The first mineral exploration of this region was made by Nikite Demidoff, in 1701 or 1702. Peter the Great sent him there from Tula, a place which has since become of considerable importance as a manufacturing center. He had a very clear head for his business, and went at it in earnest, and the result is seen to-day in the immense prosperity of the mines. As a reward for his industry, the emperor gave him a grant of territory amounting to nearly five thousand square miles, with whatever mineral or other wealth might be found there.
This princely estate has remained ever since in the possession of the Demidoff family, and has made it the richest family of all Russia, with the exception of the Romanoffs (the Imperial House). It has been admirably controlled, and the owners have spared no pains or expense to secure the most intelligent direction and management. They have conducted everything on a liberal scale; the towns and villages which they have built up are among the prettiest, neatest, and most comfortable in all Russia.
In this last particular they are worthy of imitation everywhere, and many great establishments in Europe and America would be, to-day, more prosperous if they followed the example of the Demidoffs. There are some prominent instances of manufacturing or mining prosperity growing in part from an attention to the wants of the workman, the education of his children, and a general regard for his welfare. The most notable one now occurring to me is that of the Fairbanks Scale Works in Vermont, whose products have obtained a world-wide fame. They have built up upon what was the wilderness, a prosperous town, with schools, libraries, lecture and reading rooms, and they have given inducements for their workmen to be industrious and economical, and become house-owners in their own right. The Fairbanks Brothers never heard, perhaps, of the Demidoffs, but they have followed almost the same course, and with the same result.
Every year the Demidoffs select several of the brightest youths in each village, and send them to the mining schools of St. Petersburg, and also to France, England, and other countries. These spend several years away from the Ourals, and when they return they bring a stock of very valuable knowledge which is of great practical use.
In my journey through Russia, I visited the mining regions of the Oural, and also of the Altai Mountains, and was greatly interested in what I saw.
THE CASTLE OF THE DEMIDOFFS.
The castle of the Demidoffs, as it is called, stands on the bank of a small river in the Ourals, at the town of Neviansk. Part of it was built by the elder Demidoff; it has since been enlarged, so that it is now a goodly sized palace. In it is a large saloon with fresco paintings by an Italian artist who was specially engaged for the work, and it has several rooms which would make large halls anywhere else. The furniture was made expressly for the house, and is renewed from time to time, whenever it becomes antiquated or faded. Several rooms are kept for the use of travelers, and everything, including the table, is furnished free of charge.
You may arrive there at any hour of the day or night, and find a warm welcome, and a room ready for you. You are fed with a most liberal hand, and may have the best wines known to the European market—champagne, port, sherry, anything and everything you choose. Stay as long as you please, go where you wish to, and you have no bill to pay. Let us hope for a speedy adoption of this Demidoff custom everywhere, with the assurance that it will be highly popular with the majority of visitors, and tend to a large increase in their number.
The principal mining town of the Demidoffs is on the river Tagil, and is known as Nijne Tagilsk. It has a population of about twenty-five thousand, and contains many fine buildings, including churches, hospitals for the workmen, schools, academies, dwellings for the directors and sub-directors, and an immense pile in which are the offices of the administration.
The smelting furnaces, forges, rolling mills, machine shops, and the like, are on an enormous scale, and are surpassed by very few establishments anywhere in the world. Much of the machinery is made on the spot, and the facilities are such as to astonish any visitor, even when he knows beforehand that he will see something colossal.