Printing is not known to have been undertaken by the Russians in
Alaska,[142] nor can a broadside notice of 1854 printed by an English
searching party aboard H.M.S. _Plover_ at Point Barrow[143] be
properly considered as Alaskan printing. The first printing in Alaska
evidently followed its transfer to United States rule on October 18,
1867.
Despite the absence of a bibliography or trustworthy history of early
Alaskan printing, it seems safe to say that the earliest imprints
were the orders issued by the Military District of Alaska beginning
with General Orders No. 1, dated October 29, 1867.[144] The District
headquarters were at Sitka. There is no statement on the orders about
place of printing, but it is difficult to imagine how they could
have been printed elsewhere than Alaska and still have served their
immediate purpose.
The earliest Alaskan printing in the Library of Congress is a series
of general orders dating from April 11, 1868, to July 1, 1870. These
orders, printed as small sheets and leaflets, are mostly of a routine
character, the majority reporting courts-martial held at Sitka. In
the General Orders No. 1, of April 11, 1868, Jefferson C. Davis
announces his assumption of command of the Department of Alaska, which
superseded the Military District of Alaska on March 18, 1868, and he
names the members of his departmental staff. The orders are printed on
different kinds of paper, including blue-ruled, and many of them carry
official signatures in manuscript. General Orders No. 13, of December
31, 1868, is stamped: "Received Adjutant Gen'ls Office Apr 6 1870."
The whole series is bound into a volume, now destitute of both covers,
which was weeded from the Army War College Library sometime after
World War II. The National War College transferred it to the Library
of Congress in or about 1953.
Since the facts surrounding the Army press have yet to be documented,
it may be well to consider the civilian printing of Alaska also.
This apparently began with the initial issue of _The Alaskan Times_,
dated April 23, 1869, and printed on a press obtained from San
Francisco.[145] The _Times_ ceased publication in 1870. Apart from
the general orders of 1868-70, the earliest Alaskan printing in the
Library is its file of _The Sitka Post_ beginning with the second
issue, dated November 5, 1876. The _Post_, published in a small
six-page format on the 5th and 20th of each month, was the second
newspaper to be printed in Alaska. Neither the _Times_ nor the _Post_
identifies its printer.
Featured in the November 5 issue is "The Cavalry Fight at Brandy
Station," an extract from L. P. Brockett's _The Camp, the Battle
Field, and the Hospital_ (Philadelphia, 1866). Following this is
a forceful editorial on "The Indian Campaign," which advocates
committing a greater number of U.S. troops to the war against the
Sioux. Certain advertisements in this issue are noteworthy because
they relate to the paper itself. One is on the fourth page:
We wish to call the Attention of all BUSINESS MEN who
intend to Trade in Alaska to the fact that The Sitka Post
is the Only Newspaper PUBLISHED in the TERRITORY. It is
devoted entirely to the Interests of ALASKA; will never
be made the organ of any party [o]r ring, political,
commercial, or otherwise; and will make it its object to
give the news of the TERRITORY. ALL ENTERPRISING MEN who
wish to bring their BUSINESS before the Public of Alaska
Territory cannot do better than by ADVERTISING in The Sitka
Post.
Another appears on the last page:
MEN OF ENTERPRISE! TAKE NOTICE! The SITKA POST Is the
only Paper printed in Alaska. It is the best medium of
Advertising. It circulates in Sitka, Wrangel, Stikeen,
Kodiak; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, Cal; Baltimore,
Md, and Washington, D. C. Send your Advertisements to J. J.
Daly Editor, Sitka Post, Sitka, A.
And there is a brief appeal at the end of the last page:
Wanted--More subscribers and contributors to this paper.
[Illustration: (Orders issued by the Military District of Alaska)]
The Library of Congress file of the _Post_ is in an old Library
binding and extends from number 2 without break to the 14th and final
number, dated June 5, 1877. The first page in the volume bears a
Library date stamp of 1877. Also on the first page is the signature
"M. Baker," preceded by the words "Purchased by" in a different hand.
Thus the file was apparently assembled by Marcus Baker (1849-1903), a
noted cartographer and writer on Alaska who was employed from 1873 to
1886 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Some issues are addressed
in pencil to individual subscribers, three of whom can be positively
identified from company muster rolls at the National Archives as
members of the 4th Artillery, U.S. Army, stationed at Sitka. They
are "Ord[nance] Serg[ean]t [George] Go[l]kell"; "H[enry] Train," a
corporal in Company G; and "W[illiam] J. Welch," a bugler in Company G.
[Footnote 142: See Valerian Lada-Mocarski, "Earliest Russian Printing
in the United States," in _Homage to a Bookman; Essays ... Written for
Hans P. Kraus_ (Berlin, 1967), p. 231-233.]
[Footnote 143: See no. 3525 in _The Celebrated Collection of Americana
Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter_ (New York, 1966-69), vol.
6.]
[Footnote 144: See ibid., no. 3531.]
[Footnote 145: Photostat copy in the Library of Congress examined.]
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