Emelyan Pugachev, who said the Russian emperor Peter III, stole considerable treasures from the plundered estates of the nobles and landowners. Until now, there are legends about his treasures that are not devoid of truth. Some of them have already been discovered over the past 300 years, while others may have disappeared forever.
Popular legends
There is more than one legend about the untold wealth of the "people's liberator".
An old woman and two brothers
One of the legends tells about two brothers - Alexander and Stepan Gusev. They went on business to Orenburg. On the way I had to spend the night in the village of Sinegorka. There they met an old lady. She told them that in her youth she fought with Pugachev. Fleeing from the Sakmarian Cossacks, they hid a lot of gold at the mouth of the Yamashla River.
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Returning home, the elder brother, who lived with his family apart from his parents, went at night at the tip of the old woman and on the left bank of the river really discovered buried values. He did not say anything to his relatives, but he hid the gold. A few days later, the younger brother remembered his grandmother's story and told it to his father. They, of course, have already failed to find anything.
And the elder brother completely got out of the will of his father and began to hunt in the forest on his own. Later he kept two mills and bought a large amount of land. During the dispossession of kulaks, his grandson was forced to give the Soviets many more treasures.
Wild beam
In the Volgograd region, there is a place called Dikaya Balka. Previously, the Orenburg fortress Rassypnaya was located nearby.
Old people said that one of the Pugachev treasures was discovered there in the middle of the 19th century. He was discovered by the Ural Cossacks, who were looking for him for a reason. They showed up with a note written by a Pugachev scribe, which indicated the place where the stolen treasures were hidden.
Lake Bannoe
There is also a treasure inherited by people in the Bashkir Trans-Urals. According to legend, during the retreat, Yemelyan's troops threw barrels with gold and copper money into the Bannoye Lake. Some daredevils after 15-20 years managed to pull out several of them.
Treasure in the cave
There is a legend about how much gold and jewelry Emelyan Pugachev brought to the Chusovaya river and hid in an unnamed cave. They were delivered by a caravan escorted by 300 Cossacks. Loaded camels and horses with difficulty carried huge quantities of gold, silver and jewelry.
The delivered treasures were loaded onto boats and rafts, which sailed along the river for another day until they reached a cave. Where it is located is unknown, information has not been preserved. All participants in the transportation of the cargo died. So that no one could tell about the cache, they were thrown into battle, from which they simply could not return.
Treasure Dispatch Notes
Yekaterinburg professor A. A. Malakhov in one of the archives discovered a message from Pugachev to his wife Ustinya, posing as a queen. In it, he reported that he was sending with his reliable man - Kuzma Fofanov - chests with locks with seals. He orders not to look into them until he arrives himself.
It is possible that the treasures themselves did not reach Ustinya. The letter is dated in the spring of 1774. At that time, Pugachev had already suffered the first defeat from the tsarist troops and lifted the siege of Orenburg. The troops of Catherine II did not find any treasures at Ustinya, except for 18 barrels of copper money.
Unidentified treasures
Not far from the highway leading from Chelyabinsk to Magnitogorsk is the village of Stepnoye. One of the legends says that during the retreat from under the walls of the Trinity Fortress, the Pugachevites hid a treasure there. They packed the stolen jewels and blew up the rock. The crumbling block covered the cache forever.
In the same way, they hid the loot in the Falcon Cave near Satka. It is assumed that this is where the rebel's golden crown is located. It was said that it was made of gold and adorned with a 90-carat diamond.
They are looking for a crown around the village of Pugachevskaya in the Volgograd region. But will it work out ?! It is believed that Stepan Razin was also from here.
Is it worth believing in treasures?
Of course, after such an amount of time, it will not be possible to find the treasures. But there is a grain of probability in all legends.
As you know, the Pugachev army shamelessly plundered all the estates, factories, settlements that met along the way. It was necessary to hide the stolen goods somewhere. It was inappropriate to carry him around the whole district. The convoys would slow down the movement of the troops, make it less mobile.
It is highly likely that the false emperor planned to leave part of the loot for his own family needs. In addition, they might be needed to raise a secondary uprising in the event of the failure of the people's war (1773-1775).
Usually Cossack money was divided into several parts, so as not to be left without material support for the entire army. It is possible that the legend with the hoards is connected with just such a custom.
The Pugachev treasure could consist of several parts if other atamans of the popular revolt entrusted it with their treasury.
Legends are legends, but the probability of the existence of not one, but many treasures is very high. Scattered across the Volgograd and Orenburg regions, near Penza and Saransk, in Bashkiria - wherever the paths of the Pugachev army lay. Huge treasures are hidden somewhere and are waiting in the wings. But will it come or not?
Enthusiasts are looking for them. They understand that a lot of time has passed since the period of the Pugachev uprising. Notable trees not only managed to grow, but also died. Reservoirs appeared in place of the fields. Rivers have changed, or even ceased to exist. Finding huge treasures requires sophisticated equipment. For ordinary researchers, this is a daunting task.
Zhanna Lyubarskaya