Estonians in Northern Samara (today's Koshki district of the Samara province)

The first Estonians arrived in the Koshki area in 1861 - most of them from Tartumaa, and the bulk of them together in three wagon trains. The former Kalmyk lands here suffered from extensive dryness, too, but the landscape was nevertheless much greener than in the southern part of the province, with woods full of berries and mushrooms.

The first settlers are said to have settled in earth huts (zemlyankas) built on the ledge of the valley. With government support, proper log houses were erected. Between 1860 and 1870, two districts of Estonian communities were founded in relative vicinity: the Srednyaya Bykovka congregation consisted of Verhnyaya Pravaya Chesnokovka, Levaya Shabalovka, Srednyaya Bykovka, Korovino, and Telkino, while the Chesnovka congregation had Liflyandka, Baltika, and Pravaya Srednyaya Chesnovka, founded in 1890. In additon to these Russian names, all villages had at least one Estonian name, not necessarily a translation of the official Russian version.

The visible difference between Estonian and Russian villages was due to the Estonian habit of planting apple trees and berry bushes near the houses and keeping village roads in good repair. In the beginning, native-language education was provided by sexton-schoolmasters; later, Srednyaya Bykovka got its own Zemstvo School that eventually evolved into the only Estonian-language 7-grade school in the region.

Today, Srednyaya Bykovka still exists, but the Estonian village has gradually become a Chuvash village. Of the Baltika village, there remains just the Mägi family house, built in 1913 - and an old cemetery. People born in the Estonian villages can be found in both the Koshki district centre and the settlement surrounding the Pogruznaya railroad station. The local Estonians themselves say: "Ten more years, and there'll be none, no pure Estonians left."