USA > Alaska > Our Arctic province, Alaska and the Seal islands > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
UR
ARCTIC PROVINCE
-
HENRY.W.ELLIOTT
REMINGTON KELLOGG LIBRARY OF MARINE MAMMALOGY SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
₩
SITKA SOUND Viewed from the Castle, looking South. June 9, 1874
E467
OUR
ARCTIC PROVINCE
CH ALASKA AND THE SEAL ISLANDS
BY LIBR
ood
HENRY
AGO DAILY NEWS
1
ILLUSTRATED BY MANY DRAWINGS FROM NATURE, AND MAPS
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1886
SMITHSONIAN JUL 1 0 1978
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 cer- tainly be startling.
Scores of weighty volumes, hundreds of pamphlets and mag- azine articles, and a thousand newspaper letters, have been devoted to the subject of Alaskan life, scenery, and value. In contempla- tion of this, viewed from the author's standpoint of extended per- sonal experience, he announces his determination to divest him- self 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 Competi- tion of the Promyshlineks finally Leads to the Organization and Domina- tion of the Russian American Company over all Alaska, 1799. - Its Remark- able Success under Baranov's Administration, 1800-18, inclusive .- Its Rapid Decadence after Baranov's Removal .- Canses 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 Canons .- 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.
vi
CONTENTS.
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 In- dians .- 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 Unwrit- ten 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 Treadwell Mine .- Futility of Predicting what may, or what will not Happen in Mining Discovery .- Coal of Alaska not fit for Steam- ing 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 Whale- men'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
vii
CONTENTS.
Coast, Constructed here in 1794 .- The Brig Phonir, 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 Dea- cons 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 Cook's "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 Hunt- ers of Alaska .- Bears and Bear Roads .- Wild Animals seek Shelter in Volcanic Districts .- Natives Afraid to Follow Them .- Kenaitze Archi- tecture .- Sunshine in Cook's Inlet .- Splendid Salmon .- Waste of Fish as Food by Natives .- The Pions 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 Remark- able 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 .- Tongh Siberian Cattle .- Pretty Greek Chapel at Yealovnie .- Afognak, the Larg- est Village of "Old Colonial Citizens."-Picturesque and Substantial Vil- lage .- 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 Ka- diak ; their Salient Characteristics .- Great Diminution of their Num- bers .- 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
viii
CONTENTS.
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 Ex- plore the Entire Alaskan Coast, 1760-1780 .- Great Numbers of Sea-otters when they were First Discovered in Alaska .- Their Partial Extermina- tion 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 Alentians. - 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 Inces- santly .- 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 Trav- eller .- 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 Alentes. - 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. - Fash- ions and Manners among them. - The " Barrabkie."-Quaint Exterior and Interior. - These Natives Love Music and Dancing .- Women on the
ix
CONTENTS.
Wood and Water Trails .- Simple Cuisine .- Their Remarkable Willing- ness 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 " Praz- niks."-The Phenomena of Borka Village .- It is Clean. - Little Ceme- teries. - Faded Pictures of the Saints .- Atto, the Extreme Western Set- tlement 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 IInman 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 Re- moved. - 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 Rus- sians 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 Com- pany .- 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 Intelli- gent 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 " Bach- elors."-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
Y
CONTENTS.
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 .- Beauti- ful 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 Rook- eries .- Natives Gathering a Drove .- Driving the Seals to the Slaughter- ing 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 Diference 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 North- east 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 Economie 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 IInnters, 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 Religions 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
xi
CONTENTS.
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 Innnits of Togiak .- Immense Muskrat Catch. - The Togiaks are the Quakers of Alaska. - The Knskokvim 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 Exten- sive Circumpolar Area .- The Characteristic Beauties of an Arctic Land- scape in Summer .- Thunder-storms on the Upper Yukon ; never Experi- enced on the Coast and at its Month .- Gorgeous Arches of Auroral Light; Beautiful Spectacular Fires in the Heavens. - Unhappy Climate .- Saint Michael's to the Northward. - Zagoskin, the Intrepid Young Russian Ex- plorer, 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 .- Interest- ing 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 Dia- monds " 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 But-
xii
CONTENTS.
tercup 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 Impo- tency on Land. - Lives entirely by Clam digging .- Rank 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. Facing page 4
SEA-COW, .
