"The current 169 (1661), the sixth day of July, against the Irkut river Verkholensk side of the new sovereign's servitors put fort ... was pleased to put a jail and then place the best, are pleased to cropland and livestock production and hay meadows and fishing all close ..." - wrote in his report to the Yenisei voivode Yakov Pokhabov. The place really was beneficial for the further development of trade and forwarding and commercial routes to the East and in Asia. The rivers of the Baikal permitted to travel to the north (on the Angara and Yenisei to the Arctic Ocean), south (the Selenga) and east (on the Upper Angara). Along this route came servitors, industrial and commercial people, the embassy sent to China. In the second half of the 18th century Irkutsk province was transformed into the Irkutsk province, ownership of which stretched from the Yenisei to the Pacific Ocean and Alaska.
Born in Irkutsk taiga, it could share the fate of any small pritraktovogo settlement. But he who in a beautiful location at the confluence of the Irkut and Angara laid in the summer of 1661 the Irkutsk prison, he knew - to live here will be strong in spirit, who can appreciate the harmony of the people. And, although the administrative structure, economic and cultural level of Irkutsk after 25 years of almost stepped on the European level. About the center of trade and handicrafts no one would venture to say - wilderness. The more developed town, the brighter sketched his character. A hundred years lived in Irkutsk 10,000 residents. There are 20 churches, theater, hospital, market, pharmacy, banks, a few schools. The beauty and usefulness moved the thoughts of those who lived in the large shopping center in Eastern Siberia. Merchant capital grew rapidly - from the products of Yakutia, Transbaikalia, Mongolia and China, gold, furs, tea had a demand. Light weight and low volume for transportation, but expensive for the price went from Siberia carts up to the Nizhny Novgorod fair. With the money brought home Siberians art, new science and technology books. Commercial resourceful and luck Irkutsk turned into building an art gallery and theater, schools, scientific and medical institutions. At home the wealthy have designed the best Russian architects. Through their art look of the city became both respectable, romantic and elegant.