Panorama of Dikson (urban village). Virtual tour of Dikson (urban village)
Dikson – an Arctic village on the shore Kara Sea traces its history back to ancient times, the historical roots of which are closely connected with the heroic era of polar discoveries and exploration of the Arctic.
Dikson Island was discovered by Russian Pomors at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1610, the merchant Kondraty Kurochkin traveled to these regions on kochas along the Yenisei.
In the 18th century, Russian sailors of the Ob-Yenisei detachment of the Great Northern Expedition thoroughly studied the coast of the Yenisei Bay, putting it on the map for the first time. Navigator Fedor Alekseevich Minin, having discovered previously unknown islands and a convenient bay near them at the “turn of the earth” - the entrance to the Yenisei Bay, wrote: “And from strong and nasty winds to preservation sea vessels the protection is reliable.”
In 1738, he named the current island of Dikson “Big North-Eastern”, and local industrialists called him “Dolgy” or “Kuzkin”.
Map of Dixon compiled by Nordenskiöld
The famous Swedish polar explorer Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld in 1875, while sailing on the schooner Previn at the mouth of the Yenisei, also drew attention to the deep-water harbor, well protected from the winds, the best, in his opinion, on the entire northern coast of Asia. "I hope",- he wrote, - “that this harbor, now deserted, will in a short time turn into a gathering place for many ships.”
A.E. Nordenskiöld named it Dixon Harbor, in honor of the Swedish entrepreneur and philanthropist Oscar Dixon, who financed many polar expeditions. In 1894, Dikson Island was officially given this name by the famous Russian hydrographer Andrei Ippolitovich Vilkitsky (almost twenty years later, as A.E. Nordenskiöld called it).
Dixon Harbor became frequented by ships that used it for laying. For example, in 1893 Northern by sea 1500 tons of rails were delivered for the Trans-Siberian railway. Polar explorer Eduard Vasilyevich Toll, who led the Russian Polar Expedition (1900-1903), created a coal warehouse (wooden barn) for his yacht “Zarya” on Dikson Island. This warehouse became the first building on the island, and was subsequently occasionally used by other ships.
The first large polar expeditions passed through Dikson, the Kara sea expeditions were carried out almost every year, over the course of 45 years 122 such voyages were made, but only 36 of them were successful. Famous discoverers, explorers of the polar seas, famous captains and pilots visited here: Kh. P. Laptev, F. A. Minin, D. V. Sterlegov, A. I. Vilkitsky, B. A. Vilkitsky, E. V. Toll, F. Nansen, R. Amundsen, N. N. Urvantsev, N. A. Begichev, O. Yu. Schmidt, V. Yu. Wiese, B. G. Chukhnovsky, V. S. Molokov and many others. Their names are immortalized in the names of monuments (to Begichev, Tessem), on the map of the Dikson settlement in geographical names coasts, islands, seas, straits, bays: Khariton Laptev coast, Pyotr Chichagov coast, Laptev Sea, Cape Chelyuskin, Minin skerries, Pronchishchev coast, Ovtsyn Strait.
The further development of the Northern Sea Route and, in particular, the support of the work of the Hydrographic Expedition of the Arctic Ocean (HESLO) on the ships "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" necessitated the creation of a polar radio station on Dikson Island. In August 1915, “G.P. Kushakov’s expedition delivered a six-kilowatt radiotelegraph station to Dikson. According to working drawings made by A.V. Telegin, a 110-meter mast for a wireless telegraph was made, mounted under the supervision of electrician L.K. Leske on Dikson Island" (Denisov V. "Chronology of Taimyr", Norilsk, 2009, P. 135 ). On September 7, 1915, the Dikson radio station went on the air for the first time, and communication was established with the Isakogorsk radio station, located near Arkhangelsk. This date is considered to be the day the village of Dikson was founded.
