The abandoned village of Valkumey

The first settlement that we visited in Chukotka was the abandoned village of Valkumey 13 kilometers from Pevek. A strange play of words "settlement", now this village can not be called inhabited. In the late 90s, all residents left here. Their houses and other buildings are empty.

I invite you to see what an abandoned village looks like now.

The village of Valkumey was founded in 1941 to develop the tin deposit. At first there was just a mine, then a village was formed. In Soviet times, it grew and developed.

In 1989, almost 4,000 people lived in Valkumey. For the north it is a lot.

Most houses are two-story buildings.

Traces of a person's stay.

The main enterprise of Valkumey is Pevek mining and processing plant, an enterprise of tin mining industry of all-Union significance.

A mine with a lower horizon is 700 meters; the total length of the workings was about 600 kilometers.

Now in some places failures have formed.

Sickle and hammer are the invariable attributes of socialist production.

Documentation is lying around the mine. VGSCh - paramilitary rescue units, now they are transferred to the Ministry of Emergencies.

The village had a fairly developed infrastructure: a school, several kindergartens, shops. Now everything is collapsing.

Tin production either became unprofitable, or simply fell apart, like many other enterprises.

An artifact, I suppose, is an arithmometer - a mechanical calculator.

Dining room.

Murals of the past.

The work of an unknown artist, the second half of the 20th century.

An interesting weather vane on a pipe.

The bathhouse.

Once there were lines.

Valkumey was a full-fledged village in which adults and children lived. Children’s toys in abandoned territories look most strange and anxious.

There was even a sanatorium in Valkumey.

Now there is nobody.

Meanwhile, the sun was setting over the horizon. The day was ending, and with it our trip to Valkumey.

I express my gratitude for organizing the trip of VIM-AVIA Airlines and personally to Evgeny Solyanko, as well as to Domodedovo Airport. Thank you for the assistance of the FKP “Chukotka Airports“ Pevek ”, the Pevek Center of the Department of Internal Affairs of the branch“ Air Navigation of the North-East ”, Chukothydromet, the staff of the Valkarkay weather station and all who helped in the trip.