USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 65
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
"Fort Wrangell," writes one who visited that set- tlement in 1883, "is a fit introduction to Alaska. It is most weird and wild of aspect. It is the key-note to the sublime and lonely scenery of the north. It is situated at the foot of conical hills, at the head of a gloomy harbor filled with gloomy islands. Frowning cliffs, beetling crags stretch away on all sides sur- rounding it. Lofty promontories guard it, backed by range after range of sharp volcanic peaks, which in turn are lost against lines of snowy mountains. It is
16 As far as Telegraph Point, a distance of about 130 miles. Thence a land journey awaited them of about 180 miles to the lower and 240 miles to the upper gold-fields. This was usually made on foot.
679
FORT TONGASS AND HARRISBURG.
the home of storms. You see that in the broken pines on the cliff sides, in the fierce, wave-swept rocks, in the lowering mountains, and in the sullen skies. There is not a bright touch in it-not in its straggling lines of native huts, each with its demon-like totem beside its threshold; nor in the fort, for that is dilap- idated and fast sinking into decay; not even in the flag, for the blue is a nondescript tint, and the glory of the stars has long since departed." 17
On a small island at the mouth of the Portland Canal, and close to the southern boundary of Alaska, is Fort Tongass, the first military post established by the United States government after the purchase. The site was well chosen, containing a plentiful supply of timber and pasture, while fish and game abound in the neighborhood.
At the foot of a perpendicular bluff fifteen hundred feet in height, and about two hundred miles north of Sitka, is the town of Harrisburg, or Juneau, the lat- ter name, and the name now commonly in use, being that of one of the discoverers of a mining district,18 of which mention will be made later. In. 1883 this was probably the most thriving settlement in Alaska, con- taining in winter about a thousand inhabitants, and before that date the mail service between Port Towns- end, Wrangell, and Sitka had been extended to Har- risburg, the last being the most northerly point from which the United States mails were distributed.
Passing from the Alexander Archipelago westward to Cook Inlet and Kadiak, we find at the former point few remaining traces of Russian civilization. A short distance from Port Chatham is the settlement of Sel- . dovia,19 with about seventy native and creole hunters,
17 Overland Monthly, March, 1884.
18 In the S. F. Bulletin, Feb. 1, 1883, it is stated that Juno (Juneau) was one of the discoverers of the district, and that it was also called Rock- well, the name of the acting officer of the Jamestown.
19 Between Port Chatham and Seldovia is Alexandrovsk, a settlement with about 40 hunters.
680
AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.
and a few leagues north of it the village of Ninilchik, where dwell thirty Russian and creole descendants of the colonial citizens, who subsist mainly by agriculture and stock-raising. Close to it is the mouth of a small river, the waters of which discharge, or are rather filtered into the sea through the bar that chokes its outlet. In former years this was a favorite spawning- ground for salmon, which still attempt to leap the bar in vast numbers, many of them failing to gain the stream beyond, and being gathered up by the settlers, who select only the choicest.20
L:
P.Banks
SHUIAKI.
E
Param
00 Bay Bay
an
İkkhagmute
Kukak Bay
AFOGNAK: I. /
MARMOT
E. Bochare
Afognak
5
POoganok B
St.Paul
Ortak Bay
Ogiak9
Barome
Lesnova
Karluk:
Chiniak
Kuiukuk
C.Ikolik
Killuda
AL
Akhiak o
SITKHALIDAF
Bay
Alitak B.
Kug
South C.
úink
R
TUGIDAKS PETER
GOOSEI.
O
TRINITY IS.
EŞITKHINAK
MAP OF KADIAK AND ADJACENT ISLANDS.
The islands of Kadiak and Afognak, 'the garden spots of Alaska,' as they are termed, enjoy more sun- shine and fair weather than any portion of the terri- tory, with the exception, perhaps, of some favored localities on Cook Inlet. Here are found, in parts, rich pastures dotted with woodlands,21 and covered, during summer, with a carpet of wild flowers. When the Russians were compelled to remove their capital from Saint Paul to Sitka, they did so with extreme re-
20 Petroff's Pop. Alaska, 37, where is a description of other settlements in Cook Inlet.
21 The timber is much inferior to that in the neighborhood of Sitka. Davidson's Sci. Exped., 473.
C.Greville
Mt
Wrangell B.
