Kadykchan (; ) is a depopulated urban locality (a work settlement) in Susumansky District of

Magadan Oblast Magadan Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Russian Far East, Far East region of the country, and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Magadan ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It is located in the

Upper Kolyma Highlands The Upper Kolyma Highlands () is a highland area in Magadan Oblast, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. The biggest town in the highlands is Susuman. There are large deposits of gold, tin and rare metals in the Upper Kolyma Highlands. The area ...

, in the basin of the Ayan-Yuryakh River, northwest of

Susuman Susuman () is a town and the administrative center of Susumansky District in Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Byoryolyokh River, northwest of Magadan, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: Geography The town lies in the ...

, the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the district. As of the 2010 Census, it had no recorded population.

Etymology

The settlement's name comes from the indigenous

Even language Even , also known as Lamut, Ewen, Eben, Orich, Ilqan (, historically also ), is a Tungusic language spoken by the Evens in Siberia. It is spoken by widely scattered communities of reindeer herders from Kamchatka and the Sea of Okhotsk in the ...

word meaning "small gorge" or "ravine".

History

Kadykchan was built by

gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

prisoners during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

for the purposes of coal extraction. Later it accommodated miners at two local coal mines which supplied Arkagalinskaya electric power station. The depth of mines was about . After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, coal mining in the area became increasingly unprofitable. One mine closed in 1992, and an explosion at the other in 1996 which killed six people led to a decision to close it also and for the government to subsidize residents to move elsewhere. Major buildings were blown up. As of 2010, the settlement was officially completely depopulated.

Population history

External links

Unofficial website of Kadykchan

Pictures of KadykchanThe Town that Disappeared (BBC News)

References

Notes

Sources

* {{Use mdy dates, date=March 2013 Urban-type settlements in Magadan Oblast Defunct towns in Russia