Transcriber’s Note
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[Illustration: SITKA SOUND
Viewed from the Castle, looking South. June 9, 1874]
_LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY EXPLORATION
AND ADVENTURE_
OUR
ARCTIC PROVINCE
ALASKA AND THE SEAL ISLANDS
BY
HENRY W. ELLIOTT
[Illustration: Decoration]
_ILLUSTRATED BY MANY DRAWINGS FROM NATURE
AND MAPS_
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1906
COPYRIGHT, 1886, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
TROW’S
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY.
NEW YORK.
INTRODUCTION.
If the writer could materialize in the reader’s mind that large
aggregate of printed matter now stacked on book-shelves and filed
in newspaper columns, which has been published to the world during
the last eighty years upon Alaska, the effect would certainly be
startling.
Scores of weighty volumes, hundreds of pamphlets and magazine
articles, and a thousand newspaper letters, have been devoted to
the subject of Alaskan life, scenery, and value. In contemplation
of this, viewed from the author’s standpoint of extended personal
experience, he announces his determination to divest himself of all
individuality in the following chapters, to portray in word, and by
brush and pencil, the life and country of Alaska as it is, so clearly
and so truthfully, that the reader may draw his or her own inference,
just as though he or she stood upon the ground itself.
How differently a number of us are impressed in the viewing of any
one subject, by which observation we utterly fail to agree as to its
character and worth! This variance is handsomely illustrated by the
diverse opinion of Alaskan travellers.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
_February 26, 1886_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY, OCCUPATION, AND TRANSFER pp. 1-12
The Legend of Bering’s Voyage.—The Discovery of Russian America,
or Alaska, in July, 1741.—The Return Voyage and Shipwreck of the
Discoverer.—The Escape of the Survivors.—They Tell of the Furs
and Ivory of Alaska.—The Rush of Russian Traders.—Their Hardy
Exploration of the Aleutian Chain, Kadiak, and the Mainland, 1760-80,
inclusive.—Fierce Competition of the Promyshlineks finally Leads
to the Organization and Domination of the Russian American Company
over all Alaska, 1799.—Its Remarkable Success under Baranov’s
Administration, 1800-18, inclusive.—Its Rapid Decadence after
Baranov’s Removal.—Causes in 1862-64 which Led to the Refusal of
the Russian Government to Renew the Charter of the Russian American
Company.—Steps which Led to the Negotiations of Seward and Final
Acquisition of Alaska by the U. S. Government, 1867.
CHAPTER II.
FEATURES OF THE SITKAN REGION pp. 13-35
The Vast Area of Alaska.—Difficulty of Comparison, and Access
to her Shores save in the Small Area of the Sitkan Region.—Many
Americans as Officers of the Government, Merchants, Traders, Miners,
etc., who have Visited Alaska during the last Eighteen Years.—Full
Understanding of Alaskan Life and Resources now on Record.—Beautiful
and Extraordinary Features of the Sitkan Archipelago.—The Decaying
Town of Wrangel.—The Wonderful Glaciers of this Region.—The Tides,
Currents, and Winds.—The Forests and Vegetation Omnipresent in this
Land-locked Archipelago.—Indigenous Berries.—Gloomy Grandeur of
the Cañons.—The Sitkan Climate.—Neither Cold nor Warm.—Excessive
Humidity.—Stickeen Gold Excitement of 1862 and 1875.—The Decay of
Cassiar.—The Picturesque Bay of Sitka.—The Romance and Terror of
Baranov’s Establishment there in 1800-1805.— The Russian Life and
Industries at Sitka.—The Contrast between Russian Sitka and American
Sitka a Striking One.
CHAPTER III.
ABORIGINAL LIFE OF THE SITKANS pp. 36-66
The White Man and the Indian Trading.—The Shrewdness and Avarice of
the Savage.—Small Value of the entire Land Fur Trade of Alaska.—The
Futile Effort of the Greek Catholic Church to Influence the Sitkan
Indians.—The Reason why Missionary Work in Alaska has been and is
Impotent.—The Difference between the Fish-eating Indian of Alaska and
the Meat-eating Savage of the Plains.—Simply One of Physique.—The
Haidahs the Best Indians of Alaska.—Deep Chests and Bandy Legs
from Canoe-travel.—Living in Fixed Settlements because Obliged
To.—Large “Rancheries” or Houses Built by the Haidahs.—Communistic
Families.—Great Gamblers.—Indian “House-Raising Bees.”—Grotesque
Totem Posts.—Indian Doctors “Kill or Cure.”—Dismal Interior of an
Indian “Rancherie.”—The Toilet and Dress of Alaskan Siwashes.—The
Unwritten Law of the Indian Village.—What Constitutes a Chief.—The
Tribal Boundaries and their Scrupulous Regard.—Fish the Main
Support of Sitkan Indians.—The Running of the Salmon.—Indians Eat
Everything.—Their Salads and Sauces.—Their Wooden Dishes and Cups,
and Spoons of Horn.—The Family Chests.—The Indian Woman a Household
Drudge.—She has no Washing to Do, However.—Sitkan Indians not Great
Hunters.—They are Unrivalled Canoe-builders.—Small-pox and Measles
have Reduced the Indians of the Sitkan Archipelago to a Scanty
Number.—Abandoned Settlements of these Savages Common.—The Debauchery
of Rum among these People.—The White Man to Blame for This.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ALPINE ZONE OF MOUNT ST. ELIAS pp. 67-81
The Hot Spring Oasis and the Humming-bird near Sitka.—The Value and
Pleasure of Warm Springs in Alaska.—The Old “Redoubt” or Russian
Jail.—The Tread well Mine.—Futility of Predicting what may, or what
will not Happen in Mining Discovery.—Coal of Alaska not fit for
Steaming Purposes.—Salmon Canneries.—The Great “Whaling Ground”
of Fairweather.—Superb and Lofty Peaks seen at Sea One Hundred
and Thirty-five Miles Distant.—Mount Fairweather so named as the
Whalemen’s Barometer.—The Storm here in 1741 which Separated Bering
and his Lieutenant.—The Grandeur of Mount St. Elias, Nineteen
Thousand Five Hundred Feet.—A Tempestuous and Forbidding Coast to the
Mariner.—The Brawling Copper River.—Mount Wrangel, Twenty Thousand
Feet, the Loftiest Peak on the North American Continent.—In the Forks
of this Stream.—Exaggerated Fables of the Number and Ferocity of the
Natives.—Frigid, Gloomy Grandeur of the Scenery in Prince William
Sound.—The First Vessel ever built by White Men on the Northwest
Coast, Constructed here in 1794.—The Brig _Phœnix_, One Hundred and
Eighty Tons, No Paint or Tar—Covered with a Coat of Spruce-Gum,
Ochre, and Whale-oil, Wrecked in 1799 with Twenty Priests and Deacons
of the Greek Church on Board.—Every Soul Lost.—Love of the Natives
for their Rugged, Storm-beaten Homes.
CHAPTER V.
COOK’S INLET AND ITS PEOPLE pp. 82-97
Cooks “Great River.”—The Tide-rips, and their Power in Cook’s
Inlet.—The Impressive Mountains of the Inlet.—The Glaciers of
Turnagain Canal.—Old Russian Settlements.—Kenai Shore of the Inlet,
the Garden-spot of Alaska.—Its Climate best Suited to Civilized
Settlement.—The Old “Colonial Citizens” of the Russian Company.—Small
Shaggy Siberian Cattle.—Burning Volcano of Ilyamna.—The Kenaitze
Indians.—Their Primitive, Simple Lives.—They are the Only Native
Land-animal Hunters of Alaska.—Bears and Bear Roads.—Wild Animals
seek Shelter in Volcanic Districts.—Natives Afraid to Follow
Them.—Kenaitze Architecture.—Sunshine in Cook’s Inlet.—Splendid
Salmon.—Waste of Fish as Food by Natives.—The Pious Fishermen
of Neelshik.—Russian Gold mining Enterprise on the Kaknoo,
1848-55.—Failure of our Miners to Discover Paying Mines in this
Section.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT ISLAND OF KADIAK pp. 98-126
Kadiak the Geographical and Commercial Centre of Alaska.—Site of
the First Grand Depot of the Old Russian Company.—Shellikov and his
Remarkable History, 1784.—His Subjection of the Kaniags.—Bloody
Struggle.—He Founds the First Church and School in Alaska at Three
Saints Bay, 1786, One Hundred Years ago.—Kadiak, a Large and Rugged
Island.—The Timber Line drawn upon it.—Luxuriant Growth of Annual
and Biennial Flowering Plants.—Reason why Kadiak was Abandoned
for Sitka.—The Depot of the Mysterious San Francisco Ice Company
on Wood Island.—Only Road and Horses in Alaska there.—Creole
Ship and Boat Yard.—Tough Siberian Cattle.—Pretty Greek Chapel
at Yealovnie.—Afognak, the Largest Village of “Old Colonial
Citizens.”—Picturesque and Substantial Village.—Largest Crops
of Potatoes raised here.—No Ploughing done; Earth Prepared with
Spades.—Domestic Fowls.—Failure of Our People to Raise Sheep at
Kolma.—What a “Creole” is.—The Kaniags or Natives of Kadiak; their
Salient Characteristics.—Great Diminution of their Numbers.—Neglect
of Laws of Health by Natives.—Apathy and Indifference to
Death.—Consumption and Scrofula the Scourge of Natives in Alaska;
Measles equally deadly.—Kaniags are Sea-otter Hunters.—The Penal
Station of Ookamok, the Botany Bay of Alaska.—The Wild Coast of
the Peninsula.—Water-terraces on the Mountains.—Belcovsky, the
Rich and Profligate Settlement.—Kvass Orgies.—Oonga, Cod-fishing
Rendezvous.—The Burial of Shoomagin here, 1741.—The Coal Mines here
Worthless.
CHAPTER VII.
THE QUEST OF THE OTTER pp. 127-144
Searching for the Otter.—Exposure and Danger in Hunting
Sea-otters.—The Fortitude, Patience, and Skill of the Captor.—Altasov
and his Band of Cruel Cossacks.—Feverish Energy of the Early
Russian Sea-otter Traders.—Their Shameful Excesses.—Greed for
Sea-otter Skins Leads the Russians to Explore the Entire Alaskan
Coast, 1760-1780.—Great Numbers of Sea-otters when they were First
Discovered in Alaska.—Their Partial Extermination in 1836-40.—More
Secured during the Last Five Years than in all the Twenty Years
Preceding.—What is an Otter?—A Description of its Strange Life.—Its
Single Skin sometimes Worth $500.—The Typical Sea-otter Hunter.—A
Description of Him and his Family.—Hunting the Sea-otter the Sole
Remunerative Industry of the Aleutians.—Gloomy, Storm-beaten Haunts
of the Otter.—Saanak, the Grand Rendezvous of the Hunters.—The
“Surround” of the Otter.—“Clubbing” the Otter.—“Netting” the
Otter.—“Surf-shooting” Them.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE GREAT ALEUTIAN CHAIN pp. 145-187
The Aleutian Islands.—A Great Volcanic Chain.—Symmetrical Beauty
of Shishaldin Cone.—The Banked Fires in Oonimak.—Once most
Densely Populated of all the Aleutians; now Without a Single
Inhabitant.—Sharp Contrast in the Scenery of the Aleutian and Sitkan
Archipelagoes.—Fog, Fog, Fog, Everywhere Veiling and Unveiling
the Chain Incessantly.—Schools of Hump-back Whales.—The Aleutian
Whalers.—Odd and Reckless Chase.—The Whale-backed Volcano of
Akootan.—Striking Outlines of Kahlecta Point and the “Bishop.”—Lovely
Bay of Oonalashka.—No Wolf e’er Howled from its Shore.—Illoolook
Village.—The “Curved Beach.”—The Landscape a Fascinating Picture to
the Ship-weary Traveller.—Flurries of Snow in August.—Winds that
Riot over this Aleutian Chain.—The Massacre of Drooshinnin and One
Hundred and Fifty of his Siberian Hunters here in 1762-63.—This
the only Desperate and Fatal Blow ever Struck by the Docile
Aleutes.—The Rugged Crown and Noisy Crater of Makooshin.—The Village
at its Feet.—The Aleutian People the Best Natives of Alaska.—All
Christians.—Quiet and Respectful.—Fashions and Manners among
them.—The “Barrabkie.”—Quaint Exterior and Interior.—These Natives
Love Music and Dancing.—Women on the Wood and Water Trails.—Simple
Cuisine.—Their Remarkable Willingness to be Christians.—A Greek
Church or Chapel in every Settlement.—General Intelligence.—Keeping
Accounts with the Trader’s Store.—They are thus Proved to be Honest
at Heart.—The Festivals or “Prazniks.”—The Phenomena of Borka
Village.—It is Clean.—Little Cemeteries.—Faded Pictures of the
Saints.—Atto, the Extreme Western Settlement of the North American
Continent.—Three Thousand Miles West of San Francisco!—The Mummies of
the “Cheetiery Sopochnie.”—The Birth of a New Island.—The Rising of
Boga Slov.
CHAPTER IX.
WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS pp. 188-253
The Fur-seal Millions of the Pribylov Islands.—Marvellous Exhibition
of Massed Animal-life in a State of Nature.—Story of the Discovery of
these Remarkable Rookeries, July, 1786.—Previous Knowledge of them
Unknown to Man.—Sketch of the Pribylov Islands.—Their Character,
Climate, and Human Inhabitants.—A Realm of Summer-fog.—The Seal-life
here Overshadows Everything, though the Bird Rookeries of Saint
George are Wonderful.—No Harbors.—The Roadsteads.—The Attractive
Flora.—Only Islands in Alaska where the Curse of Mosquitoes is
Removed.—Natives Gathering Eggs on Walrus Islet.—A Scene of Confusion
and Uproar.—Contrast very Great between Saint Paul and Saint
George.—Good Reason of the Seals in Resorting to these Islands to the
Exclusion of all other Land in Alaska.—Old-time Manners and Methods
of the Russians Contrasted with Our Present Control.—Vast Gain and
Improvement for Seals and Natives.—The Character of the Present
Residents.—Their Attachment to the Islands.—The History of the
Alaska Commercial Company.—The Wise Action of Congress.—The Perfect
Supervision of the Agents of the Government.—Seals are more Numerous
now than at First.—The Methods of the Company, the Government, and
the Natives in Taking the Seals.
CHAPTER X.
AMPHIBIAN MILLIONS pp. 254-353
Difference between a Hair-seal and a Fur-seal—The Fur-seal the most
Intelligent of all Amphibians.—Its singularly Free Progression on
Land.—Its Power in the Water.—The Old Males the First Arrivals in
the Spring.—Their Desperate Battles one with Another for Position on
the Breeding Grounds.—Subsequent Arrival of the Females.—Followed
by the “Bachelors.”—Wonderful Strength and Desperate Courage of
the Old Males.—Indifference of the Females.—Noise of the Rookeries
Sounds like the Roar of Niagara.—Old Males fast from May to August,
inclusive; neither Eat nor Drink, nor Leave their Stations in all
that Time.—Graceful Females.—Frolicsome “Pups.”—They have to Learn to
Swim!—How they Learn.—Astonishing Vitality of the Fur-seal.—“Podding”
of the Pups.—Beautiful Eyes of the Fur-seal.—How the “Holluschickie,”
or Bachelor Seals, Pass the Time.—They are the only ones Killed for
Fur.—They Herd alone by Themselves in spite of their Inclination;
Obliged to.—They are the Champion Swimmers of the Sea.—A Review of
the Vast Breeding Rookeries.—Natives Gathering a Drove.—Driving
the Seals to the Slaughtering Fields.—No Chasing.—no Hunting of
Seals.—The Killing Gang at Work: Skinning, Salting, and Shipping the
Pelts.—All Sent Direct to London.—Reasons Why.—How the Skins are
Prepared for Sacks, Muffs, etc.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ALASKAN SEA-LION pp. 354-373
A Pelagic Monarch.—Marked Difference between the Sea-lion and
the Fur-seal.—The Imposing Presence and Sonorous Voice of the
“Sea-king.”—Terrible Combats between old Sea-lion Bulls.—Cowardly in
the Presence of Man, however.—Sea-lions Sporting in the Fury of Ocean
Surf.—It has no Fur on its Huge Hide.—Valuable only to the Natives,
who Cover their “Bidarrah” with its Skin.—Its Sweet Flesh and
Inodorous Fat.—Not such Extensive Travellers as the Fur-seals.—The
Difficulty of Capturing Sea-lions.—How the Natives Corral them.—The
Sea-lion “Pen” at Northeast Point.—The Drive of Sea-lions.—Curious
Behavior of the Animals.—Arrival of the Drove at the Village.—A
Thirteen-mile Jaunt with the Clumsy Drove.—Shooting the old
Males.—The Bloody “Death-whirl.”—The Extensive Economic Use made of
the Carcass by the Natives.—Chinese Opium Pipes Picked with Sea-lion
Mustache bristles.
CHAPTER XII.
INNUIT LIFE AND LAND pp. 374-411
“Nooshagak;” Wide Application of an Innuit Name.—The Post and
River.—Countless Pools, Ponds, and Lakes of this District
bordering Bristol Bay.—The Eskimo Inhabitants of the Coast.—The
Features and Form of Alaskan Innuits.—Light-hearted, Inconstant,
and Independent.—Their Dress, Manners, and Rude Dwellings.—Their
Routine of Life.—Large and Varied Natural Food-supplies.—Indifferent
Land Hunters, but Mighty Fishermen.—Limited Needs from Traders’
Stores.—Skilful Carvers in Ivory.—Their Town Hall, or “Kashga.”—They
Build and Support no Churches here.—Not of a real Religious Cast,
as the Aleutians are.—The Dogs and Sleds; Importance of Them
here.—Great Interest of the Innuit in Savage Ceremonies.—The Wild
Alaskan Interior.—Its Repellent Features alike Avoided by Savage
and Civilized Man.—The Indescribable Misery of Mosquitoes.—The
Desolation of Winter in this Region.—The Reindeer Slaughter-pen on
the Kvichak River.—Amazing Improvidence of the Innuit.—The Tragic
Death of Father Juvenals, on the Banks of the Great Ilyamna Lake,
1796.—The Queer Innuits of Togiak.—Immense Muskrat Catch.—The
Togiaks are the Quakers of Alaska.—The Kuskokvim Mouth a Vast
Salmon-trap.—The Ichthyophagi of Alaska.—Dense Population.—Daily Life
of the Fish-eaters.—Infernal Mosquitoes of Kuskokvim; the Worst in
Alaska.—Kolmakovsky; its History.
CHAPTER XIII.
LONELY NORTHERN WASTES pp. 412-435
The Mississippi of Alaska: the Yukon River, and its Thorough
Exploration.—Its vast Deltoid Mouth.—Cannot be Entered by Sea-going
Vessels. Its Valley, and its Tributaries.—Dividing Line between the
Eskimo and the Indian on its Banks.—The Trader’s Steamer; its Whistle
in this Lone Waste of the Yukon.—Michaelovsky, the Trading Centre
for this Extensive Circumpolar Area.—The Characteristic Beauties of
an Arctic Landscape in Summer.—Thunder-storms on the Upper Yukon;
never Experienced on the Coast and at its Mouth.—Gorgeous Arches of
Auroral Light; Beautiful Spectacular Fires in the Heavens.—Unhappy
Climate. Saint Michael’s to the Northward.—Zagoskin, the Intrepid
Young Russian Explorer, 1842.—Snow Blizzards.—Golovin Bay; our
People Prospecting there for Lead and Silver.—Drift-wood from the
Yukon Strews the Beaches of Bering Sea.—Ookivok, and its Cliff-cave
Houses.—Hardy Walrus-hunters. —Grantley Harbor; a Reminder of
a Costly American Enterprise and its Failure.—Cape Prince of
Wales—facing Asia, thirty-six miles away.—Simeon Deschnev, the
first White Man to see Alaska, 1648. —His Bold Journey.—The Diomede
Islands; Stepping-stones between Asia and America in Bering Straits.
—Kotzebue Sound; the Rendezvous for Arctic Traders; the Last Northern
Station Visited by Salmon. Interesting Features of the Place.
CHAPTER XIV.
MORSE AND MAHLEMOÖT pp. 436-465
The Monotonous Desolation of the Alaskan Arctic Coast.—Dreary
Expanse of Low Moorlands.—Diversified by Saddle-backed Hills of
Gray and Bronze Tints.—The Coal of Cape Beaufort in the Arctic.—A
Narrow Vein. Pure Carboniferous Formation.—Doubtful if these
Alaskan “Black Diamonds” can be Successfully Used.—Icy Cape, a
Sand- and Gravel-spit.—Remarkable Land-locked Lagoons on the
Beach.—The Arctic Innuits.—Point Barrow, Our Extreme Northern Land,
a Low Gravel-spit.—The Buttercup and the Dandelion Bloom here,
however, as at Home.—Back to Bering Sea.—The Interesting Island
and Natives of St. Lawrence.—The Sea-horse.—Its Uncouth Form and
Clumsy Life.—Its Huge Bulk and Impotency on Land.—Lives entirely
by Clam-digging.—Bank Flavor of its Flesh.—The Walrus is to the
Innuit just as the Cocoa-palm is to the South Sea Islander.—Hunting
the Morse.—The Jagged, Straggling Island of St. Matthew.—The Polar
Bears’ Carnival.—Hundreds of them here.—Their Fear of Man.—“Over the
Hills and Far Away,” whenever Approached.—Completion of the Alaskan
Circuit.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
_FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS._
SITKA SOUND, _Frontispiece_.
SEA-COW, _Facing Page_ 4
GRAND GLACIER, ICY BAY, ” 19
KOOTZNAHOO INLET, ” 23
GLIMPSE OF SITKA, ” 32
STICKEEN SQUAW BOILING BERRIES AND OIL, ” 58
MOUNT ST. ELIAS, 19,500 FEET, ” 73
MOUNT WRANGEL, 20,000 FEET, ” 77
VALDES GLACIER, PRINCE WILLIAM’S SOUND, ” 78
MOUNT ILYAMNA, 12,060 FEET, ” 87
KENAITZE SALMON TRAP, COOK’S INLET, ” 95
CREOLES AND ALEUTES, PENCIL PORTRAITS, ” 108
BELCOVSKY, VILLAGE OF, ” 120
SEA-OTTER SURROUND, ” 140
CLUBBING SEA-OTTERS, ” 143
A GLIMPSE OF SHISHALDIN, ” 146
ALEUTES WHALING, ” 152
VILLAGE OF OONALASHKA, ” 156
VOLCANO OF MAKOOSHIN, 5,475 FEET, ” 160
OONALASHKAN NATIVES COD-FISHING, ” 168
VILLAGE AND HARBOR OF ATTOO, ” 179
NORTH SHORE OF ST. GEORGE ISLAND, ” 200
NETTING CHOOCHKIES, ” 209
APPROACH TO ST. GEORGE ISLAND, ” 227
HAIR-SEALS, GROUP OF, ” 255
FUR-SEALS, ” 258
“OLD JOHN,” PORTRAIT OF AN AGED FUR-SEAL, ” 262
OLD FUR-SEAL BULLS FIGHTING, ” 266
SUNDRY SEAL SKETCHES, FROM AUTHOR’S PORTFOLIO, ” 277
ARRIVAL OF THE FUR-SEAL MILLIONS, ” 296
NATIVES GATHERING A DRIVE, ” 333
NATIVES DRIVING FUR-SEALS, ” 336
KILLING GANG AT WORK, ” 339
GROUP OF SEA-LIONS, ” 354
SEA-LION ROOKERY AT TOLSTOI, ” 358
NATIVES CREEPING UPON SEA-LIONS, ” 364
THE SEA-LION PEN AT NOVASTOSHNAH, ” 365
SPRINGING THE ALARM, ” 366
NOOSHAGAK, ” 374
PORTRAIT OF “CHAMI,” AND THE FAVORITE POSITION
OF INNUITS, ” 378
PORTRAITS OF A JESTING INNUIT MOTHER AND THE
SON OF AHGAAN, ” 395
THE SADDLE-BACKED HAIR-SEAL, _Histriophoca_, ” 400
THE KUSKOKVIM RIVER BELOW KOLMAKOVSKY, ” 403
KOLMAKOVSKY, ” 406
TOMB OF INNUITS, ” 410
CAPE PRINCE OF WALES, ” 429
POONOOK WINTER VILLAGE, ” 443
GROUP OF WALRUS, ” 447
PINNACLE ISLET, NEAR ST. MATTHEW ISLAND, ” 461
_ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT._
PAGE
VIGNETTE: HAIDAHS HUNTING HAIR-SEALS, _Title_
LODGES IN A VAST WILDERNESS, 16
BARANOV’S CASTLE (1817-26), 30
SITKAN CHIMES, 39
OLD INDIAN CHAPEL, SITKA, 41
HAIDAH RANCHERIE, 46
SECTION SHOWING INTERIOR, 48
RAKING OOLOCHANS, STICKEEN RIVER, 57
KENAITZE CHIEF, 88
BEAR ROADS, OONIMAK ISLAND, 90
KENAITZE RANCHERIE, COOK’S INLET, 92
OOGASHIK, VILLAGE OF, 119
SEA-OTTER, 131
BARRABKIE, OR ALEUTIAN HUT, 135
ALEUTIAN MUMMY, 185
ALEUTES CATCHING HALIBUT, 212
BOBROVIA, OR OTTER ISLAND, 219
FUR-SEALS SCRATCHING, 271
FUR-SEALS RISING TO BREATHE AND SURVEY, 300
PORTRAIT OF A PREBYLOV SEALER, 338
A SKINNED CARCASS, AND SKIN THEREFROM, 342
INTERIOR OF A FUR-SEAL SALT-HOUSE, 345
NATIVES DRIVING SEA-LIONS, 368
SEA-LION BIDARRAH, 371
INNUIT WOMAN, 377
INNUIT HOME ON THE KUSKOKVIM, 379
THE BIG MAHKLOK, OR _Erignathus_, 383
THE INNUIT KASHGA, 385
SECTION OF THE KASHGA, 386
INNUIT DOG, “TATLAH,” 388
“BRULÉ,” OR BURNT DISTRICTS, 409
STEAMER ON THE YUKON, 414
MICHAELOVSKY, 419
OOKIVOK, OR KING’S ISLAND, 426
THE DIOMEDES, 430
INNUIT WHALING CAMP, 439
RINGED SEAL, _Phoca fœtida_, 441
WALRUS-HUNTER, 444
SECTION OF INNUIT WINTER HOUSE AT POONOOK, 446
NEWACK’S BROTHER, 455
NEWACK AND OOGACK, PEN PORTRAITS OF, 457
NATIVES GIVING THE WALRUS A DEATH-STROKE, 459
“DOUBLE PURCHASE” OF THE INNUITS, 461
_MAPS._
SPECIAL MAP OF ST. PAUL ISLAND, _Facing page_ 215
SPECIAL MAP OF ST. GEORGE ISLAND, ” 226
SPECIAL MAP OF NOVASTOSHNAH ROOKERY, ” 314
SPECIAL MAP OF LAGOON ROOKERY, ” 315
GENERAL MAP OF ALASKA, _At end of Volume_.
OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY, OCCUPATION, AND TRANSFER.
The Legend of Bering’s Voyage.—The Discovery of Russian America,
or Alaska, in July, 1741.—The Return Voyage and Shipwreck of the
Discoverer.—The Escape of the Survivors.—They Tell of the Furs
and Ivory of Alaska.—The Rush of Russian Traders.—Their Hardy
Exploration of the Aleutian Chain, Kadiak, and the Mainland,
1760-80, inclusive.—Fierce Competition of the Promyshlineks finally
Leads to the Organization and Domination of the Russian American
Company over all Alaska, 1799.—Its Remarkable Success under
Baranov’s Administration, 1800-18, inclusive.—Its Rapid Decadence
after Baranov’s Removal.—Causes in 1862-64 which Led to the Refusal
of the Russian Government to Renew the Charter of the Russian
American Company.—Steps which Led to the Negotiations of Seward and
Final Acquisition of Alaska by the U. S. Government, 1867.
The stolid, calm intrepidity of the Russian is not even yet well
understood or recognized by Americans. No better presentation of this
character of those Slavic discoverers of Alaska can be made than
is the one descriptive of Veit Bering’s voyage of Russian-American
fame, in which shipwreck and death robbed him of the glory of his
expedition. No legend of the sea, however fanciful or horrid,
surpasses the simple truth of the terror and privation which went
hand-in-hand with Bering and his crew.
Flushed with the outspoken favor of his sovereign, Bering and his
lieutenant, Tschericov, sailed east from Petropaulovsky, Kamchatka,
June 4, 1741; the expedition consisted of two small sail-vessels,
the _St. Peter_ and the _St. Paul_. They set their course S. S. E.,
as low as the 50th degree of north latitude, then they decided to
steer directly east for the reported American continent. A few days
later a violent storm arose, it separated the rude ships, and the two
commanders never met in life again.
While groping in fog and tempest on the high seas, Bering drifted
one Sunday (July 18th) upon or about the Alaskan mainland coast; he
disembarked at the foot of some low, desolate bluffs that face the
sea near the spot now known to us as Kayak Island, and in plain view
of those towering peaks of the St. Elias Alps. He passed full six
weeks in this neighborhood, while the crew were busy getting fresh
food-supplies, water, etc., when, on the 3d of September, a storm of
unwonted vigor burst upon them, lasted seven days, and drove them
out to sea and before it, down as far as 48° 8´ north latitude, and
into the lonely wastes of the vast Pacific. Scurvy began to appear
on board the _St. Peter_; hardly a day passed without recording
the death of some one of the ship’s company, and soon men enough
in health or strength sufficient to work the vessel could not be
mustered. A return to Kamchatka was resolved upon.
Bering became surly and morose, and seldom appeared on deck, and
so the second in command, “Stoorman” Vachtel, directed the dreary
cruise. After regaining the land, and burying a sailor named
Shoomagin on one of a group of Alaskan islets that bear his name
to-day, and making several additional capes and landfalls, they saw
two islands which, by a most unfortunate blunder, they took to be of
the Kurile chain, and adjacent to Kamchatka. Thus they erred sadly in
their reckoning, and sailed out upon a false point of departure.
In vain they craned their necks for the land, and strained their
feeble eyes; the shore of Kamchatka refused to rise, and it finally
dawned upon them that they were lost—that there was no hope of making
a port in that goal so late in the year. The wonderful discipline
of the Russian sailors was strikingly exhibited at this stage of
the luckless voyage: in spite of their debilitated and emaciated
condition, they still obeyed orders, though suffering frightfully
in the cold and wet; the ravages of scurvy had made such progress
that the steersman was conducted to the helm by two other invalids
who happened to have the use of their legs, and who supported him
under the arms! When he could no longer steer from suffering, then
he was succeeded by another no better able to execute the labor
than himself. Thus did the unhappy crew waste away into death and
impotency. They were obliged to carry few sails, for they were
helpless to reef or hoist them, and such as they had were nearly
worn out; and even in this case they were unable to renew them by
replacing from the stores, since there were no seamen strong enough
on the ship to bend new ones to the yards and booms.
Soon rain was followed by snow, the nights grew longer and darker,
and they now lived in dreadful anticipation of shipwreck; the fresh
water diminished, and the labor of working the vessel became too
severe for the few who were able to be about. From the 1st to the
4th of November the ship had lain as a log on the ocean, helpless
and drifting, at the sport of the wind and the waves. Then again, in
desperation, they managed to control her, and set her course anew to
the westward, without knowing absolutely anything as to where they
were. In a few hours after, the joy of the distressed crew can be
better imagined than described, for, looming up on the gray, gloomy
horizon, they saw the snow-covered tops of high hills, still distant
however, ahead. As they drew nearer, night came upon them, and
they judged best, therefore, to keep out at sea “off and on” until
daybreak, so as to avoid the risk of wrecking themselves in the deep
darkness. When the gray light of early morning dawned, they found
that the rigging on the starboard side of the vessel was giving way,
and that their craft could not be much longer managed; that the fresh
water was very low, and that sickness was increasing frightfully. The
raw humidity of the climate was now succeeded by dry, intense cold;
life was well-nigh insupportable on shipboard then, so, after a brief
consultation, they determined to make for the land, save their lives,
and, if possible, safely beach the _St. Peter_.
The small sails were alone set; the wind was north; thirty-six
fathoms of water over a sand bottom; two hours after they decreased
it to twelve; they now contrived to get over an anchor and run it
out at three-quarters of a cable’s length; at six in the evening
this hawser parted; tremendous waves bore the helpless boat on in
toward the land through the darkness and the storm, where soon she
struck twice upon a rocky reef. Yet, in a moment after, they had
five fathoms of water; a second anchor was thrown out, and again the
tackle parted; and while, in the energy of wild despair, prostrated
by sheets of salty spray that swept over them in bursts of fury, they
were preparing a third bower, a huge combing wave lifted that ark of
misery—that band of superlative human suffering—safely and sheer over
the reef, where in an instant the tempest-tossed ship rested in calm
water; the last anchor was dropped, and thus this luckless voyage of
Alaskan discovery came to an end.
Bering died here, on one of the Commander Islands,[1] where he had
been wrecked as above related; the survivors, forty-five souls in
number, lived through the winter on the flesh of sea-lions, the
sea-cow,[2] or manatee, and thus saved their scanty stock of flour;
they managed to build a little shallop out of the remains of the _St.
Peter_, in which they left Bering Island—departed from this scene of
a most extraordinary shipwreck and deliverance—on August 16, 1742,
and soon reached Petropaulovsky in safety the 27th following. In
addition to an authentic knowledge of the location of a great land to
the eastward, the survivors carried from their camp at Bering Island
a large number of valuable sea-otter, blue-fox, and other peltries,
which stimulated, as no other inducement could have done, the prompt
fitting out and venture of many new expeditions for the freshly
discovered land and islands of Alaska.
[Illustration: THE RHYTINA, OR SEA-COW (Extinct)
The flesh of this animal constituted the chief food supply of
Bering’s shipwrecked crew, 1741-’42]
So, in 1745, Michael Novodiskov first, of all white men, pushed over
in a rude open wooden shallop from Kamchatka, and landed on Attoo,
that extreme western islet of the great Aleutain chain which forms
upon the map a remarkable southern wall to the green waters of Bering
Sea. No object of geographical search was in this hardy fur-hunter’s
mind as he perilled his life in that adventure—far from it; he was
after the precious pelage of the sea-otter, and like unto him
were all of the long list of Russian explorers of Alaskan coasts
and waters. These rough, indomitable men ventured out from their
headquarters at Kamchatka and the Okotsk Sea in rapid succession as
years rolled on, until by the end of 1768-69 a large area of Russian
America was well determined and rudely charted by them.[3]
The history of this early exploration of Russian America is the
stereotyped story of wrongs inflicted upon simple natives by
ruthless, fearless adventurers—year in and year out—the eager,
persistent examination of the then unknown shores and interior of
Alaska by tireless Cossacks and Muscovites, who were busy in robbing
the aborigines and quarrelling among themselves. The success of the
earliest fur-hunters had been so great, and heralded so loudly in the
Russian possessions, that soon every Siberian merchant who had a few
thousand rubles at his order managed to associate himself with some
others, so that they might together fit out a slovenly craft or two
and engage in the same remunerative business. The records show that,
prior to the autocratic control of the old Russian American Company
over all Alaska in 1799, more than sixty distinct Russian trading
companies were organized and plying their vocation in these waters
and landings of Alaska.
They all carried on their operations in essentially the same manner:
the owner or owners of the shallop, or sloop, or schooner, as it
might be, engaged a crew on shares; the cargo of furs brought back by
this vessel was invariably divided into two equal subdivisions—one
of these always claimed by the owners who had furnished the means,
and the other half divided in such a manner as the navigator, the
trader, and the crew could agree upon between themselves. Then,
after this division had been made, each participant was to give
one-tenth part of his portion, as received above, to the Government
at St. Petersburg, which, stimulated by such generous swelling of its
treasury, never failed to keep an affectionate eye upon its subjects
over here, and encouraged them to the utmost limit of exertion.
This Imperial impetus undoubtedly was the spur which caused most
of that cruel domination of the Russians over a simple people whom
they found at first in possession of their new fur-bearing land; the
thrifty traders managed to do their business with an exceedingly
small stock of goods, and, where no opposition was offered, these
unscrupulous commercial travellers ordered the natives out to hunt
and turn over all their booty, not even condescending to pay them,
except a few beads or strips of tobacco, “in return for their
good behavior and submission to the crown!” Naturally enough, the
treacherous Koloshes of Sitka, the dogged Kadiakers, the vivacious
Eskimo or Innuits, and even the docile Aleutes, would every now and
then arise and slaughter in their rage and despair a whole trading
post or ship’s crew of Russians; but these outbreaks were not of
preconcerted plan or strength, and never seriously interrupted the
iron rule of Slavonian oppression.
The rapidly increasing number of competitors in the fur trade,
however, soon began to create a scarcity of the raw material, and
then the jealousies and rivalries of the trading companies began
in turn to vent themselves in armed struggles against each other
for possession and gain. This order of affairs quickly threw the
whole region into a reign of anarchy which threatened to destroy the
very existence of the Russians themselves. Facing this deplorable
condition, one of the leading promoters of the fur-trading industry
in Alaska saw that, unless a bold man was placed at the head of the
conduct of his business, it would soon be ruined. This man he picked
out at Kargopol, Siberia, and on August 18, 1790, he concluded a
contract with Alexander Baranov, who sailed that day from the Okotsk,
and who finally established that enduring basis of trade and Russian
domination in Alaska which held till our purchase in 1867 of all its
vested rights and title.
The wild savage life which the Russians led in these early days of
their possession of this new land—their bitter personal antagonisms
and their brutal orgies—actually beggar description, and seem
well-nigh incredible to the trader or traveller who sojourns in
Alaska to-day. It is commonly regarded as a rude order of existence
up there among ourselves now; and when we come to think back, and
contrast the stormy past with the calm present, it is difficult to
comprehend it; yet it is not so strange if it be remembered that they
were practically beyond all reach of authority, and lived for many
consecutive years in absolute non-restraint.
It is easy to trace the several steps and understand the motives
which led to our purchase of Alaska. There was no subtle statecraft
involved, and no significance implied. The Russian Government simply
grew weary of looking after the American territory, which was an
element of annually increasing cost to the Imperial treasury, and
was a source of anxiety and weakness in all European difficulties.
It became apparent to the minds of the governing council at St.
Petersburg that Russians could not, or at least, would not settle
in Russian America to build up a state or province, or do anything
else there which would redound to the national honor and strength.
This view they were well grounded in, after the ripe experience of a
century’s control and ownership.
One period in that history of Russian rule afforded to the
authorities much rosy anticipation. This interval was that
season in the affairs of the Russian American Company which was
known as Baranov’s administration, in which time the revenues to
the crown were rich, and annually increasing. But Baranov was
a practical business man, while every one of his successors,
although distinguished men in the naval and army circles of the
home government, was not. Comment is unnecessary. The change
became marked; the revenues rapidly declined, and the conduct of
the operations of the company soon became a matter of loss and
not of gain to the stockholders and to the Imperial treasury. The
history, however, of the rise and fall of this great Russian trading
association is a most interesting one; much more so even than that of
its ancient though still surviving, but decrepit rival, the Hudson’s
Bay Company.
Those murderous factional quarrels of the competing Russian traders
throughout Alaska in 1790-98 finally compelled the Emperor Paul to
grant, in 1799, much against his will, a charter to a consolidation
of the leading companies engaged in American fur-hunting, which was
named the Russian American Company. It also embraced the Eastern
Siberian and Kamchatkan colonies. That charter gave to this company
the exclusive right to all the territory in Alaska, Kamchatka,
and the Siberian Okotsk, and Kurile districts, and the privileges
conferred by this charter were very great and of the most autocratic
nature; but at the same time the company was shrewdly burdened with
deftly framed obligations, being compelled to maintain, at its own
expense, the new government of the country, a church establishment,
a military force, and, at various points in the territory, ample
magazines of provisions and stores to be used by the Imperial
Government for its naval vessels or land troops whenever ordered.
At a time when all such stores had to be transported on land trails
over the desolate wastes of Siberia from Russia to the Okotsk, this
clause in the franchise was most burdensome, and really fatal to the
financial success of the company.
The finesse of the Russian authorities is strikingly manifested
in that charter, which ostensibly granted to the Russian American
Company all these rights of exclusive jurisdiction to a vast domain
without selfishly exacting a single tax for the home treasury; but
in fact it did pay an immense sum annually into the royal coffers
in this way. The entire fur trade in those days was with China,
and all the furs of Alaska were bartered by the Russians with the
Mongols for teas, which were sold in Russia and Europe. The records
of the Imperial treasury show that the duties paid into it by this
company upon these teas often exceeded two millions of silver rubles
annually.[4]
The company was also obliged, by the terms of their charter, to make
experiments in the establishment of agricultural settlements wherever
the soil and climate of Alaska would permit. The natives of Alaska
were freed from all taxes in skins or money, but were obliged to
furnish to the company’s order certain quotas of sea-otter hunters
every season, all men between the ages of eighteen and fifty being
liable to this draft, though not more than one-half of any number
thus subject could be enlisted and called out at any one time.
The management of this great organization was vested in an
administrative council, composed of its stockholders in St.
Petersburg, with a head general office at Irkutsk, Siberia—a chief
manager, who was to reside in Alaska, and was styled “The Governor,”
and whose selection was ordered from the officers of the Imperial
navy not lower in rank than post-captain. That high official and
Alaskan autocrat had an assistant, also a naval officer, and each
received pay from the Russian Company, in addition to their regular
governmental salaries, which were continued to them by the Crown.
In cases of mutiny or revolt the powers of the governor were
absolute. He had also the fullest jurisdiction at all times over
offenders and criminals, with the nominal exception of capital
crimes. Such culprits were supposed to have a preliminary trial, then
were to be forwarded to the nearest court of justice in Siberia.
Something usually “happened” to save them the tedious journey,
however. The Russian servants of the company—its numerous retinue
of post-traders, factors, and traders, and laborers of every class
around the posts—were engaged for a certain term of years, duly
indentured. When the time expired the company was bound to furnish
them free transportation back to their homes, unless the unfortunate
individuals were indebted to it; then they could be retained by the
employer until the debt was paid. It is needless to state in this
connection that an incredibly small number of Russians were ever
homeward bound from Alaska during these long years of Muscovitic
control and operation. This provision of debtor _vs._ creditor was
one which enabled the creditor company to retain in its service any
and all men among the humbler classes whose services were desirable,
because the scanty remuneration, the wretched pittance in lieu of
wages, allowed them, made it a matter of utter impossibility to keep
out of debt to the company’s store. Even among the higher officials
it is surprising to scan the long list of those who, after serving
one period of seven years after another, never seemed to succeed in
clearing themselves from the iron grasp of indebtedness to the great
corporation which employed them.
As long as the Russian Company maintained a military or naval force
in the Alaskan territory, at its own expense, these forces were
entirely at the disposal of its governor, who passed most of his
time in elegant leisure at Sitka, where the finest which the markets
and the vineyards of the world afforded were regularly drawn upon
to supply his table. No set of men ever lived in more epicurean
comfort and abundance than did those courtly chief magistrates of
Alaska who succeeded the plain Baranov in 1818, and who established
and maintained the vice-regal comfort of their physical existence
uninterruptedly until it was surrendered, with the cession of their
calling, in 1867.
The charter of the Russian American Company was first granted for a
period of twenty years, dating at the outset from January 1, 1799. It
also had the right to hoist its own colors, to employ naval officers
to command its vessels, and to subscribe itself, in its proclamation
or petition, “Under the highest protection of his Imperial Majesty,
the Russian American Company.” It began at once to attract much
attention in Russia, especially among moneyed men in St. Petersburg
and Moscow. Nobles and high officials of the Government eagerly
sought shares of its stock, and even the Emperor and members of his
family invested in them, the latter making their advances in this
direction under the pretext of donating their portions to schools and
to charitable institutions. It was the first enterprise of the kind
which had ever originated in the Russian Empire, and, favored in this
manner by the Crown, it rose rapidly into public confidence. A future
of the most glowing prosperity and stability was prophesied for it by
its supporters—a prosperity and power as great as ever that of the
British East India Company—while many indulged dreams of Japanese
annexation and portions of China, together with the whole American
coast, including California.
But that clause in the charter of the company, which ordered that the
chief manager of its affairs in Alaska should be selected from the
officers of the Imperial navy, had a most unfortunate effect upon the
successful conduct of the business, as it was prosecuted throughout
Russian America. After Baranov’s suspension and departure, in the
autumn of 1818, not a single practical merchant or business man
succeeded him. The rigid personal scrutiny and keen trading instinct
which were so characteristic of him, were followed immediately by
the very reverse; hence the dividends began to diminish every year,
while the official writing, on the other hand, became suddenly more
voluminous, graphic, and declared a steady increase of prosperity.
Each succeeding chief manager, or governor, vied with the reports of
his predecessors in making a record of great display in the line of
continued explorations, erection of buildings, construction of ships
of all sizes, and the establishment of divers new industries and
manufactories, agriculture, etc.
The second term of the Russian American Company’s charter expired in
1841, and the directors and shareholders labored most industriously
for another renewal; the Crown took much time in consideration,
but in 1844 the new grant was confirmed, and rather increased the
rights and privileges of the company, if anything; still matters
did not mend financially, the affairs of the large corporation were
continued in the same reckless management by one governor after
the other—with the same extravagant vice-regal display and costly
living—with useless and abortive experiments in agriculture, in
mining and in ship-building, so that by the approach of the lapsing
of the third term of twenty years’ control, in 1864, the company was
deeply in debt, and though desirous of continuing the business, it
now endeavored to transfer the cost of maintaining its authority in
Alaska to the home Government; to this the Imperial Cabinet was both
unwilling and unable to accede, for Russia had just emerged from a
disastrous and expensive war, and was in no state of mind to incur
a single extra ruble of indebtedness which she could avoid. In the
meantime, pending these domestic difficulties between the Crown and
the company, the charter expired; the Government refused to renew it,
and sought, by sending out commissioners to Sitka, for a solution of
the vexed problem.
Now, if the reader will mark it, right at this time and at this
juncture, arose the opportunity which was quickly used by Seward,
as Secretary of State, to the ultimate and speedy acquisition of
Russian America by the American Union. Those difficulties which the
situation revealed in respect to the affairs of the Russian Company
conflicting with the desire of the Imperial Government, made much
stir in all interested financial circles. A small number of San
Francisco capitalists had been for many years passive stockholders
in what was termed by courtesy the American Russian Ice Company—it
being nothing more than a name really, inasmuch as very little ever
was or has been done in the way of shipping ice to California from
Alaska. Nevertheless these gentlemen quickly conceived the idea of
taking the charter of the Russian Company themselves, and offered a
sum far in excess of what had accrued to the Imperial treasury at
any time during the last forty years’ tenure of the old contract.
The negotiations were briskly proceeding, and were in a fair way to
a successful ending, when it informally became known to Secretary
Seward, who at once had his interest excited in the subject, and
speedily arrived at the conclusion that if it was worth paying
$5,000,000 by a handful of American merchants for a twenty years’
lease of Alaska, it was well worthy the cost of buying it out and
out in behalf of the United States; inasmuch as leasing it, as the
Russians intended to, was a virtual surrender of it absolutely for
the period named. In this spirit the politic Seward approached the
Russian Government, and the final consummation of Alaska’s purchase
was easily effected,[5] May, 1867, and formally transferred to our
flag on the 18th of October following.
If the Russian Government had not been in an exceedingly friendly
state of mind with regard to the American Union, this somewhat abrupt
determination on its part to make such a virtual gift of its vast
Alaskan domain would never have been thought of in St. Petersburg for
a moment. Still, it should be well understood from the Muscovitic
view, that in presenting Russian America to us, no loss to the
glory or the power of the Czar’s Crown resulted; no surrender of
smiling hamlets, towns or cities, no mines or mining, no fish or
fishing, no mills, factories or commerce—nothing but her good will
and title to a few thousand poor and simple natives, and a large
wilderness of mountain, tundra-moor and island-archipelago wholly
untouched, unreclaimed by the hand of civilized man. Russia then, as
now, suffered and still suffers, from an embarrassment of just such
natural wealth as that which we so hopefully claim as our own Alaska.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Bering’s Island—he was wrecked on the east coast, at a point
under steep bluffs now known as “Kommandor.” Scarcely a vestige of
this shipwreck now remains there.
[2] That curious creature is extinct. It formerly inhabited the
sea-shores of these two small islands. The German naturalist Steller,
who was the surgeon of Bering’s ship, has given us the only account
we have of this animal’s appearance and habits; it was the largest
of all the Sirenians; attained a length sometimes of thirty feet.
When first discovered it was extremely abundant, and formed the main
source of food-supply for the shipwrecked crew of Bering’s vessel.
Twenty-seven years afterward it became extinct, due to the merciless
hunting and slaughter of it by the Russians, who, on their way
over to Alaska from Kamchatka, always made it an object to stop at
Bering or Copper Island and fill up large casks with the flesh of
this sea-cow. Its large size, inactive habits, and clumsy progress
in the water, together with its utter fearlessness of man, made its
extinction rapid and feasible.
I make the restoration from a careful study of the details of
Steller’s description.
[3] The order of this search and voyaging has been faithfully
recorded by Ivan Petroff in his admirable compendium of the subject.
(See Tenth Census U. S. A., Vol. VIII.) While this narrative may be
interesting to a historian, yet I deem it best not to inflict it upon
the general reader. Also in “Bancroft’s History of Alaska,” recently
published at San Francisco, it is graphically and laboriously
described.
[4] The Russian currency is always expressed in kopecks and in
rubles. Gold coinage there is seldom ever seen, and was never used in
Alaska. The following table explains itself:
1 copper kopeck = 1 silver kopeck.
2 copper kopecks = 1 grösh.
3 copper kopecks = 1 alteen.
5 copper kopecks = 1 peetak.
5 silver kopecks = 1 peetak.
10 silver kopecks = 1 greevnah.
15 silver kopecks = 1 peteealtin.
20 silver kopecks = 1 dvoogreevenik.
25 silver kopecks = 1 chetvertak.
50 silver kopecks = 1 polteenah.
100 silver kopecks = 1 ruble.
The silver ruble is nearly equal to seventy-five cents in our coin.
The paper ruble fluctuates in Russia from forty to fifty cents,
specie value; in Alaska it was rated at twenty cents, silver. Much
of the “paper” currency in Alaska during Russian rule was stamped on
little squares of walrus hide.
A still smaller coin, called the “_polooshka_” worth ¼ kopeck, has
been used in Russia. It takes its name from a hare-skin, “_ooshka_,”
or “little ears,” which, before the use of money by the Slavs, was
one of the lowest articles of exchange, _pol_ signifying _half_,
and _polooshka_, _half a hare’s skin_. From another small coin, the
“_deinga_” (equal to ½ kopeck in value), is derived the Russian word
for money, _deingah_ or _deingie_.
[5] $7,200,000 gold was paid by the United States into the Imperial
treasury of Russia for the Territory of Alaska; it is said that
most of this was used in St. Petersburg to satisfy old debts and
obligations incurred by Alaskan enterprises, attorneys’ fees, etc.
So, in short, Russia really gave her American possessions to the
American people, reaping no direct emolument or profit whatsoever
from the transfer.