The development of the wealth of the Urals has been largely due to the Demidoff family.  Nikite Demidoff was sent by Peter the Great, about the year 1701, to examine the mines on both sides of the chain.  He performed his work thoroughly, and was so well satisfied with the prospective wealth of the region that he established himself there permanently.  In return for his services, the government granted a large tract to the Demidoffs in perpetuity.  The famous malachite mines are on the Demidoff estate, but are only a small portion of the mineral wealth in the original grant.  I have heard the Demidoff family called the richest in Russia—­except the Romanoff.  Many zavods in the Urals were planned and constructed by Nikite and his descendants, and most of them are still in successful operation and have undergone no change.  The iron works of the Urals are very extensive, and capable of supplying any reasonable demand of individual or imperial character.  At Zlatoust there is a manufactory of firearms and sword blades that is said to be unsurpassed in the excellence of its products.  The sabres from Zlatoust are of superior fineness and quality, rivaling the famous blades of Damascus and Toledo.

Close by the little lake in Ekaterineburg is the Moneta Fabric, or Imperial mint, where all the copper money of Russia is coined.  It is an extensive concern, and most of its machinery was constructed in the city.  The copper mines of the Urals are the richest in Russia, and possess inexhaustible wealth.  Malachite—­an oxide of copper—­is found here in large quantities.  I believe the only mines where malachite is worked are in the Urals, though small specimens of this beautiful mineral have been found near Lake Superior and in Australia.

About twenty-five years ago an enormous mass of malachite, said to weigh 400 tons, was discovered near Tagilsk.  It has since been broken up and removed, its value being more than a million roubles.  Sir Roderick Murchison, while exploring the Urals on behalf of the Russian government, saw this treasure while the excavations around it were in progress.  According to his account it was found 280 feet below the surface.  Strings of copper were followed by the miners until they unexpectedly reached the malachite.  Other masses of far less importance have since been found, some of them containing sixty per cent. of copper.

The gold mines of the Ural are less extensive now than formerly, new discoveries not equaling the exhausted placers.  They are principally on the Asiatic slope, in the vicinity of Kamenskoi.  The Emperor Alexander First visited the mines of the Ural in 1824, and personally wielded the shovel and pickaxe nearly two hours.  A nugget weighing twenty-four pounds and some ounces was afterward found about two feet ibelow the point where His Majesty ‘knocked off’ work.  A monument now marks the spot, and contains the tools handled by the Emperor.

CHAPTER XLIX.