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diff --git a/31862.txt b/31862.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e88673 --- /dev/null +++ b/31862.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2842 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Sitka, by C. L. Andrews + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Sitka + The Historic Outpost of the Northwest Coast + +Author: C. L. Andrews + +Release Date: April 2, 2010 [EBook #31862] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF SITKA *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.com + + + + + + + + + +THE STORY OF SITKA + +THE HISTORIC OUTPOST OF THE NORTHWEST COAST + +THE CHIEF FACTORY OF THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY + +By + +C. L. ANDREWS + +Seattle, Washington + +PRESS OF + +Lowman & Hanford Co. + +SEATTLE + + + + +CONTENTS + + Foreword 1 + I Discovery 7 + II Settlement 13 + III Progress of the Colony 27 + IV Natives 45 + V Churches and Schools 54 + VI Social Life 60 + VII Trade and Industry 66 + VIII Sitka under United States Rule 77 + IX What to See 92 + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + Facing Page + Lovers' Lane 1 + Mount Edgecumbe 11 + Sitka in 1805 25 + Bakery and Shops of the Russians 36 + The Ranche 46 + Cathedral of St. Michael 54 + The Madonna 56 + The Baranof Castle 60 + The Grave of Princess Maksoutoff 62 + Sitka in 1860 66 + Sitka in 1869 77 + Sitka--East on Lincoln Street 93 + Interior of Cathedral 95 + Russian Blockhouse 100 + Map of Sitka 108 + + + + +TO MY MOTHER + +THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY + +DEDICATED + +THE AUTHOR + +Copyright 1922 + +By C. L. ANDREWS + +Seattle, Wash. + + + + +[Illustration: Lovers' Lane, Sitka.] + + + + +SITKA + +Foreword + + +The panorama of sea, island, and mountain, which holds Sitka, Alaska, as +a jewel in its setting, is one of the most beautiful of those which +surround the cities of the world. Toward the sea from the peninsula on +which Sitka is situated stretches an expanse of waters, studded with +forest-clad islands which break the swell of the Pacific that foams and +tumbles on the outer barriers. To the westward Mount Edgecumbe lifts its +perfect cone, its summit truncated by the old crater whose fires have +been dead for centuries; to the northward Harbor peak lifts its signal +to mariners; the Sisters, with a gleam of snow and ice among their +pinnacles, lie in the distance of Indian River; to the east is the +arrowhead of Mount Verstovia; the glaciers glisten beyond; and the sweep +of mist-clad mountains, in their softness, beyond the bay to the +southeast completes the circle. + +Radiating like the spokes of a wheel, waterways with historic memories +reach out from the town. Krestof Bay, where the early navigators cast +anchor; Neva Strait, commemorating the first Russian ship that visited +Sitka from around the world; Katleanski Bay, on which was situated Old +Sitka; Silver Bay, a Norwegian fjord transplanted to Alaska; Lisianski +Bay, named for the Russian navigator of a century ago; the inlet at +Ozerskoe Redoubt and Globokoe (Deep) Lake; the island-studded way to the +Hot Springs; each with its individual charm; the ocean, with the deep, +rich, marine tints of northern waters; the forest of blue, that folds +like a robe over the mountains; the mountain summits beside the +glaciers, clad in the exquisitely wonderful green of the Northland, all +are delightful. But when the sun sinks low in the west, with the long, +lingering twilight of the North, and the soft, delicate rays touch and +blend with the water and islands, the mountains and sky--then, in the +mystery of the evening, is the supreme beauty of the land. To those who +have really known and loved Sitka, there is no place on earth to +compare. + +There are pleasant recollections of those who have lived there. Jovial +Edward Degroff and his stories at the Roastology Club; the Mills, whose +hospitable home is known to every resident of the town; Wm. Gouverneur +Morris, whose name recalls a leader of Revolutionary days; genial George +Barron, who upheld every good tradition of the Navy; the gallant old +soldier, Matthew P. Berry; dignified Judge Delaney, Alaska's staunchest +advocate through all vicissitudes; Governor Brady, with his neverfailing +faith in Alaska's greatness; Captain Francis, without whom the early +naval commanders thought the warships could not thread the intricate +passages; Nicholas Haley, with his optimistic dreams of El Doradoes; +Pauline Archangelsky, for whom the "Old Timers" have pleasant +recollections; Alonzo Austin and his mission; Captain Kilgore of the +"Rush"; Merrill, who caught on the photograph plate the elusive spirit +of the varying surroundings as only a true artist could; Katherine +Delaney Abrams, whose touch in watercolor delineated the glory of the +sunsets as none else could; Professor Richardson, who for a quarter of a +century returned year after year thousands of miles to perpetuate in +paintings the exquisite tintings of glaciers and mountain; George +Kostromitinoff (Father Sergius); Father