A New Type of Entrepreneurial Activity of the Trading House "Heirs of A.I. Gromova" in Northeastern Siberia at the Beginning of the 20th Century

The article is devoted to the study of a new type of entrepreneurial activity of the trading house "Heirs of A.I. Gromova" at the beginning of the 20th century. The aim of the study is to analyze the formation of the coal mining activity of Gromova's enterprise at the deposits in Northeastern Siberia and its influence on the organization of the transport and trade infrastructure of the region. Achieving this aim involves the widespread use of archival sources previously never published and put into scientific discourse. The topic has a theoretical and applied relevance. It has not been sufficiently studied in the regional historiography of Northeastern Siberia and is the subject of scientific and political discussions. The key method in the study is an interdisciplinary approach to the research problem, which is at the intersection of history and economics and allows using the method of content analysis-a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the statistical data of the sources by mathematical modeling methods. The author determined that the exploration and extraction of coal from the deposits in the central regions of Yakutia was a new type of entrepreneurial activity of the company "Heirs of A.I. Gromova". This allowed her to function as a full-cycle enterprise. The company combined the extraction, production, and use of resources in order to satisfy its own economic needs and develop the trade and transport infrastructure of the region. The author revealed that the total area of exploration and production of coal in the area of the river Aldan by the company in 1915 was 45 square km. In 1915-1916, coal production exceeded 100 thousand tons. The coal mined was of high quality and was fully suitable for use in ship transport. Coal mining was conducted in an open way using electrical equipment. The analysis showed that the transition of the "Heirs of A.I. Gromova" transport company to its own energy-intensive fuel in 1915-1916 allowed increasing the intensity of cargo transportation by 60% and profit by 96%. The company introduced new river and sea routes, involved remote territories in the general commodity exchange of the region, and reduced the level of external competition. In conclusion, it is noted that at present it is necessary to intensify the extraction of coal resources of the Aldan coal deposit of Neryungrinsky District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which is developed only by 3.8% of the total level of the accounting stock. The field, first developed by the trading house "Heirs of A.I. Gromova" at the beginning of the 20th century, is of strategic importance for the functioning of the Amur-Yakutsk Mainline. The road connected the center of modern Yakutia with large industrial points of Siberia and the Far East.

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