Next to berries were plants for food; and these were in constant

abundance. Behring, on landing at the Shumagin Islands, observed the

natives “to eat roots which they dug out of the ground, and scarce

shaked off the earth before they eat them.”[119] Cook reports at

Oonalaska “a great variety of plants, several of them such as we find

in Europe and in other parts of America, particularly in Newfoundland:

… all these we found very palatable, dressed either in soups or in

salads.”[120] La Pérouse, who landed in latitude 58° 37´, finds a

French bill of fare, including celery, chicory, sorrel, and “almost

all the pot-herbs of the meadows and mountains of France,” besides

“several kinds of grass suitable for forage.” Every day and each meal

the ship’s kettle was filled with these supplies, and all ate them in

soups, ragouts, and salads, much to the benefit of their health.[121]

Portlock mentions at Port Etches, besides “fine water-cresses,” “just

above the beach, between the bay and the lake, a piece of wild wheat,

about two hundred yards long and five yards wide, growing at least

two feet high,” which, “with proper care, might certainly be made an

useful article of food”; and at Cook’s Inlet he reports “ginseng and

snakeroot.”[122] Meares reports at the latter place “inexhaustible

plenty” of ginseng, and at Prince William Sound “snakeroot and ginseng,

some of which the natives have always with them as a medicine.” He

adds: “The ginseng of this part of America is far preferable to that of

the eastern side.”[123] Billings finds at Kadiak “ginseng, wild onions,

and the edible roots of Kamtchatka,” and then again at Prince William

Sound “plenty of ginseng and some snakeroot.”[124] Vancouver finds at

Port Mulgrave “wild vegetables in great abundance.”[125] Langsdorff

adds to the list, at Oonalaska, “that sweet plant, the Siberian

parsnip.”[126] These, too, I quote precisely, and in the order of time.

Since the establishment of Europeans on this coast, an attempt has

been made to introduce the nutritious grains and vegetables known

to the civilized world, but without very brilliant success. Against

wheat and rye and against orchard fruits are obstacles of climate,

perhaps insuperable. These require summer heat; but here the summer

is comparatively cold. The northern limit of wheat is several degrees

below the southern limit of these possessions, so that this friendly

grain is out of the question. Rye flourishes further north, as do oats

also. The supposed northern boundary of these grains embraces Sitka and

grazes the Aleutian Islands. But other climatic conditions are wanting,

at least for rye. One of these is dry weather, which is required at the

time of its bloom. Possibly the clearing of the forest may produce a

modification of the weather. At present barley grows better, and there

is reason to believe that it may be cultivated successfully very far

to the north. It has ripened at Kadiak. Many garden vegetables have

become domesticated. Lütke reports potatoes at Sitka, so that all have

enough.[127] Langsdorff reports the same of Kadiak and Oonalaska.[128]

There are also at Sitka radishes, cabbages, cauliflowers, peas, and

carrots,--making a very respectable list. At Norton Sound I hear of

radishes, beets, and cabbages. Even as far north as Fort Yukon, on the

parallel of 67°, potatoes, peas, turnips, and even barley, have been

grown; but the turnips were unfit for the table, being rotten at the

heart. A recent resident reports that there are no fruit-trees, and not

even a raspberry-bush, and that he lost all his potatoes during one

season by a frost in the latter days of July; but do not forget that

these potatoes were the wall-flowers of the Arctic Circle.

Thus it appears that the vegetable productions of the country are

represented practically by trees. The forests, overshadowing the coast

from Sitka to Cook’s Inlet, are all that can be shown under this head

out of which a revenue can be derived, unless we add ginseng, so much

prized by the Chinese, and perhaps also snakeroot. Other things may

contribute to the scanty support of a household; but timber will, in

all probability, be an article of commerce. It has been so already.

Ships from the Sandwich Islands have come for it, and there is reason

to believe that this trade may be extended indefinitely, so that

Russian America will be on the Pacific like Maine on the Atlantic, and

the lumbermen of Sitka vie with their hardy brethren of the East.

These forests, as described, seem to afford all that can be desired.

The trees are abundant, and they are perfect in size, not unlike

“the tallest pine

Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast

Of some great ammiral.”

But a doubt has been raised as to their commercial value. Here we

have the inconsistent testimony of Lütke. According to him, the pines

and firs, which he calls “magnificent,” constitute an untried source

of commercial wealth. Not only California, but other countries, poor

in trees, like Mexico, the Sandwich Islands, and even Chili, will

need them. And yet he does not conceal an unfavorable judgment of

the timber, which, as seen in the houses of Sitka, suffering from

constant moisture, did not seem durable.[129] Sir Edward Belcher

differs from the Russian admiral, for he praises especially “the

timber of the higher latitudes, either for spars or plank.”[130]

Perhaps its durability may depend upon the climate where it is used;

so that, though failing amidst the damps of Sitka, it may be lasting

enough, when transported to another climate. In the rarity of trees

on the islands and main-land of the Pacific, the natural supply is

in Russian America. One of the early navigators even imagined that

China must look this way, and he expected that “the woods would yield

a handsome revenue, when the Russian commerce with China should be

established.”[131] American commerce with China is established. Perhaps

timber may become one of its staples.

A profitable commerce in timber has already begun at Puget Sound. By

official returns of 1866 it appears that it was exported to a long list

of foreign countries and places, in which I find Victoria, Honolulu,

Callao, Tahiti, Canton, Valparaiso, Adelaide, Hong Kong, Sydney,

Montevideo, London, Melbourne, Shanghae, Peru, Coquimbo, Calcutta,

Hilo, Cape Town, Cork, Guaymas, and Siam; and in this commerce were

employed no less than eighteen ships, thirty barks, four brigs,

twenty-eight schooners, and ten steamers. The value of the lumber and

spars exported abroad was over half a million dollars, while more than

four times that amount was shipped coastwise. But the coasts of Russian

America are darker with trees than those further south. Pines, in which

they abound, do not flourish as low down as Puget Sound. Northward,

they are numerous and easily accessible.

In our day the Flora of the coast has been explored with care.

Kittlitz, who saw it as a naturalist, portrays it with the enthusiasm

of an early navigator; but he speaks with knowledge. He, too, dwells on

the “surprising power and luxuriance” of the pine forests, describing

them with critical skill. The trees which he identifies are the

Pinus Canadensis, distinguished for its delicate foliage; the Pinus

Mertensiana, a new species, rival of the other in height; and the

Pinus Palustris, growing on swampy declivities, and not attaining

height. In the clearings or on the outskirts of thickets are shrubs,

being chiefly a species of Rubus, with flowers of carmine and aromatic

fruit. About and over all are mosses and lichens, invigorated by the

constant moisture, while colossal trees, undermined or uprooted, crowd

the surface, reminding the scientific observer of the accumulations of

the coal measures. Two different prints in the London reproduction of

the work of Kittlitz present pictures of these vegetable productions

grouped for beauty and instruction. I refer to these, and also to the

Essay of Hinds on “The Regions of Vegetation,” the latter to be found

at the end of the volumes containing Belcher’s Voyage.

In turning from the vegetable products of this region, it will not be

out of place, if I refer for one moment to its domestic animals, for

these are necessarily associated with such products. Some time ago it

was stated that cattle had not flourished at Sitka, owing to the want

of proper pasturage, and the difficulty of making hay in a climate of

such moisture. Hogs are more easily sustained, but, feeding on fish,

instead of vegetable products, their flesh acquires a fishy taste,

which does not recommend it. Nor has there been great success with

poultry, for this becomes the prey of the crow, whose voracity here

is absolutely fabulous. A Koloschian tribe traces its origin to this

bird, which in this neighborhood might be a fit progenitor. Not content

with swooping upon hens and chickens, it descends upon swine to nibble

at their tails, and so successfully “that the hogs here are without

tails,” and then it scours the streets so well that it is called the

Scavenger of Sitka. But there are other places more favored. The grass

at Kadiak is well suited to cattle, and it is supposed that sheep would

thrive there. The grass at Oonalaska is famous, and Cook thought the

climate good for cattle, of which we have at least one illustration.

Langsdorff reports that a cow grazed here luxuriously for several

years, and then was lost in the mountains. That grazing animal is a

good witness. Perhaps also it is typical of the peaceful inhabitants.

* * * * *

5. _Mineral Products._--In considering the Mineral Products, I ask

attention first to the indications afforded by the early navigators.

They were not geologists. They saw only what was exposed. And yet,

during the long interval that elapsed, not very much has been added

to their conclusions. The existence of iron is hardly less uncertain

now than then. The existence of copper is hardly more certain now

than then. Gold, which is so often a dangerous _ignis-fatuus_, did

not appear to deceive them. But coal, which is much more desirable

than gold, was reported by several, and once at least with reasonable

certainty.