“On September 18, 1915, the first residential buildings were built on Dikson” (“Soviet Taimyr”, 1980, October 11, p. 2). A winter quarters for 54 people are set up in the port of Dikson, and along the coast between Dikson Bay and the mouth of the river. Pyasiny - three provision depots. The chief doctor of the expedition (GESLO), Leonid Mikhailovich Starokadomsky, described Dixon of that time as follows: “The construction of two houses was being completed on the island, a good bathhouse and a barn were built. All buildings were manufactured in Krasnoyarsk and delivered from there disassembled. Near the houses there was a 110-meter radio mast, although not yet equipped” (“Dixon People’s Art Gallery”, M., 1988, p. 5). A hydrometeorological station has been operating since 1916. On their basis, in the 1930s, the first Arctic radio-meteorological center and geophysical observatory on the Northern Sea Route were created. They played the role of city-forming enterprises. The development of navigation along the Northern Sea Route contributed to the transformation polar station to the regional center.
In 1930-1932 The Severozemelskaya expedition took place under the leadership of G. A. Ushakov, which is considered one of the geographical events of the twentieth century. It consisted of only four people: Georgy Alekseevich Ushakov himself, geologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Urvantsev (discoverer of the Norilsk ore deposit), musher-hunter Sergei Prokopyevich Zhuravlev (the only vehicle The expedition had dogs, the success of the expedition largely depended on them, on the work of the musher) and the radio operator Vasily Vasilyevich Khodov (provided communication with the mainland). People and dogs on west bank of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, an icebreaker was landed on its next summer navigation voyage. A house was assembled here, which became the main base of the expedition. Its participants filmed the area, determined astronomical points, and carried out geological research. All data was used to compile the map Severnaya Zemlya. The expedition also studied animals and vegetable world, hunting and fishing opportunities, meteorological and hydrographic observations were carried out.
In 1937, the first store and post office were opened on Dixon Island.
In 1939, a coal depot was established on Dikson. Coal was delivered by barges from the river. Pyasiny.
In the summer of 1941, the construction of several two-story houses was completed, which marked the beginning of the first street in the village of Dikson - Vodopyanova Street. In 1945, a six-month evening school was organized on Dikson to train party activists.
In 1956, “By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR dated November 2, the village of Dikson in the Ust-Yenisei district of the Taimyr National Okrug was classified as a workers’ settlement” (“Sovetsky Taimyr”, 1980, August 23, p. 2). In April 1957, the island and mainland villages were administratively united into one, which became the center of the Dikson region, separated from the Ust-Yenisei region.
During the Soviet period of Arctic exploration, the village of Dikson turned into an important transport hub, a construction base, agricultural production, social sphere. A unit of air defense (air defense) and border guards was stationed here. The population of the village - highly qualified, educated specialists were engaged in navigation services, scientific observations of climate, hydrographic research, geological exploration, fishing sea beast, furs, fish.
The material is given from “So Famous – Unknown Dixon” [Text]: for the 100th anniversary of its founding: [reference and bibliographic manual] / comp. A. A. Daginten, N. O. Babiychuk, resp. per issue K. I. Tlekhugova; central Library MBUK "Dudinskaya TsBS". – Dudinka: [b. i.], 2015. –185 p.: photo.
History of the name
Probably opened in early 17th century Pomors during their voyages down the Yenisei to its mouth and further to the river Pyasina. Arctic sailors have known Dikson Island since 18th century. During the Great Northern Expedition in 1738 the head of her Ob-Yenisei detachment, navigator Fyodor Minin, named this piece of land "Greater Northeast". Later Russian industrialists called it "Dolgy Island".
However, these names were forgotten. IN 19th century the island became known as "Kuzkin Island". Which, according to legend, supposedly corresponds to the name of the sailor-industrialist Kuzma.
The main feature of the expedition is the small number of people in the crew. Amundsen did this on purpose to keep everyone extremely busy and, if possible, with varied work. He considered this the best remedy for depression during the wintering that was inevitable on such expeditions.
A month after the launch in the Yugorsky Shar Bay area, another person was taken on board - Russian radio operator Gennady Olonkin. In September, the expedition passed Cape Chelyuskin and on September 13 stopped for the winter off the coast of Taimyr.
Apparently, the winter was not easy. The polar explorers did not leave the ship for a whole year. The ice freed the Maud exactly a year later - September 12, 1919.
The youngest sailor, Peter Tessem, and with him the experienced Paul Knudsen, leave the ship.
