The article highlights a little-studied page of Russian history - the creation of the Zheltuga Republic at the end of the XIX century on the basis of an illegal settlement of gold prospectors on the Zheltuga River (Amur basin). In a short period of time, the multinational mining community managed to create a proto-state entity based on Russian principles of state-building, with its own legislative, executive and judicial power, coat of arms, flag, army and punitive bodies. The settlement with more than 10,000 inhabitants has become the economic and cultural center of Transbaikalia.

Keywords: Zheltuga Republic, Zheltuga, Amur Region, Zheltuga River, gold rush, gold diggers, gold mining, gold mine, gold-bearing rivers, Zheltugintsy.

Introduction

In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Siberia and the Far East experienced a "gold rush". Thousands of people of different nationalities in search of quick profit rushed to the mines, created spontaneous prospecting settlements. The abundance of unrecorded gold and the thirst for enrichment led to the formation of a highly criminalized environment. A sense of self-preservation forced the settlers to take measures to restore order. One example of a successful settlement of interpersonal relations is the Zheltuga Republic; it existed for about three years and rapidly evolved from a community of escaped convicts to a kind of democratic entity, a kind of cultural and industrial center. In this study, we will try to answer the following questions: what was the national composition, social status and cultural affiliation of the inhabitants of the self-proclaimed republic? what language did they speak? who managed the settlement and how? was there a separation of powers? what was the basis of the economy of Jaundice?

To answer these questions, we studied the materials of the Russian State Archive of the Far East. Independent field studies were also conducted in the north-east of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, during which descendants of Chinese prospectors who washed gold in Russian and Chinese mines at the end of the XIX century were interviewed. Valuable information was obtained during the study of the collections of the Vernadsky State Geological Museum and the Moscow State University Museum of Earth Science. A comprehensive and reliable source of information about the Zheltuga Republic is the Amur California [1888], Description of Manchuria [1897], and others. (for example: [Lebedev, 1896]). They contain important and voluminous information.

The illegality of the activity of prospectors did not contribute to the growth of interest in the settlement on the part of Russian scientists of the XIX century. This explains a certain shortage of scientific papers of that time on

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the specified topic. During the existence of the Zheltuga Republic, the greatest amount of information about it could be gleaned from eyewitness accounts published in the press, for example, in the newspaper "Siberia" and the magazines "Eastern Review", "Bulletin of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society", "Life on the Eastern Outskirts". Only in the 1890s, when the Russian Empire was paying the most attention to the resources of North-Eastern China, did data on the "golden freedom" appear in official documents and scientific works. Interesting, but very brief information on the topic of interest to us can be found in N. V. Latkin's work of fiction "On the Siberian gold Mines", created from the memoirs of eyewitnesses [1898]. N. V. Latkin had a lot of contact with the miners and knew their lives well, so his works, although in an artistic form, help to expand our idea of the customs that prevailed in the mines. Some facts can also be gleaned from other works of fiction, the plots of which were based on real events [Essays..., 1876; Siberian Collection, 1886; Barinov, 1999; Vasiliev, 1897; Ignatkin, 1994; Rusanov, 1995; Surkov, 2009]. Of course, you should use such resources carefully and only in cases where other information has not been preserved.

Illegal settlements in the area of gold mines were very common in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Various amounts of information have been preserved about them. Since such settlements both in the Trans-Baikal Region and the Amur region belong to the same time, their inhabitants are characterized by the same goals and motives, activities and conditions, it can be assumed that the formed way of life and the features of life support in them were similar. Therefore, we consider it possible to fill in the gaps in the information on the Zheltuga Republic with information on other illegal entities [Zavitkov, 1888; Sretensky, 1888; N. G.-v, 1888; Arsenyev, 1972; Vasiliev, 1897; Golikov and Semevsky, 1898; Latkin, 1898; Nadin, 1898; Sadovnikov, 1909; Umansky, 1888]. Fragmentary data are found in the diaries of travelers that were popular at that time [Ocherki..., 1876; Grulev; Teresh, 1904]. Valuable information on the geology of the region is contained in the works of the largest researcher of Manchuria geologist E. E. Ahnert [1897, 1900, 1907, 1910, 1913]. Articles describing professional associations of gold prospectors and the development of the gold industry in Manchuria are also useful [Slovtsov, 1886; Economic organizations...; Karsakov; Mukhin, 1972]. The work of A. E. Fedorov (2009) indirectly touches upon the topic of gold mines and the peculiarities of the behavior of people living near resource-rich regions.