The boat that landed from Behring, when he discovered the coast, found

among other things “a whetstone on which it appeared that copper knives

had been sharpened.” This was the first sign of the mineral wealth

which already excites such interest. At another point where Behring

landed, “one of the Americans had a knife hanging by his side, of which

his people took particular notice on account of its unusual make.”[132]

It has been supposed that this was of iron. Next came Cook, who, when

in Prince William Sound, saw “copper and iron.” In his judgment, the

iron came, “through the intervention of the more inland tribes, from

Hudson’s Bay, or the settlements on the Canadian lakes,” and his

editor refers in a note to the knife seen by Behring as from the same

quarter; but Cook thought that the copper was obtained near at home, as

the natives, when engaged in barter, gave the idea, “that, having so

much of this metal of their own, they wanted no more.”[133] Naturally

enough, for they were not far from the Copper River. Maurelle, in

1779, landed in sight of Mount St. Elias, and he reports Indians with

arrow-heads of copper, which “made the Spaniards suspect mines of this

metal there.”[134] La Pérouse, who was also in this neighborhood, after

mentioning that the naturalists of the expedition allowed no stone or

pebble to escape observation, reports ochre, copper pyrites, garnets,

schorl, granite, schist, horn-stone, very pure quartz, mica, plumbago,

coal, and then adds that some of these substances announce that the

mountains conceal mines of iron and copper. He reports further that

the natives had daggers of iron, and sometimes of red copper; that

the latter metal was common enough, serving for ornaments and for the

points of arrows; and he then states the very question of Cook with

regard to the acquisition of these metals. He insists also that “the

natives know how to forge iron and work copper.”[135] Spears and arrows

“pointed with bone or iron,” and also “an iron dagger” for each man,

appear in Vancouver’s account of the natives on the parallel of 55°,

just within the southern limit of Russian America.[136] Lisiansky saw

at Sitka “a thin plate made of virgin copper” found on Copper River,

three feet in length, and at one end twenty-two inches in breadth, with

various figures painted on one side, which had come from the possession

of the natives.[137] Meares reports “pure malleable lumps of copper

ore in the possession of the natives,”--one piece weighing as much

as a pound, said to have been obtained in barter with other natives

further north,--also necklaces and bracelets “of the purest ore.”[138]

Portlock, while in Cook’s Inlet, in latitude 59° 27´, at a place called

Graham’s Harbor, makes another discovery. Walking round the bay, he

saw “two veins of kennel coal situated near some hills just above the

beach, and with very little trouble several pieces were got out of the

bank nearly as large as a man’s head.” If the good captain did not

report more than he saw, this would be most important; for, from the

time when the amusing biographer of Lord Keeper North described that

clean flaky coal which he calls “candle,” because often used for its

light, but which is generally called “cannel,” no coal has been more of

a household favorite. He relates, further, that, returning on board in

the evening, he “tried some of the coal, and found it to burn clear

and well.”[139] Add to these different accounts the general testimony

of Meares, who, when dwelling on the resources of the country, boldly

includes “mines which are known to lie between the latitudes of 40°

and 60° north, and which may hereafter prove a most valuable source of

commerce between America and China.”[140]

It is especially when seeking to estimate the mineral products that

we feel the want of careful explorations. We know more of the roving

aborigines than of these stationary tenants of the soil. We know more

of the trees. A tree is conspicuous; a mineral is hidden in the earth,

to be found by chance or science. Thus far it seems as if chance only

had ruled. The Russian Government handed over the country to a trading

company, whose exclusive interest was furs. The company followed its

business, when it looked to wild beasts with rich skins rather than

to the soil. Its mines were above ground, and not below. There were

also essential difficulties in the way of exploration. The interior

was practically inaccessible. The thick forest, saturated with rain

and overgrown with wet mosses, presented obstacles which nothing but

enlightened enterprise could overcome. Even at a short distance from

the port of Sitka all effort failed, and the inner recesses of the

island, only thirty miles broad, were never penetrated.

The late Professor Henry D. Rogers, in his admirable paper on the

Physical Features of America, being part of his contribution to Keith

Johnston’s Atlas, full of knowledge and of fine generalization, says

of this northwest belt, that it is “little known in its topography

to any but the roving Indians and the thinly scattered fur-trappers.”

But there are certain general features which he proceeds to designate.

According to him, it belongs to what is known as the tertiary period

of geology, intervening between the cretaceous period and that now in

progress, but including also granite, gneiss, and ancient metamorphic

rocks. It is not known if the true coal measures prevail in any part,

although there is reason to believe that they exist on the coast of the

Arctic Ocean between Cape Lisburne and Point Barrow.

Beginning at the south, we have Sitka and its associate islands,

composed chiefly of volcanic rocks, with limestone near. Little is

known even of the coast between Sitka and Mount St. Elias, which,

itself a volcano, is the beginning of a volcanic region occupying the

peninsula of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, and having no less than

thirty volcanoes, some extinct, but others still active. Most of the

rocks here are volcanic, and the only fossiliferous beds are of the

tertiary period. North of Alaska, and near the mouth of the Kwichpak,

the coast seems volcanic or metamorphic, and probably tertiary, with

a vein of lignite near the head of Norton Sound. At the head of

Kotzebue Sound the cliffs abound in the bones of elephants and mammals

now extinct, together with those of the musk-ox and other animals

still living in the same latitude. From Kotzebue Sound northward, the

coast has a volcanic character. Then at Cape Thompson it is called

subcarboniferous, followed by rocks of the carboniferous age, being

limestones, shales, and sandstones, which extend from Cape Lisburne

far round to Point Barrow. At Cape Beaufort, very near the seventieth

parallel of latitude, and north of the Arctic Circle, on a high ridge

a quarter of a mile from the beach is a seam of coal which appears to

be of the true coal measures.

From this general outline, which leaves much in uncertainty, I come to

what is more important.

It is not entirely certain that iron has been found, although

frequently reported. Evidence points to the south, and also to the

north. Near Sitka it was reported by the Russian engineer Doroschin,

although it does not appear that anything has been done to verify his

report. A visitor there, as late as last year, saw excellent iron,

said to be from a bed in the neighborhood, reported inexhaustible, and

with abundant wood for its reduction. Then again on Kotzebue Sound

specimens have been collected. At 66° 13´ Kotzebue found a false result

in his calculations, which he attributes to the disturbing influence of

“iron.”[141] A resident on the Yukon thinks that there is iron in that

neighborhood.

Silver, also, has been reported at Sitka by the same Russian engineer

who reported iron, and, like the iron, in “sufficient quantity to pay

for the working.”

Lead was reported by the Russian explorer, Lieutenant Zagoyskin, on

the lower part of the Kwichpak; but it is not known to what extent it

exists.

Copper is found on the banks of the Copper River, called by the

Russians the Mjednaja, meaning copper, and of its affluent, the

Tchetchitno, in masses sometimes as large as forty pounds. Of this

there can be little doubt. It is mentioned by Golowin, in the “Archiv”

of Erman, as late as 1863. Undoubtedly from this neighborhood was

obtained the copper which arrested the attention of the early

navigators. Traces of copper are found in other places on the coast;

also in the mountains near the Yukon, where the Indians use it for

arrow-heads.

Coal seems to exist all along the coast,--according to Golowin,

“everywhere, in greater or less quantity.” Traces are reported on the

islands of the Sitkan archipelago; and this is extremely probable,

for it has been worked successfully on Vancouver’s Island below. It

is also found on the Kenaian peninsula, Alaska, the island of Unga,

belonging to the Shumagin group, Oonalaska, and far to the north

at Cape Beaufort. At this last place it is “slaty, burning with a

pure flame and rapid consumption,” and it is supposed that there are

extensive beds in the neighborhood better in quality. For an account of

this coal I refer to the scientific illustrations of Beechey’s Voyage.

The natives also report coal in the interior on the Kwichpak. The coal

of Oonalaska, and probably of Alaska, is tertiary, and not adapted

for steamers. With regard to that of Unga scientific authorities

are divided. That of the Kenaian peninsula is the best and the most

extensive. It is found on the eastern side of Cook’s Inlet, half way

between Cape Anchor and the Russian settlement of St. Nicholas, in

veins three quarters of a yard or more in thickness, and ranging in

quality from mere carboniferous wood to anthracite. According to one

authority, these coal veins extend and spread far into the interior.

This coal has more than once been sent to California for trial, and

was there pronounced a good article. Since then it has been mined

by the Company, not only for their own uses, but also for export to

California. In making these statements, I rely particularly upon

Golowin, in the “Archiv” of Erman, and upon the elaborate work of

Grewingk, in the “Transactions of the Mineralogical Society of St.

Petersburg” for 1848 and 1849,[142] where is a special map of the

Kenaian peninsula.

Gold is less important than coal, but its discovery produces more

excitement. The report of gold in any quarter stimulates the emigrant

or the adventurer hoping to obtain riches swiftly. Nor is this distant

region without such experience. Only a few years ago, the British

colony of Victoria was aroused by a rumor of gold in the mountains of

the Stikine River, not far in the interior from Sitka. At once there

was a race that way, and the solitudes of this river were penetrated by

hunters in quest of the glittering ore. Discomfiture ensued. Gold had

been found, but not in any sufficient quantities reasonably accessible.

