SITKA.—HISTORY SUCCEEDING THE TRANSFER.
A great event in the history of Sitka after the transfer was the visit
of Ex-Secretary Seward and his party, and their stay was the occasion of
the last gala season that the place has known. Mr. Seward and his son
had gone out to San Francisco by the newly-completed lines of the Union
and Central Pacific Railroad, intending to continue their travels into
Mexico. He casually mentioned before Mr. W. C. Ralston, the banker, that
he hoped some time to go to his territory of Alaska. Within a few hours
after that Mr. Ralston wrote him that there were two steamers at his
service, if he would accept one for a trip to Alaska. The fur company
offered their steamer, the _Fideliter_, and Mr. Ben Holladay put the
steamer _Active_ at the disposal of Mr. Seward and his party. Mr.
Holladay’s offer was accepted, and his best and favorite commander,
Captain C. C. Dall, was given charge of the _Active_, and everything
provided for a long yachting trip. The others invited by Mr. Seward to
partake of this magnificent hospitality were his son Frederick W. Seward
and his wife, Judge Hastings, of San Francisco, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, of
St. Louis, Hon. W. S. Dodge, revenue collector and mayor of Sitka, Hon.
John H. Kinkead, postmaster and post trader at Sitka, and Captain
Franklin of the British Navy, a nephew of the lamented Sir John
Franklin. They left San Francisco on the 13th of July, 1869, and,
touching at Victoria, reached Sitka July 30. The Ex-Secretary was
received with a military salute on landing, and went to the house of
Mayor Dodge. He kept the Russian Sabbath by attending service in the
Greek church on our Saturday, and the American Sabbath, by listening to
the post chaplain in the Lutheran church on the following day. Like many
visitors since then, Mr. Seward said, at the end of his second day, that
he had met every inhabitant, and knew all about them and their affairs.
On another day General Davis gave a state reception at the castle, and
Mr. Seward being dissuaded from his original plan of going up to Mount
St. Elias, lest, after the voyage across a rough sea, he should find the
monarch of the continent hidden in clouds, made up a party for the
Chilkat country instead. General Davis and his family, two staff
officers, and a few citizens, were invited to join them, and they went
in by Peril Straits to Kootznahoo, and then up to the mouth of the
Chilkat River. The incidents of their visit to Kloh-Kutz in his village
have been related in a preceding chapter. Adding Professor Davidson and
his assistants to their party, the _Active_ returned to Kootznahoo, and
visited the coal mine near Chief Andres village, and spent another day
on a fishing frolic in Clam Bay. On his return to Sitka Mr. Seward was
the guest of General Davis at the castle, and on the evening before his
departure he addressed the assembled citizens in the Lutheran church. He
took leave with regret, and sailed away with a military salute on a
clear and radiant day. They touched at the Takou glacier and Fort
Wrangell, went up the Stikine River to the mining camps on the bars near
the boundary line, and last visited Fort Tongass. The adjoining village
of Tongass Indians, with its many fine _totem_ poles and curious houses,
was very interesting to them, and the old chief Ebbitts paid great
honors to the Tyee of all the Tyees. Mr. Seward carried away a large
collection of Alaska curios and souvenirs, and his lavish purchases
quite shook the curio markets of those days. By the etiquette of the
country the fur robes laid for him to sit on in the chief’s lodges were
his forever after, and the exchange of gifts consequent upon such
hospitalities made his visits memorable to the chiefs by the
_potlatches_ left them. Mr. Seward carried home a dance cloak covered
with Chinese coins, that the Russians had probably gotten during the
days of their large trade with China, and sold to the Indians for furs.
When the Chinese embassy visited Mr. Seward at Auburn, they gave him the
names of the coins, and some of them dated back to the twelfth and fifth
centuries, and to the first years of the Christian era. A quantity of
Alaska cedar was taken east, and, in combination with California laurel,
was used in the panellings and furnishings of the Seward mansion at
Auburn.
