USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 35
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Their success was due partly to the personal bravery
11 Balushin had destroyed the coat-of-arms bestowed upon the chief by order of the governor-general of Irkutsk, telling him that it was but a child's toy. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 43.
34
BARANOF'S POLICY.
and superior dash of the men. Baranof freely ac- knowledged in later years that, individually, the pro- myshleniki of the Lebedef Company were superior to those under his command at the beginning of his administration; and according to Berg, he ventured to assert that, had he commanded such men as Lebe- def's vessels brought to the shores of Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, he would have conquered the whole north-western coast of America.
Toward the end of 1793 Baranof had received a small reënforcement with the Orel, so that after deducting the loss by drowning and other casualties, one hundred and fifty-two men were left to him. The number of the Lebedef men is not recorded, but it cannot have been much inferior, for reinforcements had come in the Sv Ivan. The latter occupied an admirable strategic position, with control of two great navigable estuaries and other places offering easy communication and access to supplies. They were also better provided with goods and ship-stores than Shelikof's company.12
It was not so much these advantages of his assail- ants, however, that kept Baranof from energetic measures against them, but rather a consideration for the different interests of his patron, and for the lives of his countrymen. He was awaiting an answer to his reports from Siberia. This forbearance served only to encourage the other party, as we have seen, till at last Baranof's patience was exhausted. With the report of a fray between the rival posts on the inlet came the rumor that the ship-yard at Voskressenski Harbor was to be taken, and this appeared probable from the special animosity shown to the Englishmen there engaged. When not absolutely needed at the yard, they were sent to explore; and on several of
12 Baranof reported, late in 1793, that he owed many bales of rope and four pouds of tobacco to the Lebedef Company, but, in view of the depredations committed by men belonging to the latter, he 'did not intend to return the goods until some action was taken upon his complaints to the authorities at Okhotsk.'
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STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.
these occasions they had been set upon, robbed, and ill-treated, sometimes narrowly escaping with their lives. 13
Baranof now hastened to the spot, and observing the need for interference, assumed the peremptory tone of one invested with authority. He sent a let- ter to Konovalof, then at his stockade at St Nicholas on the Kaknu River, with a summons to appear at once before him, stating that he had been authorized by the governor of Siberia to settle all disputes be- tween rival traders. He expected soon to be invested with such powers, in answer to the urgent petitions of Shelikof and his partners, and thought that he might exercise the privilege in advance. This had its effect. Without suspecting that the order had no more foundation than his own boasted rights to possession, the conscience-stricken man hastened to obey what was supposed to be an official summons. He appeared before Baranof and offered apologies for his conduct, but the latter would listen to no expla- nation; he placed him in irons, and kept him under close guard until Ismailof arrived with his vessels, when not only the ringleader but seven of his com- panions who had also tendered their submission were taken to Kadiak and placed in confinement.
Finally Konovalof was made to answer at Okhotsk, but before a lenient committee, so that he readily managed to clear himself, and was restored to a com- mand in Alaska. Meanwhile Stepan Zaïkof had succeeded him as chief at St Nicholas. Kolomin still held his command and Balushin controlled the estab- lishment on Nuchek.14
13 The prevailing starvation at the ship-yard was chiefly due to the inter- ference of the Lebedef men with supplies.
14 One reason for this clemency appears in a letter addressed by Lebedef and Shelikof jointly, to the archimandrite Ioassof, requesting him to investigate the charges against Konovalof and others, yet expressing the hope that the accused will not be found 'too guilty to be allowed to work off, in one com- pany or the other, their indebtedness to their employers, and thus save the shareholders from loss.' If, however, Konovalof should be found too deeply involved to admit of his further employment, he was 'to be set at
343
FALL OF LEBEDEF.