Nature for the present had set up obstacles. But failure in one place

will be no discouragement in another, especially as there is reason

to believe that the mountains here contain a continuation of those

auriferous deposits which have become so famous further south. The

Sierra Nevada chain of California reaches here.

Traces of gold have been observed at other points. One report places

a deposit not far from Sitka. The same writer who reports iron also

reports that during the last year he saw a piece of gold as large as

a marble, which was shown by an Indian. But the Russian engineer,

Doroschin, furnishes testimony more precise. He reports gold in

at least three different localities, each of considerable extent.

The first is the mountain range on the north of Cook’s Inlet and

extending into the peninsula of Alaska, consisting principally of

clay slate with permeating veins of diorite, the latter being known

as a gold-bearing rock. He observed this in the summer of 1851. About

the same time, certain Indians from the Bay of Yakutat, not far from

Mount St. Elias, brought him specimens of diorite found in their

neighborhood, making, therefore, a second deposit. In the summer of

1855, the same engineer found gold on the southern side of Cook’s

Inlet, in the mountains of the Kenay peninsula. Satisfying himself,

first, that the bank occupied by the redoubt of St. Nicholas, at the

mouth of the Kaknu River, was gold-bearing, he was induced to follow

the development of diorite in the upper valley of the river, and, as

he ascended, found a gold-bearing alluvion, gradually increasing,

with scales of gold becoming coarser and coarser, instead of scarcely

visible, as at first.

It does not appear that the discoveries on Cook’s Inlet were pursued;

but it is reported that the Hudson’s Bay Company, holding the country

about the Bay of Yakutat under a lease from the Russian Company, have

found the diorite in that neighborhood valuable. This incident has

given rise to a recent controversy. Russian journals attacked the

engineer for remissness in not exploring the Yakutat country. He has

defended himself by setting out what he actually did in the way of

discovery, and the essential difficulty at the time in doing more: all

which will be found in a number, just received, of the work to which I

have so often referred, the “Archiv” of Erman, for 1867.[143]

Thus much for the mineral resources of this new-found country, as

recognized at a few points on the extensive coast, leaving the vast

unknown interior without a word.

* * * * *

6. _Furs._--I pass now to Furs, which at times have vied with minerals

in value, although the supply is more limited and less permanent.

Trappers are “miners” of the forest, seeking furs as others seek gold.

The parallel continues also in the greed and oppression unhappily

incident to the pursuit. A Russian officer, who was one of the early

visitors on this coast, remarks that to his mind the only prospect of

relief for the suffering natives “consists in the total extirpation of

the animals of the chase,” which he thought, from the daily havoc, must

take place in a very few years.[144] This was at the close of the last

century. The trade, though essentially diminished, still continues an

important branch of commerce.

Early in this commerce, desirable furs were obtained in barter for

a trifle; and when something of value was exchanged, it was much

out of proportion to the furs. This has been the case generally in

dealing with the natives, until their eyes have been slowly opened. In

Kamtchatka, at the beginning of the last century, half a dozen sables

were obtained in exchange for a knife, and a dozen for a hatchet; and

the Kamtchadales wondered that their Cossack conquerors were willing

to pay so largely for what seemed worth so little. Similar incidents

on the Northwest Coast are reported by the early navigators. Cook

mentions that in exchange for “beads” the Indians at Prince William

Sound “readily gave whatever they had, even their fine sea-otter

skins,” which they prized no more than other skins, until it appeared

how much they were prized by their visitors.[145] Where there was

no competition, prices rose slowly, and many years after Cook, the

Russians at Oonalaska, in return for “trinkets and tobacco,” received

twelve sea-otter skins, and fox skins of different kinds to the number

of near six hundred.[146] These instances show in a general way the

spirit of this trade even to our own day. On the coast, and especially

in the neighborhood of the factories, the difference in the value of

furs is recognized, and a proportionate price obtained, which Sir

Edward Belcher found in 1837 to be for “a moderately good sea-otter

skin from six to seven blankets, increasing to thirteen for the best,”

together with “sundry knick-knacks.”[147] But in the interior it is

otherwise. A recent resident in the region of the Yukon assures me that

he has seen skins worth several hundred dollars bartered for goods

worth only fifty cents.

Beside whalers and casual ships, with which the Esquimaux are in the

habit of dealing, the commerce in furs, on both sides of the continent,

north of the United States, has for a long time been in the hands of

two corporations,--being the Hudson’s Bay Company, with directors

in London, and the Russian American Company, with directors in St.

Petersburg. The former is much the older of the two, and has been the

most flourishing. Its original members were none other than Prince

Rupert, the Duke of Albemarle, Earl Craven, Lord Ashley, and other

eminent associates, who received a charter from Charles the Second,

in 1670, to prosecute a search after a new passage to the South Sea,

and to establish a trade in furs, minerals, and other considerable

commodities in all those seas, and in the British possessions north

and west of Canada, with powers of government, the whole constituting

a colossal monopoly, which stretched from Labrador and Baffin’s Bay

to an undefined West. At present this great corporation is known only

as a fur company, to which all its powers are tributary. For some

time its profits were so considerable that it was deemed advisable to

hide them by nominal additions to the stock. With the extinction of

the St. Petersburg corporation under the present treaty, the London

corporation will remain the only existing fur company on the continent,

but necessarily restricted in its operation to British territory. It

remains to be seen into whose hands the commerce on the Pacific side

will fall, now that this whole region will be open to the unchecked

enterprise of our citizens.

This remarkable commerce began before the organization of the Russian

Company. Its profits may be inferred from a voyage in 1772, described

by Coxe, between Kamtchatka and the Aleutians. The tenth part of the

skins being handed to the custom-house, the remainder were distributed

in fifty-five shares, consisting each of twenty sea-otters, sixteen

black and brown foxes, ten red foxes, and three sea-otter tails;

and these shares were sold on the spot at from eight hundred to one

thousand rubles each, so that the whole lading brought about fifty

thousand rubles.[148] The cost of these may be inferred from the

articles given in exchange. A Russian outfit, of which I find a

contemporary record, was, among other things, “about five hundred

weight of tobacco, one hundred weight of glass beads, perhaps a dozen

spare hatchets and a few superfluous knives of very bad quality,

an immense number of traps for foxes, a few hams, a little rancid

butter.”[149] With such imports against such exports, the profits must

have been considerable.

From Langsdorff we have a general inventory of furs at the beginning

of the century in the principal magazine of the Russian Company on the

island of Kadiak, drawn from the islands, the peninsula of Alaska,

Cook’s Inlet, Prince William Sound, and the continent generally.

Here were “a great variety of the rarest kinds of fox skins,” black,

blackish, reddish, silver gray, and stone fox,--the last probably a

species of the Arctic; “brown and red bears, the skins of which are of

great value,” and also “the valuable black bear”; the zisel marmot, and

the common marmot; the glutton; the lynx, chiefly of whitish gray; the

reindeer; the beaver; the hairy hedgehog; “the wool of a wild American

sheep, whitish, fine, and very long,” but he could never obtain sight

of the animal that produced this wool; also sea-otters, once “the

principal source of wealth to the Company, now nearly extirpated, a few

hundreds only being annually collected.”[150] Many of the same furs

were reported by Cook on this coast in his day. They all continue to

be found,--except that I hear nothing of wild sheep, save at a Sitkan

dinner.

There has been much exaggeration with regard to the profits of the

Russian corporation. An English writer of authority calls the produce

“immense,” and adds that “formerly it was much greater.” I refer to

the paper of Mr. Petermann, read before the Royal Geographical Society

of London, in 1852.[151] The number of skins at times is prodigious,

although this fails to reveal precisely the profits. For instance,

Pribyloff collected within two years, on the islands northwest of

Alaska which bear his name, the skins of 2,000 sea-otters, 40,000

sea-bears or ursine seals, 6,000 dark ice-foxes, together with 1,000

poods of walrus ivory.[152] The pood is a Russian weight of thirty-six

pounds. Lütke mentions that in 1803 no less than 800,000 skins of the

ursine seal were accumulated in the factory at Oonalaska, of which

700,000 were thrown into the sea, partly because they were badly

prepared, and partly to keep up the price,[153]--thus imitating the

Dutch, who for the same reason burned spices. Another estimate masses

the collection for a series of years. From 1787 to 1817, for only part

of which time the Company existed, the Oonalaska district yielded

upwards of 2,500,000 seal-skins; and from 1817 to 1838, during all

which time the Company was in power, the same district yielded 879,000

seal-skins. Assuming, what is improbable, that these skins were sold

at twenty-five rubles each, some calculating genius has ciphered out

the sum-total of proceeds at more than 85,000,000 rubles,--or, calling

the ruble seventy-five cents, a sum-total of more than $63,000,000.

Clearly, the latter years can show no approximation to any such

doubtful result.

