Most of the district’s territory is occupied by the West Siberian Plain. The Altai mountain system is located in the southeast — the highest part of Western Siberia (Mount Belukha — 4506 meters). Most of Western Siberia is located within the continental climate of the temperate zone, and its northern part is located within the subarctic and Arctic zones, therefore its climate is continental in nature. Western Siberia covers five natural zones: tundra, forest tundra, taiga, forest steppe and steppe. Most of Western Siberia is swampy, with the largest area of swamps in the world.

The rivers of Western Siberia belong to the Kara Sea basin. The largest waterway — the Ob with the Irtysh tributary — is one of the greatest rivers of the globe. The Ob River is formed at the confluence of Biya and Katun, originating in Altai, and flows into the Ob Bay of the Kara Sea. Among the rivers of Russia, it ranks first in terms of basin area and third in terms of water content. In the forest zone, up to the mouth of the Irtysh, the Ob receives its main tributaries: on the right — the Tom, Chulym, Ket, Tym, Vakh rivers; on the left — the Parabel, Vasyugan, Bolshoy Yugan and Irtysh rivers. The largest rivers in the north of Western Siberia — Nadym, Pur and Taz — originate on the Siberian Uvalas.

The flora of Western Siberia is about 1.5 times poorer compared to adjacent regions, and the gap is especially large for the taiga and tundra zones. The fauna of Western Siberia is characterized by a higher relative diversity. Thus, there are 80 species in the four main mammal orders of Western Siberia, 94 and 90 species for Eastern Siberia and European Russia, respectively. There are 13 species common to Eastern Siberia, 16 to European Russia, 51 common to all three regions; none found only in Western Siberia. The fauna of birds is the most diverse, the main part of which species in Western Siberia are migratory. In terms of the total number of bird species, Western Siberia is not significantly inferior to adjacent regions in any zonal area, and surpasses them in terms of waterfowl and near-water.

A special sign has been given to the protection of forests since the time of Peter I. The forest was needed for the construction of the fleet, the laying of factories, the repair of bridges and roads. At the heart of forest management at that time were forest organizations, which were called waldmeisterships. In 1727 they were disbanded and the supervision of the forests was entrusted to the voivodes. In 1786, the rules of forestry were created and approved.

On March 12, 1798, the Forest Department was created — the central forest management body. In November 1802, the Statute on Forests was approved, with the introduction of which the government intended to solve three problems: to streamline the forest management system, define a system of measures to prevent forest fires, and determine the possibilities of obtaining maximum income from forests.

Forests were the main wealth of Siberia. In the Tobolsk province alone, in the nineteenth century, 102 781 559 dessiatines of forest were counted, that is, for each inhabitant there were 29 dessiatines of forested territory.

In 1884, forest supervision was introduced in Western Siberia and state property management was organized. Schools were established to train forest conductors, assistant foresters.

The Forest Guard was charged with overseeing the forests and making sure that there were no unauthorized or illegal logging, and all those found guilty were legally responsible. According to archival materials, 27 people served in the Tobolsk forestry alone in 1896, 16 of them were detourers, 7 foresters, 2 overseers of rafting and 2 guards.

In 1914, there were 471 forest cottages in the Tobolsk province, with a total area of 61 537 109 acres. In the same year, 11 218 cubic saplings of timber and ornamental timber were harvested, 15 145 firewood, for the total amount of 618,608 rubles. In 1915, the forests of the province gave the treasury an income of 887,652 rubles.

Woodworking

Active economic activity in Siberia in the late XIX – early XX centuries favorably influenced the development of the woodworking industry. Tobolsk Province occupied one of the leading places among the regions of Siberia. The forest was widely used in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Tyumen-Omsk railway. At the end of the nineteenth century, the first supplies of Siberian timber abroad began from the Tyumen region. The experience turned out to be so successful that the Tyumen timber industry district was among the largest suppliers of timber. In 1906 The Tyumen market shipped timber abroad through Yekaterinburg, Perm, Kotlas and Arkhangelsk.

In 1913, there were 9 factory-type sawmills in the Tobolsk province. The largest in Western Siberia was the Kyrkalov brothers timber mill in Tyumen, which employed 120 hired workers. The annual output of the sawmill reached 380 thousand rubles. The plants of Kurbatov I.S. heirs and E.K. Vardropper were slightly inferior to him. They were used for sawing timber, producing boards, sleepers, and joinery.

Manufacture of birch bark products

The manufacture of birch bark tableware in Siberia was widespread everywhere, especially where birch trees grew. Baskets and tuesques were made of birch bark.

