Salt Industry and Supply of salt to the Population of Eastern Siberia in the 19th – early 20th centuries (based on materials from the Yenisei Province)
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The article analyzes the historical experience of developing the salt industry and supplying salt to the population of Eastern Siberia in the 19th -early 20th centuries using materials from the Yenisei province.It is shown that the state kept these issues under control, since they actually had strategic importance in the context of the ongoing development of the region.Populated areas could become depopulated due to a shortage or excessive cost of such a vital consumer item as salt.The government assumed high costs for the delivery and sale of salt in remote stores and stands to avoid this.Attempts by the treasury to relieve itself of the burden of these costs, as well as to carry out technical modernization of the industry through private capital investment were unsuccessful.Siberian entrepreneurs sought to extract quick profits; they were not attracted by the obligations to ensure the constant availability of salt reserves and sell it at a fixed price.Local deposits of rock salt were not explored until the 20th century, despite the fact that salt was a scarce commodity.The weakness of the salt industry did not contribute to the development of other industries (for example, cattle breeding, tannery, fishing, etc.) in turn.The local salt industry was in its infancy in the pre-reform period and could not compete with products from suppliers in European Russia in the post-reform period.Prices for consumers for this vital product were always higher here than in other regions of the country.
Source: Bylye Gody
Language: English
Topic: Soviet and Russian History
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4405246165