On one of the banks of the Surkul River, at its confluence with Kuma, the picturesque Mount Dagger was once located. The Stavropol Territory is famous for the group of laccoliths, which is the largest in the world, and this mountain is one of such volcanic formations.
Mount Dagger in the history of the Stavropol Territory
In ancient times, it was an unusual rock with a dagger-shaped top. In the Caucasus, a dagger belonging to a warrior is a symbol of his personal valor, pride and strength. If you believe the legend, it was they who stabbed themselves with the beauty Mashuk when they killed her beloved Beshtau. The mountain consisted of a special magmatic alloy, but it had a dramatic fate.
The initial height of the peak reached 504 meters. As you can see in the photo of Mount Dagger and the mock-up based on old photographs, it was crowned with an unusual rocky outcrop of porphyry rocks with smooth steep slopes similar to the tip of a dagger. The remains of the mountain, located near the city of Mineralnye Vody, are officially recognized as a natural monument. The people call the Dagger “a mountain that does not exist,” and today several versions of its disappearance can be identified.
Did the dagger hit the plane or did the plane hit the dagger?
The first and main reason can be recognized as the fact that the mountain was located too close to Mineralnye Vody airport, and during the period from 1961 to 1977 there were several plane crashes in this region with a large number of casualties.
In 1961, on the eve of the new year, difficult weather conditions with poor visibility were observed throughout the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, numerous flights were canceled. The airports of Georgia and Armenia were crowded, but Mineralnye Vody Airport did not agree to depart from Tbilisi. The Il-18 plane was literally stormed by passengers, and flight 75757 headed for the Minvody with a number of people exceeding the permissible norms. Due to violation of the rear alignment, the plane crashed in the vicinity of Mineralnye Vody, about half of the passengers and crew on board were killed.
New Dagger victims
In 1977, an even more tragic incident occurred with flight 5003 Tashkent-Mineralnye Vody. Due to poor visibility, the IL-18 twice landed. In the first approach, incorrect instrument orientation led to a critical roll of the aircraft. The pilots tried to straighten the course, entering the second circle, but they hooked the embankment of the railway with the left wing. The plane caught fire due to impact on the ground, its wreckage scattered in a radius of more than 400 meters. Killed 76 passengers, including 3 children, and two crew members. Mount Dagger was located three kilometers south of the crash of flight 5003.
Who's guilty?
In the descriptions on specialized sites of crash investigation, neither in the first nor in the second case there is reliable information that the dagger in Mineralnye Vody became the cause of the crash. Some adventure and mystery lovers have attempted to find the wreckage of crashed planes. However, no such information has been preserved about such finds.
In Soviet times, extremely little information was reported about negative incidents, and they were simply silent about many, observing certain government directives. It was believed that the population should receive only positive news. But according to existing rumors, avaricious reports of incidents in the local press and the testimonies of residents of neighboring villages, disasters did occur.
Today, many political, strategic and military secrets no longer have their former significance. Modern sources spread various information previously classified or intended only for official use of the relevant departments. Let's try to understand what happened, read the descriptions of eyewitnesses and return to published materials that shed light on the history of the disappearance of Mount Dagger in the Stavropol Territory. From the indicated sources it follows that precisely the two air crashes described above did not leave a grief of chances of existence.
Precious Dagger Heart
However, the version that its subsoil contained expensive uranium and other rare minerals of subvolcanic rocks seems equally plausible. Since the dagger is a laccolith, the mountain consists not only of fossilized rocks of the earth's crust, but is also filled with rare magmatic alloys from the very bowels of the earth. It was the desire of the enterprising Soviet authorities to mine uranium on an industrial scale and predetermined the fate of the Dagger.
The crash of the aircraft, most likely, served as the official version of the destruction of a unique natural monument. Back in the 50s, it was decided to undermine the mountain.
Uranus, beshtown ... What's the difference?
The dagger was blown up, but uranium was not found. However, the no less expensive beshtownite stone discovered could be used favorably in industry. The high acid-resistant properties of beshtownite, its resistance to sudden temperature changes make it an indispensable natural material for the production of acid-resistant concrete and anti-corrosion cements. Beshtownit is also used in facing works. For example, it was used in the construction of the Volga-Don Canal.
In addition to beshtownite, amethyst, siderite, chalcedony and other rare minerals formed as a result of hydrothermal processes of exit and solidification of magma were mined in the depths of the Dagger. Ecologists back in those years actively protested against the destruction of the mountain, since the Kumagorsk hot springs of mineral waters are located very close to it.
Today, the lenticular body of beshtownite in the pit of the mountain is only of scientific interest, however, the history of the disappearance of the dagger laccolith is not completely forgotten.
Dagger Calls for Atonement
In 2004, the article “The Dagger Calls for Atonement” was published in Stavropol Pravda, which described plans for the restoration of Mount Dagger in the KBR and the surrounding area. It also published an interview with some participants who worked in the quarry and in the bowels of the Dagger. Among the old-timers were residents who took an active part in the destruction of the mountain. The Stavropol poet Ivan Kashpurov devoted several poems to the tragedy of the Dagger. So, in one of them he wrote bitterly:
... And I thought: henceforth
And forever on earth
Here man-made to be plain
Gardens grow and ripen cereals.
And people will get used to the loss
So excited them yesterday.
But grandchildren are unlikely to believe me,
That there was a dagger mount.
Belated recognition
Mount Dagger Stavropol Territory has been officially declared a natural monument. However, this does not interfere and now use what is left of it in road construction. Fans of mineralogy will be interested in visiting the remains of a volcanic crater chosen by human hands. Having taken more water with you and climbed several tens of meters in the vicinity of the village of Kangly, you can not only see the remains of an ancient volcano, but also collect rare minerals for your collection. Black shale, concentrated pyrite, and beshtownite can be found right under your feet.
Curious students organize environmental expeditions to the foot of the mountain. Thanks to the efforts of caring and sensible people, who are concerned about the environmental problems of their native land, and young ecologists implementing the Green World program, many bushes and trees have already been planted on the slopes and at the foot of the Dagger, which strengthen the slopes of the ancient ruined peak.
The group of Caucasian laccoliths, to which the Dagger belongs, consists of 17 peaks located between the Borgustan plateau and the Bermamyt plateau, in the vicinity of Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk. By age, they are millions of years older than the most famous real volcanoes of the North Caucasus - Elbrus and Kazbek.
Legends of the Alans
As mentioned above, the ancient Alans formed a beautiful legend about the origin of the mountains. All of them were formerly warlike spirits of animals that served the noble and fearless prince Beshtau. However, his treacherous father Elbrus wished to take away his bride Masha from his son, and in a fierce battle all the soldiers fell at the feet of the beautiful woman. From the grief of loss, Mashuk threw the ring - a gift from the hated Elbrus - and thrust her beloved Beshtau’s dagger into her heart. So among the Caucasian ranges riddled the mysterious Bull, Camel and Snake, Mount Ring near Kislovodsk and the remains of the Dagger.
Looking forward
Time has destroyed the rocks of the peaks, exposing dense igneous alloys on the slopes of laccoliths, which are not covered by vegetation. The shining mirrors of black shale and pyrite are visible from afar with the naked eye.
Currently, archaeological research is being carried out in the vicinity of Kangly by specialists from St. Petersburg. Thanks to the many monographs published by archaeologists, people who depend on the fate of the region’s ecology more often turned to the problem of Mount Dagger in Kabardinka. It remains to hope and believe that today's young generation will grow more humane, will be careful about the wealth of our Russian land, and other unique monuments of nature will not suffer the sad fate of the Dagger.