Shokarev S. Yu. Report of Mining Engineer V.M. Boreisha on the Geological Expedition to Chukotka in the Summer of 1921

← Mashtakova L. V. Becoming a “Region’s Poet”: The Case of Lev V. Isakov Deduk A. V., Shekov A. V. The 1520s Deeds on the History of Land Relations in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the collection 1603 of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA) →

Shokarev S. Yu. Report of Mining Engineer V.M. Boreisha on the Geological Expedition to Chukotka in the Summer of 1921

Sergey Yu. Shokarev
Candidate of Historical Sciences, University of Chicago (USA, Chicago)
ORCID: 0000-0002-7620-0186
E-mail: shokarevs@yandex.ru

Download | Back to the Content № 1. 2026

UDC 94(47)”1921″
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2026-5-1-68-89

ABSTRACT. The article publishes a report by mining engineer V. M. Boreisha on his participation in the expedition of the famous geologist I. A. Korzukhin to Chukotka in 1921. This expedition was organized by the Korzukhin and Fukuyama Mining Society. More than half of the expedition consisted of Japanese nationals and set sail from Yokohama on a Japanese schooner. V. M. Boreisha accompanied the expedition as a representative of the Provisional Government of the Far East — Regional Government of Primorye Zemstvo — to ensure the legality of applications for mineral exploration in the territory entrusted to this government. The expedition took place from June 15 to October 3, 1921. During the work on the Chukotka coast, deposits of coal, graphite, and gold were discovered and described. While traveling along the coast of Chukotka, V. M. Boreisha met with Chukotka merchants M. D. Dobriev, and B. Thomson. Based on their accounts, the report’s author compiled a general description of trade in Chukotka. Among other things, he notes that merchants, fearing the Bolsheviks, sought to sell their businesses to foreign capital. V. M. Boreisha also reported that the Anglo-Canadian Hudson’s Bay Company and the American merchant O. Swenson had considerable influence in the region. V. M. Boreisha’s report is a valuable source on the history of Chukotka during the Civil War and the history of the development of Russian geological science.

KEYWORDS: 1917–1922 Civil War in Russia, history of Russian geology, trade in Chukotka, Chukchi, Eskimos, Karayevs, Bend Wall, Charles Carpendel, Magomet Dobriev

For citation: Shokarev S. Yu. [Report of Mining Engineer V. M. Boreisha on the Geological Expedition to Chukotka in the Summer of 1921]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2026, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 68–89. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2026-5-1-68-89 (In Russian).

