Polnoe Konobeevo. Windmill. Archival maps The village of Stupino. Voronezh region

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The retrospective study is focused on identifying the territorial organization of renewable energy in the Ryazan (province) region. The main accents are defined in the field of socio-economic factors that predetermined the quantitative and qualitative changes in the potential of hydraulic and windmills and "territorial shifts" in their location. The work takes into account the modifications of the region in the course of administrative reforms in the 20th century (Fig. 1).

An analysis of the figure shows that the transformation of boundaries has important geographical consequences. Previously, the Ryazan province had a greater extent from north to south than from west to east, which provided greater diversity natural conditions and contributed to a pronounced differentiation of the territory into the agricultural south (Stepnaya side), the zone of mixed economy in the central part (Ryazan side) and the industrialized north (Meshcherskaya side). At the same time, the provincial city of Ryazan most corresponded to the requirement of its (optimum) central position in relation to the province as a whole.

In general, as a result of administrative reforms, the region somewhat "shifted" to the east and at the same time "shrunk" to the conventional center, that is, it became relatively more "eastern". Despite some "increment" of the Ryazan region at the expense of other regions, the "exchange" was not qualitatively equivalent, since the most industrially developed and agrarian-significant territories were transferred to other regions.

The use of wind and water mills in the Ryazan province (XIX century). At the time in question, Russian Empire steam engines and technologies based on them were just coming into use and, despite the “railway boom” and the general replenishment of the engine fleet, the energy basis of agricultural production has changed little. Thus, the historical period was still going on, when the muscular power of draft animals, water and wind wheels were almost the only means of power drive of mechanisms in agriculture.

Rice. 1. Changes in the administrative-territorial boundaries of the Ryazan province (region) in the 19th century.

1. Territories that left the Ryazan province (region).

2. Territories included in the Ryazan province (region).

1922 - the year of entry and exit of the territory into (from) the composition of (a) the province (region).

In the Ryazan province, the energy of rivers was also widely used in industry, especially in metallurgy for the power drive of mechanical hammers and machine tools.

However, due to the dominance of the agricultural sector, a larger economic use of wind and river energy resources was characteristic of the flour milling industry (Table 1, Fig. 2).

Table 1

Placement of mills in the counties of the Ryazan province in 1860

Number of windmills

From the end of the 20th century in a number of countries there is an active use of wind energy for economic purposes. To assess the potential of wind energy, a study was made of the features of its use in the Tver province in the 19th century.

The regions of the North-West of Russia are of great importance in the history and culture of our country. A large number of historical, cultural and natural landscape monuments, scientific and industrial centers are concentrated in the North-West, reflecting the richness and diversity of Russian civilization.

According to the dissertation of I.A. Hare for 1847. in the Tver province, with a population of 1340 thousand, there were 611 water and 1312 windmills. From the historical, geographical and local lore positions, it is of interest to localize the location of such a large number of objects. Information about the location and, accordingly, the number of mills is contained on large-scale archival maps.

In the 19th century, in the process of transition from general survey plans to topographic maps large-scale maps in a part of the Tver province are presented by one- and two-verst topographic boundary maps surveyed by A.I. Mende (Mendt). These maps are a unique cartographic work, because. work on the correction of provincial atlases was started in the Tver province, completed most fully and, accordingly, the maps present the largest amount of information. When creating maps of the next 7 provinces, the work gradually decreased in volume.

During the research, information was analyzed both on windmills and on watermills.

The initial data for conducting research to determine the location of the mills were:

Large-scale archival maps of the Tver province, 1853;

Statistical data for the Tver province;

Modern maps and spatial data.

For the Tver province, as part of the work on shooting A.I. Mende, one- (1: 42000) and two-verst (1: 84000) topographic boundary maps were created.

According to the two-verst map, a set of raster electronic maps was previously created in the formats: GIS MapInfo, Global Mapper, as well as an Internet resource in the formats: Google Maps tiles with access through the CAS. Planet program (URL:) and Internet browser (URL:), as well as in the format of an electronic globe Google Earth(URL: http://www.google.com/intl/en/earth/index.html) with access through the appropriate program Google Planet.Earth and an Internet browser.

An assessment was made of the equally informative one-verst and two-verst maps in terms of data on mills. On fig. 1 shows an example of a group arrangement of mills near the villages of the Bezhetsky district. At the village Old Gvozdevo shows 10 mills, near the village. Prokino 7, near the village. Grudino 4. The analysis shows the coincidence of the number and location of mills on maps of different scales. Accordingly, subsequent results obtained from a two-verst map should not differ significantly from the data from a one-verst map.

In the process of research on a two-verst map, vector layers of the position of windmills and watermills for the Tver province were formed.

Taking into account the fact that this map is large-scale, and the territory is significant, the use of a single raster electronic map for the entire province in a professional GIS (MapInfo) turned out to be difficult due to the requirements of large amounts of memory. This circumstance greatly slowed down the work of the GIS program during the operations of moving, scaling, editing the map.

