Sakhalin is the eastern edge of our great country, one of its outposts on the Pacific Ocean. Russian people found out about this island when a group of military, commercial and industrial people in 1639, led by the Cossack I. Moskvitin, went to the Okhotsk coast1 . The pioneers found out from local residents that there is an island near the coast where the "sitting gilyaks" - nivkhs live, and then they saw its outlines from afar .2 Soon they began to visit it, receiving from the locals yasak furs. In 1655-1656, the Amur Cossacks collected 4,827 sable skins "in the land of the Gilyaks" and simultaneously took an oath of allegiance from the population. So in the middle of the XVII century. Sakhalin was actually annexed to Russia3 . In the XVIII century, the expedition of V. Bering (in particular, A. Shelting, V. Rtishchev, M. Gvozdev) conducted a study of island 4 . In 1806, the expedition of N. A. Khvostov raised the Russian flag on its southern tip and the island was transferred to the Russian-American Company, which was instructed to establish settlements there .5 In 1853, D. I. Orlov founded the Ilyinsky military post on Sakhalin, which later became the base for a number of new Russian expeditions that explored the island .6 Since the middle of the last century, an intensive study of the inner part of Sakhalin begins. It was conducted by the expeditions of L. I. Schrenk (1854-1856), F. B. Schmidt (1860-1861), I. A. Lopatin (1867-1868), I. S. Polyakov (1881-1882), L. Ya. Sternberg (1891-1895) and others. The tsarist government, aware of the harsh climatic conditions on the island and using the complexity of communication with the mainland, since 1869 turned Sakhalin into a place of hard labor and exile for political prisoners .7 Among them were active fighters against the autocracy: members of the first revolutionary party of the working class of Poland "Proletariat" ; associates of A. I. Ulyanov P. Gorkun, M. Gancher, S. Volokhov and B. Pilsudsky, who took part in the March 1, 1887 attempt on the life of Alexander Sh; Narodnaya Volya V. P. Brazhnikov, L. A. Volkenstein, V. I. Volnov, B. I. Yellinskiya, I. L. Manucharov, M. N. Trigoni and many other revolutionaries 8 .
Dr. N. S. Lsbas, who lived in Sakhalin for many years, described the life of convicts as follows: "In 1892, a wheeled road was built from Tymovsk to Southern Sakhalin. The road was led by a party of exiled convicts, consisting of 500 people. The workers were exhausted, unable to cope with their tasks. The overseers reduced the workers ' already small bread rations and beat them to death. The corpses were lying in the taiga near the road... The convicts lived on herbs and raw mushrooms... And in the convict barracks, surrounded by a palisade, the situation was terrible. The walls were frozen solid, and draughts raged inside the buildings. Rags - beds thrown on bunks,
1 B. P. Polevoy. Discoverers of Sakhalin. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 1959, pp. 4-8.
2 Ibid., p. 16.
3 P. A. Leonov, I. V. Pankin, and I. E. Belousov. Region on the islands, Moscow, 1974, p. 23.
4 L. N. Kutakov. Restoration of historical rights. Izvestiya Akademii nauk SSSR, seriya istorii i filosofii, vol. VIII, 1951, N 2, p. 145.
5 B. P. Polevoy. Op. ed., pp. 97-98, 120.
6 See P. A. Leonov, I. V. Pankin, and I. E. Belousov. Op. ed., p. 32.
7 PSZ. 1869, N 46984.
8 See I. A. Senchenko. Revolutionaries of Russia in the Sakhalin penal servitude. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 1963.
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they were infested with bedbugs, lice, and fleas. " 9 Local political prisoners contributed to the cultural development of the island. Many of them, after serving hard labor, became teachers in local schools, worked at weather stations. The first Russian Revolution put an end to the Sakhalin penal servitude, and in the spring of 1906 it was abolished.
