Sakminskoye Vodokhranilishche

The Sakma runs through the steppe east of the Volga to join the Great Irgiz. Its shallow valley cuts across the open land near the later settlement of Gorny, carrying water north toward the larger river. The Great Irgiz in turn flows west to the Volga, joining the pastures of the interior to the river corridor where settlements grew in the eighteenth century. Along the Sakma, the winding stream and its banks formed part of this dry steppe landscape.