To increase the speed of creating vector layers, it was proposed to use the Google Maps tile format (URL: http://support.google.com/maps/?hl=en) a raster electronic map and the SAS.Planet program. The small size of tiles (blocks) of a raster map (256x256 pixels), the presence of pre-calculated blocks for different scales and the automatic mode of loading the necessary tiles allow you to quickly navigate the map with scaling and drawing point objects, regardless of the size and detail of the map. Approbation of this approach also pursued the goal of assessing the possibility of its practical application in other studies.

Vectorization results imported into MapInfo GIS are shown in fig. 2 - windmills and in fig. 3. - water mills.

The SAS.Planet program functionally allows you to apply and edit point, line and area objects, as well as signatures. In this case, archival and modern maps, space and aerial photographs from various sources (http://google.ru, http://yandex.ru, http://kosmosnimki.ru, etc.) can be used. In this case, objects can be placed on different layers. For layers and individual objects, it is possible to set a visualization attribute.

For selected layers and individual objects, the function of exporting to the kml format ( Keyhole markup language, URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KML).

In the interests of the possibility of a consistent presentation of the archive map of the Tver province together with cartographic materials from other sources, a tiled electronic map for it is implemented in the WGS-84 Latitude-Longitude projection.

Rice. 2. Distribution of windmills in the Tver province

Rice. 3. Distribution of water mills in the Tver province

Next, the kml format of the vector layers of water and windmills was first converted to the mif/mid format of the MapInfo GIS, imported into it, and then transformed into the Gauss-Kruger projection of Pulkovo-42, 6th zone.

In the part shown in Fig. The 2 distributions of windmills include the following:

The largest number is in the northeastern part of the Bezhetsky district;

A significant number in the southeastern part of the Vesyegonsky, southwestern part of the Kashinsky, central part of the Vyshnevolotsky, eastern part of the Torzhok, southwestern Tverskoy, southern part of the Rzhevsky districts;

A small number in the Ostashkovsky district.

After comparing the location of windmills and the matrix of elevations of the area, it was noted that their largest accumulation is located in the western and northern parts of the Sonkovskaya Upland.

In terms of water mills, shown in fig. 3, it can be noted:

A large number in the northern and eastern parts of Vyshnevolotsky, Torzhoksky, Ostashkovsky counties;

A small number in Tver and Kalyazinsky counties.

To assess the various objective reasons for the significantly different number of mills by county, a comparison was made of the number of mills, the areas sown with grain and the harvested crop.

The table presents data on the number of mills in the counties of the Tver province, the area of ​​arable land (thousand square acres), the amount of arable land per one revision per capita (square acres), and the volume of grain harvested.

Analysis of these data shows:

The number of mills by county significantly exceeds their number according to the map;

The amount of arable land (tithes) per male soul is not strong (minimum - 2.5 in Bezhetsky, Tverskoy; maximum - 3.3 in V. Volotsky; differ by 32% from the minimum) differs by counties;

The arable area differs significantly by counties (minimum - 111.2 in Tverskoy; maximum - 199.8 in Bezhetsky; differ by 80% from the minimum);

The grain harvest varies significantly by county (minimum - 59.9 in Rzhevsky; maximum - 597.7 in Bezhetsky; differ by 898% from the minimum).

List of the number of mills by county for 1847.

Rice. 4. Comparison of arable land, number of mills and yield

Rice. 5. Number of windmills and watermills

The smaller number of mills shown on the map can be explained by not all mills being mapped.

A county-by-country comparison of the number of mills with arable land and yield in the form of a diagram is shown in fig. 4. Shown here is the total number of windmills and watermills. The diagram shows the dependence of the number of mills and productivity, which can serve as one of the explanatory factors for the large number of mills in the Bezhetsk district.

A comparison of the number of water and windmills by counties is shown in the form of a diagram in fig. 5.

We can assume the functional complementarity of windmills and watermills and, accordingly, a small number of watermills in the presence of a significant number of windmills.

Despite the smaller number of mills presented on the survey map by A.I. Mende, data on their distribution over the area of ​​the province and a specific location are of undoubted interest not only for geographers, but also for historians, local historians, and museum workers. In particular, the proposed automated public approach to the formation and use of an Internet resource with archival large-scale maps of the 19th century. as a source of data on the location of wind and water mills aroused practical interest at the 6th All-Russian Local History Readings (URL: ) and at the Russian-Dutch Seminar on the Problems of Studying, Reconstruction and Museumification of Historical Mills in the New Jerusalem Museum (URL: ).

The proposed approach for the use of large-scale archival cartographic works of the Tver province in the study of wind and water mills of the 19th century. can be developed in the following areas:

Study of the distribution of mills on the territory of the Tver region using already formed Internet resources based on military topographic maps of the 19th century. to adjacent provinces, whose territories are now part of the Tver region;

A study of the distribution of mills on topographic survey maps by A.I. Mende of other provinces (Internet resources for Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Simbirsk have already been formed; for Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Tambov, Penza in the formation stage);

Study of the distribution of mills in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic States, Poland using the created Internet resource on a three-verst military topographic map of European Russia in the 19th century;

Formation of a target Internet resource with the presentation of generalized data on the location of mills in the 19th century. based on large-scale archival maps.