Metropolski, and many others who +have made a part of the quaint old town. + +There is a saying that whosoever comes to love the waters of the Indian +River will ever after yearn for them, and it seems true, for always is +that harking back to its banks with an unsatisfied longing. + +From prehistoric time this has been the home of the Sitka Kwan of the +Thlingit people. For sixty-three years it was the scene of the chief +activities of the Russian American Company, who represented the rule of +the Muscovites, who, when Chicago was but a blockhouse in a sedgy swamp +on the banks of a sluggish, reedy river, and when San Francisco was but +a mission and a Presidio of sun-burned bricks, maintained in Sitka a +community of busy people who were casting cannon and bells, and who were +building ships for commerce. + +In the establishment of this outpost the foundation was laid for the +title of the United States to the southeastern part of Alaska, a land +rich in fur and forest, in gold and copper, in marble and fish, the +potential possibilities of which are not even approximately forecasted +today. Enough to say of it, that in its limits are two mines, one of +which has yielded over sixty-five millions of dollars in gold, and the +other ranks among the richest of the mineral producing veins of the +world. + +Some may have an interest in the story of the quaint, quiet, beautiful +village on the shore of Baranof Island. I hope this may add something to +history, keeping the events of the past bright in the memory of those +who love the Northland and its story, and add a little of interest and +information of the present to those who come as transient visitors to +while away a few days among the myriad islands of the Sitkan +Archipelago. It is a link to connect the Sitka of the past, the _Novo +Arkangelsk_ of the great Russian American Company in the romantic +days of the fur trade when it was the center of the vast domain of +Russian America and gathered to its magazines the pelts of sea-otter and +fox, with the Sitka of today with its fisheries and mines. The old +landmarks are fast disappearing, scarce a year passes without some +monument passing away, and even their location will soon be forgotten +unless some record is made for those who do not know where they stood. + + + + +SITKA + +THE HISTORIC OUTPOST OF THE +NORTHWEST + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DISCOVERY + + +Sitka of the Russians, a century ago, was the center of trade and +civilization on the Northwest Coast of America, the chief factory of the +Russian American Company in the vast and little known land of the +Russian Possessions in America. The sails of ships from far off +Kronstadt on the Baltic brought Russian cargoes. The famous clipper +ships of New England made it a stopping place on their way to the China +seas. English traders and explorers visited it on their voyages, and in +it was centered the trade of a wide region. It was the chief factory of +the greatest rival in the fur trade of the world, with which the +Honourable, the Hudson's Bay Company, which then was the controlling +power in the English fur market, had to contend. + +The story of Sitka goes back past the middle of the Eighteenth Century. +There are Russians, Spanish, English, French and Americans who have +woven each their own part of the web of the tale, and the scenes have +been as varied and strange as the people. + +July 16, 1741, a Russian ship stood into a broad harbor on the Northwest +Coast of America. The commander, Captain Alexei Chirikof, had sailed +three thousand miles across the unknown Pacific from the shores of the +Okhotsk Sea. Civilized eyes had never before rested on these shores and +he was keen with the excitement of adventure and discovery as he dropped +anchor. He sent a party ashore in the ship's longboat to explore, and +awaited the result. Days passed and no word or signal came, so the +remaining boat was sent to recall the party and it was swallowed up in +the labyrinth among the green islands. Signals indicated that it safely +landed but none returned to the ship although the orders were imperative +that both boats return at once. The last boat was gone. Three weeks +passed. Captain Chirikof could not reach the shore and could no longer +lie at anchor, so reluctantly and sadly he set his course for the far +off Kamchatkan shores and sailed away from the port of missing men. + +Nearly two centuries have passed since the Russian seamen landed and no +word has come from them. For more than seventy years the Russian +Government sought for some sign of their fate.