Leather production

Leather dressing was the most common of other industries in Western Siberia. Already in 1720, there were 200 tanneries in 7 towns and 47 villages. The tannery hut had 1−2 tanning and ash vats, a crush (a mortar with a pestle bound with tin), tongs, an iron plow and iron. There was no more than one tannery in the villages, where all the skins needed by the peasants were made. An ordinary village tannery produced about 40 pieces a year, and of rather poor quality, which were used only for making horse harnesses and sewing shoes.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the number of workshops where leather was processed increased. And here in the first place stood Tyumen and its county, which produced half of all Siberian leathers. For example, in 1809, 67,130 leathers were produced, which equaled the production of the Ryazan and Penza provinces taken together. Of the Tyumen leathers, 18,500 were exported to China, 21 900 were sent to the fortresses of the Siberian line, 16 200 — to Irbit and the European part of the country and 10 530 were sold locally to shoemakers and shoemakers.

In the second half of the XIX century Tyumen and Tyumen County remain the "leather workshop of Siberia". In addition to Tyumen, leather was made in other places. So the craftsmen of the Tobolsk district mastered the art of making suede from goat, elk, and deer skins and making gloves from them. In total, there were 305 workshops in Tobolsk province in 1888, in which 815 workers were employed. In a year, the workshops produced more than 335 thousand leathers, worth more than 1 million rubles. The leather industry has long ceased to be a family business and turned into a production where hired workers worked. In 1895 There are 318 tanneries in the Tobolsk province, including 11 manufactories and one factory owned by Tyumen merchants Kolmogorov. In 1897, tanneries and factories produced products worth 2 million rubles. The largest enterprises were Tyumen tanneries: Kolmogorov and Reshetnikov. In rural areas, small workshops were maintained, in which up to ten workers worked. The raw materials for production were peasant and the materials (willow bark, birch tar) were harvested by the peasants themselves.

Leather production in Siberia

In terms of the number of employed persons, the leading place in Siberia was occupied by the leather industry. In 1862, there were 197 tanneries and workshops in Tobolsk province alone, employing 2,440 people.

Researcher V. Ilyin wrote about the leather industry of Tyumen in the 1860s as follows: "…Tyumen leather goods are sent not only to Russian markets, but also to Eastern Siberia, the Kyrgyz steppe and even China. Currently, there are 67 tanneries in Tyumen and 19 in its district, which annually produce leather for more than 600 thousand rubles in silver." In 1806, a tannery was built in Tobolsk by merchant Yakov Petrovich Ershov. The building was wooden, 36 fathoms long and 14 fathoms wide. There were 10 people working at the factory: a master, an apprentice and eight workers. There were 11 vats for leather dressing: 8 tannins and 3 ash vats. 700 pieces were produced per year of red leather, 300 — white, 500 — black and 500 pieces of hemmed leather. The products were sold in Tobolsk and at the fair in Irbit.

In 1882, there were 332 tanneries and workshops in Tobolsk province, employing 812 people. According to the observation of the observers of the newspaper "Eastern Review", in 1884 in Siberia tanneries accounted for 26.75% of all factories.

At the end of the nineteenth century, leather production was widespread in the village. The peasants made leather from which they sewed shoes (teals, brodniks), leather mittens, aprons, and so on.