Author:
Name & Surname: Kovtun I. V.
Company: Institute of Human Ecology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Kemerovo, Russia)
Work Position: Head of Laboratory for Archeology
Scientific Degree: Doctor of Historical Sciences
Contacts: ivkovtun@mail.ru

The year of 2016 is the 295th anniversary of black coal discovery in the Kuznetsk Basin. Formally, Kuznetsk coal was discovered on September 11, 1721 by Mikhailo Volkov. Factually, this happened earlier. The authors of the documentary biography of M. Volkov date the discovery by October 1720. However, no document dated back to 1720 proves the discovery of black coal or ore by M. Volkov. Instead, there is Volkov’s report as of summer 1721 about silver ore discovery on Krasnaya Gora. Consequently, reputed discoverer of Kuznetsk coal, M. Volkov actually claimed finding of silver or ore occurrences on Krasnaya Gora rather than black coal. German specialist Paul Prifzen and Uktus resident Nikita Petrov, who participated in re-appraisal of Krasnaya Gora reserves initiated by M. Volkov in September 1721, also declared the Gora as a metal ore deposit. In M.N. Kolobkov’s opinion, exploration of the Kuznetsk Basin was launched by Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt who made “first description of found black coal fields”. In spring 1721, D. G. Messerschmidt together with an associate, P. I. Strahlenberg, were in Tomsk where they met with captured Sweden lieutenant D. G. Ehrenberg. On the evidence acquired from Ehrenberg, D. G. Messerschmidt reported black coal occurrence “between Komarova (Kemerovo — author’s remark) and village of Krasnaya” in his diary on April 28, 1721. D. G. Messerschmidt was the first to identify black coal and discover it on the shores of both the Tom and Nizhnyaya Tunguska rivers. He found at least two deposits, described “an outcrop of a coal bed not less than 4 feet thick, among clay and black and grey chalk” and predicted commercial future for Evenkia, “I have no doubts, it is possible to construct mines and realize produced black coal at a high profit.”

1. Perevalov V. A. Novye dokumenty o gornozavodskom dele na Urale i v Sibiri v pervoy chetverti XVIII veka (po materialam GASO) (New documents about mineplant operations on Urals and Siberia in the first quarter of the XVIII century (according to the materials of GASO). Uralskiy istoricheskiy vestnik = Ural historical bulletin. 2003. No. 9. pp. 316–335.
2. Rossiyskiy gosudarstvennyy arkhiv drevnikh aktov (Russian state archives of ancient documents). F. 271. L. 1, Book 620. L. 193–198.
3. Uskov I. Yu., Volkov V. G. Mikhaylo Volkov. Opyt dokumentalnoy biografii (Mikhaylo Volkov. Experience of documentary biography). Kemerovo : Firma Poligraf, 2007. 56 p.
4. Rozhkov V. Deyatelnost artillerii kapitana V. N. Tatishcheva na uralskikh zavodakh v tsarstvovanie Petra Velikago (Activity of artillery of Capitain V. N. Tatishchev at Ural plants during the regin of Peter the Great). Saint Petersburg : Tipography and chromolitography of A. Transhel, 1884. 72 p.
5. Rossiyskiy gosudarstvennyy arkhiv drevnikh aktov (Russian state archives of ancient documents). F. 271. L. 1. Book 621. L. 85–87.
6. Borodaev V. B. Arkhivnye materialy o Mikhayle Volkove i otkrytii Kemerovskogo mestorozhdeniya kamennogo uglya na Krasnoy gore (Archive materials about Mikhailo Volkov and discovery of Kemerovo deposit of coal on Krasnaya Gora). Istoriko-kulturnoe nasledie: izuchenie sokhranenie, ispolzovanie (k 100-letiyu Kemerovskogo rudnika) (Historical-culture heritage: research, saving, usage (to the 100-th anniversary of Kemerovo mine). Kemerovo : ARF, 2008. 188 p.
7. Uskov I. Yu. Issledovaniya i razrabotka kemerovskogo ugolnogo mestorozhdeniya v XVIII-XIX vekakh (Researches and development of Kemerovo coal deposit in XVIII-XIX centuries). Sbornik nauchnykh trudov Instituta Ekologii Cheloveka Sibirskogo Otdeleniya Rossiyskoy Akademii Nauk = Collection of scientific proceedings of Institute of Human Ecology of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. 2010. pp. 48–54.
8. Otkrytie i nachalo razrabotki ugolnykh mestorozhdeniy v Rossii. Issledovanie i dokumenty (Discovery and start of development of coal deposits in Russia. Research and documents). Moscow : Leningrad : Ugletekhizdat, 1952. 355 p.
9. Kolobkov M. N. Kuznetskiy basseyn (ocherki ekonomiki ugolnogo Kuzbassa) (Kuznetsk basin (reports of economics of coal Kizbass)). Novosibirsk, 1947. pp. 11, 17.
10. Messerschmidt D. G. Forschungsreise durch Sibirien 1720–1727. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen. Berlin, 1962. Teile I. 379 s.
11. Kovtun I. V. Pismagora. Istoriya otkrytiya i issledovaniy: 1630–1956 gody (Pismagora. History of discovery and researches: 1630–1956). Kemerovo: AZIYAPRINT, 2013. 159 p.
12. Novlyanskaya M. G. Daniil Gotlib Messershmidt i ego raboty po issledovaniyu Sibiri (Daniil Gotlib Messershmidt and his works for Siberia research). Leningrad : Nauka, 1970. 184 p.
13. Strahlenberg Ph. J. Das Nord- und Ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia. Stockholm, 1730. 474 s.
14. Karta Kuznetskogo uezda D. G. Messershmidta (Map of Kuznetsk uezd of D. G. Messershmidt). Sait Petersburg Branch of Archives of Russian Academy of Sciences. F. 98. L. 2. No. 4.
15. Lomonosov M. V. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy: v 5 tomakh (Complete collection of proceedings : in 5 volumes). Tom 5. Trudy po mineralogii, metallurgii i gornomu delu, 1741–1763 (Volume 5. Proceedings of mineralogy, metallurgy and mining, 1741–1763). Moscow, Leningrad : Publishing House of USSR Academy of Sciences, 1954. 723 p.