A year later Lady Franklin went to Sitka on the troop-ship _Newbern_,
and for three weeks was entertained at the castle, and occupied the same
corner guest-chamber already made historic by Mr. Seward. At that time,
1870, she was nearly eighty years of age, but she was a most active and
wonderful woman. She was accompanied by her niece, Miss Cracroft, who
was her private secretary, and her object in visiting Alaska was to
trace rumors that she had heard of the finding of relics of her husband.
It was a fruitless search, and the widow of Sir John Franklin only lived
for five years after this second trip to the Pacific coast in quest of
tidings of the lost explorer.
With the exception of these incidents, Sitka grew duller and more
lifeless by a slow-descending scale, with every year that succeeded the
transfer of the territory to the United States. The officers of the
garrison chafed under the isolation from even the remote frontiers of
Washington Territory and Oregon, and the soldiers kept tumult rising in
the Indian village. After ten years’ occupation the military sailed away
one day in 1877, and as no civil government was established to succeed
their rule, the inhabitants were in despair. In a short time the Indians
began to presume upon their immunity from punishment, and distilling
their _hoochinoo_ openly and without hindrance, soon had pandemonium
raging in the _rancherie_ and overflowing into the town. They burned the
deserted quarters and buildings on the parade ground, killed and
mutilated cattle, and the Russian priest was powerless to prevent the
defilement of his church by crowds of lazy, indolent Indians, who lay on
the church steps and gambled on any and every day. Trouble was
precipitated by the Indians murdering a white man in November, 1878. The
murderers were arrested by some friendly Indians and put in the
guard-house, and immediately the whole village was in arms. The white
citizens, who had been appealing for the protection of their own
government before this, were virtually in a state of siege and at the
mercy of the enraged Siwashes. The murderers were sent to Oregon for
trial, but still their people raged. The three hundred white people were
outnumbered two and three times by the Indians, and all winter they were
in momentary dread of a final uprising and a massacre. The Russians
arranged to gather at the priest’s house at any sign of disturbance, and
the collector of customs prepared to send his family below.
When all hope of help from their own government was gone, the citizens
made a last, desperate appeal for protection to the British admiral at
Victoria. Without waiting for diplomatic fol-de-rol, Captain A’Court, of
H. M. S. _Osprey_, made all haste to Sitka on his humane errand. He
reached there in March, 1879, and quiet was immediately restored. Three
weeks later the little revenue cutter _Oliver Wolcott_ came in, and
anchored under the protecting guns of the big British war ship. The
Indians laughed in scorn, and the British captain himself felt that it
would be wrong to leave the people with such small means of defence at
hand. Early in April the United States steamer _Alaska_ came, and then
the _Osprey_ left. The captain of the _Alaska_ declared his presence
unnecessary, the Indian scare groundless, and, cruising off down the
coast and back to more attractive regions, left the people again at the
mercy of the Indians. The naval authorities, after receiving the report
and recommendations of Captain A’Court, had the grace to order the
_Alaska_ back, and it remained in the harbor of Sitka until relieved by
the sailing ship _Jamestown_, June 14.
The _Jamestown_ was commanded by Captain Lester A. Beardslee, who
instituted many reforms, cruised through all parts of the archipelago,
kept the Indians under control, and finally made an official report,
which is one of the most valuable contributions to the recent history of
Alaska. He was succeeded in command of the _Jamestown_ by Captain Glass,
an officer who displayed marked abilities in his management of the
charge entrusted to him. He exhibited a firmness that kept the natives
in check, and exercised justice and humanity in a way to win the
approval of those cunning readers of character. He made the Indians
clean up their _rancherie_, straighten out the straggling double line of
houses along shore, and then he had each house numbered, and its
occupants counted and recorded. By his census of Sitka, taken Feb. 1,
1881, there were 1,234 inhabitants; 840 of these were in the Indian
village, and only 394 souls composed the white settlement. He had a
“round-up” of the native children one day, and each little redskin was
provided with a tin medal, with a number on it, and forthwith ordered to
attend the school, at peril of his parents being fined a blanket for
each day’s absence. Aside from this benevolent and paternal work, the
big Tyee of the _Jamestown_ used to terrify the natives by his sudden
raids upon the moonshiners, who made the fiery and forbidden _hoochinoo_
with illicit stills.