Already in those years, when thousands of convicts arrived on Northern Sakhalin, there was serious talk about the presence of oil on the island. It became known about it at the beginning of the last century. Nivkh hunters often saw oily lakes and made up legends about them 10 . Once, two hunters - Even and Yakut-hunting for wild deer, saw a small herd at the foot of a hill on a yagelnik. The hunters chose a target, silently approached the animals and fired. The deer fell, and the others began to run. One of them fell into a deep hole. The riflemen used felled trees to help him get out onto dry land. The animal's body was covered with an oily liquid with a sharp specific smell. It was oil. Hunter-Yakut F. Pavlov visited the Russian merchant A. E. Ivanov in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur and saw the same liquid there. On the mainland, they called it kerosene. A smart Yakut filled a bottle with "kerosene-water" and took it to the merchant. Ivanov had to serve on Sakhalin in the guard units that protected the Russian coast from attacks by the Anglo-French squadron during the Crimean War. The merchant also knew the value of oil. He immediately sent his clerk N. Rozhnev to Sakhalin, along with F. Rozhnev. Pavlov, to find out on the spot where there are still oil outlets to the surface, and stake out " that area. Not having accurate data on oil reserves, Ivanov still decided to take the risk. In June 1880, he filed a petition to the Amur Governor-General, Baron A. N. Korfa petitioned for a thousand acres of land on Sakhalin to be allocated to him for oil exploration and production. Ivanov didn't get an answer. He died the following year.
G. I. Zotov, a retired navy lieutenant and Ivanov's son - in-law, decided to continue the work. He was an educated man, well aware of the importance of oil for the economy of the Far East. In order to restore the right to the oil-bearing areas assigned to Ivanov as soon as possible, Zotov left for the capital. In November 1888, he received permission to set aside land near the Okha and Nogliki rivers. Zotov spent 18 years studying the oil-bearing regions of Sakhalin. In the summer of 1889, he went to the island with workers, tools and a supply of food. He managed to charter the steam schooner Sibir in Nikolaevsk. After entering the Amur Estuary, the captain turned the ship to the east to sail to the village of Tengi, located on the western coast of Sakhalin. There were no navigational signs then, and the schooner was washed up on the "bank", where it was battered for three days. Having barely left the shoal, the half-broken Sibir returned, landing Zotov on the left bank of the Amur River in the Nivkh camp of Puir. On June 30, zotovtsy, having sailed about 60 km on three Nivkh boats, were again caught in a storm. Near the Sakhalin village of Rybnoye, they almost died and lost all their equipment. The boats were washed up on a sandbank, which is still called the "Zotov bank". A year later, after Zotov, A. P. Chekhov took the same route to Nikolaevsk-on-Amur in 1890. At that time, the Great Trans-Siberian Railway did not yet exist.
From the very beginning, the development of oil on Sakhalin was not easy. There was practically no labor force on the island; local authorities prevented Zotov from carrying out his search operations. In March 1898, the military Governor of Sakhalin, Lieutenant-General V. D. Merkazin, reported to the Governor-General N. I. Grodekov: "On offer... on the assignment of a retired lieutenant Zotov in the northern part of Sakhalin Island oil area... I do not find it possible to enter the current year's navigation due to the employment of the relevant officials."11 It was not until the summer of 1903 that the requested land plots were finally assigned to the applicant, although the proper formalities on this matter were never fully completed. Zotov repeatedly visited Okhinskaya and other regions of Russia.-
9 N. S. Lobas. Hard labor and settlement on Sakhalin. Pavlograd. 1903, p. 160.
10 N. Zabrodotsky. Bolshaya Sakhalinskaya Street. Nauka i zhizn, 1962, No. 5, p. 37.
11 TsGA RSFSR DV, f. 702, op. 2, d. 37, l. 175.
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large oil-bearing areas. He was the first to discover and describe the Urkt Bay, on the coast of which the city of North Sakhalin oil workers Okha currently stretches, and made an eye-measuring survey of a wide strip along the Okhinka, Beryukan Rivers, Bezymyanny Creek and the coast of Urkt Bay to the Sea of Okhotsk with a total area of about 200 square kilometers.
