Leaving Kodiak, the steamer soon reaches Afognak, on the island of the
same name. There is no wharf at this settlement, and we were rowed
ashore.
We were greatly interested in this place. The previous year we had made
a brief voyage to Alaska. On our steamer was an unmarried lady who was
going to Afognak as a missionary. She was to be the only white woman on
the island, and she had entertained us with stories which she had heard
of a very dreadful and wicked saloon-keeper who had lived near her
schoolhouse, and whose evil influence had been too powerful for other
missionaries to combat.
"But he can't scare me off!" she declared, her eyes shining with
religious ardor. "I'll conquer him before he shall conquer me!"
She was short and stout and looked anything but brave, and as we
approached the scene of conflict, we felt much curiosity as to the
outcome.
She was on the beach when we landed, stouter, shorter, and more
energetic than ever in her movements. She remembered us and proudly led
the way up the bank to her schoolhouse. It was large, clean, and
attractive. The missionary lived in four adjoining rooms, which were
comfortable and homelike. We were offered fresh bread and delicious
milk.
She talked rapidly and eagerly upon every subject save the one in which
we were so interested. At last, I could endure the suspense no longer.
"And how," asked I, "about the wicked saloon-keeper?"
A dull flush mounted to her very glasses. For a full minute there was
silence. Then said she, slowly and stiffly:--
"How about _what_ wicked saloon-keeper?"
"Why, the one you told us about last year; who had a poor abused wife
and seven children, and who scared the life out of every missionary who
came here."
There was another silence.
"Oh," said she then, coldly. "Well, he was rather hard to get along with
at first, but his--er--hum--wife died about three months ago, and he
has--er--hum" (the words seemed to stick in her throat) "asked
me--he--asked me, you know, to" (she giggled suddenly) "_marry_ him, you
know.
"I don't know as I will, though," she added, hastily, turning very red,
as we stood staring at her, absolutely speechless.
* * * * *
The village of Afognak is located at the southwestern end of Litnik Bay.
It is divided into two distinct settlements, the most southerly of which
has a population of about one hundred and fifty white and half-breed
people. A high, grassy bluff, named Graveyard Point, separates this part
of the village from that to the northward, which is entirely a native
settlement of probably fifty persons.
The population of the Island of Afognak is composed of Kadiaks, Eskimos,
Russian half-breeds, and a few white hunters and fishermen. The social
conditions are similar to those existing on the eastern shores of Cook
Inlet.
When Alaska was under the control of the Russian-American Company, many
men grew old and comparatively useless in its service. These employees
were too helpless to be thrown upon their own resources, and their
condition was reported to the Russian government.
In 1835 an order was issued directing that such Russian employees as
had married native women should be located as permanent settlers when
they were no longer able to serve the company. The company was compelled
to select suitable land, build comfortable dwellings for them, supply
agricultural implements, seed, cattle, chickens, and a year's
provisions.
These settlers were exempt from taxation and military duty, and the
Russians were known as colonial citizens, the half-breeds as colonial
settlers. The eastern shores of Cook Inlet, Afognak Island, and Spruce
Island were selected for them. The half-breeds now occupying these
localities are largely their descendants. They have always lived on a
higher plane of civilization than the natives, and among them may be
found many skilled craftsmen.
There is no need for the inhabitants of any of these islands to suffer,
for here are all natural resources for native existence. All the hardier
vegetables thrive and may be stored for winter use; hay may be provided
for cattle; the waters are alive with salmon and cod; bear, fox, mink,
and sea-otter are still found.
In summer the men may easily earn two hundred dollars working in the
adjacent canneries; while the women, assisted by the old men and
children, dry the fish, which is then known as ukala. There is a large
demand in the North for ukala, for dog food. There are two large stores
in Afognak, representing large trading companies, where two cents a
pound is paid for all the ukala that can be obtained.
The white men of Afognak are nearly all Scandinavians, married to, or
living with, native women. The school-teacher I have already mentioned
was the only white woman, and she told us that we were the first white
women who had landed on the island during the year she had spent there.
Only once had she talked with white women, and that was during a visit
to Kodiak.
