Alexander I. Pogrebetsky's Research Note on the State and Prospects of the Bodaybinsky District Amidst the Civil War

Abstract

The research note published below is a fairly complete description of the economic status of the Bodaybinsky gold mining district. The note was prepared in the summer of 1919 in the conditions of political instability and economic crisis. Given the remoteness of the Bodaybinsky district and the lack of reliable information about its economic situation, this note was a valuable source for studying the affairs in this important for the economy of the Irkutsk Province area and the possible prospects for its restoration. Its task was to assess the economy and finances of the district in order to open a representative office of the Irkutsk branch of the Moscow People's Bank in it. This research note was not published and remained out of sight of researchers studying the history of the gold industry. Its author was Alexander I. Pogrebetsky, an active member of cooperative movement and an economist, later known as a researcher in the history of money circulation and finance in Siberia and the Far East.