According to the observation of the columnists of the newspaper "Siberian Leaf": "Birch bark is harvested in the summer, while it is easily separated from the tree, and is finished in winter; a good worker will make more than a hundred tuyas per week, and in winter he will earn from 70−100 rubles and more; harvesting birch bark in some areas is also a fishery, and 3−5 rubles are hired either on a weekly basis. or from 1000 to 10 rubles, which is a pretty profitable income."


Production of sieves andnets

The whole peasant family was usually engaged in making sieves and nets; the rims for them were made by men from aspen stakes two inches in diameter, which were sawed in half, then a groove was made with a scraper, then they were steamed and straightened into planks; sometimes the preparation of these rims — "rims" — was a special craft, a hundred of them are sold for 2−3 rubles.

The sieve was made of linden bast, which was split and cut into ribbons with a special tool — a "cutlet" consisting of 10−12 incisors inserted into the handle. Then the ribbons were inserted into a "berdo" machine, which is also used for weaving matting, and along this "base" with a "shuttle", that is, with a wide wooden needle with an eye, rows of transverse ribbons were threaded; the resulting mesh was attached to the rim with a ribbon made of linden bark with the help of a awl. A hundred sieves were sold for 4−5 rubles, and the average salary per year was 50−60 rubles per person.

Nets for sieves were also made; horse, cow and female hair served as the material; the mesh was attached to the rim with a braid. Nets were made mostly by women, sometimes it was also a separate trade, a woman made 3−4 nets a day, with ready-made hair, nets were valued at 3 rubles per hundred. The price of sieves depended on their size and frequency, horsehair was cheaper, 12−15 sieves came out of one pound, which were sold for 10−25 kopecks apiece; the most expensive were frequent sieves from women’s hair, of which one pound cost 1 rub. 50 kopecks,-3 rubles, there is a lot of work, and such a sieve was made all day long. The average earnings per year from the manufacture was 40−50 rubles.

Logging of timber

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the forest industry had died out, as in many areas the forest had already been cut down. Logging was carried out in the early spring months. If the forest was far from home, then the peasants built an artel hut-winter quarters, about a fathom high, without a floor and roof, it was covered with earth from above, and a hearth was arranged inside. Firewood was exported along the winter route, if they had to be floated down the river, then harvesting began in winter from Michaelmas and lasted until Easter.

Firewood was cut in various lengths, depending on the purpose: apartment ¾ arshins, for factories and steamships in 5−6 quarters. The best varieties were birch, then pine and deciduous, and the worst were aspen. Firewood prices have always been very variable, but on average you can count 2 rubles 50 kopecks — 3 rubles per fathom of dry good firewood. Firewood was delivered to steamship piers and factories for 1−2 rubles per fathom. The income from the wood industry was small, at most 10−15 rubles per month.

Sale of firewood and timber

The sale of firewood and timber was one of the main branches of labor of Siberian peasants, as there was always a great demand for timber. The forest began to be harvested in the spring. It was cut down in separate forests or tickets were taken for the removal of timber from a state-owned forest cottage. Tickets were usually taken by the whole village, so the employee had 3−4 rubles each.

In early spring, when snow still lies in the fields, the forest was cut down, stripped of bark and twigs and left to lie and dry until winter: along the first toboggan route, the forest was taken directly to the market or to the river banks, from where it was floated on rafts in the spring. Depending on the size of the raft, from 2 to 12 workers participated in the rafting of the forest along the river. Rafters were hired for household maintenance or daily for 40−80 kopecks a day. They earned more than 4 rubles for rafting.

In the city, the raft was sold to dealers all at once. It was less profitable than selling timber directly to the buildings, but here the rafters had to wait for the peasants who would buy these logs from them. The average price of the timber was: nine-inch from 80 kopecks to 1 ruble, twelve-inch — up to 2 rubles. A log 3 fathoms long and 6 vershkov across cost about 50 kopecks.

In 1904, Ural industrialists Loginov and Vorozhtsov opened a match factory in Tyumen. The factory had 12 workshops: box-glued, chipboard, plywood, makalny, locksmith, typesetting and others. The equipment for the company was purchased in Germany. It was one of the largest match factories in Siberia. The volume of products was constantly growing. If in 1908 the factory produced about 300 thousand matches, then in 1913 — almost 600 thousand. In terms of quality, the matches of the Tyumen factory were not inferior to the products of the best enterprises in Russia, and its owners were awarded special medals five times.