The issues of concentration of production and labor, technical modernization, evolution of organizational forms of enterprises, activities of commercial banks, attraction of foreign capital, dynamics of the social composition of gold producers are covered in the monograph by L. V. Sapogovskaya [1998]. Development of rich gold deposits in Siberia, formation of Russian industrial and financial capital - research topics by V. A. Lamin [2002]. Material on the largest gold producers in Siberia can be found in the work of P. Yu. Afanasyev "Gold of the Amur Region" [2006]. Among the most recent publications on the Zheltuga Republic, we should mention an article prepared by the staff of the Moscow State University Museum of Land History (Skripko, Semenova, Snakin, and Berezner, 2009). The staff of the Moscow State University Museum of Land History found in its collections unique photographs depicting the miners of Jaundice at work and on vacation. These photos prompted the researchers to write an article about the Zheltuga Republic.

A well-known Russian scientist A.V. Surkov, formerly chief geologist of the Ministry of Geology of the RSFSR, a member of numerous expeditions to the Altai, Khibiny, Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, and a major expert on gold placers, provided us with great help in preparing this article. As someone who has worked in the mines for many years, he is well aware of the life and working conditions of prospectors. A. V. Surkov's comments and recommendations were taken into account when finalizing the text.

Emergence of the Zheltuga Republic

The history of the" gold rush " in the Far East began with the discovery by free prospectors in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries of the richest gold deposits in the Middle Vitim, Zee, Okhotsk coast, in the Olyokminsky district, in Chukotka and in Northern China. Settlements in gold mining areas eventually took on the appearance of colonies and even republics. The legendary Zheltuga Republic-a free-range prospector-appeared in one of the most famous mines in Manchuria [Description of Manchuria, 1897, pp. 476-478] on the small river Zheltuge (Zheltukhe/Zhelteya, Chinese name Mohe), which flows into the Malaya Albazikha and belongs to the right part of the Amur basin. Residents of the self-proclaimed republic, drawing parallels with the "gold rush" in California, called their settlement Amur California, and themselves - Californians.

The closest settlements to the Chinese Zheltuga River were the Russian villages of Ignashino,

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Pokrovka and Amazar. It was from here that the news of gold nuggets accidentally discovered on the river in the early spring of 1883 instantly spread throughout the Amur and Transbaikalia, provoking a huge influx of population to these territories [Amurskaya California, 1888, p. 275]. Hundreds of artisans and small employees, leaving their jobs, rushed to the mine. Already in September 1883, several thousand employees of the Nimanskaya, Butinskaya, Verkhne-Zeyskaya and other gold-mining companies arrived in Blagoveshchensk on steamboats for further transportation to Zheltuga. Small commercial people followed them [Description of Manchuria, 1897, p. 278]. By the beginning of 1884, the population of the mine reached 5-7 thousand, and at the beginning of 1885 it already exceeded 10 thousand. The newspaper Sibir wrote that in the spring of 1885, 12,000 Russians and more than 500 Chinese were among the inhabitants of the settlement (Sibir, 1885). According to the newspaper "Revue Française de Letrange et de Colonie" for the same year, there were 9 thousand Russians and 6 thousand Chinese in the mine. In the summer, during the flood period, due to the impossibility of carrying out work, the number of workers decreased, but by autumn it increased again. At the end of 1885, there were about 5 thousand gold mines in the mine. dude. [Ibid., p. 487].

In the prospecting settlement on Zheltuga, in the words of its inhabitants, in "international California" (Amurskaya California, 1888, p. 273), not only Russians and Chinese lived, but also " Koreans, Orochons, Jews, Germans, French, Poles, Americans, Siberian foreigners and many different adventurers who arrived in the majority from America and became leaders of the masses" [Description of Manchuria, 1897, p. 487]. A description of the inhabitants of a similar free-lance located a little further north, on the Olekma River, has been preserved: "Here is the broad, tall figure of a settler, the squat figure of a Siberian, and the broad, high-cheekboned, small-eyed, shiny white teeth, beardless and beardless face of a Tungus or Yakut, and the beautiful Caucasian profile of a Circassian, framed by a black beard, with black expressive, though harsh eyes, and a Tatar in his murmur on a shaved, sweaty head, and a long, lean, rustic Belarusian ... "[N. G-v, 1888, p. 253]. In our opinion, there is every reason to believe that a similar diversity could be observed in Jaundice.

