a city under oblast jurisdiction in Cheliabinsk Oblast, RSFSR. Located on the Miass River, it has a railroad station on the Ufa-Cheliabinsk line, 90 km southwest of Cheliabinsk. Population, 139,000 (1973; 38,000 in 1939; 98,000 in 1959).

Miass arose in 1773 when a copper-smelting plant was established on the site. (It was closed at the beginning of the 19th century.) Miass is also known as a center of gold mining. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 equipment evacuated from Moscow was used to found the first enterprise of the Urals automotive industry—a plant producing trucks. Among the other large enterprises are the Miasselektroapparat Plant and a wood-products plant. Miass has an evening division of the Cheliabinsk Polytechnical Institute and automotive and geological prospecting technicums, as well as pedagogical and music schools. The city has a museum of local lore and a mineralogical museum. Gold is mined and talc and marble are quarried in the vicinity. The Il’men’ Preserve is located near Miass.

a river in Cheliabinsk and Kurgan oblasts; RSFSR. It originates in the Bashkir ASSR and is a right tributary of the Iset’ River (Irtysh Basin). Length, 658 km; basin area, 21,800 sq km. The Miass River rises on the eastern slope of the Uraltau Ridge, flows north along the western foot of the Il’men’ Mountains, and then passes through the Trans-Ural and Western Siberian plains. It is fed primarily by snow. High water occurs in April and May. The mean flow rate 24 km from the mouth is 15.4 cu m per sec. The flow of the Miass is regulated by a series of small reservoirs (the most important is the Argazi Reservoir). The river freezes in late October and November and thaws in April. The Miass supplies water for industrial enterprises. The cities of Miass and Cheliabinsk are on the river.