Thus, in the studies carried out on the basis of a large-scale topographic boundary map of the Tver province of 1853. and a complex of GIS technologies using electronic maps in raster and vector formats, various projections, an approach was proposed and practically tested for studying the distributions of windmills and watermills according to the data of the 19th century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Web cartography and navigation. Two-verst topographic boundary map of the Tver province, 1853. [Electronic resource] // - Access mode: - 12.06.2012.
2. Hare I.A. Water and windmills of the northwestern region of Russia. History and prospects for conservation. Abstract of the dissertation of SpbGASU. St. Petersburg, 2007.
3. Processing and presentation of archival maps [Electronic resource] // - Access mode: - 12.06.2012.
4. Commemorative book of the Tver province for 1868. Edition of the Tver Provincial Statistical Committee. Tver, 1868
5. Preobrazhensky V.A. Description of the Tver province in agricultural terms. St. Petersburg. Printing house of the Ministry of State Property, 1854.
6. Collection of materials for statistics of the Tver province, compiled, on behalf of the Tver Provincial Zemsky Assembly, by V. Pokrovsky, Issue IV, Tver, 1877.
7. Shchekotilova M.V. The use of wind energy in the Tver province according to the data of the 19th century. Materials of the interuniversity scientific conference. "Geography, geoecology, tourism: scientific search for students and graduate students". TVGU, Tver, .2012, pp.74-77 .

Windmill(Russia, Ryazan region, Shatsky district, Polnoe Konobeevo village)

As an architect who has worked in the industry for more than 10 years, I am always interested in various engineering structures, so I do not ignore bridges, cooling towers, dams, dams, etc. Do not leave me indifferent and such "not cunning" by modern standards of construction as wind (water) mills, preserved mainly in museums-reserves (Suzdal, Kostroma, Pushkin mountains). Quite rarely, but still there are windmills in the vastness of Russia, however, their condition is most often depressing, for example, in the villages of Kirovo, Kurovo, Krugloye, Bryansk region. When preparing a trip to the Ryazan region, I accidentally stumbled upon a well-preserved mill in the village. Polnoe Konobeevo near Shatsk. So this agricultural object appeared in my route (which turned out to be very useful, because our path ran a little further - to the estate of Bykov Gora Naryshkins and the Vyshetsky Convent.

I bring to your attention an excerpt from a historical essay about a mill in Polny Konobeevo by local historian A.N. Potapova: “At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 250,000 windmills in Russia, which were especially widely used in the steppe regions rich in grain and grinded half of all grain collected throughout the country. In the Shatsk district, which until 1923 was part of the Tambov province, by 1884 there were 108 windmills, including seven in the Polno-Konobeevsky volost. A windmill in those years was an integral part of the rural landscape. In all large villages, along with the church, the mill dominated the surroundings, since it was usually placed on a hillock, in a place open to all winds (and therefore to eyes). It is not known for certain when the Polno-Konobeevsky mill was built, but the old-timers of the village said that it had been working since the middle of the 19th century. There was a similar mill in Lesnoy Konobeev, on the other side of Tsna. But once, during a fire, it flared up, and no matter how hard they tried to quench the flame, it almost completely burned out. For a long time, a black skeleton towered near the village cemetery, then it was dismantled.
And the mill in Polny Konobeevo served the people for many years. From time to time, the windmill was repaired: the plank sheathing, log shafts, worn out oak gears were changed - and the mill again began to rotate its wings, and rye flour flowed from under the millstones in a warm stream ... I remember how we children, playing nearby, looked at the mill . The miller's uncle Kostya Berdyanov, all white with flour dust, seemed to us either Santa Claus, or a kind sorcerer from a fairy tale. The wings of the windmill creaked under the pressure of the wind. Huge stone millstones slowly, with noise and roar, rotated and, like the jaws of a prehistoric animal, grinded the grain with a crunch. A mysterious staircase led up to the tower. Toothed gears, shafts - everything was made of wood by rural craftsmen. Capacious scoops for pouring flour from the bin into the sack were also made of wood - linden. From time to time carts drove up to the mill. The collective farmers loaded the sacks into carts and took them to the farm, where the feed flour was stirred into warm water and fed the calves with this hearty "talker".
In those years, a bakery operated in the village, located in an old brick house, which before the revolution belonged to the priest of the local church. Sometimes the villagers did not buy bread in the store, but here - from the heat, from the heat. I also liked buying bread at the bakery. A loaf just taken out of the oven burned my hands. He put it in a string bag, and on the way home he broke off a crispy crust and put it in his mouth. The bread was delicious, fragrant - you can't imagine a better treat! Childhood smelled of warm rye bread baked from flour ground in our mill...
As a boy, I was fond of drawing. IN summer holidays I carried a notepad and pencil with me. In the midst of the summer of 1969, I was walking with a friend. Landings were green along the road, rye was pouring with golden ripeness nearby, bathed in sky blue pigeons, and a mill reigned over the whole neighborhood - winged, like these pigeons, but firmly, firmly connected to the earth with its work. I took out a notebook and a pencil and made a drawing published here (author's note: in a magazine).
I also wrote poems and “at the dawn of a foggy youth” often published them in the Shatsk regional newspaper. How could I bypass our old mill with my poetic inspiration:

On a hillock - a carved silhouette.
It's a windmill with its wings outstretched
Proudly stands in the village,
Like a symbol of peasant Russia ...