While Baranof's firmness served to check the per- petration of extreme abuses, a certain hostility contin- ued to be exhibited for some time. The evil was too deeply rooted to be eradicated all at once, but har- mony was gradually restored, partly through the in- fluential mediation of Archimandrite Ioassof, who ar- rived soon after as leader of a missionary party. At the same time came a large reenforcement for Baranof, with authority to form settlements in any part of Alaska, and right to claim the country for five hun- dred versts round such settlements, within which limits no other company could set foot. Against such power the Lebedef faction could not possibly prevail, particularly since Shelikof positively instructed Bar- anof to use both force and cunning to remove the ri- vals. Reverses also overtook them, and a few years later they abandoned the field.15
It was indeed time that Baranof should assert him- self, for the insolence and outrages of the aggressors had created general discontent among the tribes. Those of Lake Skilakh were actually plotting the de- struction of all Russians on the Kenaï peninsula, and to this end they endeavored to bridge over the old feud between them and the Chugatsches of Prince William Sound; receiving also encouragement from the treacherous tribes on the other side of the inlet, from Katmaï northward, who had successfully op- posed all attempts to form Russian settlements in their midst. The measures now taken by Baranof to maintain better order and reassure the natives, as well as the coup de main with Konovalof, which added
liberty to shift for himself.' Id., ii. app. part ii. 57-8. Ioassof, indeed, did not report him to be so bad as Baranof desired. Among the accused was Ste- pan Kosmovich Zaïkof, a brother of Potap Zaïkof, a man of considerable abil- ity and knowledge. Ivan Koch, commander of Okhotsk, in a letter up- braids his dear friend Stepan Kuzmitch, and threatens him with the severest punishment if found guilty.
15 ' You must declare in your reports,' wrote Shelikof, 'that the outrages upon the Kenaïtze were of the most disgraceful character, but that it is in your power to plant your settlements wherever you please, even on the gulf of Kenaï.' Id., 69.
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STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.
not a little to advance his influence, served to check the threatened uprising. His assertion of authority was equally necessary among his own subordinates, whose loyalty had been corrupted by the insinuations of emissaries from the other camp, and whose re- spect for their chief had begun to wane under his forbearance toward the rivals, whereby numerous hardships were entailed upon them through loss of trade and curtailment of rations.16 He assembled the men, represented to them the obligations to which they had voluntarily subscribed when engaged, and showed the evil they were inflicting also on them- selves by discontent, want of harmony, and refusal to do the required work. He had full power to arrest those who refused implicit obedience, and he would use that power. Those who had complaints should present them, and he would seek to redress their wrongs.17 This firm speech, together with a liberal distribution of liquor, had a wonderful effect, and thus by means of a little determined self-assertion Baranof established for himself an undisputed authority, with a reputation as a leader of men. 18
The party war ended, Baranof breathed freely once more, and 1794 witnessed a decided impulse to his dif- ferent enterprises. The most notable of these was the one intrusted to Purtof and Kulikatof for operating in Yakutat Bay, of which a preceding visit had brought most encouraging reports.19 Preparations were made
16 They appear to have received less compensation than the other com- pany employees. Of the latter, Fidalgo reports: 'Sus sueldos llegaban los mayores á cuatro pesos: que los jefes subalternos gozaban 500 al año.' But he evidently ignores the share system. For each employee the company paid a tribute of two dollars a year. Salida, etc., in Viajes al Norte, MS., 369.
17 This characteristic address is given in full in Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 47-9. It contains several allusions to historic anecdotes on the value of unity, and dwells on the absurd pretensions to better comforts by men who at home in Siberia were content to live as pigs.
18 Some time before this he had interfered between rival traders of the companies Orekhof, Panof, and Kisselef, located on Prince William Sound, and after patching up a temporary peace between them he had seized the greater part of their furs, under the pretext of taking them to Kadiak for safe keeping.
19 Tikhmenef refers confusedly to an expedition in 1793 of 170 bidarkas,
345
YAKUTAT EXPEDITION.
on a large scale. The station on Cook Inlet had been appointed as a rendezvous, and on the 7th of May a fleet of five hundred bidarkas assembled there, bringing natives from Kadiak, Kenaï, the Alaskan peninsula, and the nearest Chugatsch villages. More boats and men were to be collected at Prince William Sound, where Baranof had gone in person to levy forces. All these were arranged in subdivisions, each in charge of a Russian.
