The Mezen River belongs to the White Sea basin. The length of the river that carries its waters to the Mezen Bay reaches 966 kilometers. This makes it the longest water artery among all watercourses flowing into the White Sea.
In the European North of Russia, together with the Pechora and the Northern Dvina, it belongs to the largest rivers. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that in the upper reaches and closer to the central part the Mezen flows to the south, and only in the territory of the Arkhangelsk region does it turn around and rush to the White Sea.
There is always good fishing and hunting in inaccessible places
The impressive size is indicated by the area of the river basin, equal to 78,000 square kilometers. The Mezen flows through the territory of the Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic, in a sparsely populated area on the slopes of the Timan Ridge, at an altitude of 370 meters above sea level, among the swamps and rocks of the Chetlas stone, there is the source of the Mezen River. Considering the height of the total fall (370 m) and the length, it can be stated that the slope of the river is 0.383%. The name of this waterway does not have many variants of origin - from the Finno-Ugric language it is translated as a place of successful fishing and fishing.
Hard to reach places
As noted above, the territories along which the Mezen River flows were deserted in ancient times. They are sparsely populated even today - settlements appeared here only in the second half of the 14th century.
The village of Lampozhnya is mentioned as a point on the trade "through the stone" (from the Pechora basin "through the stone", that is, the Ural Mountains) route to Siberia. And this is explained not only by the harsh northern climate, but rather by the fact that the area of the river basin is, as it were, fenced off from the rest of the world from the west by the powerful Northern Dvina, and from the south by its largest tributary, the Vychegda. Of the 8 dozen small settlements located from the source to the mouth, the cities of Usogorsk and Mezen, as well as the village of Leshukonskoye, are more or less large.
Communication routes
The communication routes with this region, as well as between its settlements, leave much to be desired. A railway line stretches to the city of Usogorsk from the Kotlas-Vorkuta highway. The Mezen River itself is navigable in almost its entire course, and the section from the village of Koslan to the village of Bely Nos is included in the list of navigable water arteries of the country. There are powerful, but not year-round, ferry crossings on the river and its tributaries. They stop their work for quite long periods.off-season, mainly from October to January, that is, until the moment when ice crossings are established on the river.
Air and auto message
In the city of Mezen, located at the confluence of the river of the same name in the Mezen Bay of the White Sea, planes of local airlines fly. Vaskovo Airport, from where planes depart for Mezen, is located near Arkhangelsk. The only highway connecting the huge northern region with the rest of the world is the Arkhangelsk-Mezen city highway, passing through the settlements of Belgorodsky, Pinega, Sovpolye.
Asph alt pavement exists only on a small initial section of the Arkhangelsk-Belgorodsky motorway. Further up to the final destination there is a dirt road, sometimes of very poor quality.
Tributaries
The region where the Mezen River is located is rich in water resources - 15187 tributaries replenish this water artery. The main tributaries include 103 rivers, 53 of which are left, and, accordingly, 50 are right. The largest are Mezenskaya Pizhma and Sula, Kyma and Pyoza, Vashka and Pysa, Us, Bolshaya Loptyuga and Irva. The longest of them - Vashka, stretches for 605 km, the shortest, Us - for 102. These are the main tributaries of the Mezen River. One of them is interesting for its bifurcation, or bifurcation of the channel. The Mezenskaya Pizhma (236 km), thanks to this phenomenon, flows into both the Pechora and the Mezen, and connects the latter with the water basin of the Pechora.
Natural Watershed
The soils of the Mezen basin are mainlypodzolic and swampy (boginess of the entire territory is 17%). There are sands here, which run in a wide strip from the slopes of the Timan to the watershed of the Mezen and its tributary, the Vashka. And on Timan itself there are humus-calcareous soils. The sights of this region include amazingly shaped rocky remains.
