The first project for making discoveries in the ocean east of
Kamchatka was formed by Peter the Great. Danish, German, and English
navigators and _savans_ were sent to the eastern coast of Asia to
conduct explorations in the desired quarter, but very little was
accomplished in the lifetime of the great czar. His successors carried
out his plans.
In June, 1741, Vitus Bering, the first navigator of the straits which
bear his name, sailed from Avatcha Bay. Passing south of the islands
of the Aleutian chain, Bering steered to the eastward, and at length
discovered the American continent. “On the 16th of July,” says
Steller, the naturalist and historian of the expedition, “we saw a
mountain whose height was so great as to be visible at the distance of
sixteen Dutch miles. The coast of the continent was much broken and
indented with bays and harbors.”
The nearest point of land was named Cape St. Elias, as it was
discovered on St. Ellas’ day. The high mountain received the name of
the saint, and has clung to it ever since.
When Bering discovered Russian America he had no thought it would one
day be sold to the United States, and there is nothing to show that he
ever corresponded with Mr. Seward about it. He sailed a short distance
along its coast, visited various islands, and then steered for
Kamchatka.
The commander was confined to his cabin by illness, and the crew
suffered severely from scurvy. “At one period,” says Steller, “only
ten persons were capable of duty, and they were too weak to furl the
sails, so that the ship was left to the mercy of the elements. Not
only the sick died, but those who pretended to be healthy fainted and
fell down dead when relieved from their posts.”
In this condition the navigators were drifted upon a rocky island,
where their ship went to pieces, but not until all had landed. Many of
the crew died soon after going on shore, but the transfer from the
ship appeared to diminish the ravages of the scurvy. Commander Bering
died on the 8th of December, and was buried in the trench where he
lay. The island where he perished bears his name, but his grave is
unmarked. An iron monument to his memory was recently erected at
Petropavlovsk.
No human dwellers were found on the island. Foxes were numerous and
had no fear of the shipwrecked mariners. “We killed many of them,”
Steller adds, “with our hatchets and knives. They annoyed us greatly,
and we were unable to keep them from entering our shelters and
stealing our clothing and food.” The survivors built a small vessel
from the wreck, and succeeded in reaching Avatcha in the following
summer. “We were given up for dead,” says the historian, “and the
property we left in Kamchatka had been appropriated by strangers.”
The reports concerning the abundance of fur-bearing animals on
Bering’s Island and elsewhere, induced private parties to go in search
of profit. Various expeditions were fitted out in ships of clumsy
construction and bad sailing qualities. The timbers were fastened with
wooden pins and leathern thongs, and the crevices were caulked with
moss. Occasionally the cordage was made from reindeer skins, and the
sails from the same material. Many ships were wrecked, but this did
not frighten adventurous merchants.
Few of these voyages were pushed farther than the Aleutian islands.
The natives were hostile and killed a fair proportion of the Russian
explorers. In 1781 a few merchants of Kamchatka arranged a company
with a view to developing commerce in Russian America. They equipped
several ships, formed a settlement at Kodiak and conducted an
extensive and profitable business. Their agents treated the natives
with great cruelty, and so bad was their conduct that the emperor
Paul revoked their privileges.
A new company was formed and chartered in July, 1779, under the title
of the Russian-American Company. It succeeded the old concern, and
absorbed it into its organization.
The Russian-American Company had its chief office in St. Petersburg,
where the Directors formed a kind of high court of appeal. It was
authorized to explore and place under control of the crown all the
territories of North-Western America not belonging to any other
government. It was required to deal kindly with the natives, and
endeavor to convert them to the religion of the empire. It had the
administration of the country and a commercial monopoly through its
whole extent. All other merchants were to be excluded, no matter what
their nationality. At one time so great was the jealousy of the
Company’s officers that no foreign ship was allowed within twenty
miles of the coast.
The Imperial Government required that the chief officer of the company
should be commissioned in the service of the crown, and detailed to
the control of the American Territory. His residence was at Sitka, to
which the principal post was removed from Kodiak. In the early history
of the Company there were many encounters with the natives, the
severest battle taking place on the present site of Sitka. The natives
had a fort there, and were only driven from it after a long and
obstinate fight. The first colony that settled at Sitka was driven
away, and all traces of the Russian occupation were destroyed. After a
few years of conflict, peace was declared, and trade became
prosperous. The Company occupied Russian America and the Aleutian
Islands, and pushed its traffic to the Arctic Ocean. It established
posts on the Kurile Islands, in Kamchatka, and along the coast of the
Ohotsk Sea. It built churches, employed priests, and was quite
successful in converting the natives to Christianity.
Having a monopoly of trade and being the law giver to the natives, the
Company had things in pretty much its own way. The governor at Sitka
was the autocrat of all the American Russians. There was no appeal
from his decision except to the Directory at St. Petersburg, which was
about as accessible as the moon. The natives were reduced to a
condition of slavery; they were compelled to devote the best part of
their time to the company’s labor, and the accounts were so managed as
to keep them always in debt.
Alexander Baranoff was the first governor, and continued more than
twenty years in power. He managed affairs to his own taste, paying
little regard to the wishes of the Directory, or even of the Emperor,
when they conflicted with his own. The Russians in the company’s
employ were _Promushleniks_, or adventurers, enlisted in Siberia for a
term of years. They were soldiers, sailors, hunters, fishermen, or
mechanics, according to the needs of the service. Their condition was
little better than that of the natives they held in subjection. The
territory was divided into districts, each under an officer who
reported to the Chief at Sitka.
The Directory was not troubled so long as profits were large, but the
government had suspicions that the Company’s reign was oppressive. An
exploring expedition under Admiral Krusenstern visited the North
Pacific in 1805; the reports of the Admiral exposed many abuses and
led to changes. A more rigid supervision followed, and produced much
good. The government insisted upon appointing officers of integrity
and humanity to the chief place at Sitka.