At Voskressenski Bay the Yakutat expedition was furnished with additional trading goods and some guns and ammunition. After being delayed at Grekof Island till the 22d of May, Purtof set out with his whole fleet for the mouth of Copper River, intending to pass by Nuchek Island, where the Lebedef Company was then established. At the eastern point of Montague Island they were intercepted by some Lebedef hunt- ers in bidarkas, who presented a letter from Balu- shin and Kolomin. This document warned Purtof not to encroach upon any territory already occupied by the other company. The messengers were in- structed to add, that they had established an artel of twenty Russians at Tatitliatzk village on the gulf of Chugatsch, and also at the mouth of Copper River, and that the Shelikof hunters must not advance in that direction. Without allowing himself to be intimidated, Purtof informed the messengers that he was on his way to the American continent in pursuance of secret orders from the government. In hunting sea-otters he would not touch upon any ground occupied by others.
The following evening, while preparing to camp for the night on a small island adjoining Nuchek, he dis- covered a party of eight Lebedef hunters near by and invited them to supper, after which the time passed in friendly exchange of news. Early in the morning, however, before the Lebedef men were stirring, Pur-
escorted by Shields, which brought back 2,000 sea-otter skins. Istor. Obos., i. 40-1.
346
STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.
tof moved silently away with his force and made a quick passage to the second mouth of Copper River, and there fell in with Chugatsches who had been trad- ing with the Lebedef men at Nuchek. Finding that no station or regular hunting party of the Lebedef Company existed here, he took his party to Kaniak Island, near the river, purposing to lay in a supply of halibut as provisions, and to hunt sea-otters. Over a hundred skins were obtained the first day, but the second day's hunt proved entirely futile and the expedi- tion moved northward along the coast of the mainland.20
On the 31st of May the whole party encamped on the beach, and within a short distance of a large Agleg- mute village, though without being aware of the fact. During the night some of the hunters became alarmed at the sound of numerous voices proceeding from the woods. An armed detachment composed of the most courageous ventured to penetrate into the forest, and, guided by the smell of smoke and the cries of children, made their way to the village, which was situated on the opposite side of a river. During the confusion occasioned by their unexpected arrival, they succeeded in capturing the chief and his brother, and then made good their retreat to the camp. One of their number, however, a Kadiak interpreter, was intercepted and killed by the natives. The chief and his brother were taken to the camp, treated to food and drink, and piled with presents, until they promised to call together their people the following day to negotiate with the Russians. The brother was commissioned to arrange the matter, and by the 3d of June all of the Aglegmute tribe dwelling in that vicinity came to the camp. With the help of a judicious distribution of presents, Purtof succeeded in prevailing upon the savages to give seven hostages, including two natives of Yakutat Bay.21
20 During a brief halt on the beach a native hut was discovered, but the inhabitants had fled, leaving all their effects. A little food was taken by the Aleuts, in return for which Purtof deposited some coral beads.
21 In accordance with orders from the government, the savages were ques-
347
DEALINGS WITH THE NATIVES.
As soon as the weather permitted, Purtof pro- ceeded to Icy Bay, called Natchik by the natives, and by the 10th of June his hunters had secured four hundred sea-otter skins, all that could be ob- tained. The party then moved on to Yakutat Bay, accompanied by the Aglegmute chief of the tribe, and a Kadiak native who spoke the Kaljush lan- guage. These two were sent in advance to assure the people of the peaceful character of the expedi- tion.22 The chief soon returned from the Yakutat village with the son of the Kaljush chieftain and three others as hostages, profusely ornamented with beads, furs, and feathers. The interpreter had been detained as hostage on the other side, but it was found necessary to surrender also a Russian ere con- fidence could be established. Accompanied by fif- teen of his best warriors, the Kaljush chief then pro- ceeded in state to the camp, and after the usual ceremonies negotiations began in earnest. Purtof declared that the Russians desired to live in friend- ship with them, and the chief, who probably had been plied with strong drink, made a formal present to his new allies of the southern portion of the bay and the small islands situated therein. The feelings of the latter underwent a change, however, when he came to reflect on the advantage gained by his visitors, and found that they also hunted on their own account, venturing far out to sea where the clumsier canoes of the Kaljush dared not follow. He and his followers were ready to trade, but they objected to see their stock of fur seals exhausted by strangers without any benefit to themselves.23
tioned whether they or any of the neighboring tribes held in their possession any European prisoners, but this they positively denied. It was thought that some of La Pérouse's men might have escaped drowning only to fall into the hands of the savage inhabitants of the vicinity.