The Timan Ridge, on which the Mezen River originates, is a natural watershed of the entire Dvina-Pechora basin. It stretches for 900 kilometers, the highest point is at 471 meters. One of its spurs blocks the path of the Mezen in its middle course, which is why the river makes a 500-kilometer detour. Starting from the source, which is located on the Chetlas Kamen plateau, covered with fir and spruce forests and rising 463 m above sea level, the river is a fast mountain river with rapids and rapids. And as it should be for a typical mountain river, the banks of the Mezen are high and rocky here, and the width varies from 8 to 15 meters. Because of the spurs of the Timan Ridge, the river winds and changes direction all the time.
East Bay
In the lower reaches, its width sometimes reaches 1 kilometer, while the low banks are often swampy. It was indicated above where the Mezen River flows - into the Mezen Bay, which is one of the four largest bays of the White Sea, such as the Kandalaksha Bay, the Dvinskaya and Onega Bays. The Mezen Bay lies to the south of the Kanin Peninsula, its length is 105 meters, its width is 97 meters, and its depth varies from 5 to 25 meters.
Besides the waterway, after which the lip is named, the Kula River flows into it. This easternmost bay of the White Sea has the most opaque water, since the Mezen River is rather muddy, although due to the sparsely populated coast, the anthropogenic factor is almost absent here, and the Mezen is recognized as the cleanest in Europe among large rivers flowing directly into the sea.
So long and so different
All the time winding, the Mezen flows through three natural subzones - along the entire route, the middle taiga, northern taiga and forest tundra replace each other.
The river basin is wooded - 80% of its territory is covered with green spaces, mostly coniferous forests. The richness and diversity of flora and fauna is due to the large length of the river - magnificent tall coniferous forests grow in the south, meager communities of mosses and lichens grow in the north, while in the valley of the Mezen basin a total of 1300 species of plants grow (without lichens).
Rich wildlife
There are more than 400 species of vertebrates in this region, and there are even more invertebrates. The wild subspecies of the reindeer is listed in the Red Book. The fox is depicted in the center of the coat of arms of the Mezensky district. Arctic fox, wolverine, wolf, hare, muskrat, squirrels are the most numerous representatives of the fauna of the Mezen basin. A huge number of birds in this region allows commercial hunting for black grouse, capercaillie, hazel grouse, ducks and geese. The following types of birds are under protection - eider and swan, falcons(gyrfalcon and peregrine falcon), barnacle goose and osprey, golden eagle and white-tailed eagle.
Many inhabitants of the river
Aquatic animals of the Mezen River are represented by a huge variety. Here, salmon, or Atlantic salmon, whitefish and nelma are found in large numbers. Naturally, despite the huge availability of other fish species, it is mainly valuable species that suffer from uncontrolled illegal catching. Thus, stocks of salmon have significantly decreased. Both the unfavorable social situation (lack of well-paid work) in the villages scattered along the banks of the Mezen, and unreasonable deforestation in the territory of the Udorsky municipality are to blame for this. These cuttings have led to a change in surface runoff, which, in turn, has led to sand washing and overgrowing of the channel with aquatic vegetation. As a result, the wintering pits where Atlantic salmon spawn are disappearing. All of the above leads to an increase in the number of predators in the river - pike and perch, which also reduces the number of salmon. Other fish species that live in sufficient quantities in the Mezen include European grayling and roach. There are a lot of ide and bream, dace and burbot, river flounder and lamprey. All types of fish, including predatory pike and perch, are subject to both legal and unauthorized capture.
Revived old times
On the banks of the purest Mezen there are also camp sites, such as "Udorchanin" (the village of Koslan). In this place in the north-west of the Komi Republic, rafting is possible.
Extraordinarily beautifulnature in places where the Mezen river flows. The Arkhangelsk region, on the territory of which, especially in the Mezen region, there are unique historical settlements such as Kimzha, embodies the culture of the Russian North and preserves the historical layout of the settlement and ancient wooden architecture. A feature of this region were windmills, the northernmost in the world. In such settlements, the historical way of life, folklore and folk culture are preserved. The Mezensky district is the northernmost in the Arkhangelsk region, and part of it is included in the border zone. Therefore, it’s impossible to get here just like that - entry is only with passes. Crafts are developed in the Mezensky district. The paintings on birch bark, decorated with Mezen painting, are the best souvenirs of this region.
