The article presents the publication of the report of the local City Duma member Mikhail Mindarovsky, which was preserved in the fonds of the Yeniseisk City Archive. The report was read in June 1916 at a meeting of City Duma members in the presence of a representative of the Ministry of Railways, engineer A.M. Vikhman. The text presents the arguments of the supporters of the project of building a railway between the Yeniseisk and Achinsk, which was considered as an integral link necessary for the successful functioning of the Northern Sea Route and ensuring the successful development of the Yenisey Siberia. M.P. Mindarovsky expressed concern about the future fate of Yeniseisk and the adjacent territory, outlined possible prospects for the development of the city, associated with its transformation into a major northern port — a transshipment base for unloading goods from ships arriving through the Arctic Ocean and then transporting them to various regions of Siberia by railway. The author of the report paid special attention to the criticism of the position of some residents of the provincial center, who saw the railway to Yeniseisk as a potential threat to the welfare of Krasnoyarsk. The preserved source expands the existing ideas about the journalistic heritage and social activities of M.P. Mindarovsky, introduces the ideas about the prospects for the development of the northern Siberian regions that are widespread among his contemporaries, and reveals the details of the interaction between the government and society in the development of the Siberian North.
The Bazhenins — merchants, manufacturers, shipbuilders (source-study notes)
