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THE STORY OF SITKA
THE HISTORIC OUTPOST OF THE NORTHWEST COAST
THE CHIEF FACTORY OF THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY
By
C. L. ANDREWS
Seattle, Washington
PRESS OF
Lowman & Hanford Co.
SEATTLE
CONTENTS
Foreword 1
I Discovery 7
II Settlement 13
III Progress of the Colony 27
IV Natives 45
V Churches and Schools 54
VI Social Life 60
VII Trade and Industry 66
VIII Sitka under United States Rule 77
IX What to See 92
ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing Page
Lovers' Lane 1
Mount Edgecumbe 11
Sitka in 1805 25
Bakery and Shops of the Russians 36
The Ranche 46
Cathedral of St. Michael 54
The Madonna 56
The Baranof Castle 60
The Grave of Princess Maksoutoff 62
Sitka in 1860 66
Sitka in 1869 77
Sitka--East on Lincoln Street 93
Interior of Cathedral 95
Russian Blockhouse 100
Map of Sitka 108
TO MY MOTHER
THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED
THE AUTHOR
Copyright 1922
By C. L. ANDREWS
Seattle, Wash.
[Illustration: Lovers' Lane, Sitka.]
SITKA
Foreword
The panorama of sea, island, and mountain, which holds Sitka, Alaska, as
a jewel in its setting, is one of the most beautiful of those which
surround the cities of the world. Toward the sea from the peninsula on
which Sitka is situated stretches an expanse of waters, studded with
forest-clad islands which break the swell of the Pacific that foams and
tumbles on the outer barriers. To the westward Mount Edgecumbe lifts its
perfect cone, its summit truncated by the old crater whose fires have
been dead for centuries; to the northward Harbor peak lifts its signal
to mariners; the Sisters, with a gleam of snow and ice among their
pinnacles, lie in the distance of Indian River; to the east is the
arrowhead of Mount Verstovia; the glaciers glisten beyond; and the sweep
of mist-clad mountains, in their softness, beyond the bay to the
southeast completes the circle.
Radiating like the spokes of a wheel, waterways with historic memories
reach out from the town. Krestof Bay, where the early navigators cast
anchor; Neva Strait, commemorating the first Russian ship that visited
Sitka from around the world; Katleanski Bay, on which was situated Old
Sitka; Silver Bay, a Norwegian fjord transplanted to Alaska; Lisianski
Bay, named for the Russian navigator of a century ago; the inlet at
Ozerskoe Redoubt and Globokoe (Deep) Lake; the island-studded way to the
Hot Springs; each with its individual charm; the ocean, with the deep,
rich, marine tints of northern waters; the forest of blue, that folds
like a robe over the mountains; the mountain summits beside the
glaciers, clad in the exquisitely wonderful green of the Northland, all
are delightful. But when the sun sinks low in the west, with the long,
lingering twilight of the North, and the soft, delicate rays touch and
blend with the water and islands, the mountains and sky--then, in the
mystery of the evening, is the supreme beauty of the land. To those who
have really known and loved Sitka, there is no place on earth to
compare.
There are pleasant recollections of those who have lived there. Jovial
Edward Degroff and his stories at the Roastology Club; the Mills, whose
hospitable home is known to every resident of the town; Wm. Gouverneur
Morris, whose name recalls a leader of Revolutionary days; genial George
Barron, who upheld every good tradition of the Navy; the gallant old
soldier, Matthew P. Berry; dignified Judge Delaney, Alaska's staunchest
advocate through all vicissitudes; Governor Brady, with his neverfailing
faith in Alaska's greatness; Captain Francis, without whom the early
naval commanders thought the warships could not thread the intricate
passages; Nicholas Haley, with his optimistic dreams of El Doradoes;
Pauline Archangelsky, for whom the "Old Timers" have pleasant
recollections; Alonzo Austin and his mission; Captain Kilgore of the
"Rush"; Merrill, who caught on the photograph plate the elusive spirit
of the varying surroundings as only a true artist could; Katherine
Delaney Abrams, whose touch in watercolor delineated the glory of the
sunsets as none else could; Professor Richardson, who for a quarter of a
century returned year after year thousands of miles to perpetuate in
paintings the exquisite tintings of glaciers and mountain; George
Kostromitinoff (Father Sergius); Father Metropolski, and many others who
have made a part of the quaint old town.
There is a saying that whosoever comes to love the waters of the Indian
River will ever after yearn for them, and it seems true, for always is
that harking back to its banks with an unsatisfied longing.
From prehistoric time this has been the home of the Sitka Kwan of the
Thlingit people. For sixty-three years it was the scene of the chief
activities of the Russian American Company, who represented the rule of
the Muscovites, who, when Chicago was but a blockhouse in a sedgy swamp
on the banks of a sluggish, reedy river, and when San Francisco was but
a mission and a Presidio of sun-burned bricks, maintained in Sitka a
community of busy people who were casting cannon and bells, and who were
building ships for commerce.
In the establishment of this outpost the foundation was laid for the
title of the United States to the southeastern part of Alaska, a land
rich in fur and forest, in gold and copper, in marble and fish, the
potential possibilities of which are not even approximately forecasted
today. Enough to say of it, that in its limits are two mines, one of
which has yielded over sixty-five millions of dollars in gold, and the
other ranks among the richest of the mineral producing veins of the
world.
