Note 10 — Chapter XXXVII · THE CONVICT MINES OF KARA.
Reading edition
The Government determines how much gold is to be washed in the season. In 1878 it was 25 poods, or 900 lbs. They told me that the average they were finding for the season of 1879 was ¾ of a zolotnik of gold to every 100 poods of sand, and that none of the mines about Kara yield more than one zolotnik to the 100 poods; also that the strata of gold sand are never more than seven feet, but usually less in thickness. I have already stated in an earlier chapter, only in different figures, that whilst 5 zolotniks to the 100 poods is considered good, 1 zolotnik to the same quantity is poor. Hence it is apparent that no private company would work the mines of Kara, and the Government do so only to provide penal employment at a reduced cost to the State. There are at Kara certain mines spoken of as belonging to the Emperor’s private purse. When the convicts work in these, the Minister of the Interior is paid for their labour according to the amount of work they do. This I understood to be an economical arrangement in favour of the Emperor.