Seymchan (urban type settlement)

History

The settlement was founded in the late 17th century by Yakuts. Its name derives from the Yakut language word Kheymchen, meaning Polynya. In the 19th century, the trade route between the Kolyma region and the Sea of Okhotsk, the Ola-Kolyma-Trakt was constructed through the settlement.

Economic development of the settlement increased with the opening of the first gold mines in 1931, and the discovery and later exploitation of brown coal reserves at Elgen in 1932, tin reserves in 1937 and cobalt ore in the early 1940s.

The construction of the modern settlement Seymchan began in 1940. During World War 2, an airfield was constructed to allow the delivery of aircraft through the Lend-Lease-Program between the Soviet Union and the USA.

From 1949 until 1955, the sub-settlement Nizhny-Seymchan (later called Kolymskoye and abandoned in 2005), located a few kilometres to the south directly on the Kolyma, was the location of a prison camp of Dalstroy, part of the Gulag camp network. Up to 5,700 prisoners were used in the mining of gold and tin, as well as timber production.

Seymchan was granted urban-type settlement status in 1953.

Economy

The settlement is a regional food processing and timber industry center.

Transportation

Seymchan is connected by road with Magadan through a Kolyma Highway spur.

The Seymchan Airport is located half-way between Seymchan and Kolymskoye, with a paved RWY 18/36. During World War II, the airport was used to distribute American Lend-Lease war material to production facilities within the Soviet Union.

Climate

Seymchan has an extreme subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dfc/Dfd), with extremely cold winters and mild summers. Precipitation is quite low, but is somewhat higher in summer than at other times of the year.

2007 Mi-8 helicopter crash

Commercial flights from Seymchan to nearby remote areas using the local forest fire protection service's Mi-8 helicopters are routine. On September 15, 2007 one such flight crashed on the Suruktash mountain while on its way to deliver paying passengers to the vicinity of the Burgali River. Six people died, and one, the craft's commander, survived with severe burns. The wreck and the survivor were spotted by another Mi-8, and the victim was flown to Seymchan for transport to a hospital.

Meteorite

The settlement's name was used to identify a huge olivine bearing stony-iron meteorite of over 800 pounds, called the Seymchan meteorite, which was discovered in the bed of a brook in the summer of 1967.