But one day the mill wings stopped - as it turned out, forever: electricity was brought to the windmill, and it began to rotate the millstones. Gradually the mill collapsed. With the beginning of "perestroika" the collective farm withered away. The windmill turned out to be useless. And although a sign appeared on its plank sheathing, indicating that the Polno-Konobeevskaya Mill is a monument of Russian wooden architecture (and, I will add, of the ancient life and life of the villagers), no one guarded this monument, and time and bad weather did their job. However, in 2003, on the eve of the celebration of the 450th anniversary of Shatsk, the district authorities nevertheless found funds for the restoration of the Konobeevskaya mill. The log frame remained the same, the worn stone millstones remained in place (but can you take them away?), but the plank sheathing was changed. As for the wings, obviously there was not enough money for their restoration. And so the windmill stood deflated, resembling a lone fortress tower. Finally, the authorities got their hands on the wings - they were restored to their previous dimensions, but, unfortunately, they stopped rotating and lost their plank skin. The mill froze, as if to confirm that from now on it is a monument, ”wrote Alexander Nikolaevich Potapov.

Natalya Bondareva

Literature:
A.N. Potapov "Mill. From childhood memories ”// Moscow Journal No. 4 (232), 2010

The retrospective study is focused on identifying the territorial organization of renewable energy in the Ryazan (province) region. The main accents are defined in the field of socio-economic factors that predetermined the quantitative and qualitative changes in the potential of hydraulic and windmills and "territorial shifts" in their location. The work takes into account the modifications of the region in the course of administrative reforms in the 20th century (Fig. 1).

An analysis of the figure shows that the transformation of boundaries has important geographical consequences. Previously, the Ryazan province had a greater extent from north to south than from west to east, which provided a greater variety of natural conditions and contributed to a pronounced differentiation of the territory into the agricultural south (Stepnaya side), a mixed economy zone in the central part (Ryazan side) and industrialized north (Meshcherskaya side). At the same time, the provincial city of Ryazan most corresponded to the requirement of its (optimum) central position in relation to the province as a whole.

In general, as a result of administrative reforms, the region somewhat "shifted" to the east and at the same time "shrunk" to the conventional center, that is, it became relatively more "eastern". Despite some "increment" of the Ryazan region at the expense of other regions, the "exchange" was not qualitatively equivalent, since the most industrially developed and agrarian-significant territories were transferred to other regions.

The use of wind and water mills in the Ryazan province (XIX century). During the period under review, steam engines and technologies based on them were only coming into use in the Russian Empire, and, despite the “railway boom” and the general replenishment of the engine fleet, the energy basis of agricultural production has changed little. Thus, the historical period was still going on, when the muscular power of draft animals, water and wind wheels were almost the only means of power drive of mechanisms in agriculture.

Rice. 1. Changes in the administrative-territorial boundaries of the Ryazan province (region) in the 19th century.

1. Territories that left the Ryazan province (region).

2. Territories included in the Ryazan province (region).

1922 - the year of entry and exit of the territory into (from) the composition of (a) the province (region).

In the Ryazan province, the energy of rivers was also widely used in industry, especially in metallurgy for the power drive of mechanical hammers and machine tools.

However, due to the dominance of the agricultural sector, a larger economic use of wind and river energy resources was characteristic of the flour milling industry (Table 1, Fig. 2).

Table 1

Placement of mills in the counties of the Ryazan province in 1860

Note. The counties are listed in descending order of the number of mills.

According to the data presented, there were 1648 mills in the province (1258 windmills and 390 watermills). When analyzing the aspects of placement and concentration of power flour-grinding units, a direct correlation of specialization is traced and confirmed Agriculture with differentiation of historical and geographical parts of the region.

In the Steppe southern side, with the dominance of grain counties (almost 66% of the entire arable land of the province), there were 1250 water and windmills, or over 76% of their total number.

In the Meshcherskaya northern (“trans-Oka”) side, non-chernozem soils and shallow-contour arable land determined the sparsely populated type of rural settlements with their predominant concentration in non-boggy areas (the Great Lakes region, Spas-Klepiki, Tuma, Kasimov, Elatma). The settlements themselves were grouped on sandy hills, which made it possible to avoid flooding during floods (during the big water» water mills did not work). The complex of limiting factors predetermined the "oasis" or "focal" type of settlement, grain growing and, accordingly, the placement of flour mills.

Against the background of striking contrasts between the south and north of the region, the right-bank Ryazan side was characterized by "transitional" indicators of the concentration of mills. In comparison with Meshchera, the taxon was distinguished by a denser population and a mixed specialization of the economy (with a high share of trade and crafts). In addition, this territory was used for the transit transportation of grain from the southern provinces to the capital centers of the Russian Empire (St. Petersburg, Moscow).

