (Kempendyay salt, Tavatam sulfur, Esulap Mud Lake). Climatic treatment is conducted in the Pokrovsk sanatorium and in a floating rest home on the Lena. The therapeutic localities of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR and the Far Eastern Krai - see Transbaikal resorts, Resorts. On Sakhalin there are about a dozen mineral springs known: hot, warm, carbonic, sulfur and others. The therapeutic localities of Kamchatka - see Kamchatka resorts. History of S.R. The beginning of balneology in Siberia dates to the distant past. According to Kurlow, even now at some mineral springs (Kuka, Rakhmanovskiye) there remain ruins of temples built by the population in honor of the deities, patrons of the springs. Among the native population of Siberia, legends have been preserved about the discovery of springs. Many springs were found by fur hunters and used by the local population for treatment in primitive conditions. In relation to some S.R. (Belokurikha, Shira, Nilova Pustyn and others), the beginning of their use is associated with certain historical figures. Random observations and oral rumors contributed to the initial development of S.R. Later, private entrepreneurs and some private and government institutions became involved in the organization and operation of S.R. The first S.R., which in the early 19th century received a government subsidy, was Gorachinsk, to which an overseer, 10 families of exiled convicts, were sent, and in 1823 a permanent doctor was appointed; by the 40s the resort had reached a certain level of improvement, but in the second half of the 19th century it declined. 'The participation of government institutions in the organization of S.R. was ridiculously insignificant' (Kurlow). For example, the resort of Shira from 1900 to 1913 received from the government only 1,085 rubles per year 'for the maintenance of the staff managing the resort,' and only in 1913 was this subsidy increased to 3,500 rubles. Usually the government limited itself to leasing S.R. to entrepreneurs, who little cared about the improvement and study of the resorts. Until the world war, the ministry of state property, the mining department and the ministry of ways and communications equipped and operated about a dozen S.R. (Borovoye, Karachi, Usolye, Gorachinsk and others). In addition, about two dozen S.R. were operated by private tenants. The general revival of the resort business in Russia during the world war and after the resort congress of 1915 little improved the condition of S.R. The period of the civil war in Siberia very heavily affected the S.R., many of which were plundered and destroyed. With the establishment of Soviet power in Siberia from the spring of 1920, S.R. (the resorts of the Far East - from 1923) entered a new period of vigorous construction and development of the resort business on new principles. The resorts were nationalized and passed to the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Health organs. On April 5, 1920, by the Collegium of the NKZdr., the 'List of All-State Resorts of Siberia' was established, which included Borovoye, Karachi, Shira, Belokurikha and Usolye. The Siberian Revolutionary Committee by its resolution of 9/VI 1920 supplemented this list by including Arshan, Chistoozernoye and Lebyazhye. By the resolution of the Siberian Revolutionary Committee of 30/III 1921, 7 S.R. were recognized as having regional importance (Yarovoye, Solonovka, Aul, Tagarskoye, Smolyanovka, Rakhmanovskiye klyuchi and Katon-Karagay), and local importance was recognized for 54 S.R. Already in the 1920 season, 35 S.R. were operating and about 9,000 patients passed through them. The resorts of the Far East in the period from 1920 to 1922 were under the jurisdiction of the Main Health Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Far Eastern Republic. In 1923, these S.R. were joined to the general network of resorts of the RSFSR, and in the same year 24 S.R. were operated in the Far East. In the following 13 years of Soviet power in Siberia, the S.R. basically went through the same stages that are generally characteristic for the resorts of the USSR (see Resorts). Study of S.R.

In the tsarist period, Siberian resorts were studied without system by individual scientists and medical societies (Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk). In 1917, for the first time at the I Congress of Physicians of the Tomsk Province, a balneological section was established and an exhibition was organized. The study of Siberian resorts was conducted mainly by the academic staff of Tomsk higher educational institutions (Zalessky, Kurlov, Kastorsky, Spassky, Orlov, and others). In 1919, balneological sections were established at the congress on the organization of the institute for the study of Siberia and in the newly opened institute in Tomsk. With the establishment of Soviet power in 1920, the extensive study of Siberian resorts began in a planned manner. For the years 1920-1932, numerous expeditions were conducted to study Siberian resorts, establish mountain protection districts, re-analyze and newly analyze the waters of springs and lakes and muds, and many geological, meteorological, physical, experimental, and clinical studies were carried out. Numerous monographs and collections of articles about major Siberian resorts (Borovoye, Karachi, Lebyazhye, Shira, Tagarskoye, Usolye, Arshan, Darasun, and others) were published. These studies revealed many new resorts and significantly expanded the prospects for the proper use of old ones. However, the study of Siberian resorts cannot by any means be considered completed. The list of main Siberian resorts. Lists of all-Union, provincial, and local Siberian resorts were revised several times during these years. At present, Borovoye remains an all-Union resort, and the list of Siberian resorts of local significance includes: A. West Siberian Krai-1) Karachi, 2) Shira, 3) Tagarskoye, 4) Lebyazhye, 5) Belokuriha; B. East Siberian Krai - 6) Darasun, 7) Olentuy, 8) Usolye; V. Buryat-Mongolian ASSR - 9) Arshan, 10) Central kumis sanatorium, 11) Goryachinsk; G. Far Eastern Krai-- 12) Kul'dur and 13) Sadgorod. Maps-see Mud treatment districts, Transbaikal resorts, Resorts.