Iultin - the mystery of the disappearance of the Soviet ghost town

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

There were many cities in the Soviet Union that gradually turned into ghosts. One of them is Iultin, who, though not for long, existed in Chukotka. The rapidly established large industrial settlement was just as quickly abandoned by its inhabitants. At the peak of its development, more than five thousand people (approximately 5200) lived there. Currently, animals live here, representatives of the local wildlife. The city is located near the Ivaltyn mountain, from which its name came.

The emergence of the city and its past

In the USSR, the Chukchi Territory was studied and developed quite actively. This was due to the search for mineral deposits and the involvement of prisoners who were serving their sentences in the GULAG.

In the thirty-seventh year, geologist V. Milyaev discovered large deposits of molybdenum, tin and tungsten on Mount Ivaltyn (translated from the Chukchi language as Long Ice Floe).

One year after the discovery, the first construction crews arrived at this place. Unfortunately, all work on the study of the region had to be curtailed due to the onset of the Second World War. Construction continued after the war.

The first settlers had few structures - only two plywood houses and a row of tents where workers lived. There were also a small number of them - seventy-three people. Gradually, construction was gaining momentum. Mostly prisoners worked here. In 1946, a small village called Egvekinot and a two hundred kilometers long road appeared. Iultin was founded in 1953, at a short distance from the place where geologists stayed. Six years later, in the 59th, the Mining and Processing Plant named after V. I. VI Lenin, which at that time was the center of the region.

Within a short period of time, a huge urban infrastructure was organized, which developed very rapidly. In those years, the industry of the state was in dire need of tungsten, molybdenum and tin.

The city developed and expanded rapidly. Soon, all regions of the great country knew about its existence. A kindergarten, educational institutions and clubs were opened here. They even built an airport. By the 89th year, the population of Iultin was five thousand people, and the city itself was recognized as an industrial regional center, the construction of a modern new school began. People here made good money and could afford plane flights once or twice a year.

Decline of Iultin, its closure

It was planned to further develop the settlement, expand the production base and the production of finished raw materials. But all the plans remained in the plans and were not implemented. When a split began in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (91st year), the state's support for the enterprise was gone. Deliveries from such remote areas of raw materials have become unprofitable from an economic point of view. As a result, profitability was reduced and the plant was simply closed. All work carried out here has become unprofitable.

At first, the village continued to exist, but over time, all communications were cut off. Closer to the ninety-fifth year, the population had no choice but to leave the dying city and leave. The last villagers left their habitats by the year two thousand. Since no renovation work was carried out, the road bridges quickly fell into disrepair, and the city itself became a ghost.

City today

Currently, there is only one structure in Iultin, which can still be called half-alive. This is the base of the road service, which is engaged in servicing the regional seasonal "winter road" Egvekinot - Cape Schmidt.

The most interesting thing is that after the departure of the last townspeople who left their homes, the city remained absolutely untouched. It resembles a majestic massive monument to times and events long gone. In a hurry, everything was left here: houses and apartments, kindergartens and schools, cars, a huge industrial plant. It is like a message, a telegram from a bygone era.

If you visit the ghost town now, you can feel the period of communism, its breath, strength, greatness of processing plants. As for the infrastructure, in this settlement it was much better than in other parts of Chukotka.

Those wishing to see Iultin with their own eyes will have to get there on their own along the roundabout routes. All roads and bridges have long ago fallen into disrepair and are unsafe. The buildings are still standing, but they are slowly collapsing, the roads are overgrown with weeds, quickly turning the once busy place into a forgotten and abandoned city with the status of a "ghost".