Rice. 2. Geography of hydraulic (A) and wind (B) energy of the Ryazan province (as of late XIX early 20th century)

It was through the territory of the Ryazan side that the main "bread artery" passed - the "transport and infrastructure bundle", consisting of railways, overland imperial routes, inland water routes (the Oka River), the main centers for storing and processing grain. Indicatively, in total, 321 water mills functioned in the Ryazan and Steppe side (more than 82% of the total number of water mills in the province).

Total capacity of mills different types within the Ryazan province was 37,357 kW: 54.5% for wind turbines and 45.5% for hydropower plants. Thus, hydropower plants, being quantitatively inferior to wind turbines by more than 3 times, had an installed capacity potential of only 17% lower. Another conclusion is also important: there is a direct correspondence between the concentration of power of mills of economic specialization of the historical and geographical parts of the region: 27,844 kW of power of all mills was concentrated in the counties of the Stepnaya side (74.5%).

The combination of natural and socio-economic factors determines the possibility of multi-criteria zoning of the region's territory according to the concentration of wind and water mills in the 19th century. (Fig. 3).

The first conditional zone is localized within the Meshcherskaya side (36% of the area and with a concentration of 29% of the population of the province). The share of arable land in the structure of agricultural land was 30% (16% of the rye crop in the province), which predetermined a low concentration of enterprises for the primary processing of grain crops: 157 windmills and 73 watermills.

The total capacity of flour-grinding power units was determined at 5123 kW, and the financial value of their operation was estimated at 75 thousand rubles. silver per year (share in the province - 13.7%). Socio-economic factors in the zone are recognized as determining in the placement of mills, which led to the "focal" nature of their localization.

The second conditional zone included the Ryazan side and the northern part of the Stepnaya side, covering 23% of the area and 25.4% of the population of the province. In the zone, the share of arable land was 1:5 (from the share in the province), where they received up to 23% of the grain harvest. The total capacity of 329 windmills and 90 watermills was 9950 kW (24.4% of the indicator for the province). The financial value of the operation of the mills reached almost 148 thousand rubles. silver per year (share in the province - 27%).

The transport and geographical position of the second zone predetermined the dominance of river transport in the export of grain from the outset. From the end of the 19th century the main freight turnover of flour-grinding products was transferred to railway transport, which was widely developed during this period. In both cases, there was a “binding” of the concentration of mills to transport “bundles”, grain trading centers and transshipment bases, which determined the linear nature of their spatial localization (transport network, the Oka River, the established settlement system).

The third conditional zone - the Steppe side - covered over 41% of the area of ​​the province, where almost 39% of the total population lived. The share of arable land in the structure of agricultural land exceeded 54% of the provincial indicator. Up to 61% of the province's gross grain harvest was grown here.

Favorable prerequisites of a natural resource and economic nature predetermined the widespread development of the flour-grinding industry, which included 1020 wind and water mills with a total capacity of 22.6 thousand kW (60% of the total potential throughout the province). The financial value of their operation was almost 326 thousand rubles. silver per year, or more than 59% of this indicator in the province.

The territory occupied an advantageous transport and geographical position at the crossroads of transit routes and grain trade throughout the country.

Rice. 3. Zoning of the Ryazan province according to the concentration of wind and water mills (XIX century)

1. Meshcherskaya side. 2. Ryazan side. 3. Steppe side

The specifics of the zone initially predetermined the importance of horse-drawn and partially river transport, and from the second half of XIX V. - railway.

It is important to note the geographic linkage of the mills to the transport arteries and transshipment bases of the grain trade, the historically established system of settlement with the dominance of grain farming specialization, which determined the areal-nodal nature of the spatial localization and concentration of mills (transport network, the Pronya River and its tributaries).

The use of wind and water mills in the Ryazan (province) region (the first half of the 20th century). At the beginning of the 20th century, the level of "mechanization" of agricultural production in Russia increased somewhat, but did not satisfy the significantly increased needs. So, as of 1905, only 39% of the peasant farms of the Ryazan province used the machine method of processing agricultural products. Therefore, at the beginning of the century (1905), windmills and watermills retained their high economic importance (Table 2).

table 2

Number of mills in the Ryazan province (1860–1922), units

Under the conditions of the dominant three-field farming system and population growth, the producer could really survive only through an extensive increase in sown areas. However, after the abolition of serfdom, the peasants lost a significant part of their cultivated land, and subsequent events only aggravated the situation: “After the railways, changes in the prices of bread and land increased the impoverishment of the population "(1893) . As a result, from 1895–1900. to 1909–1913 the provision of the population with bread of own production per capita decreased by 32.3%. Therefore, it is not accidental, but quite natural that, in general, for the period 1887–1913. in the province, the share of arable land in the structure of agricultural land increased (by 10.6%).

At the same time, it is important to pay attention to the following regularity: during the period under review, the sown areas increased not only and not even so much due to the growth of the sowing wedge under consumer rye. Low prices for bread and lack of land forced the peasants to look for effective sources of capital accumulation to buy land, which led to an increase in the share of arable land for market-oriented crops (potatoes, oats, buckwheat, etc.). The decline in the volume of exports of Russian grain and its cheapness after the world crisis in 1894 contributed to the development of starch and distilleries. As a result, the share of arable land under rye in the province decreased from 51% in 1897 to 41% in 1903.

