The Network of Railway Settlements of the Tobolsk Province in the Late XIX - Early XX Century

Abstract

Based on the analysis of mass sources – archival documents of the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897 and information published by the Tobolsk Provincial Statistical Committee for 1903 and 1909, the number, typical diversity, and population of settlements formed in the exclusion zone of the Perm-Tyumen and West Siberian railways on the territory of the Tobolsk province is determined. A set of statistical methods was used to analyze the sources. A comprehensive interdisciplinary approach allows not only to identify the historical and genetic features of individual documents, but also to give a certain assessment of their representativeness and information potential for specific historical research. Intensive construction of railways has led to the emergence of new types of settlements: stations, independent settlements at stations and on the railway line, barracks and semi-barracks, booths, barracks, guard houses, etc. In 1897, at least 128 railway settlements were functioning on the territory of the province, which was about 2.5% of the total number of all settlements in the studied region. More than two thousand people lived in them permanently and temporarily; on average, there were 18 people per settlement. The major settlements were the Tyumen and Kurgan stations. It is concluded that the primary materials of the 1897 census have the most complete information. In connection with the further construction of the Trans-Siberian railway at the beginning of the XX century, there is an increase in the population of stations and pier settlements, their merger, the emergence of new types of railway settlements.