GRAND GLACIER, ICY BAY,
66 19
KOOTZNAHOO INLET,
66 32
STICKEEN SQUAW BOILING BERRIES AND OIL,
66
73
MOUNT WRANGEL, 20,000 FEET,
66
78
MOUNT ILYAMNA, 12,060 FEET,
87
KENAITZE SALMON TRAP, COOK'S INLET,
66
108
BELCOVSKY, VILLAGE OF,
120
SEA-OTTER SURROUND,
66
143
A GLIMPSE OF SHISHIALDIN,
66
146
ALEUTES WHALING,
66 152
VILLAGE OF OONALASIIKA,
66
156
VOLCANO OF MAKOOSHIIN, 5,475 FEET,
160
OONALASIIKAN NATIVES CODFISHIING,
168
VILLAGE AND HARBOR OF ATTOO,
179
NORTH SHORE OF ST. GEORGE ISLAND,
66
200
NETTING CHOOCHIKIES,
209
APPROACH TO ST. GEORGE ISLAND,
227
HAIR-SEALS, GROUP OF, .
255
FUR-SEALS, .
258
"OLD JOHN," PORTRAIT OF AN AGED FUR-SEAL, 66
262
OLD FUR-SEAL BULLS FIGHTING, .
66
266
SUNDRY SEAL SKETCHES, FROM AUTHOR'S PORTFOLIO,
277
23
GLIMPSE OF SITKA,
58
MOUNT ST. ELIAS, 19,500 FEET,
VALDES GLACIER, PRINCE WILLIAM'S SOUND,
95
CREOLES AND ALEUTES, PENCIL PORTRAITS,
140
CLUBBING SEA-OTTERS, .
xiv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
ARRIVAL OF THE FUR-SEAL, MILLIONS, .
Facing page 296
NATIVES GATHERING A DRIVE,
333
NATIVES DRIVING FUR-SEALS,
336
KILLING GANG AT WORK,
339
GROUP OF SEA-LIONS,
66
354
SEA-LION ROOKERY AT TOLSTOI,
358
NATIVES CREEPING UPON SEA-LIONS,
364
THE SEA-LION PEN AT NOVASTOSIINAHI,
365
SPRINGING THE ALARM, .
66
366
NOOSIIAGAK,
66
374
PORTRAIT OF "CHAMI," AND THIE FAVORITE POSITION OF INNUITS,
378
PORTRAITS OF A JESTING INNUIT MOTHER AND THIE SON OF AHGAAN,
66
395
THIE SADDLE-BACKED HAIR-SEAL, Histriophoca,
66
400
THIE KUSKOKVIM RIVER BELOW KOLMAKOVSKY, 403
KOLMAKOVSKY,
400
TOMB OF INNUITS, .
66
410
CAPE PRINCE OF WALES,
429
POONOOK WINTER VILLAGE,
443
GROUP OF WALRUS,
447
PINNACLE ISLET, NEAR ST. MATTIIEW ISLAND,
461
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.
PAGE
VIGNETTE : HAIDAIIS HUNTING HAIR-SEALS,
Title
LODGES IN A VAST WILDERNESS,
16
BARANOV'S CASTLE (1817-26),
30
SITKAN CHIMES, 39
OLD INDIAN CHAPEL, SITKA,
41
HAIDAHI RANCHIERIE,
46
SECTION SHOWING INTERIOR,
48
RAKING OOLOCHANS, STICKEEN RIVER,
57
KENAITZE CHIEF,
88
BEAR ROADS, OONIMAK ISLAND, .
90
KENAITZE RANCHERIE, COOK'S INLET, .
92
OOGASIIIK, VILLAGE OF,
. 119
SEA-OTTER,
131
BARRABKIE, OR ALEUTIAN HUT,
. 135
-
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
XV
PAGE
ALEUTIAN MUMMY,
185
ALEUTES CATCHING IIALIBUT,
212 219
FUR-SEALS SCRATCHING, .
271
FUR-SEALS RISING TO BREATHE AND SURVEY, PORTRAIT OF A PRIBYLOV SEALER,
. 338
A SKINNED CARCASS, AND SKIN THEREFROM,
. 342
INTERIOR OF A FUR-SEAL SALT-HOUSE,
345 368
SEA-LION BIDARRAH,
, 371
INNUIT WOMAN,
. 377
INNUIT HOME ON THE KUSKOKVIM,
. 379
THE BIG MAHKLOK, OR Erignathus,
. 383
THE INNUIT KASHGA,
. 385 . 386
SECTION OF THE KASHGA,
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 fotida, .
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 NOVASTOSHINAH ROOKERY,
314
SPECIAL MAP OF LAGOON ROOKERY,
315
GENERAL MAP OF ALASKA,
. At end of Volume.
BOBROVIA, OR OTTER ISLAND,
300
NATIVES DRIVING SEA-LIONS,
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 Alentian Chain, Kadiak, and the Mainland, 1760-80, inclusive .- Fierce Competi- tion of the Promyshlineks finally Leads to the Organization and Domina- tion of the Russian American Company over all Alaska, 1799. - Its Remark- able 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, Kam- chatka, 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.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.