SPRUCE I
Yelovoi
Three sunt
SAJAKHATALIK
681
ST PAUL.
luctance, for the former, as Dall remarks, "deserves far more than Sitka the honor of being the capital."22
The village of Saint Paul, or Kadiak, contained in 1880 about four hundred inhabitants,23 a large propor- tion of whom were creoles. Here were built the stores and warehouses of the Alaska Commercial Company, the Western Fur and Trading Company,2ª and the barracks formerly occupied by the United States troops. While a garrison was stationed at this point, bridges were built across the rivulets that inter- sect the village, and culverts to drain the neighboring lakes and marshes; but so little enterprise had the in- habitants that after the withdrawal of the soldiers no attempt was made to keep them in repair. The cul- verts were washed away, and the bridges allowed to rot, except those which were used for fire-wood. The houses are built of logs, the crevices being filled with moss, but are clean and comfortable. The people are probably better circumstanced than those of their own status in other portions of America. Labor is in demand and fairly paid; food is cheap and abundant; there are no paupers in their midst, no lawyers or tax collectors; and all are at liberty to make use of unoccupied land.
At Wood Island, opposite to Saint Paul, is a thriv- ing settlement, the inhabitants of which support them- selves in summer by hunting, and in winter by cutting
22 In 1874 the Icelandic Society in Milwaukee sent a petition to the presi- dent of the United States, asking that facilities be afforded for exploring por- tions of Alaska, with a view to colonization. Three commissioners were appointed by the society, and a sloop of war placed at their disposal, in which the party was conveyed to Cook Inlet. Finding there no suitable location, they were taken to St Paul. Here they found plenty of pasture and tillable land, and were so well pleased that they made no further search. Two of them remained until the following summer to make preparations for the recep- tion of their countrymen, but a winter's residence in their adopted country appears to have disgusted them. The winter of 1874-5 was exceptionally severe, and an outbreak of measles spread havoc among the natives. The commissioners returned in July, and nothing came of the matter. Bancroft Library Scraps, 232. See also Sec. U. S. Navy Rept., 43d Cong. 2d Sess., p. 14-15.
23 Petroff gives the population at only 288, but his estimate was made somewhat earlier.
24 Afterward removed to St Paul Island.
682
AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.
and storing ice. In order to develop the latter indus- try was built the first road constructed in Alaska, comprising the circuit of the island, a distance of about thirteen miles.
A few versts farther to the north-west is Spruce Island, on which is a village containing about eighty creoles. "Here," says Tikhmenef, "died the last mem- ber of the first clerical mission, the monk Herman, and was buried side by side with the Hieromonakh Joassaf. During his life-time Father Herman built near his dwelling a school for the daughters of the natives, and also cultivated potatoes"!
The village of Three Saints, where, it will be remem- bered, Shelikof landed from a vessel of that name in 1784, and founded the pioneer colony in Russian America, now contains about three hundred inhab- itants. There were in Shelikof's days the finest sea- otter grounds, and are now perhaps the finest halibut grounds in Alaska.
The village of Afognak, on the island of the same name, separated by a narrow channel from the northern shore of Kadiak, is one of the most thriving settlements in Alaska. Though mountainous, and in some parts thickly wooded, the cutting of timber and fire-wood being one of the chief industries, it contains many spots suitable for pasture and agriculture. Boat-building is also a profitable occupation. Many of the inhab- itants, who now muster about three hundred and fifty, live in substantial frame houses, this being one of the few places in the territory where any considerable number of dwellings other than log huts are to be found.25
The principal port in the Aleutian group is Illiuliuk, or, as it is sometimes called, Unalaska,26 on the island
25 For a short description of the remaining settlements in the Kadiak and other districts as they were at the time of the last census, see Petroff's Pop. Alaska, passim. Want of space forbids my mentioning any but the more prominent settlements, and those about which there is something of interest to relate.
26 Spelt also Oonalashka, and otherwise.
683
UNALASKA.
of the latter name. Its main recommendation is that it possesses one of the best harbors in Alaska, and it is probable that it will always remain, as it is to-day, the chief centre of trade for this district. Nevertheless, the population of Illiuliuk is little more than four hun- dred, and of the island from six to seven hundred. Most of them are hunters by occupation, for so rugged is the coast and so deeply indented that there is little room for other pursuits.27 Brought frequently into contact with foreigners, and especially with Amer- icans, they are perhaps among the most enlightened
OONIMAK I.
AKUN
AKUTANT
whichagof
SEMICHEE
IS
KIAHKA I.
NITALIKH
KUNAGA
A
SIGUAM
SITKHINE
AMCIA I:
RAT I. GORELOL I.
