Salgir in Crimea: description of the river, its location

One of the longest rivers in Crimea is a river called Salgir. This river originates in the Crimean mountains. The length of the channel is about 232 kilometers.

According to historians, the name of the river is of Taurian, Pre-Tatar, Indo-Aryan origin. Translated from the Turkic language, “salgir” means “male name”. Also, many researchers argue that the name of the river has Circassian roots, because “sal” means “tributary”, and “gear” translates as “water”. It is worth noting that Today there are several names that are used for this river. For example, this is Salgir Baba, Salgir the father.

The largest waterway of Crimea originates on the slopes of the mountain range, which is located in the southern part of the Crimean mountains and is called Chatyr-Dag.

There is several version of where Salgir originates. According to one version, Salgir flows from the longest cave of the peninsula - Kizil-Koba. But some local historians are also of the opinion that the river "starts" on the Angarsk Pass.

This river flows into Lake Sivash. It is this pond that separates the peninsula from the mainland. Moreover, it is worth noting that Salgir crosses almost the entire Central Crimea.

In total, about 14 tributaries flow from Salgir, and the total length of the river, along with its tributaries, according to some data, is about 900 km. One of the deep left tributaries of the river. Salgir is Ayan. It is on this tributary that a reservoir was built that provides the city of Simferopol with water resources. The area of ​​this reservoir is 3.5 m².

Also, the Biyuk-Karasu River is among the large right tributaries of Salgir. Its length is 86 km. Translated from the Turkic, it means "big black water." That is the name of the rivers that emerge from the earth as springs.

As tributaries of the river. Salgir is known for other rivers of Crimea. This is Kuchuk-Karasu, as well as Small Salgir, Kurts, Tavel, Zuya, Besh-Terek. The river also has a lot of tributaries in the form of small streams, which completely dry up in the summer.

If we turn to history, then in the book "Guide to the Crimea" by Maria Sosnogorova, which was published in the pre-revolutionary period, there is the following entry: "... Salgir ... breaks out ... in a flood ...".

Also, some information and a description of the main characteristics of this river are presented in the Economic and Geographical Description of the Ak-Mosque and County as of 1798. From these data it follows that the Salgir River was previously considered full-flowing and capable of spilling up to 700 meters in spring and summer. Thus, during floods, this river posed a threat to residents of settlements located on its banks.

It is also worth noting that namely r. Salgir was an extremely reliable defense for one of the most famous Scythian fortresses in Ancient Crimea - Naples Scythian. In ancient times, this city was also the capital of the late Scythian state. Salgir also acted as a defensive line in 1777, when on one of the banks of the river there was a camp of an outstanding Russian commander, Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov.

As we have already noted, Salgir is the main waterway of the Crimean peninsula. Therefore, this river can be safely called one of the main sources of fresh water, which is necessary to ensure the livelihoods of people living on the peninsula.

On hot summer days, the shores of Salgir are a favorite vacation spot for both locals and visiting tourists. The following large settlements are located on this river today: the city of Simferopol, town. Gresovsky, located 8 kilometers from the previous metropolis, town. Guards - the center of the Guards rural village, with. Amur.

It is this river that supplies the peninsula with water and participates in the work of the Simferopol TPP, which, in turn, satisfies about 40% of the city’s heat demand in Simferopol, and also feeds nearby villages such as Gresovsky, Komsomolsky and others.

In ancient times, Salgir, spilling out, washed away the village buildings with boiling currents and became the cause of death of people. Today, this river is shallow and safe. The river Salgir is part of the Crimean agricultural irrigation system, provides water to most of the agricultural enterprises in the central part of the Crimean peninsula. On the shores of Salgir are orchards and vineyards. Thus, the river found its economic use.

The Salgir river is both raging streams, and calm river expanse, and water "chained" in the city massif. Her character is seething and unpredictable. The upper part of Salgir is quite troubled. On this stretch you can meet waterfalls and a stormy type of current. This site is a typical mountain river.

In the steppe part, the river is quiet, it gradually descends towards the plain, where it connects to the basin of Lake Sivash. This site is subject to severe drying out in the hot summer.

A significant part of Salgir flows within the city of Simferopol. She seems to divide this metropolis into two parts.

But on the promenade there are a lot of cafes and restaurants, as well as places for families with children, so in the evening you can always walk along the shore of Salgir, which is "imprisoned" in a concrete city.

The main food of the Salgir river is rain and melt water, but this river receives a rather large amount of water from underground sources. If you look at the change in water level in Salgir, we note that the period from the end of February to May is the most deep-water.

The Salgir River is famous for its many natural attractions. This, for example, is the most picturesque and bewitching Kizil-Koba cave. This red cave is considered one of the largest in the peninsula. According to scientists, the cave was formed about 2.5 million years ago.

Also in the Salgir river basin there are caves under the names of Chokurcha and Yeni-Sala (known as the most mysterious and mystical cave of Crimea) as well as the tract Karasu-Bashi and the Wolf's Grotto. For example, the Chokurcha cave is considered one of the sites of primitive man. It was in it, even in Soviet times, the remains of an ancient man - Neanderthal man were found.

Also, visitors can always enjoy excellent fishing. Crucian carp is found in the river, but carp and carp are less common here. Inveterate fishermen also say that you can catch mullet in the waters of Salgir, and perch and pike from predators. But in the upper reaches of the river sometimes trout swims.

It is believed that this plant is about 600 years old. The grasp of the trunk of the "old man" is 6.22 meters, and its height is 30 m.

Recently, a rather difficult situation with the environmental situation in the Salgir river basin has been observed. Most of the coastline is very polluted, and the condition of the water is better. Therefore, one of the main problems of the authorities at present is the adoption of measures to improve this situation.

After all, if you don’t improve the environment in the river basin and take effective measures, then it’s quite possible to lose an excellent and picturesque place where you can have a great time and relax with friends, having a picnic in the fresh air. We also note that this water artery was repeatedly immortalized in the verses of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.

Since ancient times, there have been rumors that the Salgir River stores a lot of precious metals, especially gold, in its waters. Therefore, attempts to search for this metal in the waters of Salgir have been made repeatedly. However, gold mining in these places was unsuccessful. As one legend says, once lived a young khan. He found a cave at the foot of Chatyr-Dag, where there was a lot of gold.

The man began to collect gold, but the thirst for profit swallowed him so that, fearing to lose his prey, he attacked the little girl and beat her with a whip half to death.

But nature avenged the greedy Khan for this act. At the same hour, the walls of the cave collapsed, burying gold and the greedy and insatiable khan alive under them. Since then, gold in the Crimea has disappeared. The last attempt to mine gold in Salgir occurred during the years of World War II, when Crimea was occupied by German invaders.

But the main feature or even the secret of this waterway of the Crimea is that no one even now can tell exactly where Salgir originates from and where he ends his course. Its source has not yet been determined, and the flow regime is very wayward.

Video review of the Salgir River, see the next video.