R. Amundsen at different times explained in different ways the reasons for sending them to Dikson, located 800 km to the southwest. At the beginning, he spoke about the need to deliver mail with the results of research to Norway. This is not very convincing, since no one was expecting this mail there. Later he said that Tessem complained of headaches, insomnia, and weakness. This is already more plausible - it looks like depression.
As for the distance, for the Arctic, 800 kilometers along the coast is realistic. Moreover, in 1915 Knudsen walked here on the ice from the Norwegian ship “Eclipse” to the wintering ships of the Russian expedition of B. A. Vilkitsky. And food warehouses along the way were known to travelers. The messengers have disappeared.
The expedition at the beginning of its journey moved to Cape Vilda. There, under a stone guri (like a tour), a note dated November 18, 1919 was found in a canned food can. From the note it followed that the travelers were in good condition, were going to Dixon, and had food for twenty days. Further along the coast to the southwest, on August 2, a Norwegian sled was discovered, the next day at Cape Sterlegov - a sled, and finally, at Cape Primetny two weeks later, Begichev came across the first terrible find.
In a large fireplace on the shore lay charred human bones, a skull, cartridge casings, a broken knife, and many small things were scattered around in disarray, from which Begichev established that the corpse of one of the departed sailors from the schooner “Maud” was burned here. True, the Norwegians believe that it was the corpse of someone from Rusanov’s expedition. The next year, on the banks of the Zeledeyeva River, 80 km from Dikson, various items of travelers were found: a theodolite, mail, etc. Even closer to Dikson, near the Uboynaya River, two pairs of Norwegian skis and scraps of a sleeping bag were found. And already three kilometers from Dixon, quite by accident, Begichev discovered the skeleton of a man, in whose half-rotten clothes, in his pocket lay a gold watch with the owner’s name - P. Tessema. A photograph of Tessem's skeleton was taken by G. N. Rybin in July 1922.
Death found the Norwegian on the lower part of the coastal slope. If he had climbed to the shore, walked, crawled only 8-10 meters, he would probably have noticed either the buildings or the lights of the Russian station, and this could have given him new strength. But he was not destined to do this.
At Cape Primetny, signs of struggle and violent death of one of the sailors are clearly visible. Perhaps this is the outcome of a serious quarrel between sailors, which is not so rare in such passages.
The Great Patriotic War
IN 1943 The German command made another attempt to block the port of Dikson by laying minefields. September 23-25 2 German submarines placed 48 bottom mines with magnetic and acoustic fuses on the approaches to the port. Observation posts discovered one of the submarines, after which the fairways were trawled. During the first half of October, it was possible to destroy the enemy minefield and ensure the safe movement of transports and warships.
The stamina and courage of Dixon’s defenders allowed during navigation 1943 transport by sea more than 235 thousand people, 1185 vehicles, 136 tractors, more than 72 tons of food and fodder, about 99 thousand tons of fuel, 34 thousand tons of coal, etc.
Twinning
In the second half of the 80s, the life of Soviet Dixon changed. It was during this period that the idea of “fraternization” with the United States arose, for a long time who were in the position of a potential enemy of the USSR, a movement to establish friendly ties between the cities of both countries, which was supposed to create an environment of mutual understanding and trust.
Two journalists - Sergei Ostroumov from Irkutsk and Boris Ivanov from Krasnoyarsk - an idea was born: why not find a twin brother to the Soviet Dikson, who was probably known abroad? Note that there are enough geographical objects with a name such as Dikson on world maps. In the Index to the Marine Atlas, a unique cartographic publication published after the war, there are over ten of them. In addition to a village, an island, a bay, there are other settlements, as well as islands, a bay and even a mountain. Moreover, all foreign ones are in the Western Hemisphere.
The choice fell on the American city of Dixon, located in the state of Illinois. It was this “American” who became the twin brother of the Soviet Arctic village.