He supervised treaties of peace between the Stikine and Kootznahoo
tribes, between the Stikine and Sitka tribes, and kept a naval
protectorate over the infant mining camp at Juneau, until he was
relieved by Commander Lull, with the steamer _Wachusett_, in 1881. The
fascination of the north country brought Captain Glass back, in command
of the _Wachusett_, in three months’ time, and he remained at the head
of Alaskan affairs for another year.
In October, 1882, Captain Merriman was detailed for the Alaska station,
in command of the _Adams_, and for a year he and his ship played an
important part in local history. He visited all the points in the
archipelago, fought the great naval battle of Kootznahoo, and cruised
off to the settlements on the Aleutian Islands. Peace and order reigned
in the rancherie at Sitka, the Indians and miners of Juneau were
chastised when they deserved it, and protected in what few rights they
or any one had in the abandoned territory, and crooked traders and
distillers of _hoochinoo_ had an unfortunate time of it.
The _Adams_ was the only visible sign of the nation’s power for which
the Indians had any great respect, and the nation’s importance was
advanced tenfold when the “big Tyee” silenced the unruly Kootznahoos. He
was called upon to act as umpire, referee, probate and appellate judge,
and arbiter in all vexed questions, in addition to his general duties as
protector and preserver of the peace. With the Naval Register and the
United States Statutes for code and reference, Captain Merriman
exercised a general police duty about the territory. He maintained a
paternal government and protectorate over the Indians, and the judgment
of Solomon had often to be paralleled in deciding the issues of
internecine and domestic wars. He had often to put asunder those whom
Siwash ceremonies or the missionaries had joined together, to protect
the young men who refused to marry their great-uncles’ widows, to
interfere and save the lives of those doomed to torture and death for
witchcraft, to prevent the killing of slaves at the great funerals and
_potlatches_, and to look after the widows’ and orphans’ shares in the
blankets of some great estate. For these delicate and diplomatic duties
Captain Merriman was well fitted. The dignity and ceremony that marked
all his intercourse with the natives raised him in their esteem, and his
firm and impartial judgment, his kindness and consideration, so won
them, that there were wailing groups on the wharf when he sailed away
from Sitka, and they still chant the praises of this good Tyee, who will
always be a figure in history to them.
Captain J. B. Coghlan succeeded him in command of the _Adams_, and the
Indians having been in the main peaceful, and the mining camp all quiet,
Captain Coghlan gave a great deal of time to careful surveying of the
more frequented channels of the inside passage. He marked off with buoys
the channel through Wrangell Narrows, marked the more dangerous rocks
and the channel in Peril Straits, corrected the erroneous position of
several bays and coves, examined and reported new anchorages, and
designated unknown rocks and ledges in Saginaw Channel and Neva Strait.
In addition to this practical part of his profession, Captain Coghlan
looked to the other interests confided to him. He visited all the Indian
settlements, looked up their abandoned villages, encouraged prospectors
and kept a keen eye on all mineral discoveries. An especial want in
Alaska is a good coal mine, and although there are seams of it all
through the islands, none of it is valuable for steaming purposes, and
the Nanaimo coal has to be relied upon. Early voyagers discovered coal a
half century ago, and a vein on Admiralty Island has been regularly
discovered and announced to the world by every skipper who has touched
there since. Captain Coghlan was keenly alive to the importance of
finding good coal in this favored end of the territory, and he told the
story of the latest discovery in a way to make his listeners weep from
laughter.
While out on a survey trip one day, an Indian came to him mysteriously
and said: “Heap coal up stream here,” at the same time stealthily
showing a lump of the genuine article. Quietly, and so as to attract as
little attention as possible, the captain, two sporting friends, and the
Indian started off, ostensibly duck-hunting. After they left the harbor
of Sitka the Indian led the way up a narrow channel, and turned into St.