Descending from these lofty figures, which, if not exaggerations, are

at least generalities, and relate partly to earlier periods, before

the existence of the Company, we shall have a better idea of the

commerce, if we look at authentic reports for special periods. Admiral

Von Wrangell, who was so long governor, must have been well informed.

According to statements in his work, adopted also by Wappäus in

his “Geographie,” the Company, from 1826 to 1833, a period of seven

years, exported to Russia the skins of the following animals: 9,853

sea-otters, with 8,751 sea-otter tails, 39,981 river-beavers, 6,242

river or land otters, 5,243 black foxes, 7,759 black-bellied foxes,

16,336 red foxes, 24,189 polar foxes, 1,093 lynxes, 559 wolverenes,

2,976 sables, 4,335 swamp-otters, 69 wolves, 1,261 bears, 505

musk-rats, 132,160 seals; also 830 poods of whalebone, 1,490 poods

of walrus-teeth, and 7,121 pairs of castoreum.[154] Their value does

not appear. Sir George Simpson, the Governor-in-chief of the Hudson’s

Bay Company, who was at Sitka in 1841, represents the returns of the

Company for that year, 10,000 fur-seals, 1,000 sea-otters, 2,500

land-otters, 12,000 beavers, and 20,000 walrus-teeth, without including

foxes and martens.[155] There is a report for the year 1852, as

follows: 1,231 sea-otters, 129 young sea-otters, 2,948 common otters,

14,486 fur-seals, 107 bears, 13,300 beavers, 2 wolves, 458 sables, 243

lynxes, 163 mole-skins, 1,504 pairs of castoreum, 684 black foxes,

1,590 cross foxes, 5,174 red foxes, 2,359 blue Arctic foxes, 355 white

Arctic foxes, and also 31 foxes called white, perhaps albinos.

Besides these reports for special years, I am enabled to present, from

the Russian tables of Captain Golowin, another, covering the period

from 1842 to 1860, inclusive,--being 25,602 sea-otters, 63,826 otters,

probably river-otters, 161,042 beavers, 73,944 foxes, 55,540 Arctic

foxes, 2,283 bears, 6,445 lynxes, 26,384 sables, 19,076 musk-rats,

2,536 ursine seals, 338,604 marsh-otters, 712 brace of hare, 451

martens, 104 wolves, 46,274 castoreums, 7,309 beavers’ tails. Here is

an inexplicable absence of seal-skins. On the other hand are sables,

which belong to Asia, and not to America. The list is Russian, and

perhaps embraces furs from the Asiatic islands of the Company.

From a competent source I learn that the value of skins at Sitka during

the last year was substantially as follows: Sea-otter, $50; marten,

$4; beaver, $2.50; bear, $4.50; black fox, $50; silver fox, $40; cross

fox, $25; red fox, $2. A recent price-current in New York gives the

following prices there in currency: Silver fox, $10 to $50; cross

fox, $3 to $5; red fox, $1 to $1.50; otter, $3 to $6; mink, $3 to $6;

beaver, $1 to $4; musk-rat, $0.20 to $0.50; lynx, $2 to $4; black bear,

$6 to $12; dark marten, $5 to $20. These New York prices vary from

those of Sitka. The latter are the better guide to a comprehension of

the proceeds at Sitka, subject to deduction for the expenses of the

Company. Of the latter I say nothing now, as I have considered them in

speaking of the existing Government.

The skins are obtained in three different ways: first, through the

hunters employed by the Company; secondly, in payment of taxes imposed

by the Company; and, thirdly, by barter or purchase from independent

natives. But, with all these sources, it is certain that the Russian

Company has enjoyed no success comparable to that of its British rival;

and, still more, there is reason to believe that latterly its profits

have not been large.

Amid all the concealment or obscurity which prevails with regard to

revenues, it is easy to see that for some time to come there must be a

large amount of valuable furs on this coast. The bountiful solitudes

of the forest and of the adjoining waters have not yet been exhausted;

nor will they be, until civilization has supplied substitutes. Such,

indeed, is part of that humane law of compensation which contributes

to the general harmony. For the present there will be trappers on the

land, who will turn aside only a little from prizes there to obtain

from the sea its otter, seal, and walrus. It cannot be irrelevant,

and may not be without interest, if I call attention briefly to those

fur-bearing animals which are about to be brought within the sphere of

republican government. If we cannot find their exact census, we may at

least learn something of their character and value.

The comparative poverty of vegetation in the more northern parts of the

continent contrasts with the abundance of animal life, especially if

we embrace those tenants of the sea who seek the land for rest. These

northern parallels are hardly less productive than the tropics. The

lion, the elephant, and the hippopotamus find their counterpart in the

bear, the walrus, and the seal, without including the sables and the

foxes. Here again Nature, by unerring law, adapts the animal to the

climate, and in providing him with needful protection creates also a

needful supply for the protection of man; and this is the secret of

rich furs. Under the sun of the tropics such provision is as little

needed by man as by beast; and therefore Nature, which does nothing

inconsistent with wise economy, reserves it for other places.

Among the furs most abundant in this commerce are those of the fox,

in its different species and under its different names. Its numbers

were noticed early, and gave the name to the eastern group of the

Aleutians, which were called Lyssie Ostrowa, or Fox Islands. Some of

its furs are among the very precious. The most plentiful is the red,

or, as sometimes called, American; but this is not highly prized. Then

comes the Arctic, of little value, and of different colors, sometimes

blue, and in full winter dress pure white, whose circumpolar home is

indicated by its name. The cross fox is less known, but much more

sought, from the fineness of its fur and its color. Its name is derived

from dark cruciform stripes, extending from the head to the back and

at right angles over the shoulders. It is now recognized to be a

variety of the red, from which it differs more in commercial value than

in general character. The black fox, which is sometimes entirely of

shining black with silver white at the tip of the tail, is called also

the silver fox, when the black hairs of the body are tipped with white.

They are of the same name in science, sometimes called _argentatus_,

although there seem to be two different names, if not different values,

in commerce. This variety is more rare than the cross fox. Not more

than four or five are taken during a season at any one post in the fur

countries, although the hunters use every art for this purpose. The

temptation is great, as we are told that “its fur fetches six times

the price of any other fur produced in North America.”[156] Sir John

Richardson, the authority for this statement, forgot the sea-otter,

of which he seems to have known little. Without doubt, the black fox

is admired for rarity and beauty. La Hontan, the French commander in

Canada under Louis the Fourteenth, speaks of its fur in his time as

worth its weight in gold.[157]

Among the animals whose furs are less regarded are the wolverene,

known in science as _Gulo_, or glutton, and called by Buffon the

“quadruped vulture,” with a dark brown fur, becoming black in winter,

and resembling that of the bear, but not so long, nor of so much value.

There is also the lynx, belonging to the feline race, living north

of the Great Lakes and eastward of the Rocky Mountains, with a fur

moderately prized in commerce. There is also the musk-rat, which is

abundant in Russian America, as it is common on this continent, whose

fur enters largely into the cheaper peltries of the United States in so

many different ways, and with such various artificial colors that the

animal would not know his own skin.

Among inferior furs I may include that very respectable animal, the

black bear, reported by Cook “in great numbers,” and “of a shining

black color.”[158] The grizzly bear is less frequent, and is inferior

in quality of fur to all other varieties of the bear. The brown bear

is supposed to be a variety of the black bear. The polar bear, which

at times is a formidable animal, leaving a footprint in the snow nine

inches long, was once said not to make an appearance west of the

Mackenzie River; but he has been latterly found on Behring Strait, so

that he, too, is included among our new population. The black bear, in

himself a whole population, inhabits every wooded district from the

Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Carolina to the ice of the Arctic,

being more numerous inland than on the coast. Langsdorff early remarked

that he did not appear on the Aleutians, but on the continent, about

Cook’s Inlet and Prince William Sound, which are well wooded.[159] He

has been found even on the Isthmus of Panama. Next to the dog, he is

the most cosmopolitan and perhaps the most intelligent of animals, and

among those of the forest he is the most known, even to the nursery.

His showy fur once enjoyed great vogue in hammer-cloths and muffs, and

it is still used in military caps and pistol-holsters; so that he is

sometimes called the Army bear. Latterly the fur has fallen in value.

Once it brought in London from twenty to forty guineas. It will now

hardly bring more than the same number of shillings.

The beaver, amphibious and intelligent, has a considerable place in

commerce, and also a notoriety of its own as the familiar synonym

for the common covering of a man’s head; and here the animal becomes

historic. By royal proclamation, in 1638, Charles the First of England

commanded “that no beaver-makers whatsoever, from henceforth, shall

make any hats or caps but of pure beaver.”[160] This proclamation was

the death-warrant of beavers innumerable, sacrificed to the demands of

the trade. Wherever they existed over a wide extent of country, in the

shelter of forests or in lodges built by their extraordinary instinct,

they were pursued and arrested in their busy work. The importation of

their skins into Europe during the last century was enormous, and it

continued until one year it is said to have reached the unaccountable

number of 600,000. I give these figures as I find them. Latterly other

materials have been obtained for hats, so that this fur has become less

valuable. But the animal is still hunted. A medicine supplied by him,

and known as the castoreum, has a fixed place in the Materia Medica.

The marten is perhaps the most popular of all the fur-bearing animals

belonging to our new possessions. An inhabitant of the whole wooded

region of the northern part of the continent, he finds a favorite home

in the forests of the Yukon, where he needs his beautiful fur, which is

not much inferior to that of his near relative, the far-famed Russian

sable. In the trade of the Hudson’s Bay Company the marten occupies the

largest place, his skins for a single district amounting to more than

fifty thousand annually, and being sometimes sold as sable. The ermine,

which is of the same weasel family, is of little value except for its

captivating name, although its fur finds a way to the English market

in enormous quantities. The mink, also of the same general family, was

once little regarded, but now, by freak of fashion in our country, this

animal has ascended in value above the beaver, and almost to the level

of the marten. His fur is plentiful on the Yukon and along the coast.

Specimens in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution attest its

occurrence at Sitka.

The seal, amphibious, polygamous, and intelligent as the beaver, has

always supplied the largest multitude of furs to the Russian Company.

The early navigators describe its appearance and numbers. Cook

encountered them constantly. Excellent swimmers, ready divers, they

seek rocks and recesses for repose, where, though watchful and never

sleeping long without moving, they become the prey of the hunter. Early

in the century there was a wasteful destruction of them. Young and

old, male and female, were indiscriminately knocked on the head for

the sake of their skins. Sir George Simpson, who saw this improvidence

with an experienced eye, says that it was hurtful in two ways: first,

the race was almost exterminated; and, secondly, the market was glutted

sometimes with as many as two hundred thousand a year, so that prices

did not pay the expense of carriage.[161] The Russians were led to

adopt the plan of the Hudson’s Bay Company, killing only a limited

number of males who had attained their full growth, which can be done

easily, from the known and systematic habits of the animal. Under this

economy seals have multiplied again, vastly increasing the supply.

Besides the common seal, there are various species, differing in

appearance, so as to justify different names, and yet all with a

family character,--including the sea-leopard, so named from his spots,

the elephant seal, from his tusks and proboscis, and the sea-lion,

with teeth, mane, and a thick cylindrical body. These are of little

value, although their skins are occasionally employed. The skin of the

elephant seal is strong, so as to justify its use in the harness of

horses. There is also the sea-bear, or ursine seal, very numerous in

these waters, whose skin, especially if young, is prized for clothing.

Steller speaks with grateful remembrance of a garment he made from one,

while on the desert island after the shipwreck of Behring.

Associated with the seal, and belonging to the same family, is the

walrus, called by the British the sea-horse, the morse, or the sea-cow,

and by the French _bête à la grande dent_. His two tusks, rather than

his skin, are the prize of the hunter. Unlike the rest of the seal

family, he is monogamous, and not polygamous. Cook vividly describes

immense herds asleep on the ice, with some of their number on guard,

and, when aroused, roaring or braying very loud, while they huddled and

tumbled together like swine.[162] At times their multitude is so great,

that, before being aroused, several hundreds are slaughtered, as game

in a park. Their hide is excellent for carriage-braces, and is useful

about ship. But it is principally for their ivory that these hecatombs

are sacrificed. A single tooth sometimes weighs several pounds. Twenty

thousand teeth, reported as an annual harvest of the Russian Company,

must cost the lives of ten thousand walruses. The ivory compares with

that of the elephant, and is for some purposes superior. Long ago, in

the days of Saxon history, a Norwegian at the court of Alfred exhibited

to the king “teeth of great price and excellencie,” from what he called

a “horsewhale.”[163] Unquestionably, they were teeth of walrus.

I mention the sea-otter last; but in beauty and value it is the first.

In these respects it far surpasses the river or land otter, which,

though beautiful and valuable, must yield the palm. It has also more

the manners of the seal, with the same fondness for sea-washed rocks,

and a maternal affection almost human. The sea-otter seems to belong

exclusively to the North Pacific. Its haunts once extended as far south

as the Bay of San Francisco, but long ago it ceased to appear in that

region. Cook saw it at Nootka Sound.[164] Vancouver reports in Chatham

Strait an “immense number about the shores in all directions,” so that

“it was easily in the power of the natives to procure as many as they

chose to be at the trouble of taking.”[165] D’Wolf, while at Sitka,

projected an expedition to California “for the purpose of catching

sea-otter, those animals being very numerous on that coast.”[166]

But these navigators, could they revisit this coast, would not find

it in these places now. Its present zone is between the parallels of

50° and 60° north latitude, on the American and Asiatic coasts, so

that its range is comparatively limited. Evidently it was Cook who

first revealed the sea-otter to Englishmen. In the table of contents

of his second volume are the words, “Description of a Sea-Otter,” and

in the text is a minute account of this animal, and especially of its

incomparable fur, “certainly softer and finer than that of any others

we know of.” Not content with description, the famous navigator adds,

in remarkable words, “Therefore the discovery of this part of the

continent of North America, where so valuable an article of commerce

may be met with, cannot be a matter of indifference.”[167] This account

stimulated the commercial enterprise of that day. Other witnesses

followed. Meares, describing his voyage, placed this fur high above all

other furs,--“the finest in the world, and of exceeding beauty”;[168]

and La Pérouse made it known in France as “the most precious and the

most common peltry” of those regions.[169] Shortly afterwards all

existing information with regard to it was elaborately set forth in the

Historical Introduction to the Voyage of Marchand, published at Paris

under the auspices of the Institute.[170]

The sea-otter was known originally to the Russians in Kamtchatka,

where it was called the sea-beaver; but the discoveries of Behring

constitute an epoch in the commerce. His shipwrecked crew, compelled

to winter on the desert island now bearing his name, found this

animal in flocks, ignorant of men and innocent as sheep, so that they

were slaughtered without resistance, to the number of “near nine

hundred.”[171] Their value became known. Fabulous prices were paid

by the Chinese, sometimes, according to Coxe, as high as one hundred

and forty rubles.[172] At such a price a single sea-otter was more

than five ounces of gold, and a flock was a gold mine. The pursuit of

gold was renewed. It was the sea-otter that tempted the navigator,

and subsequent enterprise was under the incentive of obtaining the

precious fur. Müller, calling him a beaver, says, in his history of

Russian Discovery, “The catching of beavers in those parts enticed many

people to go to them, and they never returned without great quantities,

which always produced large profits.”[173] All that could be obtained

were sent to China, which was the objective point commercially for

this whole coast. The trade became a fury. The animal, with exquisite

purple-black fur, appeared only to be killed,--not always without

effort, for he had learned something of his huntsman, and was now

coy and watchful, so that the pursuit was often an effort; but his

capture was always a triumph. The natives, accustomed to his furs as

clothing, now surrendered them. Sometimes a few beads were the only

pay. All the navigators speak of the unequal barter,--“any sort of

beads,” according to Cook.[174] The story is best told by Meares:

“Such as were dressed in furs instantly stripped themselves, and in

return for a moderate quantity of large spike-nails we received sixty

fine sea-otter skins.”[175] Vancouver describes the “humble fashion”

of the natives in poor skins as a substitute for the beautiful furs

appropriated by “their Russian friends.”[176] The picture is completed

by the Russian navigator, when he confesses, that, after the Russians

had any intercourse with them, the natives ceased to wear sea-otter

skins.[177] In the growing rage the sea-otter nearly disappeared.

Langsdorff reports the race “nearly extirpated,” since “the high price

given for the skins induces the Russians, for the sake of a momentary

advantage, to kill all they meet with, both old and young; nor can

they see that by such a procedure they must soon be deprived of the

trade entirely.”[178] This was in 1805. Since then the indiscriminate

massacre has been arrested.

Meanwhile our countrymen entered into this commerce, so that Russians,

Englishmen, and Americans were all engaged in slaughtering sea-otters,

and selling their furs to the Chinese, until the market of Canton

was glutted. Lisiansky, who was there in 1806, speaks of “immense

quantities imported by American ships,--during the present season no

less than twenty thousand.”[179] By-and-by the commerce was engrossed

by the Russians and English. At length it passes into the hands of

the United States, with all the other prerogatives belonging to this

territory.

* * * * *

7. _Fisheries._--I come now to the Fisheries, the last head of this

inquiry, and not inferior to any other in importance,--perhaps the

most important of all. What even are sea-otter skins, by the side of

that product of the sea, incalculable in amount, which contributes to

the sustenance of the human family?

Here, as elsewhere, in the endeavor to estimate the resources of this

region, there is vagueness and uncertainty. Information is wanting; and

yet we are not entirely ignorant. Nothing is clearer than that fish in

great abundance are taken everywhere on the coast, around the islands,

in the bays, and throughout the adjacent seas. The evidence is constant

and complete. Here are oysters, clams, crabs, and a dainty little fish

of the herring tribe, called the oolachan, contributing to the luxury

of the table, and so rich in its oily nature that the natives are said

to use it sometimes as a “candle.” In addition to these, which I name

only to put aside, are those great staples of commerce and main-stays

of daily subsistence, the salmon, the herring, the halibut, the cod,

and, behind all, the whale. This short list is enough, for it offers a

constant feast, with the whale at hand for light. Here is the best that

the sea affords, for poor or rich,--for daily use, or the fast-days of

the Church. Here also is a sure support, at least, to the inhabitants

of the coast.

To determine the value of this supply, we must go further, and

ascertain if these various tribes of fish, reputed to be in such

numbers, are found under such conditions and in such places as to

constitute a permanent and profitable fishery. This is the practical

question, which is still undecided. It is not enough to show that the

whole coast may be subsisted by its fish. It should be shown further

that the fish of this coast can be made to subsist other places, so

as to become a valuable article of commerce. And here uncertainty

begins. The proper conditions of an extensive fishery are not yet

understood. It is known that certain fisheries exist in certain waters

and on certain soundings, but the spaces of ocean are obscure, even to

the penetrating eye of science. Fishing-banks known for ages are still

in many respects a mystery, which is increased where the fishery is

recent or only coastwise. There are other banks which fail from local

incidents. Thus, very lately a cod-fishery was commenced on Rockall

Bank, one hundred and sixty-five miles northwest of the Hebrides, but

the deep rolling of the Atlantic and the intolerable weather compelled

its abandonment.

Before considering the capacity of this region for an extensive

fishery, it is important to know such evidence as exists with regard to

the supply; and here again we must resort to the early navigators and

visitors. Their evidence, reinforced by modern reports, is an essential

element, even if it does not entirely determine the question.

Down to the arrival of Europeans, the natives lived on fish. This

had been their constant food, with small additions from the wild

vegetation. In summer it was fish freshly caught; in winter it was fish

dried or preserved. At the first landing, on the discovery, Steller

found in the deserted cellar “store of red salmon,” and the sailors

brought away “smoked fishes that appeared like large carp and tasted

very well.”[180] This is the earliest notice of fish on this coast,

which are thus directly associated with its discovery. The next of

interest is the account of a Russian navigator, in 1768-9, who reports

at the Fox Islands, and especially Oonalaska, “cod, perch, pilchards,

smelts, roach.”[181] Thus early the cod appears.

Repairing to Cook’s Voyage, we find the accustomed instruction; and

here I shall quote with all possible brevity. At Nootka Sound he

finds fish “more plentiful than birds,” of which the principal sorts,

in great numbers, are “the common herring, but scarcely exceeding

seven inches in length, and a smaller sort, the same with the anchovy

or sardine,” and now and then “a small brownish cod spotted with

white.”[182] Then again he reports at the same place “herrings and

sardines, and small cod,”--the former “not only eaten fresh, but

likewise dried and smoked.”[183] In Prince William Sound “the only

fish got were some torsk and halibut, chiefly brought by the natives

to sell.”[184] Near Kadiak he records, that, “having three hours’

calm, our people caught upward of a hundred halibuts, some of which

weighed a hundred pounds, and none less than twenty pounds,”--and he

adds, naturally enough, “a very seasonable refreshment to us.”[185]

In Bristol Bay, on the northern side of the promontory of Alaska, he

reports “tolerable success in fishing, catching cod, and now and then

a few flat-fish.”[186] In Norton Sound, still further north, he tells

us, that, in exchange for four knives made from an old iron hoop, he

obtained of the natives “near four hundred pounds weight of fish, which

they had caught on this or the preceding day,--some trout, and the

rest in size and taste somewhat between a mullet and a herring.”[187]

On returning southward, stopping at Oonalaska, he finds “plenty of

fish, at first mostly salmon, both fresh and dried,--some of the fresh

salmon in high perfection”; also “salmon trout, and once a halibut

that weighed two hundred and fifty-four pounds”; and in describing the

habits of the islanders, he reports that “they dry large quantities of

fish in summer, which they lay up in small huts for winter use.”[188]

Such is the testimony of Captain Cook.

No experience on the coast is more instructive than that of Portlock,

and from his report I compile a succinct diary. July 20, 1786, at

Graham’s Harbor, Cook’s Inlet, “The Russian chief brought me as a

present a quantity of fine salmon, sufficient to serve both ships for

one day.” July 21, “In several hauls caught about thirty salmon and

a few flat-fish”; also, further, “The Russian settlement had on one

side a small lake of fresh water, in which they catch plenty of fine

salmon.” July 22, “The boat returned deeply loaded with fine salmon.”

July 28, latitude 60° 9´, “Two small canoes came off from the shore;

they had nothing to barter except a few dried salmon.” July 30, “Plenty

of excellent fresh salmon, which we obtained for beads and buttons.”

August 5, “Plenty of fine salmon.” August 9, “The greatest abundance of

fine salmon.” August 13, off the entrance of Cook’s Inlet, “Hereabouts

would be a most desirable situation for carrying on a whale fishery,

the whales being on the coast and close in shore in vast numbers,

and there being convenient and excellent harbors quite handy for the

business.”[189] Soon after these entries the English navigator left the

coast for the Sandwich Islands.

Returning during the next year, Portlock continued to record his

observations, which I abstract in brief. May 21, 1787, Port Etches,

latitude 60° 21´, “The harbor affords very fine crabs and muscles.”

June 4, “A few Indians came alongside, bringing some halibut and cod.”

June 20, “Plenty of flounders; crabs now very fine; some of the people,

in fishing alongside for flounders, caught several cod and halibut.”

June 22, “Sent the canoe out some distance into the bay, and it soon

returned with a load of fine halibut and cod; this success induced

me to send her out frequently with a fishing party, and they caught

considerably more than what was sufficient for daily consumption.”

June 30, “In hauling the seine, we caught a large quantity of herrings

and some salmon; the herrings, though small, were very good, and two

hogsheads of them were salted for sea-store.” July 7, “We daily caught

large quantities of salmon, but, the unsettled state of the weather not

permitting us to cure them on board, I sent the boatswain with a party

on shore to build a kind of house to smoke them in.” July 11, “The

seine was frequently hauled, and not less than two thousand salmon were

caught at each haul; the weather, however, preventing us from curing

them so well as could have been wished, we kept only a sufficient

quantity for present use, and let the rest escape. The salmon were now

in such numbers along the shores that any quantity whatever might be

caught with the greatest ease.”[190] All this testimony of the English

navigator is singularly explicit, while it is in complete harmony with

that of the Russian visitors, and of Cook, who preceded Portlock.

The report of Meares is similar, although less minute. Speaking of the

natives generally, he says, “They live entirely upon fish, but of all

others they prefer the whale.”[191] Then again, going into more detail,

he says, “Vast quantities of fish are to be found, both on the coast

and in the sounds or harbors. Among these are the halibut, herring,

sardine, silver-bream, salmon, trout, cod, … all of which we have seen

in the possession of the natives, or have been caught by ourselves.”

The sardines he describes as taken in such numbers “that a whole

village has not been able to cleanse them.” At Nootka the salmon was

“of a very delicate flavor,” and “the cod taken by the natives were of

the best quality.”[192]

Spanish and French testimony is not wanting, although less precise.

Maurelle, who was on the coast in 1779, remarks that “the fish most

abundant was the salmon and a species of sole or turbot.”[193] La

Pérouse, who was there in 1786, mentions a large fish weighing

sometimes more than a hundred pounds, and several other fish; but he

preferred “the salmon and trout, which the Indians sold in larger

numbers than could be consumed.”[194] A similar report was made in

1791 by Marchand, who finds the sea and rivers abounding in “excellent

fish,” particularly salmon and trout.[195]

Meanwhile came the Russian navigator Billings, in 1790; and here we

have a similar report, only different in form. Describing the natives

of Oonalaska, the book in which this visit is recorded says, “They

dry salmon, cod, and halibut, for a winter’s supply.”[196] At Kadiak

it says, “Whales are in amazing numbers about the straits of the

islands and in the vicinity of Kadiak.” Then the reporter, who was the

naturalist Sauer, says, “I observed the same species of salmon here

as at Okhotsk, and saw crabs.” Again, “The halibuts in these seas are

extremely large, some weighing seventeen poods, or six hundred and

twelve pounds avoirdupois.… The liver of this fish, as also of cod,

the natives esteem unhealthy and never eat, but extract the oil from

them.”[197] Then, returning to Oonalaska the next year, the naturalist

says, “The other fish are halibut, cod, two or three species of salmon,

and sometimes a species of salmon very common in Kamtchatka, between

four and five feet long.”[198]

From Lisiansky, the Russian navigator, who was on the coast in 1804,

and again in 1805, I take two passages. The first relates to the fish

of Sitka. “For some time,” he says, “we had been able to catch no fish

but the halibut. Those of this species, however, which we caught were

fine, some of them weighing eighteen stone, and were of an excellent

flavor. This fish abounds here from March to November, when it retires

from the coast till the winter is at an end.”[199] The other passage

relates to the subsistence of the inhabitants during the winter.

“They live,” he says, “on dried salmon, train oil, and the spawn of

fish, especially that of herrings, of which they always lay in a good

stock.”[200]

Langsdorff, who was there in 1805-6, is more full and explicit. Of

Oonalaska he says: “The principal food consists of fish, sea-dogs,

and the flesh of whales. Among the fish, the most common and most

abundant are several sorts of salmon, cod, herrings, and holybutt. The

holybutts, which are the sort held in the highest esteem, are sometimes

of an enormous size, weighing even several hundred pounds.”[201] Of

Kadiak he says: “The most common fish, those which, fresh and dry,

constitute a principal article of food, are herrings, cod, holybutt,

and several sorts of salmon; the latter come up into the bays and

rivers at stated seasons and months, and are then taken in prodigious

numbers by means of nets or dams.”[202] Of Sitka he says: “We have

several sorts of salmon, holybutt, whitings, cod, and herrings.”[203]

A goodly variety. The testimony of Langsdorff is confirmed in general

terms by his contemporary, D’Wolf, who reports: “The waters of the

neighborhood abounded with numerous and choice varieties of the finny

tribe, which could be taken at all seasons of the year.”[204]

Lütke, also a Russian, tells us that he found fish the standing dish

at Sitka, from the humblest servant to the governor; and he mentions

salmon, herring, cod, and turbot. Of salmon there were no less than

four kinds, which were eaten fresh when possible, but after June they

were sent to the fortress salted. The herring appeared in February

and March. The cod and turbot were caught in the straits during

winter.[205] Lütke also reports “fresh cod” at Kadiak.[206]

I close this abstract of foreign testimony with two English

authorities often quoted. Sir Edward Belcher, while on the coast in

1837, records that “fish, halibut, and salmon of two kinds, were

abundant and moderate, of which the crews purchased and cured great

quantities.”[207] Sir George Simpson, who was at Sitka in 1841, says:

“Halibut, cod, herrings, flounders, and many other sorts of fish, are

always to be had for the taking, in unlimited quantities.… Salmon have

been known literally to embarrass the movements of a canoe. About

100,000 of the last-mentioned fish, equivalent to 1,500 barrels, are

annually salted for the use of the establishment.”[208] Nothing could

be stronger as statement, and, when we consider the character of its

author, nothing stronger as authority.

Cumulative upon all this accumulation of testimony is that of recent

visitors. Nobody visits here without testifying. The fish are so

demonstrative in abundance that all remark it. Officers of the United

States navy report the same fish substantially which Cook reported, as

far north as the Frozen Ocean. Scientific explorers, prompted by the

Smithsonian Institution, report cod in Behring Strait, on the limits

of the Arctic Circle. One of these reports, that, while anchored near

Oonimak, in 1865, the ship, with a couple of lines, caught “a great

many fine cod, most of them between two and three feet in length.”

He supposes that there is no place on the coast where they are not

numerous. A citizen of Massachusetts, who has recently returned from

prolonged residence on this coast, writes me from Boston, under date

of March 8, 1867, that “the whale and cod fisheries of the North

Pacific are destined to form a very important element in the wealth

of California and Washington Territory, and that already numbers of

fishermen are engaged there, and more are intending to leave.” From all

this testimony there can be but one conclusion, with regard at least

to certain kinds of fish.

Salmon exists in unequalled numbers, so that this fish, so aristocratic

elsewhere, becomes common. Not merely the prize of epicures, it is

the food of all. Not merely the pastime of gentle natures, like

Izaak Walton or Sir Humphry Davy, who employ in its pursuit an

elegant leisure, its capture is the daily reward of the humblest. On

Vancouver’s Island it is the constant ration given out by the Hudson’s

Bay Company to the men in service. At Sitka ships are gratuitously

supplied with it by the natives. By the side of the incalculable

multitudes swarming out of the Arctic waters, haunting this extended

coast, and peopling its rivers, so that at a single haul Portlock took

not less than two thousand, how small an allowance are the two hundred

thousand which the salmon fisheries of England annually supply!

Herring seem not less multitudinous than the salmon. Their name,

derived from the German _Heer_, signifying an army, is amply verified,

as on the coast of Norway they move in such hosts that a boat at times

makes its way with difficulty through the compact mass. I do not speak

at a venture, for I have received this incident from a scientific

gentleman who witnessed it on the coast. This fish, less aristocratic

than the salmon, is a universal food, but here it would seem enough for

all.

The halibut, so often mentioned for size and abundance, is less

generally known than the others. It is common in the fisheries of

Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. In our country its reputation is local.

Even at the seaport of Norfolk, in Virginia, it does not appear to

have been known before 1843, when its arrival was announced as that of

a distinguished stranger: “Our market yesterday morning was enriched

with a delicacy from the Northern waters, the halibut, a strange fish

in these parts, known only to epicures and naturalists.” The larger

fish are sometimes coarse and far from delicate, but they furnish a

substantial meal, while the smaller halibut is much liked.

The cod is perhaps the most generally diffused and abundant of all,

for it swims in all the waters of the coast, from the Frozen Ocean

to the southern limit, sometimes in immense numbers. It is a popular

fish, and, when cured or salted, is an excellent food in all parts

of the world. Palatable, digestible, and nutritious, the cod, as

compared with other fish, is as beef compared with other meats; so that

its incalculable multitudes seem to be according to a wise economy

of Nature. A female cod is estimated to contain from three to nine

million eggs.[209] Talk of multiplication a hundred fold,--here it

is to infinity. Imagine these millions of eggs grown into fish, and

then the process of reproduction repeated, and you have numbers which,

like astronomical distances, are beyond human conception. But here the

ravenous powers of other fish are more destructive than any efforts of

the fisherman.

Behind all these is the whale, whose corporal dimensions fitly

represent the space he occupies in the fisheries of the world, hardly

diminished by petroleum or gas. On this extended coast and in all

these seas he is at home. Here is his retreat and play-ground. This is

especially the case with the right-whale, or, according to whalers,

“the _right_ whale to catch,” with bountiful supply of oil and bone,

who is everywhere throughout this region, appearing at all points and

swarming its waters. D’Wolf says, “We were frequently surrounded by

them.”[210] Meares says, “Abundant as the whales may be in the vicinity

of Nootka, they bear no comparison to the numbers seen on the northern

part of the coast.”[211] At times they are very large. Kotzebue reports

them at Oonalaska of fabulous proportions, called by the natives

_Aliamak_, and so long “that the people engaged at the opposite ends

of the fish must halloo very loud to be able to understand each

other.”[212] Another whale, known as the bow-head, is so much about

Kadiak that it is sometimes called the Kadiak whale. The valuable

sperm-whale, whose head and hunch are so productive in spermaceti,

belongs to a milder sea, but he sometimes strays to the Aleutians. The

narwhal, with his long tusk of ivory, out of which was made the famous

throne of the early Danish kings, belongs to the Frozen Ocean; but he,

too, strays into the straits below. As no sea is now _mare clausum_,

all these may be pursued by a ship under any flag, except directly on

the coast and within its territorial limit. And yet the possession of

this coast as a commercial base must necessarily give to its people

peculiar advantages in the pursuit. What is done now under difficulties

will be done then with facilities, such at least as neighborhood

supplied to the natives even with their small craft.

In our country the whale fishery has been a great and prosperous

commerce, counted by millions. It has yielded considerable gains, and

sometimes large fortunes. The town of New Bedford, one of the most

beautiful in the world, has been enriched by this fishery. And yet

you cannot fail to remark the impediments which the business has been

compelled to overcome. The ship was fitted on the Atlantic coast for a

voyage of two or three years, and all the crew entered into partnership

with regard to the oil. Traversing two oceans, separated by a stormy

cape, it reaches at last its distant destination in these northern

seas, and commences its tardy work, interrupted by occasional rest and

opportunity to refit at the Sandwich Islands. This now will be changed,

as the ship sallies forth from friendly harbors near the game which is

its mighty chase.

* * * * *

From the whale fishery I turn to another branch of inquiry. Undoubtedly

there are infinite numbers of fish on the coast; but to determine

whether they can constitute a permanent and profitable fishery,

there are at least three different considerations which must not be

disregarded: (1.) The existence of banks or soundings; (2.) Proper

climatic conditions for catching and curing fish; (3.) A market.

(1.) The _necessity of banks or soundings_ is according to reason.

Fish are not caught in the deep ocean. It is their nature to seek the

bottom, where they are found in some way by the fisherman, armed with

trawl, seine, or hook. As among the ancient Romans private luxury

provided tanks and ponds for the preservation of fish, so Nature

provides banks, which are immense fish-preserves. Soundings attest

their existence in a margin along the coast; but it becomes important

to know if they actually exist to much extent away from the coast. On

this point our information is already considerable, if not decisive.

