Medvedka (Kama tributary)

Medvedka is a small river in Perm , the left tributary of the Kama . At the moment, it is almost completely enclosed in the sewer , an open place only at the railway and at the mouth.

Medvedka
Medvedka on the plan of Perm in 1898
Characteristic
Length	1 km
Watercourse
Source(T) (B)
• Location	Leninsky district
• Coordinates
Mouth (T) (B)	Kama
• Coordinates
Location
Water system	Kama → Volga → Caspian Sea
A country	Russia
Region	Perm region
Area	Permian
- source - mouth

In a historical document of 1804, Medvedka is described as follows ^[1] :

From the mouth of Egoshikha, 350 fathoms flows into Kama along a deep gully brook, called Medvedka; it leaves the former swamp, drained by ditches and now constitutes the area where four buildings of wooden benches were built in two rows in 1798 and 1799, and a bustling market was established. Below Medvedka and north of both Ney and the aforementioned swamp there is an elevation called by the people of Sludkoy, almost inconspicuously leaning along the Kama River to the Danilikha river.

The former swamp in question was a swampy lake and was located on the spot where the Ural Volunteer Square is now located (until July 14, 1977, Okulov Square) ^[2] .

In the 1720s, Medvedka, along with Yegoshikha, became the location of the Old Believer communities that moved here after the defeat of the Kerzhenets sketes in the Semenovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province after 1718-1719. When, as a result of geological research carried out by G.V. de Gennin between the rivers Egoshikha, Medvedka and Motovilikha , in 1723 the Yegoshikhinsky smelter was founded, which laid the foundation for the city of Perm, it was the Old Believers who became its first workers ^[3] .

When the Perm diocese was established in 1800, Alexander Medvedev, who served as clerk at the Synod, presented his wooden house, which stood on the promontory formed by Kama and Medvedka, to house a theological seminary. The seminary was opened on November 11, 1800 ^[4] .

Medvedka (left) and Egoshikha (right) on the plan of Perm in 1898

In the valley of the Medvedka River at the intersection with Monastyrskaya Street since the end of the 19th century, the famous Kashinsky trading (that is, public) bathhouse has been operating for more than 100 years - one of Perm's oldest trading baths. Some sources claim that the Kashin bath used Medvedka’s water ^[5] . However, the bathhouse could be used by Medvedka only for wastewater, as many city drains were discharged into the river (those living in the Medvedka district sold their houses cheaply because of soil pollution) ^[6] . Water was taken from Kama and entered the bathhouse through the water supply passing through the Medvedka ravine ^[7] . The water intake was located near the mouth of Medvedka, so over time, the quality of the water, which, in addition to the bathhouse, entered a fountain with cranes and a pool on Naberezhnaya Street, deteriorated ^[8] .

In 1897, during the construction of the Perm-Kotlas railway , which passed along the banks of the Kama River, the mouth of the Medvedka was covered with stone ^[9] . In 1917, sewage laying along the Medvedka River channel began near the Embankment Garden , and the first pumping station in the city (which continues to operate to this day) was built downstream ^[10] . Currently, storm drains from city streets are discharged into the river collector ^[11] .

In December 2006, Perm archaeologists discovered at the source of Medvedka, on the territory of a tobacco factory, the remains of the Black Market that operated here in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The remains are well preserved due to the action of water. A number of leather and wood items dating from the first half of the 19th century are collected ^[12] .