Expedition Arsenyev 1906

The Russian-Japanese war, lost in 1905, proved the inadmissibility of insufficient knowledge of the military-geographical features of the Ussuri region. Taking into account the lessons of the war, work began on strengthening the defenses of the frontiers, including the sea: it was necessary to determine the suitable, and from that, dangerous places for the landing of assault forces from the sea. In addition, there was a need to assess the scale of the activity of Japanese spies ^[5] , the collection of statistics on the local indigenous population , and other aspects. In this regard, the Priamursky Governor-General Pavel Fedorovich Unterberger ordered an expedition to the previously unexplored Sikhote-Alin ridge to collect military geographical and military statistical data in case of war with Japan, as well as colonization-economic, and, incidentally, natural historical data ^[3] .

The organization of the expedition was entrusted to the chairman of the Amur Department of the IRGO, engineer Colonel S. N. Vankov ^[6] . The head of the expedition was appointed Captain Vladimir Arsenyev, who for this purpose on December 22, 1905 ( January 4, 1906 ) was transferred from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk , to the headquarters of the Amur Military District ^[7] . Arsenyev’s assistants were lieutenant G. G. Granatman and engineering lieutenant A.I. Merzlyakov. The expedition was attended by at least 20 people, among whom were four Ussuri Cossacks and 12 shooters of the 6th and 8th East-Siberian infantry regiments ^[3] . As a botanist, the expedition included N. A. Palchevsky, who was ordered to conduct his research separately from the main Arsenyev detachment, which was to supply Palchevsky with food, as needed, and then take away herbariums collected from him. In addition, the Chief of Staff of the Amur Military District , Lieutenant-General PK Rutkovsky expressed a desire to get along with the expedition to the Bay of Saint Olga , in order to clearly explain the required tasks and determine the routes of troop movement to the post of Saint Olga ^[8] .

The expedition squad included:

• Vladimir Klavdievich Arsenyev - Head of the Expedition, 29th East-Siberian Rifle Regiment , Captain .
• Assistants to the expedition head:
  • Grigory Grigoryevich Granatman - the 24th East-Siberian rifle regiment second lieutenant .
  • Alexander Ivanovich Merzlyakov - the 24th East-Siberian Rifle Regiment an engineering lieutenant .
  • Semen Petrovich Anofriev - Ussuri Cossack Division cornet .
• Peter Konstantinovich Rutkovsky - Chief of Staff of the Amur Military District , Lieutenant-General .
• Nikolai Alexandrovich Palchevsky - the florist of the expedition. Well-known botanist and ethnographer, teacher and mentor V. K. Arsenyev. Forester of the Ussurian Cossack Troops , Vice-Chairman of the Society for the Study of the Amur Territory .
• Lower ranks :
  • from the 24th East-Siberian Rifle Regiment: arrows Dyakov , Vakushev , Egorov , Auzin , Tatarinov , Burmatov , Melian , Kazantsev , Boloban , Zagursky , Turtygin and Bochkarev .
  • from the Ussuri Cossack Division : Cossacks Belonozhkin , Murzin , Epov and Kozhevnikov .
• Dersu Uzala - Nanaets, expedition guide (from August 4 [17] ). A native resident of the Ussuri region, a hunter.

The expedition, which lasted exactly six months - 180 days, started on May 15 (28), 1906 , when from Khabarovsk to Shmakovka along the Ussuriysk railway went part of a detachment with horses, which were supposed to carry the expedition equipment. The next day, the rest of the expedition went the same way. On May 20 ( June 2 ), the detachment advanced from Shmakovka upstream of the Ussuri River . By the end of the fifth day, May 24 ( June 6 ), they reached Koksharovka , and then went upstream along the Fujin River. In the evening of June 20 ( July 3 ), the expedition reached the Sikhote-Alin ridge , and the next day, hiring an old Chinese man as a guide, began its ascent to the ridge. The pass through which the expedition passed was named Arsenyev in honor of K. I. Maksimovich , a botanist who conducted research in those places in 1859, many years before Arsenyev. June 30 ( July 13 ) detachment Arsenyev reached the Gulf of St. Olga . There, Lieutenant-General PK Rutkovsky left the detachment, and the specially assigned destroyer “ Silent ” took him to Vladivostok. In Olga, the expedition had to stay until July 15 (28) - for almost a month, waiting for the “ Strong ” destroyer, who was supposed to bring the necessary equipment. During this time, Arsenyev made several short “excursions” to explore and assess the terrain, fulfilling the task of the governor-general. Arsenyev entered all the information he received into his travel diary: information about the roads, their passability for various types of weapons, condition of the roads in dry weather and rain, and the like ^[9] . In addition, he was engaged in surveying the terrain, measuring the width of rivers, the speed of flow, determined the type of bottom. On topographic maps, Arsenyev denoted place names in both Russian and Chinese ^[10] .

