Barguzin is a river in Buryatia, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 of length 480 km flowing into the Barguzin Bay of Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...

, the largest and deepest bay of Baikal. Barguzin is the third (by the flow amount) inflow of Baikal, after Selenga

Selenga

The Selenge is a major river in Mongolia and Buryatia, Russia. Its source rivers are the Ider River and the Delgermörön river. It flows into Lake Baikal and has a length of 616 miles...

 and Upper Angara River. Its watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 area is 21,100 km². It is navigable for 204 km upwards from its estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....

. Its main tributaries are the Gagra, Argada, Ina and Ulyun rivers. In 1648 Ivan Galkin founded an ostrog

Ostrog (fortress)

Ostrog was a Russian term for a small fort, typically wooden and often non-permanently manned. Ostrogs were encircled by 4-6 metres high palisade walls made from sharpened trunks. The name derives from the Russian word строгать , "to shave the wood". Ostrogs were smaller and exclusively military...

 on the Barguzin.

Barguzin Valley

In its middle part Barguzin river flows along the Barguzin Valley (Barguzin Depression

Depression (geology)

A depression in geology is a landform sunken or depressed below the surrounding area. Depressions may be formed by various mechanisms.Structural or tectonic related:...

), which is 200 km long of width up to 35 km and runs between the Barguzin Range

Barguzin Range

Barguzin Range is a range in Buryatia, Russia along the North-Eastern shore of Baikal.Its length is 280 km, height up to 2,840 m. It is mostly covered by larch taiga. The range bounds the Barguzin Valley from the North-West. A part of the Barguzin Preserve is located on the Western slopes of the...

 (to the North-West) and Ikat Range (to the South-East). In the valley the river branches, loops, leaves old river-beds and creates a swampy water network with more than 1000 lakes. In the valley there is Dzherga State Nature Preserve of area 2,387 km².

Barguzin wind

The river also gave its name to a steady, strong North-Western Barguzin wind on Baikal. The air flow rushes unto Baikal from the Barguzin Valley and blows across the lake at its middle. Usually Barguzin blows no longer than day and night, but mostly it starts at the sunrise and ends by the sunset. Usually it brings sunny weather. In Barguzin Bay it may be of hurricane strength, but average speed is usually less than 20 m/s. The wind is commemorated in the Russian folk song about a runaway from the Akatuy katorga

Akatuy katorga

Akatuy katorga prison was part of the Nerchinsk katorga system of the Russian Empire in the Nerchinsk okrug of Transbaikalia. It was constructed in 1888 at the Akatuyskom mine, what is now the village of New Akatuy...

:

Славное море - священный Байкал,

Славный корабль - омулевая бочка.

Эй, баргузин, пошевеливай вал,

Молодцу плыть недалечко.

The sacred Baikal is a glorious sea,

An omul

Omul

The omul, Coregonus migratorius, also known as Baikal omul , is a whitefish species of the salmon family endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. It is considered a delicacy and is the object of one of the largest commercial fisheries on Lake Baikal...

 barrel is a glorious ship.

Hey, barguzin, roll the wave

It is not too far to sail for a daring fellow.

Poetic translation:

Glorious sea, sacred Baikal,

Glorious boat, a barrel of cisco

Cisco (fish)

The ciscoes are salmonid fish of the genus Coregonus that differ from other members of the genus in having upper and lower jaws of approximately equal length and high gillraker counts...

.

Hey, Barguzin make the waves rise and fall!

This young lad's ready to frisk-o!