#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. It was first described by the scientist, traveler and explorer Alexander Middendorf in the 19th century. He referred to them as “the wildly romantic rocky ridges called the Norilsk stones”. He called one of the mountains Bear Stone.
The first scientist who explored our region was Fyodor (Friedrich) Schmidt. At the invitation of the Dudinka merchant Sotnikov, he examined the deposits and collected the first information about the local minerals.
In 1919, when geologists Nikolay Urvantsev and Alexander Sotnikov came with the expedition, they fixed the names of the Norilsk mountains. The Bear Stone rock was renamed mount Schmidt, or Schmidtiha, in honor of the first scientist who visited Norilsk.
By the way, if in Urvantsev’s books this mountain is called Schmidt’s mountain, then in Sotnikov’s brochure it is Schmidtiha. Therefore, both options can be considered correct. Some Norilsk residents use Schmidtiha to determine non-flying weather, but the sign has no scientific evidence.
Another mountain, Gudchiha, was named after Pavel Gudkov, a scientist, chairman of the Siberian Geological Committee and a teacher at the Tomsk Institute, where Urvantsev and Sotnikov studied. In the Kolchak’s government, who sent the first expedition to Norilsk, Gudkov was the Minister of Trade and Industry, after which he left for America.
Subsequently, ill-wishers reminded Urvantsev that he had named the mountain after his emigrant teacher. Therefore, in Soviet times, the origin of the name Gudchiha was explained as “quietly buzzing”.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we talked about how the Norilsk people came up with the most unexpected solutions when building a narrow-gauge railway, for example, they used wind energy.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
