Susuman is a city in Russia, the administrative center of the
Susuman region and the corresponding urban district of the Magadan
region of Russia. The city of regional significance, until 2015
formed the urban settlement of the city of Susuman. Located on
the banks of the Berelykh River (Kolyma basin).
In June 1977,
a mammoth named Dima was found in the Susuman region in the valley
of the Kirgilyakh stream.
Etymology
The name of the city comes from the name of the Susuman river, the left tributary of the Berelyokh - Kuhuman in Even, huguman means "snowstorm", "drift", "wind" - "windy" river.
History
Pre-Soviet Era and Gold Discovery (Pre-1936)
The area around
Susuman was sparsely populated by Even and possibly Yakut (Sakha)
indigenous peoples, who used the valley for seasonal hunting and
herding. Early Russian exploration was limited; a 1901 report by Kolyma
district official N. M. Beryozkin described the narrow, hummocky valley
of the Kuchuman (later Susuman) River as a remote traveler stop with one
long-settled Yakut family.
Modern mapping came in 1929 when geodetic
engineer K. A. Salishchev recorded the river’s current spelling on a
route map. Gold prospecting intensified in the early 1930s under the
newly formed Dalstroy trust (a secretive NKVD-run organization for
developing the Northeast). In 1932, geologist E. T. Shatalov’s team
found rich placer gold deposits in the Susuman and Berelyokh river
basins. Shatalov famously carved “Город Сусуманск” (“City of Susumansk”)
into a larch tree at the mouth of Yevrashkalakh Creek—a prescient (if
optimistic) prediction. Further surveys by geologists K. A.
Shakhvarstova, Kh. I. Kalugin, and A. L. Lisovsky confirmed the
findings.
Founding and the Gulag Era: Dalstroy’s Mining Center
(1936–1950s)
Susuman’s modern history began in late summer 1936, when
prisoners from Dalstroy’s Elgen sovkhoz (state farm) entered the valley
seeking hay meadows for livestock. They established the first camp and
farm settlement named after the river. This was no ordinary agricultural
outpost: the Kolyma region’s gold made it a priority for Stalin’s
industrialization drive.
In 1937, the first gold mine—Priisk (placer)
Maldyak—opened on the site of the former camp. Construction of the
settlement accelerated using Sevvostlag (Northeast Camps) prisoner
labor. By 1938, Dalstroy created the Western Mining-Industrial
Administration (Zapadnoye Gorno-Promyshlennoye Upravleniye, or ZGPU)
with headquarters in Susuman. It became the administrative center for
gold mining across western Kolyma, overseeing mines such as Maldyak,
Udarnik, Stakhanovets, Chay-Urya, Kontrandya, Linkovy, and Kuranakh.
Infrastructure sprang up rapidly: repair workshops, a bathhouse, bakery,
tents (later replaced by permanent buildings), the ZGPU administration
building, House of Culture, stadium, telephone exchange, and radio
points.
The entire operation depended on forced labor from the Gulag
system. Susuman was one of the most prisoner-intensive sites in
Dalstroy. From 1949 to 1956, it served as the base for Zaplag (Western
Corrective Labor Camp), one of Dalstroy’s largest subdivisions, which at
peak held around 16,500 prisoners working the mines and roads. Prisoner
mortality was horrific due to extreme cold, starvation rations, and
brutal conditions; mass graves and unmarked cemeteries still dot the
surrounding taiga. By the mid-1950s, the Gulag system began winding down
after Stalin’s death, but its legacy—abandoned camps, roads built by
prisoners (including sections of the Kolyma Highway), and human
cost—defines the region.
During World War II, Susuman played a
strategic role beyond mining. The Berelyokh airfield (about 2 km south
of town) was built in 1942 as a key stop on the ALSIB (Alaska-Siberia)
Lend-Lease air route. It helped ferry over 8,000 U.S.-supplied aircraft
from Alaska to the Soviet front. In 1944, U.S. Vice President Henry
Wallace visited as part of a delegation. Locals contributed through
road-building and war production drives (“Every gram of metal is a shell
for the enemy”).
Post-Stalin Soviet Development and Peak
(1950s–1980s)
After the Gulag camps closed (Zaplag liquidated by
1956, ZGPU abolished in 1957), Susuman transitioned to “free” (though
still heavily subsidized) labor. Mines transferred to regional economic
councils (sovnarkhozy), then to the Susuman Mining Directorate (1960)
and Susuman Mining and Enrichment Combine (SuGOK, 1970). Gold output
remained vital; between 1937 and 1999, the district produced over 1,052
tons of gold. SuGOK received the Order of the October Revolution in
1971.
In 1953, Susuman became the district center of the newly formed
Magadan Oblast. It was designated a workers’ settlement in December 1953
and granted full town (city) status on December 12, 1964. The population
boomed: Soviet-era planning added streets (named after Lenin, Gogol,
etc.), schools, a hospital, polyclinic, kindergartens, a mining
technical college, cinemas (“Taiga,” “Luch”), culture houses, a library
(1983), and even a brewery and brick factory. Greening projects turned
parts of the taiga into parks. By 1989, the population peaked at around
16,800.