The town has a sheltered and attractive site on a level green. There is
a large Greek-Russian church, not far from the noisy saloon which is
presided over by the saloon-keeper who was once bad, but who has now
yielded to the missionary's spell.
* * * * *
Karluk River, on the eastern side of Kadiak Island, is the greatest
salmon stream in the world. It is sixteen miles long, less than six feet
deep, and so narrow at its mouth that a child could toss a pebble from
shore to shore. It seems absurd to enter a canoe to cross this stream,
so like a little creek is it, across which one might easily leap.
Yet up this tiny water-way millions of salmon struggle every season to
the spawning-grounds in Karluk Lake. Before the coming of canners with
traps and gill-nets in 1884, it is said that a solid mass of fish might
be seen filling this stream from bank to bank, and from its mouth to the
lake in the hills.
In 1890 the largest cannery in the world was located in Karluk Bay, but
now that distinction belongs to Bristol Bay, north of the Aliaska
Peninsula. (Another "largest in the world" is on Puget Sound!)
Karluk Bay is very small; but several canneries are on its shores, and
when they are all in operation, the employees are sufficient in number
to make one of the largest towns in Alaska. In 1890 three millions of
salmon were packed in the several canneries operating in the bay; in
1900 more than two millions in the two canneries then operating; but, on
account of the use of traps and gill-nets, the pack has greatly
decreased since then, and during some seasons has proved a total
failure.
Fifteen years ago two-thirds of the entire Alaskan salmon pack were
furnished by the ten canneries of Kadiak Island, and these secured
almost their entire supply from Karluk River. Furthermore, at that time,
the canners enjoyed their vast monopoly without tax, license, or any
government interference.
Immense fortunes have been made--and lost--in the fish industry during
the last twenty years.
The superintendents of these canneries always live luxuriously, and
entertain like princes--or Baranoff. Their comfortable houses are
furnished with all modern luxuries,--elegant furniture, pianos, hot and
cold water, electric baths. Perfectly trained, noiseless Chinamen glide
around the table, where dinners of ten or twelve delicate courses are
served, with a different wine for each course.
Champagne is a part of the hospitality of Alaska. The cheapest is seven
dollars and a half a bottle, and Alaskans seldom buy the cheapest of
anything.
It was on a soft gray afternoon that the _Dora_ entered Karluk Bay
between the two picturesque promontories that plunge boldly out into
Shelikoff Straits. It seemed as though all the sea-birds of the world
must be gathered there. Our entrance set them afloat from their perches
on the rocky cliffs. They filled the air, from shore to shore, like a
snow-storm. Their poetic flight and shrill, mournful plaining haunt
every memory of Karluk Bay.
Now and then they settled for an instant. A cliff would shine out
suddenly--a clear, tremulous white; then, as suddenly, there would be
nothing but a sheer height of dark stone veined with green before our
bewildered gaze. It was as if a silvery, winged cloud drifted up and
down the face of the cliffs and then floated out across the bay.
Several old sailing vessels, or "wind-jammers," lay at anchor. They are
used for conveying stores and employees from San Francisco. The many
buildings of the canneries give Karluk the appearance of a town--in
fact, during the summer, it is a town; while in the winter only a few
caretakers of the buildings and property remain.
Men of almost every nationality under the sun may be found here, working
side by side.
Ceaseless complaints are made of the lawless conditions existing "to
Westward." Besides the thousands of men employed in the canneries of the
Kadiak and the Aleutian islands, at least ten thousand men work in the
canneries of Bristol Bay. They come from China, Japan, the Sandwich
Islands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and
almost every country that may be named.
"The prevailing color of Alaska may be 'rosy lavender,'" said a
gentleman who knows, "but let me tell you that out there you will find
conditions that are neither rosy nor lavender."
There is a United States Commissioner and a Deputy United States Marshal
in the district, but they are unable to control these men, many of whom
are desperate characters. The superintendents of the canneries are there
for the purpose of putting up the season's pack as speedily as possible;
and, although they are invariably men who deplore crime, they have been
known to condone it, to avoid the taking of themselves or their crews
hundreds of miles to await the action of some future term of court.
For many years the District of Alaska has been divided for judicial
purposes into three divisions: the first comprising the southeastern
Alaska district; the second, Nome and the Seward Peninsula; the third,
the vast country lying between these two.