It was known that Japan had an extensive and well-organized intelligence network in the Ussuri region. Therefore, in Arsenyev’s diaries there were sections “Information about Japanese spies” and “Possible operations of the Japanese in this region. Education bases. Likely ways to attack to invade inland. Places convenient for disembarking the enemy . " In addition, the local Chinese population was mostly hostile to the Russians, who were persecuting them for illegal logging and poaching, forcing them to pay a fee, and friendly - to the Japanese. In the event of a new war, the Chinese would willingly help the Japanese, becoming their guides and spies. The data section on “Population information” was devoted to collecting data about the Chinese, where, among other things, Arsenyev contributed data about the Chinese attitudes about the past war, their attitude towards Russians and Japanese, and much more ^[10] .

Later, these diary entries, among other things, will form the basis of the well-known research work of Arsenyev “The Chinese in the Ussuriysk Territory”. Despite the general negative mood, there were Chinese people friendly to the Russians: at the mouth of the Tetyukh river, two Chinese seaweed catchers hospitably met Arsenyev’s squad, supplied him with flour and butter, and even asked him to make an inscription on their fanzi that the in case of need, any Russian can find there bread, fish and shelter for the night ^[11] .

Unlike the Chinese, who were an alien population in the Ussuri region, its indigenous population — the Orochi , the Udege , the Gold ( Nanai ), and the basins in general belonged to the Russians warmly. Ethnographically, these peoples aroused great interest in Arsenyev, and he decided to study them. At that time, Arsenyev was familiar with ethnography and languages ​​only approximately, at the amateur level, and therefore everything had to be learned on the go ^[12] .

In the evening of August 3 (16), 1906, in the upstream of the Tadushi River at the Li-Fujin Pass, a fateful meeting for Arsenyev with Gold Dersu Uzala , the future friend and hero of his books, took place. The next day, at the request of Arsenyev, he became the expedition guide. Contrary to the misperception widespread because of the books of Arsenyev himself, the meeting with Dersu Uzala did not occur in 1902, but in 1906 ^[13] . Then the expedition moved to the Bay of Terney, simultaneously exploring all the major rivers. On October 10 (23), part of the detachment left Terney to Sikhote-Alin. Crossing the ridge, the detachment had to wait two days for a snowstorm. After 16 days of travel through a deserted area, the detachment reached the village of Sidatun , where the Orochi local residents helped them with food and clothing, and then drove the detachment in boats across Iman until they were crushed by ice. The detachment made the rest of the way to Iman station on foot. At the station, Arsenyev parted with Dersu Uzala, agreeing to meet with him next year ^[14] . On November 17 (30), Arsenyev and his squad arrived in Khabarovsk by train ^[15] .

• Expedition 1906 route map
•  

The result of the first large expedition of Arsenyev, during which Sikhote-Alin was crossed eight times, was a large number of collections: birds, insects, fish, amphibians, as well as plants, rocks and ethnographic exhibits. Many exhibits Arsenyev subsequently sent to various museums in the country. In addition, along the route, there were meteorological observations, topographic surveys of the area, maps and plans were drawn up. Arsenyev managed to collect a lot of ethnographic information about the indigenous peoples of the Ussuri region ^[16] . All the information gathered by the expedition formed the basis of the report, which Arsenyev read with great success on April 7 (20), 1907, in the Amur section of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society ^[17] . The Khabarovsk newspaper "Amur" wrote on this subject ^[18] :

“These messages made an enormous impression on those present, vividly showing what a true minister of science, a person of a living cause, who primarily aims to benefit the homeland, can do, albeit at a small cost. [...] It seems that there is no science that the talented traveler would not touch in his writings. ”

Comments

Sources

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