The first description of the Shira Lake was made by the famous traveler, Academician Peter Pallas who visited these places in 1770 and 1772. He wrote that “the Tatars called the lake Shira-Kul, it was a little salty” and called it curative.
The organizer of the first resort on the lake was, as we already mentioned, Zakhariy Tsibulskiy, the Tomsk gold industry entrepreneur. After a miraculous rescue of his dog and his own cure he rented the lake for a ridiculous price even for those times - 3 roubles a year, put the tents for living and huts for changing clothes, as well as opened a dancing Kursaal with a wine buffet.
When horse-drawn carriages with vacationers began to come here, the landlord charged a fee - 1 rouble per person for a season, and it was a serious amount. And the things got rolling, the resort began to bring substantial profits. In 1897 the village of Zhemchuzhny was founded. The Shira Lake was transferred to the Office of State Property, and the resort hired doctors. There were a total 71 residential buildings at the lake those days. In 1917 the resort almost did not work due to the lack of funds, and during the Civil War it became really abandoned. Taking into account the urgent need for medical institutions, the healthcare department of Minusinsky Council decided to consider the possibility of opening the resort already at its second meeting in 1920.
In the season of 1920 the resort was visited by 1644 people. The Shira Resort was the largest in Siberia by the beginning of World War II. In August 1941 the year-round rearward hospital No. 2511 started working in Zhemchuzhny. In 1950 the Shira Resort was transferred to the Main Directorate of Resorts, Health Resorts and Vacation Hotels of the Ministry of Health of RSFSR.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina