USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 60
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
620
ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.
would end in the sack of the town and the massacre of its inhabitants. The revenue steamer Wolcott was therefore ordered to Sitka from Port Townsend, and on the 18th of October her commander thus reports to the secretary of the treasury: "The situation of affairs here remains unchanged since the cutter Corwin left. The festival among the Indians is nothing new ; they have continued this fashion of holding an annual celebration similar to this one for years, and I learn from a reliable source that no trouble has ever come of it, or is there likely to now. They are noisy and boisterous in their mirth, and assume immense airs, and swagger around with some insolence, but never make any threats. Sitka Jack, the chief of the Sitka Indians, has recently built him a new house, and cele- brates the event on this occasion by inviting the rel- atives of his wife, numbering about thirty persons, from the Chilkaht tribe. These are all the Indians from abroad, which, with the five hundred Sitka Ind- ians, comprise the total number present. With the exception of the noise and mirth incident to these festivities, I am assured by the chiefs that there shall be no disturbance." 56
And there was none; nor has there since been any very serious trouble. In 1879 émeutes were threatened at Sitka and Fort Wrangell, but both were prevented, the former by the arrival of the British man-of-war Osprey, and the latter, which was merely a fray between two hostile tribes, by the arrival of a party of armed men from the United States steamer Jamestown.57 Since that time there have been occasional murders and attempts at murder, but less frequently, in proportion to the population,
56 Id., 128. Captain Selden, who wrote this report, was of opinion that the Sitkas, being entirely dependent on the sea-coast for the means of sub- sistence, and knowing the certainty of punishment if they displayed hos- tility toward the whites, feared the consequences too much to commit any depredations. The only depredations which they committed, worthy of men- tion, were carrying off the doors and windows of the government buildings, and tearing away a part of the stockade for firewood.
57 An account of the former affair is given in Beardslee's Rept. Affairs, Alaska, 4-6, and of the latter in the S. F. Bulletin of Feb. 2, 1880.
621
ABORIGINAL RULE.
than has been the case in some of the states and ter- ritories of the Pacific coast.
Considering that since the withdrawal of the troops the natives have been for the most part masters of the situation, they appear to have shown more forbear- ance than could reasonably be expected. It is true that they have often assumed an arrogant tone, have sometimes demanded and occasionally received black- mail from the white man when trouble was threat- ened;58 but this is not surprising. They had been ac- customed to stern treatment under Russian rule, to brutal treatment under American rule, and now that there was no rule, they found themselves living in company with Americans, Russians, creoles, China- men, Eskimos, men of all races, creeds, and colors, in a condition of primitive republican simplicity. They vastly outnumbered those of all other national- ities. Notwithstanding the regulations as to the sale of fire-arms, ammunition, and spirituous liquor, the Indians could always obtain these articles in exchange for peltry and other wares. They were seldom free from the craze of strong drink, and strong drink of the vilest description; the imported liquor sold to them was the cheapest and most poisonous compound man- ufactured in the United States, and the soldiers had taught them how to make a still more abominable compound for themselves.
Nearly all the troubles that have occurred with Indians, since the time of the purchase, may be traced directly or indirectly to the abuse of liquor. During the regime of the Russian American Company, rum was sold to them only on special occasions, and then in moderate quantities, but afterward the supply was limited only by the means of the purchaser. The excitement of a drunken and lascivious debauch be- came the one object in life for which the Indians lived, the one object for which they worked. While sober
58 See the report of the commander of the Osprey, published in the S. F. Bulletin, March 18, 1879.
622
ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.
they were tractable and sometimes industrious, and if they had sufficient self-denial, would remain sober long enough to earn money for a prolonged carousal. They would then plan their prasnik, as they termed it, deliberately, and of malice aforethought, and enjoy it as deliberately as did the English farm-laborer in the seventeenth century, when spirits were cheap and untaxed, and when for a single shilling he could soak his brains in alcohol for a week at a time at one of the road-side taverns, where signs informed the wayfarer that he could get well drunk for a penny, dead-drunk for twopence, and without further expense sleep off the effects of his orgy on the clean straw provided for him in the cellar.
