Pyshchug

Pyshchug lies near the river of that name and the Vetluga, in the forested country between the Volga and northern river basins. The settlement appears in 1616 as the village of Ivakino; by 1659 it was known as Nikolskoye. A route followed the Vetluga and Pyshchug toward a portage to the Kudanga and Yug, leading onward to Veliky Ustyug and the Northern Dvina. Its waterways thus connected the Volga country with the trade routes of the north.