The richness of the region attracted representatives of various social strata, each of whom dreamed of becoming a gold digger. Zavitkov wrote: "There is no specific flower garden in Siberia where these flowers of the local financial world grow. They come randomly, often from spheres and heaps that we don't know about. A poor clerk, a prospector, a material worker in the mines, even a boy who served tea, becomes a gold miner... Happy gold miners were prasols, clerks and even scribes of provincial chancelleries... Millionaires, beggars, aristocrats, retired cavalrymen who came to Siberia to seek their fortune, technicians and directly illiterate people of low origin performed in the field of the gold industry. A white glove with a dirty paw was equally drawn to the enviable metal" [1888, p. 8].

The settlement was exclusively inhabited by men. Women were not allowed to enter the mine [Description of Manchuria, 1897, pp. 493-494]. The ban did not apply only in the last months of the republic's existence. The overwhelming majority of residents of Zheltuga are runaway convicts, mine workers, Siberian artisans, Cossacks, former police officers, retired officials, etc. [Amurskaya California, 1888, p. 273]. The mines attracted a large number of scammers, gamblers, sharpers, and "all sorts of tourists who came here to fish in muddy waters" [Ibid., p. 288].

The multinational community spoke mainly Russian, as most of the settlers were Russian subjects. The second most common language was Chinese. As a rule, the Chinese lived separately in the mines, so their communication was most often limited to their own artel. It is very likely that the "Kyakhta Pidgin" - an unusual lexical and grammatical mixture of Russian and Chinese-also sounded in Zheltuga. In addition, the system of conventional signs and notches was developed and actively used in the conditions of the taiga.

The entire mining population was divided by type of activity into a number of categories. Most of the inhabitants of the republic belonged to the category of gold diggers, or predators/hitmen. They became prospectors on their own initiative or with the help of agents of gold-mining companies: recruiters lured peasants of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East to Jaundice with stories about free life. On the way to the mine, future workers, intoxicated with dreams of nuggets, drank new sheepskin coats, winter boots and things taken from home issued to them by agents. They entered the taiga drunk, emaciated, in tattered zipuns and barefoot supports.

The second category consisted of alcohol carriers. They allowed residents of the Zheltuga Republic to occasionally wet their throats with a glass of vodka. But because of the quarrels that arose between the prospectors "from drunken eyes", at a general meeting it was decided to prohibit the activity of any drinking establishments at a distance closer than 50 c. from the gold mines [Latkin, 1898, p. 169]: "To engage in the sale of alcoholic beverages to all those who come to the mine bazaar for temporary trade is absolutely forbidden. possibility of superimposition on the designated object

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triple duty or, in case of insolvency, confiscation of it. For the sale of alcoholic beverages by someone who constantly sells at the mine without a specially established permit, the guilty person is fined 25 rubles for each bottle of vodka sold for the first time, 50 rubles for the second time, and 100 rubles for the third time" [Amur California, 1888, p.299]. In addition, for open drunkenness, a penalty of 100 rods was imposed [Description of Manchuria, 1897, p. 494]. Later, the distance between pubs and mines was reduced to 25 km, which led to an increase in the trade in alcoholic beverages. The goods were exchanged for cash or gold stolen by the workers.