At the same time, population growth as an objective factor determined the regular redistribution of the region's farmland structure. According to the calculations of V.K. Yatsunsky, the population increased by 65% ​​over the period 1867–1905: from 1438 thousand people to 2128 thousand people.

And as a result, since 1905, there has again been an increase in the share of arable wedge under rye to an indicator of 46.7% of the area of ​​agricultural land.

Thus, population growth aggravated the problem of the shortage of arable land to the utmost, which forced the peasants to reduce oat crops and increase the area under consumer rye; the practice of leasing land from landowners to rural communities was developed. During the years of the Stolypin agrarian reform, most of this land was bought by rural producers through the Peasants' Bank and its local branches. The main part of the acquired land was used for sowing consumer rye, which already in 1913 occupied up to 55% of the entire arable land of the province.

In the period 1914–1916. mass mobilization to the fronts of the First World War led to a massive outflow of men from the village. This process, along with the growth of military needs, had a number of significant consequences. Again there was a decrease in the share of arable land under rye (from 55 to 49%), but at the same time the area under oats increased (an increase in the need to supply the cavalry with fodder), flax (the possibility of using exclusively female labor), fodder crops (grass) and buckwheat (late sowing). this culture made it possible to extend the period of field work). As a result, there was a reduction in arable land by 6% in the Ryazan province and by 11% in the Non-Chernozem region of the Russian Empire as a whole.

Taking into account the undersowing, the transfer of part of the arable land to fodder and industrial crops also reduced the economic need for mills (Table 2). The number of windmills as of 1915 decreased by 288 units, or 23% of the level of 1905. The indicators of the decline in watermills over the same period are minimal, only 2.2% (by 7 units). At the same time, the total potential of thermal mills increased by more than 5.5 times: 46 units in 1905 and 233 in 1915. It was they who performed the main “compensating” function. At the same time, the general trend of the predominant concentration of mills in the Stepnaya side of the province remained: 542 windmills (57% of the total number in the province), 154 water (49%) and 126 steam (over 54%) .

A more significant reduction in mills occurred in 1916–1920. The country was gripped by a deep general economic crisis. In conditions of economic ruin, hunger, the townspeople and those demobilized from the army poured into the countryside. Only for 1916-1917. the rural population increased by 500 thousand people, or almost 20% of the total population of the Ryazan province. The growth of independent and viable farms over the same period was noted by only 10%. In the region, as of 1917, there were 37% of horseless peasant farms, more than 10.1% of farms did not sow at all.

Period civil war was characterized by the maximum level of arable land abandonment (in the Ryazan province - 23%, in general in the Non-Black Earth region of Russia - 32%). The main reasons for the reduction in sown areas were: the severity of the food tax; lack of free markets; bad harvests; lack of seeds and tools of production; equalizing redistribution of land, etc. As a result, economically justified incentives for expanding the plowing wedge were lost. The demographic situation also changed unfavorably: in 1920, there were 127 women per 100 men in the Ryazan province (in 1897 - 111.1 women); the proportion of the working-age population has declined sharply. In the pre-war period, with an average yield, almost 77 million poods of grain were harvested a year, and in 1917-1921 no more than 30 million poods. To maintain even a living wage, 29 million pounds were not enough. And, as a result, the region was gripped by mass famine, and besides, 1921 was extremely dry.

And as a result, there was a sharp "naturalization" of agriculture. With plowing, which accounted for 56.5% of the area of ​​the province, there was actually no reserve even for the extensive expansion of arable land. There was a maximum reduction in the sowing of market crops (oats, potatoes, buckwheat, oilseeds and perennial grasses) and a corresponding expansion of areas under consumer crops: rye by 9.2% and especially millet. Millet is drought tolerant, and therefore it was sown on the main areas previously occupied by buckwheat. The following fact is indicative here: as of 1860, there were 154 windmills, in 1917 - 733, and in 1922 their number exceeded 1300 units.

The established three-field farming system objectively could not increase productivity and grain yields. Thus, the three-field technology could “feed” only if the average population density was not more than 40 people per 1 sq. km. verst. The influx of townspeople into the countryside led to a sharp increase in the indicator (65 people per 1 sq. verst). The total population in the Ryazan province as of the beginning of the 1920s exceeded 2.6 million people, having increased by almost 86% compared to 1860 (by 1.2 million people), while at the same time a sharp reduction in the harvest of rye (by 50%).

In the current situation, the stabilization of the agricultural sector was an important condition for the revival of the economy, which was held back by a whole range of reasons, and not least by its weak energy base. Certain hopes were pinned on the implementation of the GOELRO plan, and in its context, on the development of hydraulic and wind energy.

However, the lack of material, technical and financial resources acted as a severe limiting factor for the restoration of the economy. It was necessary to solve the problem of the accumulation of primary capital, which in the conditions of economic and political isolation Soviet Russia could only be realized with internal resources. This predetermined the general strategy of the state and the adoption of the course of the new economic policy (NEP - 1921-1925).