Received 20 February 2026
Accepted 22 April 2026

REFERENCES

Fedoreev V. N., Sidorenko G. S. [Periods and Stages of the Formation of the Geological Service of Kamchatka and the Main Achievements in the Geological Study of the Territory]. Gornyy vestnik Kamchatki [Mining Bulletin of Kamchatka], 2019, iss. 1 (44), pp. 55–71. (In Russian).
Garusova L. N. Rossiysko-amerikanskiye regional’nyye otnosheniya na Dal’nem Vostoke: istoriya i sovremennost’ [Russian-American Regional Relations in the Far East: History and Modernity]. Vladivostok: Izd-vo VGUES Publ., 2001. (In Russian).
Guseinova Z. M. [From the History of the First Publications about A. S. Dargomyzhsky]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Iskusstvovedeniye [Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts], 2013, no. 4, pp. 16–22. EDN: RMRZUX. (In Russian).
Karaev A. I. [Chukotka-Anadyr Land (Essays by a Local Resident)]. Ekonomicheskaya zhizn’ Dal’nego Vostoka [Economic Life of the Far East], 1926, no. 4, pp. 140–153. (In Russian).
Kiselev M. Yu. [History of the Chukotka Peninsula Exploration in the Documents from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. Vestnik arkhivista [Herald of an Archivist], 2015, no. 4, pp. 43–51. EDN: VKCIIF. (In Russian).
Koshkareva S. G. [Commercial Activities of “Hudson-Bay” in the Extreme North-East of the Soviet State (Early 1920s)]. Vestnik KRAUNTS. Gumanitarnyye nauki [Bulletin of the Kamchatka Regional Association Educational and Scientific Center (KRASEC). The Humanities], 2016, no. 1 (27), pp. 26–30.
EDN WYBSOZ. (In Russian).
Krupnik I., Chlenov M. Yupik Transitions: Change and Survival at Bering Strait, 1900–1960. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2013. (In English).
Makovtsova S. V. [“Tokyo — Harbin — Raichikhinsk” About the Fate of F. N. Storozhkov, Resident of Raichikhinsk, Participant of the 1949 Khabarovsk Trial]. Available at: https://museumamur.org/kraevedenie-i-obrazovanie/material%20conferencii/yanvar/2025/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%86%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0.docx (accessed: 26.01.2026). (In Russian).
Manko Yu. I. [The History of Putting Forests on the Coast of the Tatar Strait in the Long-Term Concession Use]. Vestnik Dal’nevostochnogo otdeleniya Rossiyskoy akademii nauk [Vestnik of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 2015, no. 5 (183), pp. 88–101. EDN: UYYSFX. (In Russian).
Petrov I. M. [I. A. Korzukhin — Author of the First Russian Monograph on Mechanical Processing (Beneficiation) of Minerals]. Gornyi Zhurnal [Mining Journal], 2022, no. 11, pp. 89–94. EDN: TONYFX. (In Russian).
Pliskina V. N. [Russian Translators from Harbin]. Kul’tura i nauka Dal’nego Vostoka [Culture and Science of the Far East], 2019, no. 1 (26), pp. 71–85. EDN: FAARSQ. (In Russian).
Popov F. A. [Formation of Zemstvo Statehood in Primorye (January–April, 1920)]. Manuscript, 2016, no. 9 (71), pp. 170–175. EDN: WJWRUJ. (In Russian).
Serkov A. I. Russkoye masonstvo. 1731–2000. Entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’ [Russian Freemasonry. 1731–2000. An Encyclopedic Dictionary]. Moscow: ROSSPEN Publ., 2001. (In Russian).
Shokarev S. Yu. [Knud Rasmussen in Chukotka: A Two-Day Journey in the Fifth Thule Expedition (1924)]. Prikladnaya etnologiya Chukotki: narodnyye znaniya, muzei, kul’turnoye naslediye (K 125-letiyu poyezdki N. L. Gondatti na Chukotskiy poluostrov v 1895 g.) [Applied Ethnology of Chukotka: Folk Knowledge, Museums, Cultural Heritage (On the 125th Anniversary of N. L. Gondatti’s Trip to the Chukotka Peninsula in 1895)]. Moscow: PressPass Publ., 2020, pp. 327–347. (In Russian).
Shokarev S. Yu. [Norwegian Bend Voll about Trade in Chukotka at the Beginning of the 20th Century]. Kul’turologicheskiy zhurnal [Journal of Cultural Research], 2022, no. 4 (50). Available at: http://cr-journal.ru/rus/journals/599.html&j_id=54 (accessed: 26.01.2026). DOI: 10.34685/HI.2022.27.42.027 (In Russian).
Shokarev S. Yu. [Chukotka in 1921: A mining Engineer’s Report]. GoArctik, 2023, July 7. Available at: https://goarctic.ru/kultura/chukotka-v-1921-godu-otchyet-gornogo-inzhenera/?ysclid=maigbxqguk42910882 (accessed: 26.01.2026).
Shokarev S. Yu. [Kampan’s Photo Album as A Source on the History of Coastal Chukotka in the Early 1930s]. Kunstkamera, 2024, no. 3 (25), pp. 102–120. EDN: DSGIII. DOI: 10.31250/2618-8619-2024-3(25)-102-120 (In Russian).
Yarzutkina A. A. [Forms and Nature of Trade between American Entrepreneurs and the Indigenous Inhabitants of Chukotka in the Late 19th — Early 20th Century]. Vserossiyskiy zhurnal nauchnykh publikatsiy [All-Russian Journal of Scientific Publications], 2011, no. 8 (9), pp. 34–49 (In Russian).
Yarzutkina A. A. [Chukotka Families of American Traders: Trade Relations Micro-History at the Beginning of the XXth Century]. Istoricheskiye, filosofskiye, politicheskiye i yuridicheskiye nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedeniye. Voprosy teorii i praktiki [Historical, Philosophical, Political and Law Sciences, Culturology and Study of Art. Issues of Theory and Practice], 2012, no. 4 (18), part 2, pp. 223–227. Available at: www.gramota.net/materials/3/2012/4-2/57.html (accessed: 26.01.2026). EDN: OUWKKD. (In Russian).

Sources [Top]