[1] Tales were told of a +colony of Russians existing on the coast but each upon investigation +proved but a rumor. + +There is a dim tradition among the Sitkas of men being lured ashore in +the long ago. They say that Chief Annahootz, the predecessor of the +chief of that name who was the firm friend of the whites at Sitka in +1878, was the leading actor in the tragedy. Annahootz dressed himself in +the skin of a bear and played along the beach. So skillfully did he +simulate the sinuous motions of the animal that the Russians in the +excitement of the chase plunged into the woods in pursuit and there the +savage warriors killed them to a man, leaving none to tell the story. +The disappearance of Chirikof's men has remained one of the many +unsolved mysteries of the Northland, and their fate will never be known +to a certainty. + +The faulty record of the navigation of a time that counted by dead +reckoning, and without a knowledge of the currents of those seas, does +not tell us the exact location of the anchorage, but beyond a reasonable +doubt it was in Sitka Sound, and the Russian seamen died at the hands of +the Sitka Kwan of the Thlingits. In this manner Sitka first became known +to the White Man's World. + +On the 16th day of August, 1775, came the Royal Standard of Spain, flung +to the breeze from the little schooner "Sonora," only 36 feet in length, +under command of Don Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Quadra was one of +the greatest and best of the Spanish navigators in the North. His +voyages are among the most successful of those of the mariners of his +nation in the waters of the north Pacific ocean, and his name was once +linked with that of the English Commander on the island now bearing the +name of Vancouver. Quadra came from the Mexican port of San Blas, and +after many thrilling adventures and grievous hardships he sailed into a +broad bay and dropped anchor. There was a mountain, of which he says: +"Of the most regular and beautiful form I had ever seen. It was also +quite detached from the great ridge of mountains. Its top was covered +with snow, under which appeared some gullies, which continue till about +the middle of the mountain, and from thence to the bottom are trees of +the same kind as those at Trinity." + +[Illustration: Mount Edgecumbe.] + +He named the mountain _San Jacinthus_, and the point of the island +that extends out toward the sea, Cape _del Engano_. No one who has +looked upon the slopes of the mountain which stands to the seaward from +Sitka can mistake the description. He anchored in what is now known as +Krestof Bay, about six miles northwest from Sitka, and he called it Port +_Guadalupe_. + +Captain Cook, on his Third Voyage of Exploration, in 1778, with the +ships "Resolution" and "Discovery," passed along the coast and noted the +bay, of which he says: "An arm of this bay, in the northern part of it, +seemed to extend in toward the north, behind a round elevated mountain I +called Mount Edgecumbe, and the point of land that shoots out from it +Cape Edgecumbe." This name supplanted the one given by the Spaniard and +the beautiful cone is yet known by the title he bestowed. + +The early Russians called the mountain St. Lazaria, assuming that it was +the peak seen by Chirikof on his ill fated voyage of discovery and so +named by him. The small island at the south is still known as San +Lazaria Island. + +Captain Dixon, of H. M. S. "Queen Charlotte," came during the summer of +1787, on a fur trading voyage. Dixon had just departed from the harbor +when Captain Portlock, of the English ship "King George," which was +lying in Portlock Harbor, to the northward in Chichagoff Island, sent +his ship's boat through the passage behind Kruzof Island to about the +present site of Sitka, and made the discovery for the civilized world +that Mount Edgecumbe is on an island. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SETTLEMENT + + +The sea-otter, a marine animal about four feet in length when fully +grown, with soft, long black pelage of silky texture, is one of the most +valued of the fur-bearers. It was found abundantly all the way along the +Northwest Coast, and especially in the passages about Sitka. It is now +nearly extinct. + +The Russians had been gathering the skins of the sea-otter in the +northern waters for years, ever since Chirikof made his voyage to Sitka, +and they were truly an El Dorado, in fur, to the traders who plied their +trade along the coasts. Captain Cook and his sailors, when on their +voyage in these waters, bought skins for mere trifles, some for a +handful of iron nails. These same skins sold for as much as sixty +dollars each in China where they visited on their way home. The story of +the furs went over the world and English, French and American traders +thronged to these waters to sail their ships into the straits and barter +for the rich pelts. To secure a profit of $50,000 on a voyage was not +unusual. Ingraham, the lieutenant of Captain Gray whom we all know so +well for his discovery of the great River of the West, sailed to near +Sitka before his principal entered the river which he named for his +ship, the Columbia. The French ship "Solide," in 1791, sailed from +France to gather a portion of the harvest. Her captain, Etienne +Marchand, anchored in Sitka Bay, and called it _Tchinkitinay_, as +he declares it was known to the natives. To his ship flocked the painted +and skin-clad natives with their peltries for barter. On their persons +he saw articles of European manufacture, showing that other ships had +visited there, and in the ears of one young