The establishment of ties between the American Dixon and the Soviet went through several stages, at the first of which considerable doubts and serious objections arose from both sides, not to mention various large and small bureaucratic obstacles that stood in the way of contacts . There was a lively correspondence and appeals to the highest authorities. An exchange of photo exhibitions took place. In August 1988, overseas to his colleague, the mayor of Dixon James Dixon- the chairman of the Dikson District Council of People's Deputies went Nikolay Pavlovich Kartamyshev. This served as the beginning of mutual visits. The first guests of the Soviet Dixon were a journalist Bill Shaw, owner of the Dixon Telegraph newspaper, and his wife Amy. As a “scout”, he was instructed to tell his compatriots about everything he saw in the Arctic village. Also, the mayor himself arrived at Dikson in Taimyr at the head of four Americans. James Dixon. At the beginning of 1990, a Dixon school teacher went to Dixon, America. high school № 2 Nadezhda Naumenko. Following her, with the start of the holidays, eleven high school students came to American soil at the invitation of their peers from the shores of the Kara Sea for two weeks. They were accompanied by the head of the Dixon Hydrometeorology Department V. Mayorov. American teachers made a return visit to Dixon that same year. D. Radenti And T. Heintzelman. Subsequently, one of the largest actions in the development of cooperation and friendly ties between the two Dixons was the flight along the route Krasnoyarsk - Magadan - Anchorage (Alaska) - Rockford, which is 40 kilometers from its American sister city. A trade delegation headed by the Chairman of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Executive Committee, People's Deputy of the USSR, landed there then V. I. Sergienko, a large (over 50 people) group of Krasnoyarsk aviators, business managers, artists, entertainers, and journalists. Dikson residents were represented by the chairman of the district executive committee N. Karamyshev with his wife, Chairman of the District People's Court of the Commonwealth Committee K. Kopnin, director of the fish factory E. Petrov and helicopter commander V. Leber. Flight of the Tu-154M (crew commander, head of the inspection of the Krasnoyarsk department civil aviation V.Medvedev) lasted 13 hours, during which a new air bridge was laid from Soviet Union to the USA via West Coast overseas continent.
Over time, the connections between both Dixons began to fade.
Climate
| Climate of Dikson Island | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | But I | Dec | Year |
| Absolute maximum, °C | −0,5 | −1,3 | −0,2 | 1,8 | 10,4 | 22,2 | 26,8 | 26,9 | 16,6 | 6,2 | 1,9 | 3,9 | 26,9 |
| Average maximum, °C | −21,7 | −22,4 | −19,8 | −13,2 | −5,4 | 2,3 | 7,7 | 7,3 | 3,3 | −5,5 | −14,5 | −18,4 | −8,3 |
| Average temperature, °C | −26,8 | −26,4 | −23,4 | −17,9 | −9,1 | −0,3 | 4,3 | 4,5 | 1,1 | −8,5 | −18,9 | −22,9 | −12 |
| Average minimum, °C | −29 | −30 | −28 | −21 | −11 | −2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | −10 | −21 | −26 | −14 |
| Absolute minimum, °C | −46,2 | −48,1 | −44 | −38 | −28,8 | −17,3 | −3,4 | −3,6 | −12 | −31,3 | −42,8 | −46,6 | −48,1 |
| Precipitation rate | |||||||||||||
Dikson is the northernmost village in Russia. There is no mobile Internet and supermarkets, but you can see houses on stilts and green shimmers northern lights. Anna Gruzdeva and Anton Petrov from Krasnoyarsk visited Dikson and found out what life is like at the “end of the world.”
Dikson is usually called the “edge of the world”: it is located in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, on the shore of the Yenisei Bay of the Kara Sea - the outskirts of the Arctic Ocean. To the nearest major cities, Dudinka and Norilsk, from here there are more than five hundred kilometers of uninhabited tundra. You can get to Dikson, a gated community, only with a special pass and only on an old AN-26, which flies from Alykel airport only once a week, and then when there is no snowstorm or fog. For locals, everything that is not Dixon is “the mainland.” On the “mainland” there is Siberia, deep taiga, roads, the usual cycle of day and night. At the “end of the world” there are houses on stilts, “did you see how the arctic fox was chasing a dog in the yard?”, wild tundra, open to all winds, and endless ice. Arctic.
Dixon map in village school No. 1
Dixon is 102 years old, but his story is not just the biography of a lonely point on administrative map modern Siberia. This is the history of encounters between people and states with the Far North - it is longer. Back in the 11th-12th centuries, Pomors, immigrants from Veliky Novgorod, went “to all ends of the icy sea-ocean” to look for new trades and trade with the “samoyed”. At the beginning of the 17th century, Mangazeya, the first Russian polar fortified city, became the center of colonization of a vast territory of northern Siberia: traders and yasak collectors went there for “soft junk” and “walrus ivory.” Later, already in the 18th-19th centuries, Russian and European sailors made their way to the North, looking for a convenient sea route between Europe and Far East- trade.
