Sheksna River: description and origin of the name

The Sheksna River is very small. However, the terrain on its picturesque banks has a rather rich history. Moving along this river, you can see many interesting objects and beautiful landscapes.

The Sheksna River (Vologda Region)

This waterway is located within the modern Vologda region. Its length is today 139 kilometers, although a century ago it was almost three times as long. The Sheksna River collects its water from a decent area of 19,000 square kilometers.

Today the river connects two large bodies of water: Lake Beloe (where it originates) and the Rybinsk Reservoir (where it brings its waters). On the river there is only one city - Cherepovets, as well as a large village of the same name.

Short description of the river

To date, in fact, the Sheksna River has retained only its middle course. The upper and lower were flooded in the middle of the 20th century by the waters of the Sheksna and Rybinsk reservoirs, respectively. Historically, the river flowed into the Volga. Today, only a small part of its old mouth in Rybinsk has been preserved.

Two hydroelectric power stations are now located on this river - Rybinsk and Sheksninskaya. Once the Sheksna River was full of fish. There are preserved written references that here in the XIX century a sterlet of enormous sizes was caught, which was served to the royal table. But after the creation of powerful hydroelectric complexes on the river, the fish stocks have significantly dried up.

The river is mainly fed by thawed snow. It freezes in November - early December. The melting of ice in Sheksna begins, as a rule, at the end of April.

Throughout the river, many tributaries flow into it (the largest being the Kovzha River), as well as several artificial canals.

Origin of toponyms

Interesting and completely incomprehensible is the origin of this toponym. The Sheksna River - where does the name come from?

The precise genesis of this hydronym remains unexplained. However, some researchers suggest that it comes from the Finnish word "hähnä", which translates as "woodpecker".

Anyway, the name "Sheksna" has Balto-Finnish roots. After all, it is known that in these parts the Baltic tribes once lived. Thus, the Russian philologist Yuri Otkupshchikov draws attention to the word "šèkas" in the Lithuanian language. It is translated into Russian as "variegated". However, why exactly the ancient Balts called the river - remains a mystery.

Sheksna River: history of the region and monuments

The picturesque area on the banks of the river has a historical name: "Poshekhonye". Most of this area is occupied by water meadows with thick green grasses. That is why local cows were always famous for very high milk yields. "Milk edge of Russia" - so once referred to the territory Poshekhonya.

Only at the end of the first millennium these territories began to be mastered by Slavic tribes. And before that lived a measure - a tribe of Finno-Ugric origin.

Curiously, at the end of the 18th century Poshehonyem was entrusted with the title of the edge of Russian prostitutes and fools. The reason for this is the book of the researcher V.S. Berezaisky, published in 1798, in which the author collected a large number of local anecdotes and folklore subjects of the region.

The banks of the Sheksna River are a land rich in numerous monuments of antiquity. So, it is known that during the X-XIV centuries, in the area of the sources of Sheksna there was an ancient settlement "Beloozero". Today, the source of the river is actively historical and archaeological research.

On the shores of Sheksna there is also a unique architectural monument - Goritsky Monastery, which was founded in 1544. In the same river, the heir of John the Terrible drowned - the eldest son of the king.

In the 19th century, Sheksna became an important transport route through which grain was delivered to the European market. The most important importance of this river as a transport corridor existed until the construction of a railroad in these places.

Conclusion

Sheksna is a small river within the Vologda region of Russia. In the middle of the last century it became part of the artificial water system of the Rybinsk Reservoir, which had a negative impact on the river itself, in particular, on the natural diversity of its ichthyofauna. However, on its shores there are several interesting historical and cultural monuments, which you can see nowadays.