Soon after the purchase, an order was issued by the president of the United States59 that all distilled spirits should be sent to department headquarters at Sitka and placed under control of General Davis-a wise proceeding, if we may judge from results-but the injunction was of no avail. In 1869 confiscated liquor was sold at auction by the collector of the port in the streets of Sitka. In the same year nine hundred gallons of pure alcohol, landed from the steamer New- bern and marked 'coal oil,' were seized by the in- spector; but for each gallon of alcohol or alcoholic liquor confiscated by the revenue officers, probably ten were smuggled into the territory,60 or were delivered under some pretext, at the sutler's stores. By the Newbern were also forwarded to Tongass and Fort Wrangell, during the same trip, ten barrels of distilled spirits, twenty of ale, and a large number of cases of porter and wine. The ship's papers showed that they were for the use of the officers; but as there were only four officers at Tongass and a single company of troops at Fort Wrangell, there is no doubt that they were
59 Under act of congress. See Colyer's Rept., 537, and app. H, 585.
60 ' During the summer season,' writes Morris, on April 14, 1877, ' the Alas- kan coast swarms with small vessels and canoes, navigated by desperate and lawless men, bent upon smuggling, illicit barter, and that especial curse to the natives-trading in ardent spirits.' Rept., 23.
623
SALE OF LIQUOR.
intended for sale at the Indian villages adjoining these posts. 61
In answer to a letter from the secretary of war in 1873, the attorney general of the United States de- clared officially that "Alaska was to be regarded as Indian country, and that no spirituous liquors or wines could be introduced into the territory without an order by the war department for that purpose." 62 In 1875 all permits for the sale of spirituous liquors in Alaska were revoked,63 and during the two remaining years of the military occupation, we learn of no serious disturb- ances among the natives.
The disorders that followed the withdrawal of the troops were due quite as much to white men as to Indians; and by both, the revenue laws and revenue officers were held in contempt. Of the disgraceful scenes that then ensued, I will give a single instance. Early in 1878 there were about two hundred and fifty miners at Fort Wrangell, waiting until the ice should form on the Stikeen River or navigation should become practicable. In a report dated February 23d of that year, the deputy collector of customs at Wrangell says: " While I was at Sitka another thing occurred at this port that puts to shame anything that has happened heretofore. A gang of rowdies and bum- mers have, for the past three months, been in the habit of getting on a drunken spree, and then at mid- night going about the town making the most hideous noises imaginable, disturbing everybody, and insult- ing those who complain of these doings. On the night of February 16th the incarnate devils started out about midnight, and after raising a commotion
61 Id., 537-8. The spirits were afterward seut to Sitka, through the inter- ference of Colyer.
62 Letter of Geo. H. Williams to W. W. Belknap, in Sen. Ex. Doc., 43d Cong. 2d Sess., 24. In Oct. 1874 the deputy collector at Wrangell was arrested by order of the officer in command for violating the rules on the im- portation of liquor. Alaska Her., Oct. 28th. On Jan. 7, 1875, the district court at Portland, in re John A. Carr on habeas corpus, held Carr to answer on a similar charge, and fixed his bail at $2,500. Portland Oregonian, Jan. 8, 1875. G3 Gen. Orders, Dept. Col., Jan. 21, 1875.
624
ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.
all over town, visited a house occupied by an Indian woman, gave her whiskey that made her beastly drunk, and then left. Shortly after their departure the house occupied by the woman was discovered to be in flames, and ere any assistance could be rendered the poor woman was burned to death." 64 It was feared that two months later there might be a thousand miners congregated at Wrangell; and the population of the Indian village was about double that number. As there was a plentiful supply of whiskey for the former, and of hootchenoo, or molasses-rum, for the latter, serious troubles were anticipated.
During the last five months of 1877, there were delivered at Sitka, from the steamer which carried the United States mail from Portland, 4,889 gallons of molasses, and at Fort Wrangell 1,635 gallons. Large quantities were also landed from other vessels, all for the purpose of making hootchenoo, the other ingre- dients used being flour, dried apples or rice, yeast powder, and sometimes hops. Sufficient water is added to make a thin batter, and after fermentation has taken place, a sour, muddy, highly alcoholic liquor is produced, of abominable taste and odor.65 From one gallon of the mixture nearly a gallon of hootche- noo is distilled, a pint of which is quite sufficient to craze the strongest brain.
