摘要：The industrial growth between the late 18th and 19th century was largely facilitated by advancing science, which led to the technical and technological revolution. For example, evolving chemistry crystallized into new industrial sectors, one of which was the soda production. Soda was an essential element for the textile, leather, glass and soap industries in this period. Soda was produced in the potash process in Russia before the 1780s. It was not until the late 18th century that Academician Erich Laxmann was able to achieve a commercial process for soda. However, the first soda plant was opened in the Russian Empire in Altai in 1864 by Prang brothers. Since the second half of the 19th century, Western Siberia was a major center in the soda production in Russia. The new sector formed in the environment of protectionist policies for soda plant owners, carried out by the government. This paper will examine some aspects of the history of the soda production in Russia, using the example of Siberia, i.e. sources and specifications of raw materials, history and business operations of soda plants as well as description of their respective owners. The work made use of documents from a range of Russia's central and regional archives and published results of field studies conducted by mining engineers in the late 19th century.