John the Baptist’s Bay, where careful and extensive surveys had been
conducted but a short time before. The officers began to look amazed,
but the Indian led on until he beached his canoe and triumphantly showed
them a pile of anthracite coal stored under the roots of the tree. The
coal-hunters recognized it as some of the anthracite coal that had been
sent from Philadelphia, and this lot had been stored there for the
convenience of the steam launches, on their trips between the ship and
points where they were surveying in Peril Straits. Securing the quiet of
the Indian, the officers went back to the ship, and after a few days
gave specimens of coal to different experts on board. Tons of the same
article lay in the bunkers under them, but the experts went seriously to
work with their clay pipes and careful tests. None of them agreed about
it. One of them declared it good coal, of good steaming quality and pure
ash. Another one said it was lignite, and of no value, and never could
be used for steaming. Rumors of the discovery of a coal mine soon spread
through Sitka, and one man started out to follow up what he supposed had
been the course of the coal-hunters, with the evil intent of jumping
that mine. The ship was just starting off on a cruise, so followed the
jumper, and overtaking him in his lone canoe at Killisnoo, the
coal-hunter turned pale and nearly died with fright lest he should be
punished with naval severity for his wicked designs. The joke on the
coal-hunters, the coal experts, and the would-be jumper of the coal mine
made the ship ring when it was told.
In August, 1884, the _Adams_ sailed away from Sitka, and its place was
taken by the _Pinta_, under the command of Captain H. E. Nichols, who
for several years did most valuable work in the southern part of the
archipelago while in command of the coast-survey steamer _Hassler_. His
surveys were the basis for many of the new charts of that region that
accompanied the Alaska Coast Pilot of 1883, compiled by Prof. W. H.
Dall, and his return with the _Pinta_ allows him to continue his
surveys.
The _Pinta_ is one of fifteen tugs or despatch boats built during the
war for use at the different navy yards. It did service for many years
at the Brooklyn yard, but became notorious about two years ago while
undergoing repairs at the Norfolk yard. An unconscionable sum was spent
in repairing; a local election was helped on, or rather off, by this
means, and the board of officers called to survey and report upon the
_Pinta_ when the work was completed unhesitatingly condemned it, and
declared it unseaworthy. A second survey was called in this awkward
dilemma, and on the trial trip the much-tinkered ship made about four
knots an hour. It went up to Boston, ran into the brig _Tally-Ho_ that
lay at anchor there, and more of its officers were brought up before a
court of inquiry. A daring officer was at last found willing to peril
his life in taking the _Pinta_ around the Horn, and to attempt this
hazardous exploit the armament was dispensed with until it should reach
the Mare Island navy yard in California. It started the latter part of
November, and reached San Francisco at the end of May, where more
repairs were made, its guns mounted, and it then cleared for its new
station. Its detail comprises seven officers and forty men, and a
detachment of thirty marines quartered at Sitka for shore duty.
These naval officers connected with Alaska affairs have received great
commendation for the course pursued by them in the Territory, and the
history of the naval protectorate is in bright contrast to the less
creditable operations of military rule. As the character of the country
has become known, the uselessness of a land force has been appreciated,
and it is most probable that a man-of-war will always be stationed in
this growing section of the territory. Several naval officers, enjoying
and appreciating the beautiful country, have made special requests to be
returned to the Alaska station, and are enthusiastic over the region
that knows neither newspapers nor high hats. They have many
compensations for the larger social life they are deprived of, and are
envied by all the tourists who meet them. For the sportsmen there are
endless chances for shooting everything from humming-birds to ducks,
eagles, deer, and bear. The anglers tell fish stories that turn the
scales of all the tales that were ever told, and the lovers of nature
feast on scenes that ordinary travellers cannot reach, and but dimly
dream of in this hurried touch-and-go of an Alaskan cruise. In the curio
line they have the whole Territory wherefrom to choose, and the stone,
the copper, and the modern age yield up their choicest bits for their
collections. A practical man has told me that there is the place where
the officers can save their money, wear out their old clothes, and learn
patience and other Christian virtues by grace of the slow monthly mail.
