371 offered to those who could provide information about the existence of any precious ores, while those who attempted to conceal their knowledge of such deposits were threatened with punishment.^^ The need for gold and silver for the minting of coins grew rapidly during the last decades of the seventeenth century as a result of increased state expenditures brought about by the military activities against Turkey and the preparations for war against Sweden. Russia had very few known sources of precious metals within her boundaries, and the attempts to organize the domestic production of gold and silver met with no success. Instead, the regime chose to meet a significant part of its military expenditures with the help of devalued coins, a method, moreover, which had been used during the reign of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich.^^ Iron ore accounted for most of the mineral deposits found by the Rudokopnyi prikaz, and these finds were turned over to private individuals for exploitation.^-'’ The creation of the Rudokopnyi prikaz did not bring about a complete centralization of the administration of mining, since the mines and foundries which predated it remained under the jurisdiction of the organs previously responsible for their administration. Then, when the guberniia reform began to be implemented in 1708, the Rudokopnyi prikaz was in effect shorn of its responsibilities, since the responsibility for prospecting was transferred to the governors, who were to investigate the existence of ore deposits and arrange for mining and refining. The Rudokopnyi prikaz was finally disbanded in 1711.^® During the Great Northern War, however, the rapidly expanding need for precious metals with which to mint coins and for iron with which to manufacture weapons led to new attempts to create an efficient central administration for mining affairs. In 1711, a Saxon mines officer by the name of Johann Bluher submitted a proposal to the Senate for the organization of a special college of mines, which would have “full direction” of the mining industry."*' Bliiher’s proposal did not produce any lasting results, but the Rudokopnyi prikaz, or Rudokopnaia kantseliariia as it was known after being transferred to St. Petersburg later the same year, was reestablished in 1715. It is possible that the intention was to make the Rudokopnaia kantseliariia a central administrative organ with responsibility for the whole country. At any rate, it began its existence by making an inventory of all the mines, forges, and foundries in the country. Pavlenko (1953), 95. Arcadius Kahan, “Observations on Petrine Foreign Trade,” Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 8 (1974), 230. Pavlenko (1953), 98. Ibid., 99. See above, p. 59.
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