Zotov invested all his funds in the exploration of oil-bearing areas of Northern Sakhalin. Zotov's daughter Zoya Grigoryevna wrote to the author in 1970 that her father " spent his best young years in the Sakhalin taiga, although with the initial capital he could have led a secular lifestyle. I fought my failures courageously, always striving for a certain big goal in my life." In St. Petersburg, the Baku oil industrialist Nobel met G. I. Zotov (he then had the largest company in Baku, the Nobel Brothers & Co. Partnership) and began to seek his acceptance as a partner. "Zotov categorically rejected these harassment claims. Then Nobel unabashedly said: "All the same, sooner or later, your oil will be mine." Indignant Zotov replied: "You're wrong. This oil is not mine personally, but ours, Russian, and will belong only to my homeland, Russia. " 12
Exploration of the Okha oil sources began during the first Sakhalin oil expedition in the summer of 1889, undertaken by Zotov 13 . They were led by mining engineer L. F. Batsevich. He described the Noglik oil sources, and during the second expedition in the summer of 1890 - Nabil oil outlets. The results of Batsevich's research served as the basis for organizing the third oil expedition in 1892-1893, led by mining technician S. O. Maslennikov. He and 15 exiled settlers attached to him as workers left the post of Alexandrovsky, taking with him food only for a 10-day period. The rest of the property was located on the sailing schooner Akula, which sailed to the Nyysky Bay, around the Schmidt Peninsula. Due to the vagaries of the Sakhalin weather, the squad was in a difficult position. Approaching the Ny Bay on June 9, the travelers saw that its entire water area was clogged with ice. So the schooner's arrival had been delayed for a long time. It was necessary to reduce the already meager food allowance, but there was enough food only until June 20. Illnesses began. With the arrival of a new batch of workers and products in November, an attempt was made to carry out some simple exploration work, but due to the lack of the necessary equipment for drilling, they had to stop.
Geological research on Northern Sakhalin resumed only after the Russo-Japanese War. In December 1905, A. A. Panov, the author of several pamphlets and books about Sakhalin, submitted a note to the Council of Ministers on the importance of the island's natural resources for Russia. He wrote: "By its geographical location, this island is the key to the entire Amur region and the Ussuri Region: whoever owns the northern half of Sakhalin Island will also rule over the adjacent part of the continent with the lower reaches of the Amur River and the rich Ussuri region. " 14 In 1906, a state expedition was sent to North Sakhalin to search for oil under the leadership of K. N. Tulchinsky. The Mining Department set it the task of conducting geological reconnaissance studies that would serve as a basis for the promising development of mining in Northern Sakhalin. On August 16, 1906, a meeting of the highest administrative officials of the island was held at the post of Alexandrovsky, at which Tulchinsky emphasized that the expedition would have to deal with "questions of finding out the industrial reserves of Sakhalin oil"15 .
The materials received by the Tulchinsky expedition about the geological structure of the island served as a reason for organizing the second state geological expedition under the leadership of E. E. Ahnert in 1907. During a month of work on North Sakhalin, she managed to explore a huge area, including route surveys and strips of terrain from 6 to 30 km wide between the Sea of Okhotsk and the mountain-
12 From the author's personal archive. Letter from Z. G. Zotova-Hamilton to the author.
13 L. F. Batsevich. Description of Sakhalin oil fields. Gorny Zhurnal, vol. III, 1890, No. 7.
14 A. A. Panov. What is Sakhalin and do we need it? St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 32.
15 K. N. Tulchinsky. Essays on mineral resources of Russian Sakhalin. St. Petersburg, 1907, pp. 229-232.
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mi. The expedition studied all known then, except Okhinsky, oil outlets to the surface, and also discovered new ones. Ahnert wrote in the report: "The enormity of the extent and continuity of the strip of oil outlets along the eastern coast of Northern Sakhalin give these fields such interest that it would be inexcusable not to engage in systematic and serious research that would provide a rational basis for industrial exploration"16 .
Based on the reports of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation, the Geological Committee began an extensive and systematic study of the island. A more representative expedition consisting of two parties went to Northern Sakhalin: P. I. Polevoy - to the Eastern coast and N. N. Tikhonovich-to the northern tip. The expedition photographed a huge area of coasts - on oil (East) and coal (West), starting from the then Russian-Japanese border (50° north latitude) and up to the North Sakhalin Isthmus. In the same period, routes were made along all the main rivers using rafts and Nivkh boats, sometimes towed by dog sleds on a tow line, as well as along the shore, on foot. Polevoy discovered previously unknown oil fields. It should be noted that all expeditions for the purpose of clarification invariably repeated the routes of their predecessors, while at the same time extending and expanding them as much as possible and putting new ones on the map.
The first 10 - verst Map of Russian Sakhalin was published in 1914 as a result of various surveys and works of the 1908-1910 expedition. There were a number of inaccuracies in it, since the shooting was not conducted on the area, but on the route, and some parts of the island were completely unaffected by the shooting. Nevertheless, the map has long served as the primary basis for many expeditions to Sakhalin. This was a major contribution of Russian science to the study of the geological structure of the northern part of the island. With the completion of these works, no planned state research was carried out on the island until 1925. In 1910, mining engineer V. A. Kuznetsov, who was a member of the Sakhalin Oil Industry Association of G. I. Zotov's Heiresses, received the first commercial oil from the so-called Zotov well at Okha. At that time, there were only a few drilling wells on Sakhalin. Soon the land rush of stolbopromyshlennikov began, as a result of which two companies were created - the Neterburg-Sakhalin Oil and Coal Company and the Vladivostok-Sakhalin Expedition. They captured almost all the oil-bearing areas known by that time and nearby squares. However, they did not have sufficient funds for the development of coal and oil production, and the business stalled, and the government did not consider it necessary to assist in the development of local coal and oil. The Governor of the Sakhalin region D. D. Grigoriev believed that "it is useful to facilitate the access of foreigners to the mining enterprises of the region"17 . First of all, Japanese companies showed great interest in oil fields. In 1916, a representative of the Japanese Sakurai Chamber of Commerce suggested that the Russian Geological Committee conduct joint research and drilling operations on Northern Sakhalin. Some committee leaders agreed to this, but the issue was not resolved .18
After the Great October Socialist Revolution, Northern Sakhalin remained for some time under the rule of the White Guards. A major Moscow capitalist, I. Staheev, who had fled to the Far East, tried to get his hands on its oil-bearing areas .19 Japanese imperialists continued to be interested in Sakhalin oil. In 1918, through the Kukhara concern, they entered into an agreement with the Ivan Staheev & Co .Partnership and began to conduct survey work in Okhinsky and other districts, that is, they seized oil-bearing areas.
16 "Journey to the Eastern coast of Russian Sakhalin in 1907" (report by E. E. Ahnert at the meeting of the Department of Mathematical and Physical Geography). Proceedings of the Geological Committee, vol. IV, issue 45, p. 401.
17 D. D. Grigoriev. A note on the current state of the Sakhalin region and its needs. Post Alexandrovsky. 1911, p. 45.
18 V. Ya. Aboltin. Treasure Island North Sakhalin. Khabarovsk - Vladivostok. 1928, p. 100.
19 " The victory of Soviet power in Northern Sakhalin (1917-1925)". Collection of documents. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 1959, p. 291,
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In 1920, Japanese interventionists occupied Northern Sakhalin and established a brutal occupation regime there. The island actually turned into a Japanese colony, the locals were deprived of all rights. The main goals of the invaders were the predatory exploitation of natural resources and the use of the island as a military-strategic springboard against Soviet Russia .20 The invaders exported coal, timber, furs, and fish from here, and rapaciously siphoned oil from the upper, easily accessible horizons.
The Soviet government actively fought for the return of Northern Sakhalin. In 1921-1925, this issue was discussed at international conferences in Dairen, Changchun, Tokyo, and Beijing. The Soviet-Japanese Convention, signed in January 1925, provided for the evacuation of the invaders from Northern Sakhalin 21 . On May 14, 1925, the last Japanese soldier left it. On this part of the island, the construction of a new life has begun. There were several handicraft enterprises that employed 604 people. In the difficult economic conditions that existed in the Far East at that time, the Soviet state decided to create a concession Soviet-Japanese community. V. I. Lenin defined the role of such concessions in this way: "The concession presupposes one or another restoration of peace agreements, restoration of trade relations, presupposes the possibility for us to open a direct broad purchase of the necessary machinery for us."22 The USSR and Japan signed a long-term agreement on the exploration and development of Sakhalin oil.
A systematic study of the mineral resources of Northern Sakhalin was initiated from the very first days of the restoration of Soviet power here. Specialists from Moscow, Leningrad, and Khabarovsk participated in the Sakhalin Integrated Mining and Geological Expedition, organized in April 1925 by the Geological Committee and the Mining Department of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR. The expedition consisted of six geological, four topographical, two technical-economic and one forestry parties. V. V. Kuibyshev appointed the civil War hero N. A. Khudyakov as the head of the expedition .23 At the call of the party and the government, oil workers from Baku and Grozny, loggers, carters and carpenters from Primorye, the Amur Region and Transbaikalia went to settle in the distant land. In August 1927, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR sent V. A. Miller, the commissioner for the organization of the Sakhalinneft trust, and later its first head, to the Okhu. In the same year, neftetrest Embaneft sent a team of specialists to Okha for permanent work.