Alcohol carriers went to various tricks to sell vodka to predators. Hiding a bottle of alcohol in the back of their knapsack, they wandered along the taiga trails, notifying trusted persons of their arrival with the help of special conditional signs. Having learned about the appearance of the alcohol carrier, the worker, hiding from the mine administration and police Cossacks, exchanged alcohol for hidden gold [Grulev]. Only novice alcohol carriers were engaged in such trade. After earning a little money, they changed tactics: they applied for a site located near a large mine with a population of 5 - 10 thousand, and after receiving it, they put up several of their own people under the guise of workers, who began to secretly exchange diluted vodka for gold. Among the alcohol carriers, such merchants were considered the most successful. Having become rich, they acquired several gold mines, where they worked on gold mining, started a farm and traded: "he will bring more vodka in forty-dollar barrels, since there is no one about this good freely, rum, tinctures, liqueurs of various kinds, large-scale Yenisei maderas, red goods, tobacco, tea, sugar, and washes gold for himself, in most cases, not their own, of course, but someone else's, neighbor's... his vodka and any other drink are also relatively inexpensive, since he sprinkles it in every possible way, and flavours it with stryuchkov pepper, or even with other things, so they bring him a golden grain - wheat from a neighbor's mine, and he will exchange anything from his warehouse for this product" [Latkin, 1898, p. 175].

The third category should include merchants. After the adoption of a series of strict laws by the population of the republic, which regulated the way of life in the mines, they began to come to Zheltuga more boldly; soon there were 300 regular traders here. "The trading element bore a duty of 10% on all goods, with the exception of meat and crackers; those selling alcoholic beverages in bulk were charged 25%; tavern keepers, tavern keepers, as well as all those selling this item in retail, together with entertainment establishments, paid 20% of the total gross monthly trade" [Amur California, 1888, p. 304]. At first, the merchants were mostly Molokans, and in the absence of competition, they set the price arbitrarily. However, soon Jews began to actively trade in the mines, attracting buyers with low prices. The main supplier of both Molokans and Jews was the trading house "Dixon & Co.", whose steamboats from Hamburg with luxury goods, wine, clothing, tools, weapons, gunpowder, etc. reached Ignashino [Description of Manchuria, 1897, pp. 488-489]. However, the very first suppliers were Cossacks who lived in border villages. They brought crackers, meat, bread, vodka, and tools to the mine.

The "Californians" lived in winter quarters located on the slopes of two mountains. Each winter shelter is approx. wide. 4 sazh. and a height of approx. 3 yards was a log house covered with rough planks and lapnik (or tree bark), without windows, with an earthen floor. Bunks were placed along the walls, and equipment was placed in the corners. In the center was a hearth that burned blackly. The construction of a winter shelter cost a total of 200 rubles. The miners got up in the dark and went to bed when the sun was already sinking below the horizon. They took turns cooking. The basis of their diet was rice or other cereals, game or fish, berries. Prospectors worked standing knee-deep or waist-deep in icy water, seven days a week (oral report by A.V. Surkov).

For the settlement, Oryol field was chosen - the place where the first tavern was built, in which workers gathered to play orlyanka. The winter quarters were arranged in two rows, oriented along the section, and formed a large street-Millionth. Some buildings were randomly scattered around the mine area. A little further from the Orel field were the fanzas of Chinese miners who lived separately. Living on Millionnaya Street was both prestigious and profitable: the pits that stretched along the street revealed an evenly distributed gold placer, while in the lower reaches gold was nested.

Soon after the settlement was organized, hotels, numerous pubs and gambling dens opened in it, "a menagerie and a whole troupe of jugglers, magicians, gymnasts, horsemen, two music orchestras and several organs appeared" (Amurskaya California, 1888, p.288). Casino "Chita" was opened, which Zheltug residents called "Monte Carlo". According to the descriptions, " it was one of the most extensive and unlike other decent buildings, in which there were three rooms. The first was a buffet with food and an orchestra, the second was a dining room for those who wanted to eat (here they gave dinners at a price that Borel himself would have envied); the third, which was more than the first two rooms, was an arena where players competed. In this room, the game was played on two tables; on one of them, Sam reigned supreme.

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"shtos", and on the other - a beautiful roulette " [Ibid., p. 288]. Huge sums were lost here. Ordinary peasants sitting at the table put 4 thousand rubles on the card and easily lost them, although they could live comfortably all their lives with this money. As witnesses of these events wrote, here, under the incessant music, in the atmosphere of an endless feast, people, forgetting about everything that was dear and sacred to them, rushed into the pool of revelry and recklessness.

Hotels "Marcel", "Beseda"," Taiga", "California" were built in Zheltuga, which were almost as comfortable as the European ones. "Californians" built two baths (shared and numbered), as well as several bakeries. These were log houses that differed from each other in size [Description of Manchuria, 1897, p. 489].