Some may have an interest in the story of the quaint, quiet, beautiful
village on the shore of Baranof Island. I hope this may add something to
history, keeping the events of the past bright in the memory of those
who love the Northland and its story, and add a little of interest and
information of the present to those who come as transient visitors to
while away a few days among the myriad islands of the Sitkan
Archipelago. It is a link to connect the Sitka of the past, the _Novo
Arkangelsk_ of the great Russian American Company in the romantic
days of the fur trade when it was the center of the vast domain of
Russian America and gathered to its magazines the pelts of sea-otter and
fox, with the Sitka of today with its fisheries and mines. The old
landmarks are fast disappearing, scarce a year passes without some
monument passing away, and even their location will soon be forgotten
unless some record is made for those who do not know where they stood.
SITKA
THE HISTORIC OUTPOST OF THE
NORTHWEST
CHAPTER I
DISCOVERY
Sitka of the Russians, a century ago, was the center of trade and
civilization on the Northwest Coast of America, the chief factory of the
Russian American Company in the vast and little known land of the
Russian Possessions in America. The sails of ships from far off
Kronstadt on the Baltic brought Russian cargoes. The famous clipper
ships of New England made it a stopping place on their way to the China
seas. English traders and explorers visited it on their voyages, and in
it was centered the trade of a wide region. It was the chief factory of
the greatest rival in the fur trade of the world, with which the
Honourable, the Hudson's Bay Company, which then was the controlling
power in the English fur market, had to contend.
The story of Sitka goes back past the middle of the Eighteenth Century.
There are Russians, Spanish, English, French and Americans who have
woven each their own part of the web of the tale, and the scenes have
been as varied and strange as the people.
July 16, 1741, a Russian ship stood into a broad harbor on the Northwest
Coast of America. The commander, Captain Alexei Chirikof, had sailed
three thousand miles across the unknown Pacific from the shores of the
Okhotsk Sea. Civilized eyes had never before rested on these shores and
he was keen with the excitement of adventure and discovery as he dropped
anchor. He sent a party ashore in the ship's longboat to explore, and
awaited the result. Days passed and no word or signal came, so the
remaining boat was sent to recall the party and it was swallowed up in
the labyrinth among the green islands. Signals indicated that it safely
landed but none returned to the ship although the orders were imperative
that both boats return at once. The last boat was gone. Three weeks
passed. Captain Chirikof could not reach the shore and could no longer
lie at anchor, so reluctantly and sadly he set his course for the far
off Kamchatkan shores and sailed away from the port of missing men.
Nearly two centuries have passed since the Russian seamen landed and no
word has come from them. For more than seventy years the Russian
Government sought for some sign of their fate.[1] Tales were told of a
colony of Russians existing on the coast but each upon investigation
proved but a rumor.
There is a dim tradition among the Sitkas of men being lured ashore in
the long ago. They say that Chief Annahootz, the predecessor of the
chief of that name who was the firm friend of the whites at Sitka in
1878, was the leading actor in the tragedy. Annahootz dressed himself in
the skin of a bear and played along the beach. So skillfully did he
simulate the sinuous motions of the animal that the Russians in the
excitement of the chase plunged into the woods in pursuit and there the
savage warriors killed them to a man, leaving none to tell the story.
The disappearance of Chirikof's men has remained one of the many
unsolved mysteries of the Northland, and their fate will never be known
to a certainty.
The faulty record of the navigation of a time that counted by dead
reckoning, and without a knowledge of the currents of those seas, does
not tell us the exact location of the anchorage, but beyond a reasonable
doubt it was in Sitka Sound, and the Russian seamen died at the hands of
the Sitka Kwan of the Thlingits. In this manner Sitka first became known
to the White Man's World.
On the 16th day of August, 1775, came the Royal Standard of Spain, flung
to the breeze from the little schooner "Sonora," only 36 feet in length,
under command of Don Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Quadra was one of
the greatest and best of the Spanish navigators in the North. His
voyages are among the most successful of those of the mariners of his
nation in the waters of the north Pacific ocean, and his name was once
linked with that of the English Commander on the island now bearing the
name of Vancouver. Quadra came from the Mexican port of San Blas, and
after many thrilling adventures and grievous hardships he sailed into a
broad bay and dropped anchor. There was a mountain, of which he says:
"Of the most regular and beautiful form I had ever seen. It was also
quite detached from the great ridge of mountains. Its top was covered
with snow, under which appeared some gullies, which continue till about
the middle of the mountain, and from thence to the bottom are trees of
the same kind as those at Trinity."
[Illustration: Mount Edgecumbe.]
He named the mountain _San Jacinthus_, and the point of the island
that extends out toward the sea, Cape _del Engano_. No one who has
looked upon the slopes of the mountain which stands to the seaward from
Sitka can mistake the description. He anchored in what is now known as
Krestof Bay, about six miles northwest from Sitka, and he called it Port
_Guadalupe_.
Captain Cook, on his Third Voyage of Exploration, in 1778, with the
ships "Resolution" and "Discovery," passed along the coast and noted the
bay, of which he says: "An arm of this bay, in the northern part of it,
seemed to extend in toward the north, behind a round elevated mountain I
called Mount Edgecumbe, and the point of land that shoots out from it
Cape Edgecumbe." This name supplanted the one given by the Spaniard and
the beautiful cone is yet known by the title he bestowed.
The early Russians called the mountain St. Lazaria, assuming that it was
the peak seen by Chirikof on his ill fated voyage of discovery and so
named by him. The small island at the south is still known as San
Lazaria Island.
Captain Dixon, of H. M. S. "Queen Charlotte," came during the summer of
1787, on a fur trading voyage. Dixon had just departed from the harbor
when Captain Portlock, of the English ship "King George," which was
lying in Portlock Harbor, to the northward in Chichagoff Island, sent
his ship's boat through the passage behind Kruzof Island to about the
present site of Sitka, and made the discovery for the civilized world
that Mount Edgecumbe is on an island.