On August 15, 1875, the Swedish geographer and navigator Nils Nordenskiöld entered the “convenient harbor” on the hunting schooner Previn. small island in the Yenisei Gulf." “I hope that this harbor, now empty, will in a short time turn into a gathering place for many ships, which will facilitate relations not only between Europe and the Ob and Yenisei river basins, but also between Europe and Northern China“, Nordenskiöld wrote in his diary, named the unnamed harbor “Dixon” (in honor of Oscar Dixon, the patron of his polar expeditions) and put it on his nautical charts.
In the 20th century, the North became for the USSR a place of trade and mining, exile and scientific research, and also, of course, the construction of new polar cities and towns. Among them, Dikson was the “capital of the Arctic,” where meteorologists, builders, teachers, hydrographers, military personnel, polar pilots, and radio operators came from different parts of the Union to “develop the North.” Today this Arctic village, like most northern settlements Russia is going through extremely difficult times. In the 1980s, Dixon's "golden years", about 5,000 people lived here. Now, according to official statistics, there are just under 600 residents left in the village, but locals clarify: in fact there are about 500.
Dikson is located on the shores of the Kara Sea. One part of it is located on the western edge of the Taimyr Peninsula, the other on the island of the same name. These parts of Dikson are separated by a one and a half kilometer strait, which becomes a “winter road” in winter.
Here, out of habit, they say not “in Dikson”, but “on Dikson”: historically, the village began on an island in the Kara Sea, but later began to develop on the neighboring Taimyr Peninsula. Therefore, Dikson is two parts of the village: island and mainland, separated by a one and a half kilometer strait. In 2009, the “island” was closed, and now it is practically uninhabited. People have moved to the mainland, the streets are empty, the wind has knocked out windows and doors in abandoned houses, and in the building of empty school No. 2 there are only hare tracks on the snow-covered floor. The only places where the lights are still on and work is going on are the hydrometeorological station and the airport.
There is more life in the Dixon mainland. People walk along the streets and ride Soviet tracked snowmobiles GAZ-71, brand new all-terrain vehicles TREKOL and Burans, shops operate, a school gym and library are open, there is a church. But here, too, there are more and more boarded up windows and closed doors every year, and only a few monuments to polar explorers and ships in the port remind of the former greatness of the “gateway to the Arctic.”
The average Dixon temperature in December-January is -25°C, but frosts can reach -40°C. The most unfavorable weather conditions are considered to be low temperatures combined with stormy winds, gusts of which can reach 15-30 m/s. On such days, the school announces “activation” and students stay home. From approximately mid-November to early February, polar night sets in on Dikson. It is usually darker than in neighboring Norilsk, Dudinka, Igarka and Khatanga. Northerners note that for some the polar night ends with the appearance of the edge of the sun, and for others its end is a hanging round ball above the horizon
A network of polar stations, a geophysical observatory, the port of the Northern Sea Route, the headquarters of maritime operations, a network of coastal airfields, polar explorers' clubs, winter hunting grounds, a fish factory, an art gallery - now only in local history books, files of the newspaper "Soviet Arctic" and in the memory of the people who came to settle inhospitable Far North. A border post, an unheated airport, a hydrometeorological station, a boiler house, a diesel station, a school, an administration, a library and several shops are all that remain today.
And yet people live on Dikson. They travel to the tundra and fish, teach children to draw and solve equations, write “Total Dictation” and take the Unified State Exam, collect archival photographs and bake bread, monitor heating boilers and wind speeds, wait out the polar night and enjoy the first sun. Here, on Dikson, every abandoned winter hut, closed door, gaping black opening or luminous window is a story. And the history of the development of the Northern Sea Route, and the history of the “conquest of the North” in the era of the USSR, but most importantly - the private history of a family or person.