Saturday was the day of delivery of goods. Carts and tents were appearing in the vast ice square decorated with flags. Organ-grinders wandered among them, playing ancient arias; tricks were performed in a booth and various objects were played; "not far from this place, having enclosed a small space with a rope, a Tatar on a gray horse was showing the audience a high riding school; near him there was also a fairly solid iron cage on wheels, in which a large wooden cage was placed. a tigress caught in the Primorye region, brought here on the way to Russia, was placed; a troupe of traveling gymnasts, who, despite severe frosts, performed various evolutions, was immediately located on the carpet, under the open sky; dressed in light tights, they only allowed themselves to wrap themselves in mutton coats during intermissions " [Amur California, 1888, p. 304]. Against this background, dozens of camels roamed freely among the people scurrying between the wagons, on which traders brought meat to Zheltuga.

The rapid increase in the republic's population has had an impact on the economic situation in the Trans-Baikal and Amur regions. Thousands of Russians flocked to the republic, including not only people without certain occupations, but also artisans, farmers, and workers from private mines. The decline in the number of rural workers has led to the decline of agriculture in the region. Due to the increase in the number of "Californians", food supplies to the self-proclaimed republic have sharply increased. All grain was sent there, including those left for sowing, from the territory with a radius of 200 km from the mine. This led to an uncontrolled increase in prices in Chita, Nerchinsk, Irkutsk, etc. The measures taken by the Amur administration to normalize the situation did not bring results [Description of Manchuria, 1897, pp. 499-501]. The settlement of gold miners attracted not only the opportunity to engage in trade here, but also the extraordinary richness of gold-bearing layers. According to some estimates, from the autumn of 1883 to the spring of 1885, more than 400 p. of gold was mined in Zheltuga, and for the entire period of the republic's existence - up to 500 p. [Ibid., p. 499].

As early as December 1884, the Amur California population was ca. 30 shops, later - 150. The income of some of them was 200-400 rubles a day. The biggest profit came from selling alcohol. Alcoholic beverages produced by Khlebnikov's Amur company were the most popular: cognac, sherry, madeira, and champagne. There was an acute shortage of credit money in the mines, so most often they paid in gold. However, its price was not fixed and was set arbitrarily. So, for 7 spools, you could buy a pound of meat, a pound of breadcrumbs or a bucket of vodka. Over time, a convenient unit of account appeared in California-a piece equal to one spool* of concentrate gold. The fractional weight of a piece was expressed by matches and playing cards: 1 spool = 4 cards = 96 matches [Ibid., p. 488].

Very quickly, Zheltuga established postal communication with Russia, so that correspondence was received there regularly. The California had an infirmary; it was located in one of the winter quarters and looked modest on the outside. The area of the infirmary was quite large. The interior space was divided by thick log partitions into four rooms. In the largest-the ward for patients-there were 15 wooden beds attached to the floor. Each bunk was made up of two rows of soft felt instead of a mattress and covered with a white sheet. The bedding set was completed with straw-stuffed canvas pillows in chintz covers and a flannel blanket. In the second room was a pharmacy, in the third they received patients, in the fourth there were hospital servants and a kitchen. "Patients admitted to the infirmary enjoyed free of charge, at the public expense, the supervision of the infirmary doctor, the pharmacy belonging to the hospital, the care and care of the hospital staff and, with the permission of the doctor, full food consisting of morning tea, breakfast, lunch, no more than three courses, and evening tea (for tea white bread was allowed). Such maintenance of each sick pensioner cost the infirmary a total of up to 5 rubles a day, which, with a full set for 15 people (and it was full from the first day of opening), amounted to 2,250 rubles a month" [Amur California, 1888, pp. 305-306]. The infirmary was kept at

* In the Zheltuga Republic, the following weight measures were taken: 1 lb = 0.4095 kg; 1 spool = 96 shares = 4.266 g, 1 share = 0.044 g .

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funds of the mine administration, but it was expensive and it was not possible to increase it, because places were provided to the poorest residents of Zheltuga and the seriously ill. The worst diseases in California were typhoid and scurvy.