In May 1928, 150 people were already working at the Okhinsky field. People worked seven days a week, got scurvy. They were saved by a decoction of cedar wood, cranberries, fresh fish, wild garlic. The newly formed Sakhalinneft Trust was included in the list of enterprises under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR. On October 5, 1928, drilling master Nikiforov from Baku, foreman E. I. Duvalov from Grozny, and drilling technician N. V. Yufin started drilling wells in the Okhinsky field. On the 31st day of drilling, the first oil came from a depth of 191 m. By the end of the year, it was produced 296 tons. At the same time, geologists continued their detailed exploration of Northern Sakhalin; production capacity was being rapidly increased. In 1932, drilling at the Sakhalinneft Trust turned out to be 4.2 times more efficient than that of the concessionaire Kita Karafuto Sekiyu Kabushiki Kaisha, and oil production exceeded the production rate of the Japanese company .24
The heroic work of all residents of Northern Sakhalin built the first railway Okha-Moskalvo with a length of 38 km, which was extremely important for the export of oil to the mainland, as well as for the logistics of field expeditions, Okha fishing and construction projects. At the end of 1930, the first train passed through it. In the spring of the same year, the construction of an oil pipeline from the Okhinsky field to the Bay of Baikal (port of Moskalvo) began, and in September 1931 it was opened.
20 P. A. Leonov, I. V. Pankin, and I. E. Belousov. Op. ed., p. 49.
21 V. Ya. Aboltin. Restoration of Soviet power in Northern Sakhalin. Voprosy Istorii, 1966, No. 10.
22 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42, p. 100.
23 "Geology, minerals, methods and techniques of geological exploration in Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands". Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 1975.
24 State Archive of the Khabarovsk Territory (GAHK), f. 353, op. 3, d. 107, l. 60.
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I started to act. From here, oil was sent by tankers and bulk barges to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Khabarovsk. In the winter of 1932, the construction of a water pipeline in Okha was completed, which was especially important, since due to a lack of water in the field, downtime reached 70% of working hours. Construction of the water pipeline was carried out at a rapid pace, despite frosts, snow drifts and interruptions in material supplies.
In September 1932, a new reservoir was discovered on Northern Sakhalin near Okha, from which an oil fountain hit. The district committee of the CPSU(b) sent greetings to the Okhinsky district committee of the party and the management of the Sakhalinneft trust, warmly congratulating the local Bolsheviks, workers and engineering workers. Oil Okha turned into a major industrial center of the island, where oil production increased significantly with each five-year plan. In the second five-year plan, compared with the first, it grew 3.5 times 25 . In January 1937, an oil well drilled by master Cherepennikov was put into operation at Ekhabi. So the final birth of a new craft took place. The purposeful work of party organizations contributed to the fact that the selfless work of oil workers ended in a remarkable victory: in 1940, oil production in Northern Sakhalin amounted to 505.5 thousand tons .26
Due to the growth of oil production and the volume of expensive transportation by water, construction of the first stage of the Laguri - Sofiysk (mainland) oil pipeline began in 1940. In November 1942, Okhinskaya and Ekhabinskaya oil flowed to Sofiysk, where the headquarters of construction 27 was located . The oil pipeline was laid across the strait for the first time in the world, and in extremely difficult conditions. And during all the years of the Great Patriotic War, Severo-Sakhalin oil was a significant help for the country's fuel balance: in 1941-1945, 3,240 million tons of oil were produced there28 . Okha oil workers worked selflessly, helping Soviet soldiers to smash the enemy. They worked under the motto " Every extra-planned meter of penetration is a blow to the enemy!". The rule has been established: do not leave the workplace without completing tasks. The norms were always exceeded. Especially distinguished driller I. M. Bysov, turner P. Chernomurov, podderzhnik Baev, boiler maker Vorobyov. Stakhanovite turners P. P. Trunov and Murzyvanov, locksmith Parkhomenko, using a number of rationalization improvements, became "thousand-year-olds". The Okhinsky and Ekhabinsky fields have repeatedly won the championship in the All-Union Socialist Competition of Oil workers. GKO, Narkomneft and VTSSPS have repeatedly awarded them Red Banners. The district successfully raised funds for the construction of a tank column and a link. 29 Khabarovsk Komsomolets bombers, Sovetsky Sakhalin and Okhinsky Neftyanik combat aircraft squadrons .