savage were hanging pendant +two copper coins of the colony of Massachusetts. His success in trade +was not such as he might have wished, so he sailed way, remarking that, +"The modern Hebrews would, perhaps, have little to teach to these people +in the art of trade." + +March 31st, 1799, the Yankee skipper, Cleveland, of the merchant ship +"Caroline," sailed into the bay, dropped anchor and fired a cannon shot +as a signal. He was one of those shrewd, lean traders, skilled in +navigation, who sailed from Boston round the Horn, with their bucko +mates, who could drive a tack with the prow of a ship, so to speak, and +in those days there were no corners of the earth where they might not be +found seeking for profit. He was wise to the ways of the sharp trading +canoemen of these waters, and their aggressive proclivities, so he +prepared his ship with regard for all the possibilities of the business. +Around it as a bulwark he stretched a barrier of dry bull hides brought +from the California coast. At the stern was a place prepared for the +trading. Forward on the deck were planted cannon, shotted with shrapnel, +trained so as to rake the afterdeck, and beside each was a gunner's +match. + +On the first day, for two hundred yards of broadcloth, he purchased a +hundred prime sea-otter skins, worth $50 each in Canton. Barter was +going merrily on, when a scream from amidships startled the crew. The +Thlingits sprang to their boats. The squaws backed the canoes away from +the ship's sides. Arrows were fitted to bowstrings, spears were poised +and muskets primed. On the ships the sailors lighted the cannon matches +and stood by ready to fire. A fight was hovering in the air when the +cause of the disturbance was discovered. An inquisitive Thlingit pried +between the bull hides opposite the cook's galley, and the cook had +saluted him with a ladle of hot water. In his surprise he upset his +canoe and his family were struggling in the sea. His baby was rescued by +a seaman, amends were made to his injured feelings, and the barter +proceeded as before. + +The waters were filled with ships. In a stay of a month the "Caroline" +spoke the ship "Hancock," the ship "Despatch," the ship "Ulysses," and +the ship "Eliza," all of Boston; and the English ship "Cheerful," all +trading for furs among the Sitkan Islands. + +The Russians, in their colony on Kodiak Island, were jealous of the +intruders on what they considered as their domain. Gregory Shelikof, a +Siberian merchant, one of the wealthiest and most far seeing of the +leaders among the Aleutian Islands, conceived the plan of combining the +whole of the fur trade in one great monopoly. In pursuance of this +policy he secured a charter from Emperor Paul in 1799, under the name of +the Russian American Company, which gave the exclusive right to all +profits to be derived from every form of resource in the Russian +possessions in America for a period of twenty years. To the management +of his business in the Colony he established on Kodiak Island he +appointed Alexander Andreevich Baranof, a Siberian trader of great +ability and experience. Baranof, the wise and far-seeing Russian ruler +of the Russian American Company, at his factory in St. Paul's Harbor on +Kodiak Island, had long planned the extension of his settlements to the +southeast. The sea-otter catch of the Russians was made by brigades of +Aleuts from the western islands, who went along the shores and to sea as +far as 20 miles, in their wonderful skin boats called bidarkas, to hunt. +When a sea-otter lifted its head from the water to breathe, within sight +of a detachment of Aleut hunters, its fate was sealed, for it seldom +escaped. + +The passages between the islands about Sitka were called the "Straits" +by the Russians, and in them the sea-otter skins were taken by the +thousands. It was not unusual for a Russian hunting party consisting of +a hundred bidarkas to take on one expedition 2,000 skins of the +_Morski bobrov_, as they called the sea-otter. + +The animals were becoming scarce in the seas about the western islands +and Baranof was compelled to replenish his trade by the catch of the +southeastern waters. In 1795 he sent one of his ships as far south as +the Queen Charlotte Islands and it visited Sitka on the way. Two +thousand skins were secured by the hunters while on this voyage. In the +same year Baranof himself paid Sitka a visit, coming through the strait +from the north in his little schooner "Olga," a 40-foot boat, and he +named the passage for his craft as Olga Strait. On the shore near his +anchorage he erected a cross; the bay he named Krestof Bay, and he then +selected the locality of his future settlement. + +In the spring of 1799, Baranof sent orders to the toyons, or chiefs, of +the tribes on the islands around Kodiak to assemble the hunters. Five +hundred and fifty bidarkas, each manned by from two to three Aleut +paddlers, came in answer to his call, and with two convoying ships he +set sail for Sitka Sound. On July 7th he landed at a bay six miles north +of the present town of Sitka, purchased a tract of land from +Skayeutlelt, a local chief, and began the construction of a post which +he named redoubt St. Michael. The building was done under great +difficulties. Rain fell incessantly. There were but thirty Russian +workmen as most of the Aleuts returned to Kodiak, hunting as they went. +Of the men who remained ten had to stand guard constantly, for the +Thlingits were not to be trusted. Barracks, storehouses, quarters for +the commanding officer, were constructed; a bath house also, for the +Russian must have his bath, and the whole was surrounded by a stockade +and strengthened by blockhouses. Their troubles were not all with the +elements, for during the winter the scarcity of provision and other +causes brought scurvy to add to their discomfort. Their food was mostly +yuhali (dried salmon), but during the winter the hunters took 40 +sea-lions, and in the spring many seals were killed in the bay by the +Aleuts. + +The natives, called Thlingits at the present, were known as the Kolosh +by the Russians. They were divided among themselves in their feelings +toward the new settlers in their midst. Some looked with extreme +disfavor upon the establishment, while others were friendly. The young +and turbulent warriors were hostile. A messenger was sent to invite them +to a prasdnik (holiday) at the fort. He was taken prisoner by them and +detained until Baranof landed in their midst with an armed force and +demanded his release, when they set him free and ridiculed the incident. +At a dance at the fort many of the Kolosh came with long knives +concealed under their cloaks. Their treachery was detected and their +design frustrated. The courage and caution of Baranof held them in check +until spring when he departed for Kodiak, leaving strict instructions as +to the precautions to be observed during his absence. After his +departure the discipline grew more lax and the Kolosh became more bold. +The watchful savages at last saw an opportunity to rid themselves of +their new neighbors. + +On a June day of 1802, the exact date is not recorded, a horde of +painted savages burst from the forest, clad in all the paraphernalia of +war masks and barbaric armour. A fleet of war canoes landed warriors on +the beach in front of the redoubt. In the attack that followed the +stockade and buildings were reduced to smoking ruins, the magazines were +robbed of rich stores of furs, most of the defenders died on the spears +of the Kolosh or were tortured till death relieved their sufferings, and +the women and children were made slaves. Skayeutlelt, the false friend +of Baranof, directed the battle from a nearby knoll and his nephew, +Katlean, was one of the principal actors in the bloody tragedy. A few +survivors who were hunting in their bidarkas or were in the forest, +escaped to the ships of the English and American traders which were in +the bay. + +Captain Ebbetts on an American ship and Captain Barber of the British +ship "Myrtle" were in the harbor. Some of the survivors on reaching +these ships asked them to rescue their countrymen. Captain Ebbetts +ransomed several prisoners, but Captain Barber adopted a more effective +course. Chief Katlean and Chief Skayeutlelt came on board his ship to +trade. He at once put them in irons and threatened to hang them to the +yardarm of the ship if the captives remaining in the hands of the +natives, and also the plundered sea-otter skins, were not immediately +surrendered to him. The threat was effective, the greater part of the +sea-otter furs and several captives were brought on the ship and +delivered to him. He then took the ransomed captives from the other ship +and sailed for Kodiak, where he demanded a ransom of 50,000 rubles from +Baranof for the captives. The ransom was later reduced to 10,000 rubles +which was paid by Mr. Baranof. + +Two years passed before much is again known of Sitka. English and +American captains sailed their ships into the harbor and gathered the +furs which Baranof had endeavored to garner in the storehouses of the +Russian American Company. In the summer of 1804 Baranof gathered a force +at Kodiak with which to cross the Gulf of Alaska to re-establish his +post. There were one hundred and fifty bearded _promyshileniks_, or +fur hunters, and over 500 Aleuts in their skin bidarkas. With him were +the ships "Alexander," "Ekaterina," "Yermak," and "Rostislaf." When they +reached Sitka they found there Captain Lisianski of the Imperial Russian +Navy, with the ship "Neva," one of the first Russians to circle the +globe, and who came to help to recapture the post. + +The Indian village of Sitka was almost in the same place as the present +town, grouped around the Baranof hill which was called by the Russians a +_kekoor_. On the top of the kekoor was a redoubt, and a stronger +fort was near the mouth of the Indian River, or _Kolosh Ryeku_. + +On the morning of September 28th the Russian ships moved to a point +opposite the village, the "Neva" being towed by a hundred bidarkas. The +Sitkans abandoned their village and the fort on the hill and withdrew to +the stronger fortification near the river. Baranof