In each is organized a full United States district court. The three
judges who preside over these courts receive the salary of five thousand
dollars a year,--which, considering the high character of the services
required, and the cost of living in Alaska, is niggardly. So much power
is placed in the hands of these judges that they are freely called czars
by the people of Alaska.
The people of the third district complained bitterly that their court
facilities were entirely inadequate. Several murders were committed, and
the accused awaited trial for many months. Witnesses were detained from
their homes and lawful pursuits. Delays were so vexatious that many
crimes remained unpunished, important witnesses rebelling against being
held in custody for a whole year before they had an opportunity to
testify--the judge of the third district being kept busy along the Yukon
and at Fairbanks.
As a partial remedy for some of these abuses of government, Governor
Brady, in his report for the year 1904, suggested the creation of a
fourth judicial district, to be furnished with a sea-going vessel, which
should be under the custody of the marshal and at the command of the
court. It was recommended that this vessel be equipped with small arms,
a Gatling gun, and ammunition. All the islands which lie along the
thousands of miles of shore-line of Kenai and Aliaska peninsulas, Cook
Inlet, the Kadiak, Shumagin, and Aleutian chains, and Bristol Bay might
be visited in season, and a wholesome respect for law and order be
enforced.
The burning question in Alaska has been for many years the one of home
government. As early as 1869 an impassioned plea was made in Sitka that
Alaska should be given territorial rights. Yet even the bill for one
delegate to Congress was defeated as late as the winter of
1905--whereupon fiery Valdez instantly sent its famous message of
secession.
Governor Brady criticised the appointment of United States commissioners
by the judges, claiming that there is really no appeal from a
commissioner's court to a district court, for the reason that the judge
usually appoints some particular protege and feels bound to sustain his
decisions. The governor stated plainly in his report that the most
remunerative offices are filled by persons who are peculiarly related,
socially or politically, to the judges; that the attorneys and their
clients understood this and considered an appeal useless. Governor Brady
also declared the fee system, as practised in these commissioners'
courts, to be an abomination. Unless there is trouble, the officer
cannot live; and the inference is that he, therefore, welcomes trouble.
Whatever of truth there may have been in these pungent criticisms,
President Roosevelt endorsed many of the governor's recommendations in
his message to Congress; and several have been adopted. During the past
two years Alaska has made rapid strides toward self-government, and
important reforms have been instituted.
The territory now has a delegate to Congress. Upon the subject of home
government the people are widely and bitterly divided. Those having
large interests in Alaska are, as a rule, opposed to home government,
claiming that it is the politicians and those owning nothing upon which
taxes could be levied, who are agitating the subject. These claim that
the few who have ventured heavily to develop Alaska would be compelled
to bear the entire burden of a heavy taxation, for the benefit of the
professional politician, the carpet-bagger, and the impecunious loafer
who is "just waiting for something to turn up."
On the other hand, those favoring territorial government claim that it
is opposed only by the large corporations which "have been bleeding
Alaska for years."
The jurisdiction of the United States commissioners in Alaska is far
greater than is that of other court commissioners. They can sit as
committing magistrates; as justices of the peace, can try civil cases
where the amount involved is one thousand dollars or less; can try
criminal cases and sentence to one year's imprisonment; they are
clothed with full authority as probate judges; they may act as coroners,
notaries, and recorders of precincts.
The third district, presided over by Judge Reid, whose residence is at
Fairbanks, is five hundred miles wide by nine hundred miles long. It
extends from the North Pacific Ocean to the Arctic Ocean, and from the
international boundary on the east to the Koyukuk. The chief means of
transportation within this district are steamers along the coast and on
the Yukon, and over trails by dog teams.
It is small wonder that a man hesitates long before suing for his rights
in Alaska. The expense and hardship of even reaching the nearest seat of
justice are unimaginable. One man travelled nine hundred miles to reach
Rampart to attend court. The federal court issues all licenses,
franchises, and charters, and collects all occupation taxes. Every
village or mining settlement of two or three hundred men has a
commissioner, whose sway in his small sphere is as absolute as that of
Baranoff was.