It was during the years of NEP that the practice of egalitarian distribution of land, characteristic of the period of "war communism", was discontinued. As a result, the desire of the population to expand the sown areas is traced, the problem of undersowing is gradually disappearing. By the beginning of 1923, the consequences of mass starvation had been eliminated, and the growth of multi-field crop rotations was intensifying. The prerequisites began to “work”, stimulating the private producer to expand production, which led to the restoration of the wholesale market for agricultural products.

It is no coincidence that during this period there was a desire for mechanization and electrification of production processes, but the material and technical capabilities of potential users were severely limited. Therefore, among flour mills, mills based on hydraulic and wind energy have acquired particular economic importance. The efficiency of production attracted a private investor to the milling industry, and the activity of small entrepreneurs contributed to the restoration and growth of the potential of thermal mills. The potential of the domestic industry for the production of flour-grinding equipment was increased. The aspects under consideration contributed to the revival of flour-grinding production in the province (Table 2).

These tables indicate a markedly increased level of mechanization in the flour-grinding industry. In 1922, the potential of thermal mills was almost 49% higher than that of the more “prosperous” 1915. In total, there were 702 windmills and 288 watermills in the Ryazan province.

It was during the years of the New Economic Policy that the transfer by the state of small and unprofitable enterprises to private hands on a leasehold basis became relevant. The terms of the lease were favorable, stipulating only the obligation of tenants to carry out major and current repairs of equipment. As of 1924, more than 80% of the total number of operating windmills and watermills were restored by private entrepreneurs who rented them from the state. As you know, in the XIX century. this form of service and maintenance was typical mainly for the rural community.

In total, the provincial food committee had 173 operating water mills, of which 8 were operated by the provincial trust "Hleboprodukt". These were the largest hydropower plants, producing up to 600,000 poods of flour per month. The remaining 165 mills, based on the implementation of the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of November 12, 1923 "On the transfer of the inactive rental fund of small industrial enterprises to the jurisdiction of grassroots administrative organizations", were transferred to the jurisdiction of the district executive committees of workers (division executive committee). In total, the state organizations had: 10 steam mills (with an annual output of 416,000 poods of flour); 1 water mill; 1 windmill (2.4 thousand pounds per year); 1 turbine as a kind of water mill (108 thousand pounds of flour per year).

At the beginning of 1925, there were 175 water and 10 steam mills in the province. More accurate data are not available, since the practice of statistical accounting of the so-called "qualified" enterprises adopted in 1918 creates objective informational difficulties. Qualified enterprises included enterprises with at least 30 workers or having a heat engine with 16 workers. Accordingly, the main part of windmills and watermills was not included in the statistical account. As an exception, mills with an operating number of at least 5 grinding units (technological units) were registered, regardless of the number of workers employed in production.

Information on windmills is even more contradictory, even according to departmental records. The situation is complicated in connection with the administrative reform in the province. At the same time, 1925 is significant as the initial stage of stabilizing the crisis and, at the same time, as the beginning of a new period in the economic use of wind and river energy resources. In subsequent decades, the systematic growth of the potential of thermal mills naturally led to a reduction in the potential of wind and water mills. Apart from the period of the Great Patriotic War, signs of the economic inexpediency of operating windmills and watermills were becoming more and more obvious. As a result, the current potential of the flour milling industry based on renewable energy by the mid-1950s. was reduced by at least half and was represented by 138 windmills and 85 hydraulic mills.

By the end of the 1950s. the success of rural electrification in the Ryazan region led to the beginning mass process conservation of windmills and watermills. Since the early 1960s these power units have completely lost their economic significance.

Familiar, sad places!
I recognize the surrounding objects -
Here is the mill! She's already collapsed;
The merry noise of her wheels ceased;
The millstone became visible, the old man also died.
He did not mourn the poor daughter for long.
A.S. Pushkin. "Mermaid"

Ancient water mills with a huge wooden wheel with blades and millstones that grind grains into flour have long been a symbol of irretrievably passing time. When did the first mills of this kind appear northeast of Moscow?

It is no secret that some local historians seek to "ancientize" the history of the area that they describe, while grasping at the same time any, even very dubious sources. So, for example, one can often find the statement that the first flour mill in these parts (to the northeast of Moscow) appeared on the Vora River at the confluence of the river. Traders more than 600 years ago. In support of this opinion, a source is also cited: "A tarkhan and unconvictionable letter of Dimitry Ivanovich Donskoy to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery for all its estates," where in which city Sergeyev's estate will be "and the entry attached to it" Tribute of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy to the Sergius Monastery in the summer of 6901 ", which indicates "the village of Borkovo and with a mill on Vora" - in the vicinity of the present city of Krasnoarmeysk near Moscow. Local historians are not embarrassed that the forgery of these documents was proved by the librarian of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Arseniy back in 1884 and agreed with his conclusions and prominent representatives of Soviet science.

Meanwhile, the forgery of the charter of 1393 does not detract from the antiquity of this, in fact, the first mill mentioned in 1401/02 in a spiritual charter Vladimir Andreevich the Brave (1353-1410), according to which he refuses his third son Andrei (c. 1380-1426) "Mikhailovskoye village with a mill" (formerly the village of Mikhailovskoye on Navels near Krasnoarmeysk [3].