Robert Prascenis with his wife Marina near their house. Robert came to Dixon in the mid-1970s, now works in the administration, collecting archival photographs of the village. “Before, people here were kinder, there was no anger, but now random people often come here,” says Robert
Dikson is located in permafrost conditions, therefore, like everywhere else in the Arctic, the village has houses on stilts. In such buildings, there is a ventilated underground between the house and the ground so that the structure erected on stilts does not heat the soil, and, therefore, does not lose its solidity, melt or shift
Only a few families can live in such a house today. Sometimes in winter it snows up to the middle of the door, and then residents have to clear the exit to the street from the inside
Burans, snowmobiles, TREKOL all-terrain vehicles and GAZ-71 tracked snow and swamp-going vehicles, left over from Soviet times, are the most common vehicles on Dikson. Only on such “tanks” can you overcome the snowy expanses of the tundra in winter
During the polar night most The streets of Dixon are deserted during the day. The village comes to life mainly only early in the morning, when Dixon residents go to work, and at 5-6 pm, when they return home, pick up their children from kindergarten, go to the store or on other errands
Alexander Surkov, a graduate of school No. 1, is now a student at the Polytechnic Institute of Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk). “There are too many people in Krasnoyarsk, it’s annoying. I went out on Dixon - and there was no one. I don’t like the buses, and the fare is 22 rubles. In the village you could walk wherever you wanted. Trees are also unusual. On Dikson we have only artificial luminous trees, and in the tundra only very low larches. At first I wanted to go home, honestly. I missed my parents. On Dikson I can see the sea from my window, and in Krasnoyarsk I can see a construction site. Compared to Krasnoyarsk, Dikson is special,” says Alexander
Mikhail and Zinaida Degtyarev are one of the few who have been fishing on Dikson since the 1990s. Their children live in Belarus and Canada, but the fishermen do not want to go to the mainland with them because they cannot stand the heat well and because they do not feel needed far from Dixon
In the 1960s-1980s, the shores of both the island and mainland parts of Dikson were dotted with balkas (a balok is a light mobile house - editor's note), where fishermen and hunters stored boats, tools, nets and other things needed in the tundra in the field. The places where the beams accumulated were called “Shanghai”, now they are empty
Near Dikson there are valuable whitefish - broad whitefish, whitefish, muksun, nelma, as well as Arctic omul. In the village, such fish are sold for 200 rubles per kilogram; on the mainland, its price is from 500 rubles and above. Locals most often they don’t buy omul or broad whitefish separately for themselves, but take a bag of various northern fish at once
“Zimnik” is a road between the island and mainland parts of Dikson, passing along the frozen strait of the Kara Sea. “In winter people go here by all-terrain vehicle, in summer by boat. In muddy times, when the ice melts, neither a boat nor an all-terrain vehicle goes - they order a helicopter. The same thing happens in the fall."
One of the working buildings of the hydrometeorological station on Dikson Island. On the roof there is a radiosonde - a device for measuring various parameters of the atmosphere, such as pressure, relative humidity, temperature
Anatoly Bukhta, oceanologist and former head of the hydrometeorological station: “In the 90s, devastation began. Salaries were not paid for six months; spoiled food was given out as payment for wages. It was difficult, there was a breakdown: I wanted to live and do something on Dikson, but then I didn’t. Many of my peers drank themselves to death and died, but they are not to blame - everyone has their own core and breaking point. After all, many people who worked as engineers became janitors. They were psychologically unable to overcome this barrier.”
