Dergachi

Dergachi lies in the dry country east of the Volga, among the streams of the Uzen steppe. The settlement grew through the arrival of peasant migrants, with another wave of settlers recorded in 1827. One account connects its name with Dergachi near Kharkiv, the former home of Ukrainian newcomers. Its fields belonged to the gradual extension of cultivation into the steppe, where seasonal watercourses and grazing lands had long shaped movement between the Volga and Ural.