For many years the Company prospered. In 1812 it founded the colony of
Ross, on the coast of California, and a few years later prepared to
dispute the right of the Spanish Governor to occupy that region. The
natives were everywhere peaceable, and the dividends satisfied the
stockholders. The slaughter of the fur-bearing animals was
injudiciously conducted, and led to a great decrease of revenue. The
last dividend of importance (12 per cent.) was in 1853. After that
year misfortune seemed to follow the Company. Its trade was greatly
reduced, partly by the diminished fur production and partly by the
illicit traffic of independent vessels along the coast. Several ships
were lost, one in 1865, with a valuable cargo of furs. In 1866 the
Company’s stock, from a nominal value of 150, had fallen to about 80,
and the Company was even obliged to accept an annual subsidy of
200,000 roubles from the Government. So late as February, 1867, it
received a loan of 1,000,000 roubles from the Imperial Bank. Probably
a few years more would have seen the total extinction of the Company,
and the reversion of all its rights and expenses to the Crown.
In 1866 the fleet of the Russian-American Company comprised two sea
steamers, six ships, two brigs, one schooner, and several smaller
craft for coasting and inland service. During the Crimean war the
Company’s property was made neutral on condition of its taking no part
in hostilities. Two of its ships were captured and burned for an
alleged violation of neutrality.
The Company leased a portion of its territory to the Hudson Bay
Company, and allowed it to establish hunting and trading posts. A
strip of land bordering the ocean was thus in English hands, and gave
access to a wide region beyond the Coast Mountains. Not content with
what was leased, the Hudson Bay Company deliberately seized a locality
on the Yukon river when it had no right. It built Fort Yukon and
secured much of the interior trade of Russian America.
When our Secretary of State purchased the Emperor’s title to the
western coast of America, there were various opinions respecting the
sagacity of the transaction. No one could say what was the intrinsic
value of the country, either actual or prospective. The Company never
gave much attention to scientific matters.
The Russian government had made some explorations to ascertain the
character and extent of the rivers, mountains, plains, and swamps that
form the country. In 1841 Lieutenant Zagoyskin commenced an
examination of the country bordering the rivers, and continued it for
two years. He traced the course of the Kuskokvim and the lower
portions of the Yukon, or Kvikpak. His observations were chiefly
confined to the rivers and the country immediately bordering them.
He made no discoveries of agricultural or mineral wealth. Fish and
deer-meat, with berries, formed the food of the natives, while furs
were their only articles of trade.
[Illustration: VIEW OF SITKA]
Russian America is of great extent, superficially. It is agreeably
diversified with mountains, hills, rolling country, and table land,
with a liberal amount of _pereval_ or undulating swamp. In the
northern portion there is timber scattered along the rivers and on the
mountain slopes; but the trees and their quantity are alike small. In
the southern parts there are forests of large trees, that will be
valuable when Oregon and Washington are exhausted. Along the coast
there are many bays and harbors, easy of access and well sheltered.
Sitka has a magnificent harbor, never frozen or obstructed with ice.
Gold is known to exist in several localities. A few placer mines have
been opened on the Stikeen river, but no one knows the extent of the
auriferous beds, in the absence of all ‘prospecting’ data. I do not
believe gold mining will ever be found profitable in Russian America.
The winters are long and cold, and the snows are deep. The working
season is very short, and in many localities on the mainland ‘ground
ice’ is permanent at slight depths. Veins of copper have been found
near the Yukon, but so far none that would pay for developing.
Building stone is abundant, and so is ice. Neither is of much value in
commerce.
The fur trade was the chief source of the Company’s revenue. The
principal fur-bearing animals are the otter, seal, beaver, marten,
mink, fox, and a few others. There is a little trade in walrus teeth,
mammoth tusks, whalebone, and oil. The rivers abound in fish, of which
large quantities are annually salted and sent to the Pacific markets.
The fisheries along the coast are valuable and of the same character
as those on the banks of Newfoundland.
Agriculture is limited to a few garden vegetables. There are no fruit
trees, and no attempts have thus far been made to introduce them. The
number of native inhabitants is unknown, as no census has ever been
taken. I have heard it estimated all the way from twenty to sixty
thousand. The island and sea coast inhabitants are of the Esquimaux
type, while those of the interior are allied to the North American
Indians. The explorers for the Western Union Telegraph Company found
them friendly, but not inclined to labor. Some of the natives left
their hunting at its busiest season to assist an exploring party in
distress.
The change of rulers will prove a misfortune to the aboriginal. Very
wisely the Russian American Company prohibited intoxicating liquors in
all dealings with the natives. The contraband stuff could only be
obtained from, independent trading ships, chiefly American. With the
opening of the country to our commerce, whisky has been abundant and
accessible to everybody. The native population will rapidly diminish,
and its decrease will be accompanied by a falling off in the fur
product. Our government should rigidly continue the prohibitory law as
enforced by the Russian officials.
The sale of his American property was an excellent transaction on the
part of the Emperor. The country brought no revenue worth the name,
and threatened to be an expensive ornament in coming years. It
required a sea voyage to reach it, and was upon a continent which
Russia does not aspire to control. It had no strategic importance in
the Muscovite policy, and was better out of the empire than in it.
The purchase by ourselves may or may not prove a financial success.
Thus far its developments have not been promising. When the country
has been thoroughly examined, it is possible we may find stores of now
unknown wealth. Politically the acquisition is more important. The
possession of a large part of the Pacific coast, indented with many
bays and harbors, is a matter of moment in view of our national
ambition. The American eagle can scream louder since its cage has been
enlarged, and if any man attempts to haul down that noble bird, scoop
him from the spot.