Old mill. Hood: I. Levitan.

The main body of data on mills in this region dates back to the second half of the 16th century. So, in the middle of the century the mill arose near the village of Vanteevo (Ivanteevka) on the river. Teaching. In the 1560s, the mill was transferred from flour grinding to the production of writing paper from rags and was mentioned in documents of 7085 (1576/77) of the year: "what happened to Fedor after Savinov on the estate, which he kept a paper mill" . The paper business did not last long.

It is interesting that the cadastral books of ca. 1573/74, 1585/86 and 1593/94, when Vanteevo already belonged to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Vanteev did not have any mill. Meanwhile, the wheel of this same mill is adorned with the current coat of arms of Ivanteevka.

Coat of arms of the city of Ivanteevka.

It is impossible not to recall that this was the first paper mill in the state, and the famous Russian historian Nikolai Petrovich Likhachov (1862-1936), in addition to the data on the Ivanteev mill, wrote: “For us, the news of a paper mill near Moscow in the sixties of the 16th century has an extraordinary importance, because in time it is directly connected with the beginning of printing in Russia. Did the indicated mill make paper suitable for printing? On what paper was the first printed Apostle of 1564 printed? These are questions that are full of interest ... ".

At the old mill. Hood: S. Vorobyov, 1858.

By 1573/74, in the patrimony of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery near the village. Cherkizovo on the river. Klyazma (now the urban-type settlement of Cherkizovo in the Pushkinsky district), a “German mill” appeared, equipped with two millstones (“a German mill on the Klyazma River, grinds into two millstones, miller Denisko Nemchins is in the yard”).

Old mill. Hood: V.D. Polenov, 1880.

In 1584-1586, the same mill with one millstone on Klyazma was built by the Trinity-Sergius Monastery near the village of Tarasovo (village of Tarasovka, Pushkin district).

Around 1584-86, Vore-Korzenev camp, not far from the palace village of Vozdvizhensky on the river. Torgosha (the left tributary of the Vori River) in the patrimony of Bogdan Belsky, the village of Timonino (transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery in 1576, then found itself at Belsky, and then unsubscribed to the sovereign), a flour mill was also built. Half of the mill belonged to the palace village: “Yes, under the same village [Timonino] half of the mill, and the other half of the mill of the sovereign of the palace village of Zdvizhensky for the peasants, and now that mill does not grind, and the peasants said the quitrent was the same from that mill from both halves 40 altyns per year".

Water Mill. Artist: E. Volkov.

By 1585/86 is appearance of three flour mills on the river. Klyazma near the village of Obraztsovo (now part of the town of Shchelkovo) in the estate of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery I, - two between the village of Maltsovo and the village of Vasilievskoye and on the river. Teaching in the wasteland Embankment: "The Olekseevskaya mill grinds in one wheel, and another mill on the river on the Klyazma is Maltsova /.../ the village of Naberezhnaya, below it is a mill on the Klyazma river, grinds in one millstone" .
In 1589, a mill was mentioned on the river. Vore near the village of Bogorodsky (today, the village of Vorya-Bogorodskoye, Shchelkovsky district):"yes, against the Bogorodskoye village and the mill, between the river Vori /.../near the village of Bogorodsky, on the river Vora, there is a mill, on it is a German wheel, and that mill is on rent for the peasants of the village of Zinovievskaya, and the quitrent is paid to the Order of the Big Palace for a year at 4 rubles, and duties are 2 hryvnias. ".
In 1593/94, two mills are mentioned on the river. Plaksa (a tributary of the Vori) near the now non-existent village of Muromtsevo in the patrimony of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery: "Yes, two miller's yards, /.../Yes, from two mills, a quitrent of forty rubles a year is given to the monastery clerk from the living from the vyti, 2 altyns with dengo, and that 2 rubles and 20 altyns ".

Old mill. Artist: P. Jogin.

In 1602 a water flour mill was built on the Lashutka river, which had become shallow by that time, near the village of Litvinovsky (Litvinovo, Shchelkovsky district) in the estate of the Moscow Epiphany Monastery: "the village of Litvinovskoye with villages, and under the village there is a mill". This mill was also mentioned in the documents of 1623.

Old mill. Hood: V.P. Krantz, 1987.

In the same 1623 on the river. Klyazma mentions a mill near the village of Shchelkovo (entrance to the city of Shchelkovo):"Yes, under the same village on the other side of the Klyazma River, the mill is damaged, and in it the peasant miller Pervushka Fedorov, and on the mill side of the bank Fetyukhin."

Forgotten mill. Hood: A. Kiselev, 1891.

In 1655, Patriarch Nikon began the construction of a paper mill on the Pakhra River in Zelenaya Sloboda (now the Ramensky District) near its confluence with the river. Moscow in order to provide the Moscow Printing House with paper. The mill was destroyed by a flood in 1657 and finally dismantled in 1660.

Dam. Hood: S. Zhukovsky, 1909

In 1674 on the river. Yauza, on the site of the mill, which was previously used for the manufacture of gunpowder, a paper mill was built by royal decree, which operated in 1678.

In 1698, with.