In the first post-war years, a lot of efforts were made to ensure that exploration work on Sakhalin continued to develop successfully. Along with specialized field men's detachments, women's detachments were also completed there. The right to exist was won by the only female topographic team at that time - an exceptional fact in the harsh region. The brigade consisted of four Marias: Zharkova, Tartyshnikova, Panfilova and Rudenko. They performed the work of geologists and topographers: they cut clearings, measured the length of lines on the ground with a steel tape in theodolite passages, whittled axes, made cargo drags, and sewed felt boots. Zharkova was the foreman of the women's team. When the recruitment team came from Oja to the mainland, she immediately expressed a desire to go to the island. She was dissuaded, frightened by fever, scurvy, frosts. But Maria insisted... And now the women's topobrigada received the first task. There was no transport of any kind, and the cargo had to be carried for a distance of more than 100 km by ourselves. The equipment was thought out to the smallest detail: from the theodolite to a spool of thread,
25 P. A. Leonov, I. V. Pankin, and I. E. Belousov. Op. ed., p. 82.
26 "Sakhalinsky neftyanik", 12. XII. 1961.
27 "Pacific Star", 21. XII. 1975.
28 P. A. Leonov. Sakhalin Oblast and prospects for the development of its productive forces in the light of the decisions of the XXIV Congress of the CPSU. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 1972. p. 25.
29 "Sakhalin Oilman", 10. IX. 1941; 20. I, 13. II, 18. XII. 1942; 23.VI. 1943; 3 and 30.I, 4. III, 19. IX. 1944.
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we took one sleeping bag for two. Then we mapped out the shortest taiga trails, taking into account the geographical location of the targets and the natural conditions of the area.
Loaded to the limit, the women's survey team set out and almost immediately met with exceptional difficulties. There was an impenetrable taiga with cedar elfin and dwarf northern birch, vast forests with waist-high wild rosemary, stunted larches and green "windows" of bottomless holes stretched around. The girls were tired to the point of exhaustion. After a short rest, we will start again on our way through hills, razpadki, valleys and swampy areas with a thick layer of peat bog. They often fell into the icy water of the "windows". His clothes weighed down like a pound. So it went on for many days in a row. Occasionally they met herdsmen-reindeer breeders. There was no one else around. Finally, the last transition. Calculations showed that the detachment was located at the mouth of the Gyrgylanyi river. It was necessary to get to the mouth of the Koenig River, which also flows into Kydylanya, but from a different direction. We made a raft. The speed of the current increased with every hundred meters. The raft spun around, clinging to the brush on the bank. The riverbed was often blocked by trees washed away by water. At one point, the banks drew closer, and a boiling avalanche was rushing between two hills. There was a crack, and all four of them found themselves in the cold water. With great difficulty we reached the shore, but the slope was steep and slippery. My arms and legs began to cramp. Hand in hand, the girls waded to the stream that flowed into the river, and almost unconsciously got out on the bank. Night. The matches got wet. Food, sleeping bags, and equipment tied to the raft still needed to be salvaged... It is on this high bank that today's Neftegorsk, a well-maintained settlement of oil workers, was founded. And the stream on its western side is called "Maiden Font" 30 .
The work of pioneer geologists is complex and interesting. On the" white spot " first step detachments of tonographers. The initial paths to the unknown are laid by them. They are followed by geophysicists, geologists, drillers, oil workers and construction workers. By one of these exits of the topographical detachment for field work, in which the author of these lines participated, everything was properly ready at the appointed hour: loosely sewn hooks, loops, buttons were opened and fastened anew with harsh threads; leather was pasted on top of felt boots so that during long transitions it would not cut shoes with ski fasteners; from automobile tires pieces were cut out for attaching felt boots to skis: backpacks were collected... At dawn on a gloomy December day in 1953, the skiers set off and entered the taiga. The sun was barely breaking through the trees. With each kilometer, the snow cover increased, and the terrain became more complex. A windbreak, dead wood, and a still-dormant elfin tree stuck out from under the loose snow. Five surveyors advanced in single file, and the one in front had the hardest time. Therefore, they often changed places on the road, and the rear guard went to the head of the detachment. A few days later, the surveyors reached Colendo Bay, and the first place of work, Tropto Bay, took about two weeks to reach. So for two winter seasons, the expedition passed along the bays, completing work near the Dune-horseshoe mountain.
