Bodaibo

Bodaibo

 

a city in Irkutsk Oblast, in the RSFSR. It has a wharf on the right bank of the Vitim River, where the Bodaibo River flows into the Vitim. Airlines link the city with Irkutsk (1,135 km away). The population is 12,800 (1968). Bodaibo is a major base of the Lena-Vitim gold industry region. The city has a sawmill, repair shops, food enterprises, and a mining technicum. The Mamakan Hydroelectric Power Plant was built in the city in 1962. Bodaibo arose in 1864 as a placer residence (of warehouses) serving the gold industry region; it was made a city in 1925. In 1912 a big strike took place at the gold placers; the strike was cruelly suppressed by the government.