ATKHA
AMCHITKA
ADAKH
KAGALAKSA
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
of their race. More than half of them can read and write, and it is said that on festive occasions, as on the 4th of July, their exploits in wrestling, dancing, and foot-racing surpass anything that can be witnessed elsewhere in the territory.
Under the volcano of Makushin, in a small settle- ment of the same name on the western coast of Una- laska, lived, in 1880, a man named Peter Kostromitin,
27 Id., and Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 303. The island of Sannakh and its vicinity is their favorite hunting ground.
SEMISOPOCHNOM
Kormin Bau
Nuran'
IĞINADAKI
5
OUMNAK I.
BULDYR
N
AMUKHTAI.
YUNASKA
KAGAMIL
Nikolaky
CHAPOLIAGA
KIGALGIN
A
OONALASHKA
AVATANOK
TY TYTANNAKHI YUNAKHI.
684
AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.
who witnessed, about sixty years before that date, a volcanic eruption, during which a new island made its appearance to the north of Oumnak.28 On the 10th of March, 1825, a violent disturbance occurred at Oonimak, which is thus described by Veniaminof: " After a prolonged subterraneous noise, resembling a cannonade, which lasted almost an entire day, and was heard at Unalaska, the north-eastern mountain chain of Oonimak opened in the middle of the day, in five or more places, for a considerable distance, accompa- nied with eruptions of flame and great quantities of black ashes, which covered the whole extent of Alaska29 to the depth of several inches. In the neighboring localities on the peninsula it was dark for three or four hours. On this occasion the ice and snow lying on the top of the chain melted, and a con- siderable stream flowed from it for several days, the width of which was five to ten versts. These waters ran down the eastern side of the island in such volume that the sea in the vicinity was of a mud color until late in the autumn."30 Some of the islands on the coast of Alaska are unmistakably of volcanic origin, and it is the received opinion of geologists that the greater portion of the Alaskan peninsula is being gradually raised by Plutonic action. Nevertheless, though between 1700 and 1867 many earthquakes and violent eruptions are reported,31 none of them have proved very destructive, the last severe earth- quake shock having occurred in 1880, and being se- verely felt at Sitka, though causing no damage worthy of mention.
28 I have an account of this phenomenon as related by Kostromitin in his Early Times, MS., 6-10, but it will not bear quoting. There is no doubt, however, that he witnessed it.
29 The peninsula, of course.
30 Zapiski ob Ost. Ounalashk, i. 35-6. In Id., i. 37-9, 205-7, are accounts of other eruptions and earthquakes. See also Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 295, 312, 330, and Whymper's Alaska, 105.
$1 A list of them is given in Dall's Alaska, 466-470. Grewink, the Rus- sian geographer, laid down between Cook Inlet and the island of Attoo, 48 active volcanoes. Davidson's Sci. Exped., 475.
685
ST MICHAEL.
Of the Innuit races that people the neighborhood of Bristol Bay and the Kuskovkim Valley, no men- tion is required in this chapter. Sailing in a north- easterly direction from the Prybilof Islands we find, close to the southern shore of Norton Sound, the old port and trading post of Mikhaïelovsk, or as it is now termed St Michael,32 founded, as will be remem- bered, by Tebenkof, during Wrangell's administration. Here was the chief mart of trade in the district of the Yukon, for no sea-going vessel can enter the mouth of this vast river, the volume of whose waters is said to be greater than that of the Mississippi. Of St Michael, Whymper remarks: "It is not merely the best point for a vessel to touch at in order to land goods for the interior, including that great tract of country watered by the Yukon, but it has been and is, to a great extent, a central port for Indian trade, and for the collection of furs from distant and interior posts. The inhabitants of the fort-all servants of the company-were a very mixed crowd, including pure Russians and Finlanders, Yakutz from Eastern Siberia, Aleuts from the islands, and creoles from all parts. They were not a very satisfactory body of men; in point of fact, it is said that some of them had been criminals, who had been convicted at St Petersburg, and offered the alternative of going to prison or into the service of the Russian American Company! We found them-as did Zagoskin years before-much given to laziness and drunkenness. Fortunately their opportunity for this latter indul- gence was limited, usually to one bout a year, on the arrival of the Russian ship from Sitka with their supplies; while the 'provalishik,' Mr Stephanoff, the commander of this fort, who had charge of the whole district, stood no nonsense with them, and was ever ready to make them yield assistance. His arguments were of a forcible character. I believe the knout
32 For a description of this post as it now exists, see S. F. Chronicle, June 26, 1881, and S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 16, 1881.