Some few amuse themselves with a study of the country and its people;
and the origin, tribal relations, family distinctions, and mythology of
the Indians open a boundless field to an inquiring mind. They come
across many odd characters and strange incidents among the queer, mixed
population, and gather up most astonishing legends. One frivolous
government officer, stationed for a long time in the Territory, once
electrified some Alaska enthusiasts in a far-away city by putting out
his elbows, and drawling with Cockney accent: “Ya-as! Alaska is all very
well for climate, and scenery, and Indians, and that sort of thing, but
a man loses his grip on society, you know, if he stays there long!”
It took seventeen years to date from the signing of the treaty until the
Congress of the United States grudgingly granted a skeleton form of
government to this one Territory that has proved itself a paying
investment from the start. Every year the President called the attention
of Congress to the matter, and once the commander of a Russian
man-of-war on the Pacific coast announced his intention of going up to
Sitka to examine into the defenceless and deplorable condition of the
Russian residents, to whom the United States had not given the
protection and civil rights guaranteed in the treaty. He never carried
out his intentions, however, and the neglected citizens had to wait.
After innumerable petitions and the presentation in Congress of some
thirty bills to grant a civil government to Alaska, the inhabitants were
on the point of having the Russian residents of the Territory unite in a
petition to the Czar, asking him to secure for them the protection and
the rights guaranteed in the treaty of 1869. The Russian government
would doubtless have enjoyed memorializing the United States in such a
cause, after the way the republic has taken foreign governments to task
for the persecutions of Jews, peasants, and subjects within European
borders.
Senator Harrison’s bill to provide a civil government for Alaska was
introduced on the 4th of December, 1883, and, with amendments, passed
the Senate on the 24th of January, 1884. It was approved by the House of
Representatives on the 13th of May, and, receiving President Arthur’s
signature, Alaska at last became a Territory, but not a land district of
the United States, anomalous as that may seem.
Hon. John H. Kinkead, ex-Governor of Nevada, and who had once resided at
Sitka as postmaster and post trader, was made the first executive. The
other officers of this first government were: John G. Brady,
Commissioner at Sitka; Henry States, Commissioner at Juneau; George P.
Ihrie, Commissioner at Fort Wrangell; Chester Seeber, Commissioner at
Ounalaska; Ward MacAllister, jr., United States District Judge; E. W.
Haskell, United States District Attorney; M. C. Hillyer, United States
Marshal for the District of Alaska; and Andrew T. Lewis, Clerk of Court.
These officers reached their stations in September, 1884, and the rule
of civil law followed the long interregnum of military, man-of-war, and
revenue government in the country that was not a Territory, but only a
customs district, and an Indian reservation without an agent.
The most sanguine do not expect to see Alaska enter the sisterhood of
States during this century, but they claim with reason that southeastern
Alaska will develop so rapidly that it will become necessary to make it
a separate Territory with full and complete form of government, and
skeleton rule be confined to the dreary and inhospitable regions of the
Yukon mainland.
The citizens who have struggled against such tremendous odds for so many
years were rather bitter in their comments upon the tardy and ungracious
action of Congress in giving them only a skeleton government; and the
Russians and Creoles are more loyal to the Czar at heart, after
experiencing these seventeen years in a free country. To a lady who
tried to buy some illusion or tulle in a store at Sitka, the trader
blurted out, “No, ma’am, there’s no illusion in Alaska. It’s all reality
here, and pretty hard at that, the way the government treats us.”
The dim ideas that the outside world had of the condition of Alaska was
evinced by the stories Major Morris used to tell of dozens of letters
that were addressed to “The United States Consul at Sitka.” Governors of
States and more favored Territories regularly sent their Thanksgiving
Proclamations to “The Governor of Alaska Territory,” long before the
neglected country had any such an official as a governor, or any right
to such a courteous appellation as “Territory.”