22 At the southern point of Yakutat Bay a hunt was organized, but only ten sea-otters could be found. In making a landing through the surf, two natives of Kadiak were drowned.
23 The chief made a long speech before Lieutenant Puget, which he under- stood to convey this meaning. Vancouver's Voy., ii. 234.
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STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.
Trouble appeared, indeed, to be brewing, but the arrival of the Chatham of Vancouver's expedition, under Lieutenant Puget, served to prevent any dis- turbance. Purtof maintained a most friendly inter- course with the English, to whom he also tendered provisions, and received in acknowledgment letters of commendation. Through some of the sailors it was understood that English war-vessels might appear within two years to take possession of Cook Inlet and other places, and, unworthy of credit as this report was, it failed not to be transmitted to the government by the somewhat agitated fur traders. Vancouver himself held a much higher opinion, both of their territorial rights and control of trade, than a clearer view of affairs might have conveyed, for he was ignorant of their dissensions, and regarded all as united in one common interest; while the sight of the large native fleets controlled by Purtof must have exalted the idea of their influence and of their ability to distance competitors. The departure .of Vancouver's expedition was no doubt a great relief to Baranof at least, who appears to have been afraid of his coming across the English shipwrights, and luring them away24 ere he could dispense with their ser- vices. 25
While the Chatham remained, Purtof's command occupied a position near the anchorage. Other par- ties of natives arrived from the interior of the bay and from Ltua, giving occasion for further feasting, presents, and exchange of hostages. The large num- ber of guns, and the abundance of lead and powder in the possession of these new arrivals, pointed to visits from European trading vessels, and at this very time the Jackall, Captain Brown, entered the bay in quest of furs, to the deep chagrin of Purtof.
24 The letters given to Purtof were even suspected for a while to be docu. ments intended to support English claims. See letter of Mme Shelikof, in Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 108 et seq.
25 Of this fear Vancouver knew nothing, for the Russians leaders were profuse in offers of services, even to the use of the ship-yard.
349
PRESENCE OF ENGLISHMEN.
As soon as the war-vessel departed, the treacherous Kaljushes assumed a threatening attitude, and delayed from day to day the promised delivery of additional hostages under various pretexts. At the same time the interpreters left with the savages at the beginning of the negotiations were held under strict surveill- ance, and not allowed to communicate with their countrymen. At last Purtof decided upon a display of force to support his demands for the surrender of his own men at least, and approached the village in bidarkas with all the armed men at his command. The squadron was reënforced by a boat with six armed men from the Jackall.26
The presence of the Englishmen had no doubt an effect, for the interview resulted in the surrender of a chief from Afognak Island, with a promise to deliver up the remaining hostages.
On the following day came eight men in a large bidar, bringing three more natives of Kadiak, but two were still detained. Fearing that foul play was intended, Purtof detained some relatives of the Yaku- tat chief, and carried the hostages whom he held from the Aglegmutes on board the Jackall for safe keep- ing. This reprisal proved effectual; the necessary exchange of hostages was made, and, after expressing his thanks to Captain Brown, Purtof took his party out of the bay of Yakutat with five hundred and fif- teen sea-otter skins obtained in a little over two weeks.
On the return voyage, while the expeditionary force was encamped on an island near Nuchek,27 Purtof despatched a letter to Repin, of the Lebedef Com- pany, informing him that he had explored the coast of the continent and pacified the natives of several villages by exchanging hostages. He offered to verify
26 Captain Brown's statement, as given by Vancouver, would make it appear that Purtof asked for assistance, but the latter states that the English joined of their own accord, 'though we tried to dissuade them from doing this, and did not require their assistance.' This was on July Ist.
27 Purtof persisted in calling this island Aglitzkoi, that is to say, English.
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STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.
this statement, and on the appearance of Samoïlof, the navigator of the Lebedef Company, allowed him to talk freely with the interpreters, and to copy a list of the villages and chiefs from whom he had obtained host- ages. This would seem to be a strange proceeding in view of the hostility between the two parties, but it was of the greatest importance for the Shelikof Company, at that juncture, to make good their claim of precedence on the continent, in view of the impending grant of exclusive imperial privileges.
The success of Purtof, who brought with him a promise from the Thlinkeet chief of a large supply of sea-otter skins for the next visit, resulted in the de- spatch of another expedition the following year, under Zaïkof, who commanded a sea-going vessel.28 The chief failed to fulfil his promise, and the Russians had to content themselves with the sea-otters captured by their native hunters on the bay. Four hundred skins were secured, and the hunters prepared to follow up their success, regardless of the manifest ill-feeling of the bay people, which threatened to become more bitter than during the former visit. What the result may have been is difficult to say, for just then two Aleuts were seized with small-pox, and panic-stricken the party hastened away.29 Zaïkof now steered in search of islands reported to exist between Kadiak and the continent to the east. He ranged for over a month to the southward and again to the north, until, sight- ing the snow-clad peaks of the Chugatsch alps and the Kenaï mountains, he was forced to admit the futility of his quest.
28 Seventeen Russians, besides natives, accompanied him.
29 La Pérouse noticed signs of the disease among the coast tribes, and Portlock assumes that they must have caught it from some vessel which had touched near Cape Edgecumbe. No person younger than 14 years bore the marks. Portlock's Voy., 272; Marchand, Voy., ii. 52-3.
CHAPTER XVI.
COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1794-1796.
MECHANICS AND MISSIONARIES ARRIVE AT PAVLOVSK-AMBITIOUS SCHEMES OF COLONIZATION-AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT FOUNDED ON YAKUTAT BAY-SHIPWRECK, FAMINE, AND SICKNESS-GOLOVNIN'S REPORT ON THE AFFAIRS OF THE SHELIKOF COMPANY-DISCONTENT OF THE MISSION- ARIES-COMPLAINTS OF THE ARCHIMANDRITE-FATHER MAKAR IN UNA- LASKA-FATHER JUVENAL IN KADIAK-DIVINE SERVICE AT THREE SAINTS-JUVENAL'S VOYAGE TO ILYAMNA-HIS RECEPTION AND MISSION- ARY LABORS-HE ATTEMPTS TO ABOLISH POLYGAMY-AND FALLS A VICTIM TO AN ILYAMNA DAMSEL-HE IS BUTCHERED BY THE NATIVES.
NOTWITHSTANDING the quarrels between rival trad- ing companies and occasional emeutes among the na- tives, caused in almost every instance by the greed of the Russians, colonization in Alaska had thus far been attended with fair success. The Russian seal-hunters had suffered no such hardships as did the Spanish settlers in Central America, the early colonists of New England, or the convict band that ten years after Captain Cook sailed from Nootka in quest of a north- east passage to Hudson's Bay founded on Port Jack- son the first city in Australasia. Apart from the seal fisheries, however, the resources of the country were as yet undeveloped. On the island of Kadiak was raised a scant crop of vegetables; at Voskressenski, as we have seen, was built the first vessel ever launched into the waters of the North Pacific; but throughout the settlements was felt a sore need of skilled labor, and in some of them, as Shelikof would have us believe, of missionaries to educate the natives and instruct
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352
COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
them in the true faith. Application was therefore made for clergymen and for exiles trained to handi- craft.1 The request was granted, and in August 1794 the Irekh Sviatiteli and the Ekaterina, two of the Shelikof Company's vessels,2 arrived at Pavlovsk with provisions, stores, implements, seeds, cattle, and a hun- dred and ninety-two persons on board, among whom were fifty-two craftsmen and agriculturists, and eigh- teen clergymen and lay servitors in charge of the archimandrite Ioassaf.3 "I present you," writes Sheli- kof to Baranof, "with some guests who have been se- lected by order of the empress to spread the word of God in America. I know that you will feel as great a satisfaction as I do that the country where I labored before you, and where you are laboring now for the glory of our country, sees in the arrival of these guests a hopeful prophecy of future prosperity." Shelikof's merits as teacher and pastor have already been related;4 the treatment which the missionaries received from his dram-drinking colleague will be mentioned later. Priests were not wanted among the promyshleniki, and if they sojourned in their midst must earn their daily bread as did the rest of the community. They might serve, however, to bring into more thorough subjection the docile Aleuts.
By the Ekaterina, Baranof received a lengthy com- munication from Shelikof and from Polevoi Golikof's representative, relating to the establishment of an ag- ricultural colony near Cape St Elias on Yakutat Bay. The instructions on this matter were to take the place
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