Before the time of the purchase the art of making molasses-rum was unknown to the natives, but after the military occupation many of the soldiers became proprietors of hootchenoo stills, while others were in the habit of repairing for their morning dram to the Indian village outside the stockade at Sitka, where this liquor was sold at ten cents a glass.66 Occasional
6+ Report of I. C. Dennis in Morris's Rept., 4-5. The deputy collector states that he intends to stop the liquor traffic.
65 The process is described in Morris's Rept., 61-2. Petroff says that in 1880 the natives used Sandwich Island sugar for this purpose. Pop. Alaska, 13. Beardslee states that in 1879 a number of hootchenoo distilleries near Sitka were broken up. Rept. Affairs, Alaska, 16.
66 Morris's Rept., 62; and letter of I. C. Dennis in Puget Sound Argus, Nov. 23, 1877. 'And yet,' remarks the deputy collector, 'white men were ar-
625
HOOTCHENOO LIQUOR.
raids were made on the distilleries, and the proceeds detained until it could be settled by the proper authori- ties what should be done with them. What was done with them was seldom known, but it is certain that no real effort was made to check this evil, though pre- tended restrictions were sometimes placed on vendors of raw sugar and molasses.
At least, a considerable amount of revenue might have been derived from this source, enough, perhaps, if honestly collected, to offset a large part of the excess in disbursements over receipts, which has oc- curred each year since Sitka was declared a port of entry. Between July 1, 1869, and May 1, 1878, the receipts of the customs district of Alaska from all sources were $57,464.95, while the disbursements for the same period were $116,074.87. The operations of the Alaska Commercial Company, of which men- tion will be made later, were confined almost entirely to the Prybilof Islands, and have yielded an income to the United States sufficient to pay good interest on the purchase money. But the rent paid for the fur- seal islands since 1871, apart from the tax on furs, has barely covered the deficit of revenue in other por tions of the territory. Under these circumstances, it was recommended by the secretary of the treasury, in December 1877, that Sitka should be abolished as a port of entry,67 or, in other words, that Alaska should be left to take care of itself.
It would seem that a territory which for the five years ending May 1, 1876, paid into the United States treasury as rent for the Prybilof Islands, and tax on seal skins, more than $1,700,000,68 or nearly four and three quarters per cent a year on the purchase money,
rested, confined, and prosecuted on a charge of having introduced at Wran- gell a bottle of liquor.'
67 Rept. in House Ex. Doc., 45th Cong. 2d Sess., xxx. The receipts and disbursements of the customs district of Alaska between July 1, 1869, and May 1, 1878, are given in detail, for each year, in Morris's Rept., 11-12.
68 Fernando Wood's Rept., Alaska Com. Co., in House Com. Repts, 44th Cong. 1st Sess., app. C, 19.
HIST. ALASKA. 40
626
ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.
deserved a better fate. It is at least the only territory that yields, or ever has yielded, any direct revenue; and yet, notwithstanding all the bills and petitions laid be- fore congress for its organization, it was without gov- ernment, and almost without protection.
" I recommend civil government," writes General Howard to the secretary of war, in 1875, "by attaching Alaska to Washington Territory as a county, as the simplest solution of all difficulties in the case." 69 In a despatch to the secretary of the navy, dated January 22, 1880, the commander of the Jamestown, then sta- tioned at Sitka, remarks: "A court should be estab- lished possessing full power to summon a jury and try and settle all minor cases of delinquency on the spot, and with power to make arrests and inflict punishment of fine or imprisonment. For offences of magnitude this court should have full power to take all testimony, which should be received by the United States court at Portland as final .... The land here should be sur- veyed and existing titles perfected and protected, and it made possible to transfer real estate."70 " Either the civil laws of the United States should be ex- tended over the Indians," remarks Colyer, "or a code
69 In the same year a bill was introduced by Senator Mitchell, and one in 1876 by Delegate Garfielde (from Washington Ter.), for this purpose. In Cong. Globe, 1875-6, 194, it is stated that the latter bill was referred to com- mittee, but nothing came of either of them. In 1867 a bill to organize the territory was introduced by James M. Ashley, House Jour., 40th Cong. 1st Sess., 269, and one in 1871 to provide a 'temporary civil organization for the territory.' U. S. Sen. Jour., 566, and House Rept., 2944. In ISSO a bill was before congress for organizing the territory. On December 13, 1881, it was resolved in the senate, 'that the committee on territories be instructed to in- quire as to the expedieney of organizing civil government in Alaska.' U. S. Sen. Jour., 47th Cong. 1st Sess., 96. In the same session a senate joint reso- lution authorizing the president to declare martial law in Alaska was read twiee and referred, Id., 1281; and a bill for establishing courts of justice and record in the territory was read twice, referred, and reported on unfa- vorably. Id., 1162. During this session a petition of the citizens of south- eastern Alaska for a territorial government, a resolution of the San Francisco board of trade in favor of the introduction of civil law, and a memorial of the Portland (Or.) board of trade in favor of the establishment of territorial gov- ernment were presented, of course with the usual result.