Soviet devices in the old hydrometeorological station building
One of the streets of the island village. The snow-covered wooden road is supported by empty metal fuel barrels, but in winter this is not visible. Disposal of rusty barrels is one of the main Arctic problems both in Russia and in Canada, Norway, and Alaska
The monument to the North Sea sailors who defended Dikson during the Second World War, erected in 1972, is located on the island. On August 27, 1942, the German cruiser Admiral Scheer attacked the port of Dikson. The icebreaking steamer Sibiryakov was shot and died in battle. However, having encountered resistance from the patrol ship Dezhnev and artillery from the shore, the Sheer retreated. Some of the sailors died
An abandoned room in a residential building on Dixon Island. Before moving from the island to the village, the Dixon residents boarded up the windows and doors, but the arctic wind knocked them out, which is why many houses are covered with snow in winter
View of Airplane Bay, abandoned by fishermen and hunters, “Shanghai” and the winter footpole. “The balok contained a hangar for a boat, a workshop, and a small shed where one could rest or hide for a while from his wife’s anger. Often a freezer or icebox with small chambers for storing meat and fish was cut out under the beam. By the mid-1990s, the number of beams was quite impressive; they were located chaotically, so after gatherings, many did not immediately find their way home. Hence “Shanghai,” says Anatoly Lomakin, a resident of Dikson
A snow-covered classroom at School No. 2 on Dikson Island. “The gladioli were ordered by helicopter for September 1st. Sandwiches with butter and black caviar... It was awesome,” recalls driver Dmitry Asovsky
A sign near the Dixon airport building. The airport accepts passengers once a week, on Wednesdays. Sometimes due to snowfall, fog or other "unfavorable weather conditions» Dixon residents can wait two weeks for a Dixon-Norilsk or Norilsk-Dixon flight
Dikson Island has been known to Arctic sailors since the beginning of the 18th century. During the Great Northern Expedition of 1720-1747. in 1738, its participant, navigator Fyodor Minin, named this piece of land the Great North-Eastern. Later it was called Dolgy, and in the 19th century. - Kuzkin Island.
In 1875-1878. The famous Swedish polar explorer A.-E visited here on the hunting sailing ship Previn. Nordenskiöld. Having safely reached the mouth of the Yenisei through the Kara Sea and considering himself the discoverer of the island, he named the island and the bay after the Swedish entrepreneur Oscar Dixon, who financed the expedition. In 1894, the island was officially given this name.
In 1915, the first house was erected on the island - a radio station for communication with the Great Land of Vilkitsky, who spent the winter off the coast of Taimyr. Since that time, the official countdown of the life of the village has been conducted.
The first wintering of polar explorers on Dikson Island took place in 1916, when a meteorological station began operating, transmitting weather reports to Petrograd. Then the tsarist government found funds for this. In 1919, the icebreakers Taimyr, Vaygach and Alexander Nevsky arrived at Dikson. They left a two-year supply of coal and food for the Red Polar Station.
Since 1929, to meet the needs of hydrography and Kara expeditions, a permanent air detachment began to be based on Dikson. The development of navigation along the Northern Sea Route contributed to the transformation of the polar station into a regional center.
With the creation of the Northern Sea Route Administration in 1932, the construction of a village and polar stations on the islands and coast of Taimyr began - first production, residential and auxiliary stations on the island, then on the mainland coast. One-story houses formed streets that were named after the explorers of the North: Sedov, Begichev, Papanin, pilots Chkalov and Vodopyanov, captain Voronin, hunter Tayan.
The names were assigned by the head of the polar station and by a resolution of the political department.
The village on the mainland, called New Dikson, began its history in 1934 in connection with the construction of the port. Later, a hydrographic base and the headquarters of maritime operations of the western sector of the Arctic - the coordinator of shipping - appeared here. In 1939, a coal depot was equipped on Dikson for steamships traveling along the Northern Sea Route. It was at this time that Dikson began to be called the “gateway of the Arctic.”
In 1941, to ensure the increased volume of cargo turnover, a new pier was put into operation seaport. Until now, it has been the main berth of the Dikson seaport.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Dixon's importance increased sharply. All convoys traveling through the Kara Sea were formed here. After the Great Patriotic War, Dixon was chosen by the military, placing an air defense unit and border guards here.
In 1956, Dikson was classified as a working village, and in 1957, the island and coastal villages were combined into one, which became the united center of the Dikson district, separated from the Ust-Yenisei district.
Since 1957, construction of two-story buildings began, and since 1976 - five-story buildings. By 1990, Dikson had become a base village with an established infrastructure capable of meeting the needs of any expedition.
The heroic history of the development of the Northern Sea Route is closely connected with the island and port of Dikson. Famous scientists, navigators, Arctic explorer pilots visited here: A. I. Vilkitsky, his son B. Vilkitsky, E. Toll, F. Nansen, R. Amundsen, N. Urvantsev, N. Begichev, O. Schmidt, V. Wiese, V. Voronin, B. Chukhnovsky, V. Molokov and others. Dixon surprises with the abundance of erected monuments: to Begichev, Tessema, North Sea sailors, etc.