686
AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.
formed no part of his establishment, but he used his fists with great effect !" 33
Since the purchase little attention has been given to the Yukon district, or to the territory of the In- galiks.34 At St Michael and an adjoining Innuit vil- lage, at Nulato, and at Fort Yukon, the total popula- tion mustered, in 1879, only three hundred and eighty souls, of whom all but eleven were natives. The site of Fort Yukon on the verge of the Arctic zone, where the thermometer sometimes rises above 100 of Fahrenheit in summer and sinks occasionally to 55° below zero in winter,35 was in 1867 one of the cleanliest of the Russian settlements. At this, the northernmost point in Alaska inhabited by white men, the Russians appear to have established friendly rela- tions with the natives. "Each male," says Whym- per, "on arrival at the fort, received a present of a small cake of tobacco and a clay pipe; and those who were out of provisions drew a daily ration of moose- meat from the commander, which rather taxed the resources of the establishment." Game and fish were the principal diet of both Russians and natives, for during the greater portion of the year, bread and veg- etables were seldom to be had, though it has fre- quently been stated that vegetables can be raised in abundance during the brief hot summer of the Yukon valley.
33 Alaska, 152-4. Dall, who passed through this settlement about the same time, says: 'Stepánoff has been in office about four years. He is a middle- aged man of great energy and iron will, with the Russian fondness for strong liquor, and with ungovernable passions in certain directions. He has a sol- dier's contempt for making money by small ways, a certain code of honor of his own, is generous in his own way, and seldom does a mean thing when he is sober, but nevertheless is a good deal of a brute. He will gamble and drink in the most democratic way with his workmen, and bears no malice for a black eye when received in a drunken brawl; but woe to the unfortunate who infringes discipline while he is sober, for he shall certainly receive his reward, and Stepánoff often says of his men, when speaking to an American, "You can expect nothing good of this rabble: they left Russia because they were not wanted there."'
3} The natives that inhabit the far interior.
85 Dall's figures are 112° + and 69° - as extremes. Alaska, 105.
687
PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL.
A vast amount of nonsense, as Whymper remarks, has been published and republished in the United States on the agricultural resources of Alaska. Dall, for instance, assures us that potatoes, turnips, lettuce, and other garden vegetables were raised at Fort Yukon,36 but his statement lacks confirmation.
Berries and the hardier class of vegetables are the only produce of which the soil is capable, even in favored localities, and though numberless and patient attempts were made to raise cereals, during and after the Russian occupation, nearly all proved a failure. A scant crop of barley may mature in a few localities in exceptional seasons, and both wheat and barley will grow in many portions of the territory, but barley seldom kernels, and wheat never.37 Potatoes, cab- bages, turnips, lettuce, radishes, and horse-radish are produced in many parts of the territory, but cabbages often fail to head. On Kadiak, Afognak, and Prince of Wales islands, at Fort Wrangell and Bristol Bay, potatoes of fair quality can be raised in favorable sea- sons, but are often a partial or total failure, and when they mature are, in common with other vegetables, for the most part watery. 33
A fair crop of hay is often secured at Kadiak39 and at some other points, where cattle and sheep are raised. Live-stock were supplied to some of the Aleuts free of charge early during the company's régime, but most
36 Ibid.
37 Oats were raised near Ninilchik Bay (between the redoubt St Nikolaï and Kachekmak Bay) in 1855. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 322-3. Petroff says that in ISSO potatoes and turnips, the latter of excellent quality, were raised there. Pop. Alaska, 37.
38 Khlebnikof, Zapiski, in Materialui, 126-7, claims that mealy and good- flavored potatoes were raised at Sitka on ground manured with sea-weed, the crop being in some places 12 or 14 to one, but there is no confirmation of this statement. Wrangell states that in 1831, 2,424 pouds were raised at Sitka. Statist. und Ethnog., 12-13; but says nothing as to their quality. According to Petroff's Pop. Alaska, 76, nearly 100 acres of potatoes and turnips were raised at Afognak in 1880. Tikhmenef says that attempts to raise vegetables on the Prybilof Islands usually failed. Istor. Obos., ii. 310; but in Elliott's Seal- Islands, Alaska, 12, it is mentioned that lettuce, turnips, and radishes were raised at St Paul Island in 1880.
39 Golovnin, in Materialui, 54, says that the Aleuts were too lazy to turn the hay or place it under shelter.
688
AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.
of them perished from want of care. The Aleuts, be- ing accustomed to a diet of fish, did not relish milk or flesh, and regarded animals as a nuisance. The cows were kept in corners used for storing salmon, and knocked down with their horns the poles on which the fish were suspended, trampling them under foot;40 while pigs undermined the natives' huts by scratching out the earth in search of refuse, and goats climbed on the roofs and tore away the thatch.