70 Beardslee's Rept., 34. On page 14 of this report Beardslee says: 'There are a number of miners, mining engineers, and others, etc., who are desirous of settling in Sitka and bringing their families. If they could preempt land here, or purchase land and houses from the government, the place would take a step forward; this they cannot do.'
627
GOVERNMENT NEEDED.
of laws at once adopted defining crime and providing a judiciary and a police force to execute it."71 "What this country wants is law, and without it she will never flourish and prosper," remarks I. C. Dennis, on resigning his position as deputy collector at Wrangell in 1878. " I have acted in the capacity of arbitrator, adjudicator, and peace-maker until forbearance has ceased to be a virtue. Within the past month one thousand complaints by Indians have been laid before me for settlement, and as I am neither Indian agent nor justice of the peace, I decline the honor of patch- ing up Indian troubles."
The main obstacle in the establishment of some form of civil government for Alaska appears to have been the difficulty in reconciling the conflicting claims of the several sections, separated as they are by a vast extent of territory, and having few interests in common. South-eastern Alaska has mines, timber, and fisheries, though it is not probable that any of these resources except the last will receive much attention in the near future. On Cook Inlet in Kadiak, on the Alaskan peninsula, and on the Aleutian Islands there are also mines and fisheries, but fur-hunting is still the lead- ing industry. In the far north, on the banks of the Yukon, now almost deserted by white men, salmon canneries may be established at no distant day, which will rival those of the Columbia River; while at the Prybilof Islands, the catch of fur-seals produces at present a larger aggregate of wealth than all the other industries of the territory combined.
In 1883 Alaska was but a customs district, with a collector and a few deputies. For laws, the territory had the regulations made by the secretary of the treasury; and for protection, the presence of a single war-vessel, the crew of which was sometimes employed as a police force among the settlements of the Alex- ander Archipelago.
71 Rept., 560-1. Colyer recommends that the savage tribes be put on reser- vations, but this would seem impracticable.
628
ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.
From St Paul to Sitka the distance is but five hun- dred and fifty miles, and from Iluiliuk in Unalaska about a thousand miles; and yet the deputies at both of these stations could rarely report to the collector ex- cept by way of San Francisco, nearly twenty degrees to the south of either point. The mail service estab- lished between Sitka and Port Townsend extended only to Fort Wrangell and Harrisburg, and in some parts of the territory the visit of a whaling-vessel or revenue cutter afforded until recently the only means of communication with the outside world.72
Among the wants of Alaska, remarks a special agent of the census of 1880, are "a gradual but sys- tematic exploration of the interior, and an immediate survey of the coast and harbors of the region now constantly frequented by trading and fishing vessels, in order to prevent the alarmingly frequent occur- rence of wrecks upon unknown rocks and shoals."73 The navigation of the Alaskan coast is in many parts extremely intricate, and as yet reliable charts exist only for a few sections. Some progress has been made in this direction, however, since the purchase, and as I have already observed, we may in the remote fu- ture possess reliable charts for the entire coast and more definite information as to the interior.
In 1867 an expedition organized by the treasury department sailed from San Francisco on board the revenue steamer Lincoln, and during the summer passed several months in exploring and obtaining in- formation concerning the newly purchased country.
72 In 1869 the United States senate resolved that the committee on post- offices inquire as to the expediency of establishing a mail service between Portland and Alaska. Sen. Jour., 41st Cong. 1st Sess., p. 77. Mail statistics for 1876-7 are given by the postmaster-gen. in Rept., 44th Cong. 2d Sess., and in House Ex. Doc., 45th Cong. 2d Sess., vii. part ii. There are no overland mails. During the latter part of the Russian occupation there appears to have been regular overland communication. In 1857 the agent at Saint Michael was instructed to send an overland mail to Sitka by way of Cook Inlet and Kadiak. In the previous year the mail had arrived safely and in good order. Sitka Archives, i. 264.
