Sullen River (novel)

In 1891, Shishkov graduated from the Vyshnevolotsk Technical School. After practicing in 1894, he went to work in the Tomsk District of Waterways, where Nikolay Efimovich Matonin, a descendant of the Yenisei merchant family, who told Shishkov a lot about the life of gold miners of the Yenisei taiga, worked at that time.

From 1900 to 1920, Shishkov made expeditions to the Irtysh , Ob , Biya , Katun , Yenisei , Chulym , Lower Tunguska , Lena and Angara .

In 1928, the first part of the novel “The Gloom River” was published, and in 1933 the full edition of the “Gloom River” was published.

The novel takes place in the late XIX - early XX centuries around the Gromov family. The grandfather of the protagonist Danil Gromov was engaged in robbery. Dying, he transferred the money to his son, discovering their origin. His son, Peter Gromov, invested in entrepreneurship and raised in his son Prokhor, the protagonist of the novel, a worthy heir. Prokhor Gromov turned out to be a purposeful man with a strong character, which led him to the peak of wealth and power in the Siberian region. However, the evil done by grandfather Danila seemed to haunt the family in all generations. Misfortunes in the Thunder family happen one after another. Prokhor, originally an honest and moral man, gets stuck in a swamp of evil.

Sullen River is a fictitious name. Could be borrowed by the author from a Siberian song.

In 1911, Shishkov participated in an expedition along the Lower Tunguska . In a novel called Ugryum River, this river is described. The author slightly changed the names of the settlements on the Lower Tunguska: Podvolochnaya - Podvoloshino , Pochuyskoye - Chechuysk , Erbohomohlya - Erbogachyon .

Big Stream River - Lena . However, at least all the prototypes of the heroes of the novel lived along the Yenisei. The northern city of Kraisk at the location - Turukhansk .

True, all the places mentioned should be attributed only to the description of the journey of Prokhor with Ibrahim along the Ugryum River. When Prokhor starts his business there, many of the described places and events can be attributed more likely to the Lena river basin with its tributaries. And the location of the Ugryum River today continues to cause controversy among researchers of the novel and doubts among readers.

The prototypes of the members of the Gromov family were Kosma Kupriyanovich, Averyan Kosmich and Nikolai Efimovich Matonin. The prototype of Nina Kupriyanova was Vera Arsenievna Balandina - the granddaughter of Mikhail Kosmich Matonin.

The Matonin brothers, Lavrentiy and Averyan, arrived in Krasnoyarsk prison from Tobolsk at the end of the 17th century. They arrived with Ilya Surikov - the ancestor of the artist Vasily Surikov . The Matonin brothers participated in the Krasnoyarsk unsteadiness and left (or fled) from Krasnoyarsk to the Buzim River, where they put huts. They married the daughters of the local Arinsky prince, who could become the prototype of Sinilga. Thus was founded the village of Matona, later named Kekur (Nakhval volost, currently in the Sukhobuzim district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory ).

Leonty had sons Anisim (in 1688) and Jacob (in 1690). Averyan Matonin was born Grigory (1693-1773) and Osip (in 1705). Pyotr Grigorievich Matonin was a peasant in Kekur and robbed merchants traveling through the village along the Yeniseisk-Krasnoyarsk road. Before his death, Pyotr Grigoryevich informed his grandson Kosma (Kuzma) the place where the treasure with the loot was buried. According to legend, the treasure had to lie down in order to clear itself of curses. In the same way, the capitals of the merchants of Kandinsky, the Nepominny and others were formed ^[1] .

Kosma Kupriyanovich Matonin was born in 1809. January 20, 1824, at the age of 15, Kosma Matonin enrolled in the third merchant guild of Krasnoyarsk and the family left the village of Kekur. Kosma Kupriyanovich owned houses in Krasnoyarsk and Minusinsk . Cosmas' children: Michael (1824–1897), Averyan (1829 or 1832–1883), Yefim (born in 1835), Timothy (born in 1845). Kosma acquired two gold mines in the Yenisei taiga and one on shares with Fedot Balandin and Demyan Vasilievich Matonin. The mine was called Kosmodemyansky.