Rather quickly, the miners abandoned the wild hard labor mores: "Now you can't give a worker a punch in the teeth or a slap on the neck as before, but they completely forgot about flogging, unless the police department will punish someone, and even then not in the same way, slightly "[Latkin, 1898, p. 176]. The workers were so drawn into the way the Zheltuginsky mine worked that they could no longer stop working: they were bored with nothing to do and no profit. The work gave tangible income: the worker, washing sand in the most primitive way, extracted 5-6 spools a day [Grulev].

Social transformations in the settlement

In the very first days of its existence, the mine began to steal, robberies with violence, and then murder. The corpses of the dead were hidden in the woods, thrown without burial to be torn to pieces by wild animals, or burned. The number of crimes grew rapidly, but the turning point in the life of the "Californians" was the murder of the chef of the artel of exiled convicts Carians. He was killed for the purpose of robbery: the cook had hidden approx. 50 gold spools. The perpetrator attacked his victim with a small four-pound mallet and struck them with approx. 40 blows to the head [Amur California, 1888, p. 290]. This event stirred up all the miners, the atmosphere was heated to the limit. Residents of the mine came to the conclusion that it was necessary to choose a leader and restore order in the village. It was decided to grant the chosen person broad rights to restore order at the mine, and also promised to provide full assistance to the manager and his assistants. The mining authorities decided to make these elective positions paid, and to collect funds for this from the merchant class that worked in the mines. In order for the decision to be made official, all the miners took an oath and signed it a document recognizing the authority of the elected leaders and the laws established by them. At the heart of the Zheltuginsky laws (which is extremely interesting!) there was a "kind word" that "many Californians remember only from the memories of their childhood spent in the cradle, perhaps under the eyes of loving mothers, but in all their long subsequent life, in various prisons and mines, these unfortunate people, except for the cursing of the prison warden and the kicks of the guards, did not have to hear anything" [Ibid., p. 293]. Their willingness to follow the letter of the adopted law "Californians" recorded in the following document: "Such and such a year, month and day we, artels and owners of free crafts in Amur California, remembering the word commanded to us by our great teacher, the Son of God and the Lord God: "Love your neighbor as yourself", and, following this Christian teaching, left to us in the holy Gospel, which leads us to peace and the good things of life on earth, salvation and eternity in the kingdom of heaven, we dare, with the help of the Most High, to work tirelessly for the benefit of our neighbor, in order to guide those who have gone astray to the right path and thereby eliminate the deeds that God does not please sinners and those who have forgotten the words of the commandments: "don't kill" and "don't steal". Turning with a warm prayer to our Lord for not leaving us weak on the difficult path that is destined for us, we implicitly believe and give ourselves into the hands not as power-hungry superiors, but as the most worthy among us and remembering the word of God, which taught us truth and justice, to our chosen ones, which we have confirmed by signatures and mentally-to" [Ibid., pp. 294-295].

At a general meeting, it was decided to divide the mine according to the number of wintering grounds into five sections-states. Residents of each state had to choose two prefects from among them for a period of four months. When choosing a candidate, it was recommended to evaluate the morality and decency of each candidate, since in the future the fate of each individual gold digger could depend on him. To confirm the choice, all residents of the state had to sign a paper with the following text: "We, people of various ranks who settled without permission on the Chinese side for gold mining, decided to establish order and discipline in our mine, in order to ensure security, and for this purpose we chose, at that meeting, by a majority then he will be appointed ruler of so-and-so, giving him full power to deal with those among us who deserve any punishment for their misdeeds. Such and such a section of industrialists of Amur California, confirming with their signatures the indicated choice, asks not to refuse to accept this duty and recognize the bearers of this so-and-so for 4-month public service as our foremen" [Ibid., p. 293]. As a result, a ten-person board was formed; two of them were Chinese, representing the interests of the Chinese miners who lived separately.

At the meeting, the name "Zheltuginsky Republic" or "Amur California" was finally assigned to the Zheltuginsky mines. As noted, the republic was divided into states. Its residents

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they called them Zheltugins or Californians. The republic was headed by a senior officer or president. State representatives were called elders or prefects. The meeting established three basic principles of the existence of "California": the election of self-government bodies, the partnership of artels and the severity of punishment for violating public order.