The Sea and Strait of Behring, as far as the Frozen Ocean, have been

surveyed by a naval expedition of the United States under Commander

John Rodgers. From one of his charts, now before me, it appears, that,

beginning at the Frozen Ocean and descending through Behring Strait

and Behring Sea, embracing Kotzebue Sound, Norton Bay, and Bristol

Bay, to the peninsula of Alaska, a distance of more than twelve

degrees, there are constant uninterrupted soundings from twenty to

fifty fathoms,--thus presenting an immense extent proper for fishery.

South of the peninsula of Alaska another chart shows soundings along

the coast, with a considerable extent of bank in the neighborhood of

the Shumagins and Kadiak, being precisely where other evidence points

to the existence of cod. These banks, north and south of Alaska, taken

together, according to indications of the two charts, have an extent

unsurpassed by any in the world.

There is another illustration full of instruction. It is a map of the

world, in the new work of Murray on “The Geographical Distribution

of Mammals,” “showing approximately the one hundred fathom line of

soundings,” prepared from information furnished by the Hydrographic

Department of the British Admiralty. Here are all the soundings of

the world. At a glance you discern the remarkable line on the Pacific

coast, beginning at 40° of north latitude, and constantly receding from

the shore in a northwesterly direction; then, with a gentle sweep,

stretching from Sitka to the Aleutians, which it envelops with a wide

margin; and, finally, embracing and covering Behring Strait to the

Frozen Ocean: the whole space, as indicated on the map, seeming like

an immense unbroken sea-meadow adjoining the land, and constituting

plainly the largest extent of soundings in length and breadth in the

known world,--larger even than those of Newfoundland added to those

of Great Britain. This map, prepared by scientific authority, in the

interest of science, is an unimpeachable and disinterested witness.

Actual experience is better authority still. I learn that the people

of California have already found cod-banks in these seas, and have

begun to gather a harvest. Distance was no impediment; for they were

already accustomed to the Sea of Okhotsk, on the Asiatic coast. In 1866

no less than seventeen vessels left San Francisco for cod-fishery in

the latter region. This was a long voyage, requiring eighty days in

going and returning. On the way better grounds were discovered among

the Aleutians, with better fish; and then again, other fishing-grounds,

better in every way, were discovered south of Alaska, in the

neighborhood of the Shumagins, with an excellent harbor at hand. Here

one vessel began its work on the 14th of May, and, notwithstanding

stormy weather, finished it on the 24th of July, having taken 52,000

fish. The largest catch in a single day was 2,300. The average weight

of the fish dried was three pounds. Old fishermen compared the fish

in quality and method of taking with those of Newfoundland. Large

profits are anticipated. While fish from the Atlantic side bring at

San Francisco not less than twelve cents a pound, it is supposed that

Shumagin fish at only eight cents a pound will yield a better return

than the coasting-trade. These flattering reports have arrested the

attention of Petermann, the indefatigable geographical observer, who

recounts them in his journal.[213]

From an opposite quarter is other confirmation. Here is a letter, which

I have just received from Charles Bryant, Esq., at present a member of

the Massachusetts Legislature, but for eighteen years acquainted with

these seas, where he was engaged in the whale fishery. After mentioning

the timber at certain places as a reason for the acquisition of these

possessions, he says:--

“But the chiefest value--and this alone is worth more than

the pittance asked for it--consists in its extensive cod

and halibut fish-grounds. To the eastward of Kadiak, or the

Aleutian Islands, are extensive banks, or shoals, nearly, if

not quite, equal in extent to those of Newfoundland, and as

well stocked with fish. Also west of the Aleutian Islands,

which extend from Alaska southwest half-way to Kamtchatka, and

inclosing that part of land laid down as Bristol Bay, and west

of it, is an extensive area of sea, varying from forty fathoms

in depth to twenty, where I have found the supply of codfish

and halibut unfailing. These islands furnish good harbors for

curing and preparing fish, as well as shelter in storm.”

In another letter Mr. Bryant says that the shoals east of the entrance

to Cook’s Inlet widen as they extend southward to latitude 50°; and

that there are also large shoals south of Prince William Sound, and

again off Cross Sound and Sitka. The retired ship-master adds, that he

never examined these shoals to ascertain their exact limit, but only

incidentally, in the course of his regular business, that he might

know when and where to obtain fish, if he wished them. His report goes

beyond any chart of soundings I have seen, although, as far as they

go, the charts are coincident. Cook particularly notices soundings in

Bristol Bay, and in various places along the coast. Other navigators

have done the same. Careful surveys have accomplished so much that at

this time the bottom of Behring Sea and of Behring Strait, as far as

the Frozen Ocean, constituting one immense bank, is completely known in

depth and character.

Add to all this the official report of Mr. Giddings, acting

surveyor-general of Washington Territory, made to the Secretary of the

Interior in 1865, where he says:--

“Along the coast, between Cape Flattery and Sitka, in the

Russian possessions, both cod and halibut are very plenty, and

of a much larger size than those taken at the Cape, or further

up the Straits and Sound. No one, who knows these facts, for

a moment doubts but that, if vessels similar to those used by

the Bank fishermen that sail from Massachusetts and Maine were

fitted out here, and were to fish on _the various banks along

this coast_, it would even now be a most lucrative business.…

The cod and halibut on this coast, up near Sitka, are fully

equal to the largest taken in the Eastern waters.”[214]

From this concurring evidence, including charts and personal

experience, it is easy to see that the first condition of a

considerable fishery is not wanting.

(2.) _Climatic conditions_ must exist also. The proverbial hardihood

of fishermen has limits. Elsewhere weather and storm have compelled

the abandonment of banks which promised to be profitable. On a portion

of this coast there can be no such rigors. South of Alaska and the

Aleutians, and also in Bristol Bay, immediately to the north of the

peninsula of Alaska, the fishing-grounds will compare in temperature

with those of Newfoundland or Norway. It is more important to know

if the fish, when taken, can be properly cured. This is one of the

privileges of northern skies. Within the tropics fish may be taken in

abundance, but the constant sun does not allow their preservation.

The constant rains of Sitka, with only a few bright days in the year,

must prevent the work of curing on any considerable scale. But the

navigators make frequent mention of dry or preserved fish on the coast,

and it is understood that fish are now cured at Kadiak. “Dried fish”

from this island is described by D’Wolf.[215] For a long time it was

customary there to dry seal flesh in the air, which could not be done

on the main-land. Thus the opportunity of curing the fish seems to

exist near the very banks where they are taken, or Fuca Straits may be

a “half-way house” for this purpose. The California fishermen carry

their fish home to be cured, in which they imitate the fishermen of

Gloucester. As the yearly fishing product of this port is larger than

that of any other in North America, perhaps in the world, this example

cannot be without weight.

(3.) The _market_ also is of prime necessity. Fish are not caught

and cured except for a market. Besides the extended coast, where an

immediate demand must always prevail in proportion to increasing

population, there is an existing market in California, amply attested

by long voyages to Kamtchatka for fish, and by recent attempts to find

fishing-grounds. San Francisco at one time took from Okhotsk nine

hundred tons of fish, being about one eighth of the yearly fishing

product of Gloucester. Her fishing-vessels last year brought home

from all quarters fifteen hundred tons of dried fish and ten thousand

gallons of cod-liver oil. There is also a growing market in Washington

and Oregon. But beyond the domestic market, spreading from the coast

into the interior, there will be a foreign market of no limited amount.

Mexico, Central America, and the States of South America, all Catholic

in religion, will require this subsistence, and, being southern in

climate, they must look northward for a supply. The two best customers

of our Atlantic fisheries are Hayti and Cuba, Catholic countries under

a southern sun. The fishermen of Massachusetts began at an early day to

send cod to Portugal, Spain, and Italy, all Catholic countries under a

southern sun. Our “salt fish” became popular. The Portuguese minister

at London in 1785, in a conference with Mr. Adams on a commercial

treaty with the United States, mentioned “salt fish” among the objects

most needed in his country, and added, that “the consumption of this

article in Portugal was immense, and he would avow that the American

salt fish was preferred to any other, on account of its quality.”[216]

Such facts are more than curious.

But more important than the Pacific States of the American continent

are the great empires of Japan and China, with uncounted populations

depending much on fish. In China one tenth subsist on fish.

Notwithstanding the considerable supplies at home, it does not seem

impossible for an energetic and commercial people to find a market here

of inconceivable magnitude, dwarfing the original fur-trade with China,

once so tempting.

From this survey you can all judge the question of the fisheries,

which I only state, without assuming to determine. You can judge if

well-stocked fishing-banks have been found under such conditions of

climate and market as to supply a new and important fishery. Already

the people of California have anticipated the answer, and their

enterprise has arrested attention in Europe. The journal of Petermann,

the “Geographische Mittheilungen,” for the present year, which is the

authentic German record of geographical science, borrows from a San

Francisco paper to announce these successful voyages as the beginning

of a new commerce. If this be so, as there is reason to believe, these

coasts and seas will have unprecedented value. The future only can

disclose the form they may take. They may be a Newfoundland, a Norway,

a Scotland, or perhaps a New England, with another Gloucester and

another New Bedford.