73 Ivan Petroff, in Internat. Rev., Feb. 1882, 122-3.
629
EXPLORING PARTIES.
Among the members was George Davidson, who was placed in charge of the coast survey party, and whose report was printed by order of congress, and forms a most valuable memoir.74
In 1869 a party was sent to the Yukon River, in charge of Charles W. Raymond, for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's trade in that district, and the quantity of goods forwarded from British territory ; also to obtain information concerning the sources of the Yukon and its tributaries, and the disposition of the tribes in its neighborhood.75 In 1871-2 W. H. Dall surveyed the Aleutian and Shumagin Islands and located several new harbors.76 In 1879 a valuable set of charts of Sitka Sound was forwarded to the bureau of navi- gation by L. A. Beardslee, the commander of the Jamestown.77 Thus some little effort has been made toward the survey and exploration of the territory, if none as yet toward its development.
14 U. S. Coast Survey, 40th Cong. 2d Sess., app. 18, p. 187. The personnel of the expedition is given in Id., 198-9. The most interesting parts of the report, relating to climate, vegetable productions, fisheries, timber, and fur- bearing animals, were republished in the Coast Pilot of Alaska (Washington, 1869). Some valuable collections in natural history and ethnology were sup- plied by Davidson and others to the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 43.
15 The report is published in Sen. Doc., 42d Cong. 1st Sess., 12. In 1880 a partial exploration of the Chilkat River was made by a private party. An account of it is given in Bancroft Library Scraps, 190-2.
76 Fourteen according to Rept. Coast Survey, 1872, 49, but most of them were known before, at least to the Russians. In Id., 1873, 122, is given the height of a number of mountains as estimated by Dall, who gives as the height of Mount Shishaldin in Oonimak, 8,683 feet. Alphonse Pinart, a French scientist, attempted its ascent in September 1872, but after attaining, as he relates, a height of 8,782 feet, was confronted by almost perpendicular walls of ice. Voy., 13. During a canoe voyage from Unalaska to Kadiak, he stopped at an island which he calls Vozoychenski (probably Vosnessensky), where he met an Aleut, who was said to be 120 years of age, and remembered the time the Russians took possession of the country. Id., 15.
77 Beardslee claims that his officers discovered a better channel into Sitka Harbor than any before known. Rept. Affairs, Alaska, 9.
CHAPTER XXIX.
COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.
1868-1884.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS-COST OF COLLECTING REVENUE-THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY-SMUGGLING-THE ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY-IT OBTAINS A LEASE OF THE PRYBILOF ISLANDS-THE TERMS OF THE CON- TRACT-REMUNERATION AND TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES-THEIR MODE OF LIFE-INVESTIGATION INTO THE COMPANY'S MANAGEMENT-STATE- MENTS OF ROBERT DESTY-AND OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY- INCREASE IN THE VALUE OF FURS-REMARKS OF H. W. ELLIOTT- LANDING OF THE FUR-SEALS-THEIR COMBATS-METHOD OF DRIVING AND SLAUGHTERING-CURING, DRESSING, AND DYEING-SEA-OTTERS- LAND PELTRY.
THE exports from California to Siberia amounted for the year ending June 30, 1883, to a very large sum, and were greatly in excess of the amount for the previous year. The imports for 1883 were valued at $2,887,200, and never exceeded in any year $3,000,- 000. There is probably no country in the world hold- ing commercial relations with which the balance of trade is so largely in favor of the United States.
The commerce between Alaska and other portions of the Pacific coast is insignificant, but will probably increase now that congress has put that territory within pale of the law. As is the case with Siberia, however, imports are largely in excess of exports.
During the existence of the Russian American Company it will be remembered that trade became every term more considerable, and yielded each year a moderate revenue to the imperial government. There is little doubt that, were any considerable ( 630 )
631
STATISTICS OF REVENUE.
portions of the territory surveyed and open to preëmp- tion, its resources are sufficient, apart from the seal- grounds, to attract capital and population, and hence to develop traffic. For a year or two after the mili- tary occupation there was a fair amount of commerce, but subsequently for a time the fees and duties of the entire district about sufficed to pay the salary of a sin- gle deputy collector.
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.