Post-Soviet Decline and Modern Era (1990s–Present)
The
collapse of the USSR brought drastic change. State subsidies ended,
mining became less viable, and many residents—often those who had come
for high northern wages and benefits—left for central Russia. The
economy stagnated; whole neighborhoods were abandoned, and buildings
fell into disrepair. Population plummeted more than 70%: from ~16,800 in
1989 to ~7,800 in 2002, ~5,800 in 2010, and about 4,440 by 2021 (roughly
equal numbers of men and women).
Today, Susuman remains the
administrative center of Susumansky District. Gold mining continues
under privatized companies like AO Susumanzoloto, though on a much
smaller scale. The local economy also includes services, small
businesses, and regional transport. The town retains Soviet-era
architecture, a small WWII memorial, and remnants of mining
infrastructure. The airport (formerly Berelyokh) handles occasional
flights to Magadan. Access is mainly by the Kolyma Highway, a rugged 10+
hour drive from Magadan.
Geography
Regional Context and Topography
Susuman occupies the Upper Kolyma
Highlands (part of the broader Kolyma Mountains or Kolyma Upland
system), a vast mountainous region in northeastern Siberia. These
highlands feature a series of plateaus, ridges, and granite peaks, with
average elevations of 1,000–1,200 m and some massifs exceeding 2,000 m
(the highest in Magadan Oblast reach around 2,337 m in the nearby
Okhandya Range). The terrain consists of relatively smooth but rugged
ranges punctuated by deep river valleys.
Susumansky District itself
spans 46,800 km² and is predominantly mountainous. It borders the Sakha
Republic (Yakutia) to the west and north, Srednekansky District to the
east, and Yagodninsky and Tenkinsky Districts to the south. Key features
in the northwestern part of the district include the Nera Plateau and
the Tas-Kystabyt range. Nearby passes, such as the Burkhalinsky Pass,
cut through the highlands and are visible along approaches to the town.
The broader Magadan Oblast landscape is dominated by the Kolyma
Mountains inland, with tundra, taiga, and limited lowland
patches—Susuman’s location is fully inland and highland, far from the
milder coastal influences of the Sea of Okhotsk.
The town itself
nestles in a river valley within these highlands, providing a relatively
sheltered but still elevated position amid surrounding hills and ridges.
Hydrology
Susuman lies directly on the Byoryolyokh River
(Бёрёлёх; also known as Byoryolyokh of the Ayan-Yuryakh system), a left
tributary in the Kolyma River basin. The Kolyma ultimately drains
northward into the Arctic Ocean (East Siberian Sea). The town is
situated near the confluence where the Susuman River joins the
Byoryolyokh. These rivers flow through valley floors that support
localized vegetation, while the broader basin features alluvial deposits
historically associated with gold placer mining.
The river systems
here are influenced by permafrost, which restricts groundwater flow and
promotes seasonal flooding, aufeis (naled) ice formations, and
thermokarst features (lakes and bogs from thawing ground ice).
Climate
Susuman has an extreme dry-winter subarctic climate (Köppen
Dwd/Dwc)—one of the coldest permanently inhabited settlements on Earth,
with a yearly mean temperature of −11.5 °C (11.3 °F). Winters are
brutally long and cold (all months can experience frost), while summers
are very short and relatively mild but still cool. Above-freezing
temperatures in December–February are virtually unknown.
Key climate
highlights (1991–2020 normals):
Winter extremes: January daily
mean ≈ −37.4 °C; record low −60.6 °C. February similar.
Summer: July
daily mean ≈ +14.9 °C; record high +35.0 °C (though nights can still dip
near freezing).
Precipitation: Very low at ~292 mm annually, with a
summer maximum (heaviest in July–August). Winters are extremely dry.
Sunshine: About 2,013 hours per year, with long summer daylight but
limited winter sun.
The full monthly climate table shows the
severity: mean daily minima in winter routinely below −38 °C, and even
summer minima can approach freezing. Permafrost is continuous and
ice-rich, profoundly affecting the landscape through paludification (bog
formation) and seasonal thaw depths limited to the active layer
(typically 0.5–2 m depending on vegetation and slope).
Vegetation
and Natural Landscapes
The Upper Kolyma Highlands support a classic
mountain permafrost landscape with distinct vegetation zones:
River valleys and lower slopes (around Susuman’s elevation): Sparse
Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii / L. cajanderi) taiga/forest-tundra, with
open stands on moss-lichen litter. Floodplains feature fragrant poplar
(Populus suaveolens) and willow (Salix) thickets.
Mid-slopes:
Transition to dwarf Siberian pine (Pinus pumila) shrub thickets (often
called “dwarf cedar”).
Upper slopes and ridges (>1,200–1,300 m tree
line): Mountain tundra with mosses, lichens, dwarf shrubs, graminoids,
and exposed rock.
Over 300 plant species have been recorded in
local catchments. The region’s continuous permafrost creates yedoma
(ice-rich silt) deposits in some areas, leading to thermokarst lakes and
uneven terrain. The landscape is a mosaic of taiga in protected valleys,
shrub tundra on slopes, and barren alpine tundra higher up—typical of
Northeast Siberian highlands.
Transportation and Accessibility
Context
The town is strategically located on the M56 Kolyma Highway
(the infamous “Road of Bones,” an unsealed gravel track built in the
Stalin era), which links Yakutsk (Sakha Republic) to Magadan. This
highway follows river valleys and mountain passes through the highlands,
making Susuman a key waypoint in one of the world’s most remote road
networks. A small airport (Susuman Airport) serves the area, but the
highway remains the primary overland link.