The Sturgeon River begins near the village of Melekhovka on the Central Russian Upland in the Tula Region. It falls into the Oka River near Kolomna in the Moscow region. Tributaries of the Sturgeon, giving a significant increase in water: Verkusha, Venevka and Mordves. The remaining tributaries are very small. Two reservoirs were built on the river: Livadia and Zaraysk, as well as the
Silver Ponds Dam
. Sturgeon River 50-80 meters wide. But near Zaraysk its width reaches 1.2 kilometers. Sturgeon is a shallow river. Its average depth is 1.5 meters. In many places, the river can easily be crossed by ford (water does not reach even the ankles). But at the same time, it is rich in whirlpools with a depth of 3-5 meters. Among all the rivers near Moscow, only on Sturgeon there are shivers and rifts. The length of the river is 228 kilometers. From November to April it is covered in ice. The sturgeon river is not navigable. Shrubs mainly grow on the banks, there are small oak forests, but there are no coniferous forests.
Ichthyofauna
The Sturgeon River is famous for its richness and diversity of fauna. By the variety of fish species, only the Oka can argue with this river. The sturgeon boasts the presence of carp and bream, roach, crucian carp and perch, pike, pike perch and head, asp, tench, ruff and gudgeon. Before the dam was built in Silver Ponds, sterlet and sturgeon lived in the river, because it was not for nothing that the river was called Sturgeon.
Natural and historical monuments
The banks of Sturgeon are striking in their beauty and variety of relief: limestone rock outcrops, high river banks, protected areas, forests, wheat fields, springs. There are many natural and historical monuments. The most significant of them are the city of Zaraysk and the Byakovsky quarries. The latter are the longest underground system of the Moscow Region. Almost at every step there are small monuments of local importance. It is rich in ancient settlements, Paleolithic camps, barrows, ancient villages with churches of the eighteenth century, holy springs, rocks and simply picturesque places of the Sturgeon River. A photo of her shows the beauty of these places.
With the fifth source
At a distance of 200 meters from the confluence of the Sturgeon into the Oka, there is the Holy Spring named after Nicholas the Wonderworker with a worship cross. Here, visitors can pick up holy water from a spring or take a dip in the pool. Near the source, the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built. This place is famous for the fact that it was here that Prince Theodore met the Korsun icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which gave rise to the construction of the city of Zaraysk. This icon has long been stored in the St. Nicholas Church of this town. Now she was transferred to the Moscow Museum named after Andrei Rublev.
Pike town
On a twenty-meter cliff near the Sturgeon River there is an archaeological site - the Kamennaya Gora tract, or Shchuchy Gorodok, which is an old Russian fortification. The main attraction of this place is the Falcon Grotto Cave.
Natural reserve Dubrava
The natural reserve Zapovednaya Dubrava, located on the steep bank of the Sturgeon near the village of Klyuchevoe, is characterized by the presence of rare plant species.
Twelve keys
The Sturgeon River is also known for the fact that there is a spring of the Twelve Keys, which is famous as a holy place. Spring water has healing properties. They consecrated and improved it. Fourteen barrows were found near the source. It is believed that the soldiers of Dmitry Donskoy are buried here. The remains of the Graboron Gate (defensive fortifications of the 16th-17th centuries) with a length of 4 kilometers also begin near the source.
Barsky park
It is impossible to list all the attractions past which the Sturgeon River flows. The Lukhovitsky district, along which the river flows, is known for the old manor park in the village of Vlasyevo, in which long-lived oaks grow.