Geological-topographic, gravimetric and magnetometric detachments were engaged in surveys all over the island in the latitudinal and meridional directions. In the most difficult taiga-mountainous and swampy area, there was no transport, not even deer or dog sleds. All the cargo with instruments and tools for many hundreds of kilometers from populated areas had to be carried on the shoulders. The production of field work was carried out year-round by its specifics. In geologically more promising areas, seismic, structural, and deep exploratory drilling soon began. The work was carried out primarily on the most accessible areas in terms of transport. Geologists, surveyors, geophysicists and drillers worked their way through difficult paths to the "big" oil of the island. Often there were difficult situations. In the summer of 1957, when drilling was in full swing at Tungora, suddenly the drilling rig was shaken by a terrible roar: during the extraction of drill pipes from the face, the lifting end at the top of the tower was torn out by mechanical stress, then
30 Izvestia, 9. X. 1976.
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there was an explosion, and a fountain of gas and water threw a massive "plate" of the rotor. Starting to eliminate the accident, drillers tried to bring a three-ton emergency tool to the wellhead with the help of a tractor, tractors and a crane. But the powerful jet threw him back every time. The out-of-control underground forces shot gas, oil, and reservoir water dozens of meters high, along with pipes and blocks of cement that held the well together. Sand and cobblestones erupted from the well, striking steel pipes, sparking sparks, a deafening roar was heard, and a 50 - meter column of fire shot up from the ground. It was impossible to approach the fire. Gas rescuers from the Sakhalinneft association and firefighters arrived at the scene. You can't extinguish the torch with water, sand, or chemicals. At the technical council, several options were proposed for suppressing the gas torch: directed explosions around the circumference of the well, bombing the fire center from an airplane, drowning out the fountain with artillery pellets, etc. But for objective reasons, these methods had to be abandoned, and they began to extinguish the original method, bringing a heavy plug. Finally, the fountain choked 31 .
The work of many specialists in Northern Sakhalin was crowned with success. After an intensive search, oil was found on Tungor Square in January 1958, and in May of the same year, its first fountain hit. Well No. 1 was drilled by a team of foreman E. A. Voropaev. Then the explorers of the earth's interior went to Kolendo, where after numerous technological failures in the fall of 1961, oil also began to gush out. This well was drilled by the team of senior foreman N. A. Koveshnikov 32 . Sakhalin geologists had big plans. Their experience was used in the Dagi region. In the spring of 1969, the first construction workers came to the Eastern Dagi, and in May, as soon as the snow left, one of the detachments of the Dalnefterazvedka trust relocated there for the purpose of deep drilling. With great difficulty, equipment, drill pipes, houses for housing were brought in. People showed genuine heroism. The work of geologists, topographers, geophysicists, structural engineers, transport workers, installers, drillers was crowned with success. The team of master N. V. Tokar drilled a well, and the first oil came out from a depth of 2159 m in December 1969 .33
Years of hard work and exploration led to the development of new oil deposits. Sakhalin has long been called "Far Eastern Baku". Its oil goes to all parts of the Far East and is exported to many countries. In 1973, North Sakhalin produced the 50 millionth ton of oil, and for the entire period of development of local fields from 1923 to the end of 1975, production amounted to 55.4 million tons. In 1966, Sakhalinneft was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, 34 and in 1967, the Sakhalin Region was awarded the Order of Lenin .35 Sakhalin oil workers are not only continuing to develop the old liquid fuel deposits, but also discovering new ones, successfully fulfilling the tasks of the tenth five-year plan.
31 Izvestia, 24. IX. 1964.
32 "Sakhalin Oilman", 22. XII. 1961.
33 "Sakhalinsky neftyanik", 4. I. 1970.
34 Pravda, 17. III. 1966.
35 "Soviet Sakhalin", 10. VII. 1967.
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