The cattle sent to Alaska during the Russian occu- pation were of the hardiest Siberian stock, but even in 1883 the herds seldom mustered more than twenty head; though beef-cattle are often sent from San Francisco to fatten at Kadiak or the Aleutian Islands, and are slaughtered in October. Horses and mules are of course little valued in a territory where there are few roads, and where, as in Venice, travel is al- most entirely by water. Sheep thrive well during the short, hot summer, especially on the nutritious grasses of the Kadiak pastures, and at this season their mut- ton is of choice quality ; but in winter they are crowded together in dark, sheltered corners, whence they crawl out, in early spring, weak and emaciated.41
Among the resources of the territory, timber will probably be an important factor in the future, though of course in the distant future; for, so long as the im- mense forests of Oregon, Washington Territory, and British Columbia are available, those of Alaska can
40 As early as 1795 there was a small supply of live-stock in Alaska, and in that year cows were sent from Kadiak to Unalaska. No butter was made in the Russian colonies until 1831, when 20 pouds were produced. Veniaminof, Zapiski, Ost. Ounalashk, 71. In 1833 the Russian American Company had 220 head of horned eattle, apart from those at the Ross colony. Wrangell, Stat- ist. und Ethnog., 18. In 1823 a pair of pigs was landed at Chemobura Island (between Sannakh and Deer islands); in 1826 they had increased to more than a hundred. Chickens were kept by many Russians and Aleuts, but in small number. Two pairs of ducks were landed at Unalaska in 1833, and in the following year had increased to 100.
11 A few years ago Falkner, Bell & Co. of San Francisco sent about 150 sheep of the hardiest breed. in charge of a Scotch shepherd, to Colina, Kadiak, a spot formerly selected by the Russians for farming purposes. The flock thrived remarkably in summer, but most of them perished during winter.
689
LUMBER.
have little commercial value. There are at present no exports of lumber, or none worthy of mention, while several cargoes are shipped yearly to the Aleutian Islands from Puget Sound, and even from San Fran- cisco.
Forests clothe the valleys and mountain sides of the Alexander Archipelago and the mainland adjacent, and are found at intervals throughout the territory between Cross Sound and the Kenaï Peninsula. Thence the timber belt extends westward and north- ward at a distance of fifty to more than one hundred miles from the coast, as far as the valley of the Yukon. A little beyond this point the timber line practically ceases, though clumps of stunted trees are met with along the banks of rivers that discharge into Kotzebue Sound and even into the Arctic.
Spruce is the most abundant timber in Alaska, and attains its largest growth in the islands of the Alex- ander Archipelago. On account of the slow growth of the trees, the boards, after being put through the saw-mill, are found to be full of knots, and when sub- jected to heat, exude gum or resin. Hence they are not in demand for cabinet or other work where paint or varnish is applied. The hemlock-spruce is plen- tiful, and its bark may be in demand for tanneries, when, as is already threatened, the supplies of Cali- fornia oak bark become exhausted. The white spruce abounds in the Yukon district, and for spars has no superior, though for masts most of it is too slender. Houses built of this material will last, when the logs are seasoned, for more than twenty years, and when green for about fifteen years.
The most valuable timber is yellow cedar, which is found on some of the islands in the Alexan- der Archipelago and in the neighborhood of Sitka, and frequently attains a height of one hundred feet, with a diameter of five or six feet.42 This wood is in
42 Davidson, Sci. Exped., 471, says that trees have been found near Sitka 175 feet in height.
HIST. ALASKA. 44
690
AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.
demand by ship-builders and cabinet-makers on account of its fine texture, durable quality, and aromatic odor. The clumps of birch, poplar, maple, willow, and alder found in some parts of the territory have little value, though the inner bark of the willow is used for mak- ing twine for fishing-nets, and both willow and alder bark are used for coloring deer-skins. 43
There were, in 1880, only three saw-mills in opera- tion throughout the territory-one at Sitka, one near the northern point of Prince of Wales Island, and one at Wood Island. All of them were closed during a portion of the year. The first two were established mainly to supply the limited demand for lumber at Fort Wrangell and Sitka, and the last principally for the making of sawdust for use in packing ice. In this and other branches of industry, as in the manufacture of bricks, flour, leather, machinery, and especially in ship-building, there is less activity in Alaska at the present day than there was during the Russian occu- pation.44
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.