About who was the first ruler of Zheltuga, information differs. It should be noted that this issue was not clear even in the years when these events unfolded. A report compiled by the Chancellery of the Ministry of Finance in 1897 stated: "The choice fell on a person who stood out from the crowd by his education, versatile practical knowledge, honesty and sobriety, and gifted with a highly energetic character. It was Karl Karlovich Fosse, an Italian subject; according to other news (Sibirsky Vestnik) - Adolf Karlovich Fass; according to Revue Française-Karl Karlovich Ivanovich, a Slovak, an Austro-Hungarian subject. In the most recent period of the mine's existence, the community was headed by a retired mining police officer, Sakharov (Sibir, 1885, No. 5). "Life on the Eastern Outskirts "(1896, No. 135) reported that in Blagoveshchensk, in July of this year, N. A. Prokunin, who at one time also headed the Zheltuginsky mines, died. However, nowhere else does the name Prokunin occur" (cit. according to: [Description of Manchuria, 1897, p. 492]).

According to the general decision, the president of the republic was paid a salary, according to some sources-400 rubles a month, according to others-12 thousand rubles a year, and the elders-200 rubles. [Ibid.]. On the left sleeve of the upper dress, the president wore a sign made of yellow copper with the corresponding inscription, and the headman-a sign made of white copper. Ten prefects made up the board of the Zheltuga mines. All administrative and judicial power was in the hands of the President and the Board. Prefects solved civil and minor criminal cases, the penalty for which did not exceed 100 blows. The headman was obliged to report on each case of punishment to the President. Together, the prefects formed the first instance of the court. Serious cases were decided by the President, acting as a second instance. The most serious crimes were murder. The court decided on it by a public gathering. The signal for a general gathering was a shot from two cannons located on the Orel field. The council of prefects was called by firing a single cannon [Ibid., p. 493].

Zheltug residents also developed their own legislation, which regulated life in the republic. The laws of "California" concerned: 1) collection of duties, contributions and payments for the needs of the republic; 2) obtaining a gold-bearing site for use; technical and organizational requirements for carrying out work; 3) conducting trade and other activities both in the mines themselves and in the territories adjacent to them; 4) norms regulating the administration of judicial and administrative power 5) punishments for violating public order and the laws of the republic. The laws formed a kind of" constitution " of the Zheltuga Republic. Compliance with its norms was mandatory for everyone living in the territory of "California". "Constitution" (was written in five copies) it was sent out to the states, where, after being read aloud by the petty officer, all the prospectors signed it.

The criminal law of Jaundice was very specific and corresponded to the mores of that society. For example, it was provided for: "500 blows with thorns for theft; 500 - for sodomy and other unnatural vices and crimes; 500 - for carrying weapons while drunk; 500 - for falsifying gold dust; 500 - for shooting within the Jaundice without a valid reason... 300 blows with a stick for giving away work tools on bail; 400 blows of a stick for driving women to the mine; 200 blows for night noise; 100 rods for open drunkenness " [Ibid., p. 494]. It should be clarified that the punishment of blackthorn-a whip stuffed with sharp nails - was equivalent to the death penalty. Murder was punished "according to the law of Moses", i.e., an eye for an eye, and the guilty person was executed in the same way that his victim was killed.

The Zheltuga Republic is an interesting phenomenon for both ethnologists and anthropologists. This is a model of self-government, an example of coexistence on the same territory of representatives of different classes and cultures united by the thirst for profit. In the course of our research, we were able to trace how the "wild" community of free prospectors transformed into a kind of "proto-state" unit with its own legislative, executive, judicial and monetary systems, a system of punitive bodies, a clear power structure, a flag and coat of arms. In a short period of time, Zheltuga turned from a spontaneous settlement of prospectors and adventurers into a kind of industrial and cultural center of Transbaikalia and the Amur Region, which had a strong impact on the economic situation in this region.

List of literature

Amur California / / Siberian stories from the life of the mining people. - St. Petersburg: [Type of M. M. Stasyulevich], 1888. - pp. 273-322.

Siberia. - 1885. - N 5. - pp. 8-9.

Anert E. E. Preliminary report of the Manchurian expedition of the Imp. of the Russian Geographical region. St. Petersburg: A. S. Suvorin's Press, 1897. Geol. - 30 p.

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The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 24.03.11.

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