In 1869, Kosma Kupriyanovich and his children signed up for the first merchant guild of Krasnoyarsk: Mikhail, Averyan, Efim and Timofey. In total, in 1869 in the Yenisei province there were 30 merchants of the first guild, of which 11 were named Matonina.

After the death of Cosmas, Averyan became the head of the family. Michael went to Novosyolovo, Minusinsk district. After the death of his wife, Mikhail Kosmich moved to Yeniseysk. Yefim Kosmich settled in the village of Strelka at the mouth of the Angara River near gold mines.

Averyan knew about the origin of family capital, and a week after his father’s funeral, he donated funds to the Minusinsk district government for the construction of a school and church. In 1863, a telegraph station began operating in Krasnoyarsk, the costs of opening which were paid by Averyan Kosmic. With his money in Kekur, a side chapel of the Ilyinsky church was built, gilded domes and salaries of icons, bells were bought, and an almshouse was also kept in the village. Averyan Matonin allocated 100 thousand rubles for the construction of a gymnasium in Yeniseisk. Information about the charitable activities of the gold miner was not included in the novel.

In 1870, the daughter of Mikhail Kosmich Matonin Alexander married the merchant Arseny Ivanovich Emelyanov (their daughter was V.A. Balandina ). At the wedding, Averyan Kosmich presented a pendant with diamonds to his niece-bride. Present at the same time, the son of Fedot Balandin recognized the pendant of his mother, who was killed on the road from Yeniseisk to Krasnoyarsk. The guests were told that Balandin was drunk. However, after the wedding, Averyan Kosmich went to Kekur and donated money for the construction of the side chapel of the Ilyinsky church. Probably, because of this case, the names of the Matonins are practically not mentioned in the literature of local lore.

This incident has become a folk legend that exists in various versions, but in all versions there remains the recognition of the pendant (bracelet, brooch, earrings, etc.) of the murdered mother.

In 1871, at the minefield of the Matonin brothers on the Udera River, the clerk demanded that the prospectors go to work on the festive Petrov day. In response to this demand, 40 out of 150 workers went to the taiga along with gold washing equipment. For 20 years of traveling around Siberia, Shishkov met with the Matonins' relatives, visited their mines, talked with workers who left the mine in 1871. In the novel, Shishkov described the strike, more similar to the Lena events of 1912 .

In 1879, Averyan Kosmich and his brothers were recorded in the Minusinsk merchants. Averyan Kosmich was married to Olga Diomidovna. Their son Ivan died at the age of 4. There were no other children.

On December 1, 1883, in the village of Kekur, Governor I.K. Pedashenko opened the first rural craft school named after A.K. Matonin in the Yenisei province. Officially, the school was two years old, but in reality a five-year education was given here. In 1944, the school was transformed into an elementary school.

Averyan Kosmich died before the opening of a vocational school. He was buried in a family crypt in the village of Kekur. In 1913, the crypt of Averyan Kosmich was looted. In 1914, the Matonins went bankrupt. In 1931, a slab from the grave of Averyan Matonin was used for the construction of a pigsty.

In 1968, the Sverdlovsk film studio shot the feature film "The Gloom River . "

• Meshalkin P.N. Patronage and charity of Siberian Yenisei merchants. - Krasnoyarsk: book. Publishing House, 1995.
• Aferenko V. A. Mysteries of the Matonin family and the book by V. Ya. Shishkov “The Gloomy River”. - Zheleznogorsk: Polygraphist, 1999.
• A. M. Burovsky. Siberian horror-3. - M .: OLMA-Press , 2001. - ISBN 5-224-01979-6

• "Gloom-river" in the library of Maxim Moshkov