landed a force and +occupied the kekoor, planted cannon on the top, then opened negotiations +for the surrender of the other fort, but his overtures were rejected by +the Indians. + +The ships were brought near the river fort and the cannon were trained +on it. The fort was built of thick logs in the shape of an irregular +square, with portholes on the side next the sea, and inside the breast +works were 14 barabaras, or native houses. + +The walls were of such thickness that the cannon shot from the "Neva" +made but little impression on the structure. Baranof was impatient and +urged an attack. Reinforcements were landed from the ships under command +of Lieutenants Arbusof and Polavishin. The hunters, sailors, and Aleuts +flung themselves against the fortifications, but meeting a murderous +fire were driven back in disorder and only saved from disaster by the +protection of the fire of the ships. Ten men were killed and 26 wounded, +and among the wounded was Baranof. + +Captain Lisianski then took command and moved his ships nearer the +shore. A canoe with reinforcements and a supply of powder for the +Indians approached among the islands but a shot from the "Neva" struck +it, the powder exploded, and the Indians who were saved from the wreck +were taken on board the Russian ship. The bombardment was steadily +continued until the 6th of October, when the Kolosh proposed to +surrender, and a parley was held, but during the night they evacuated +the fort and went over the mountains to the north. In the fort were left +the bodies of 30 warriors and also the bodies of five children who had +been killed to prevent their cries making the retreat known to the +Russians. The only remaining survivors were two old women and a little +boy. A few straggling warriors remained lurking about, seeking revenge, +and a few days later they killed eight Aleuts who were fishing on +Jamestown Bay. + +How the Kolosh went over the mountains was long a mystery to the +Russians. They reached the shore of Peril Strait and crossing to the +north shore placed a fort near the entrance to Sitkoh Bay which was +stronger than their old fort at Indian River and where over 1,000 people +gathered. A tradition among the old Indians says that the fugitives +first went to Old Sitka, then over the mountains to the northeastern +side of the island. On the way they suffered extremely from fatigue and +hunger, and one Sitka Indian who lives on Peril Strait relates that his +father was a child at the time of the exodus. His father carried him +till exhausted, when he abandoned him, and his mother then took him up +and carried him the remainder of the way. + +The property left in the fort by the Kolosh was taken out, the +fortification was burned and the canoes on the beach were broken to +pieces. There was enough remaining of the structure that some of the +remains of the foundation may yet be seen in the forest which has sprung +up around it in the Indian River Park, although more than a century has +since elapsed. + +[Illustration: Sitka in 1805--From Lisianski's Voyage.] + +Then began the restoration of the post, on the present site of Sitka, +and with energy and despatch the building of a new Russian settlement +proceeded. Around the kekoor the native houses were removed, and along +with them more than a hundred burial houses with the ashes of the bodies +which had been burned. The great tribal houses, or barabaras, as they +are called in the Russian accounts, were spacious, some measuring 50 +feet in width and 80 feet in length.[2] In their place rose the town of +New Archangel (_Novo Arkangelsk_,) and on the kekoor was built a +redoubt. This was the official name and generally recognized by the +Russians, but the name Sitka was early used by them. Baranof frequently +used the term Sitka in his letters, and in the letter of the Minister of +Finance to the Minister of Marine, from St. Petersburg, April 9, 1820, +Sitka is used in several places. The name Sitka, or Sheetkah, in the +Thlingit language, means, in this place, that this is the place, or the +best place, implying superiority over all other places. + +All winter there was cutting of logs in the forest and by the spring of +1805 there were eight substantial buildings, the space for 15 kitchen +gardens had been cleared, the livestock brought on the ships were +thriving, and an air of prosperity pervaded the place.[3] Surveys of the +harbor were made by Captain Lisianski who also made the first ascent of +Mt. Edgecumbe, and who then sailed for Kronstadt, Russia, by the way of +Canton, with a cargo of furs for the China trade valued at 450,000 +rubles.[4] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PROGRESS OF THE COLONY + + +The courtly Chamberlain of the Tsar, Nicholas P. Resanof, son-in-law of +Shelikof who was the founder of the first Russian colony in America, +came to Sitka in 1805, via Petropavlovsk, Siberia, on the "Nadeshda," +one of the first Russian ships to circumnavigate the world, and was a +special representative of the Russian American Company, of which +organization he was one of the founders. + +In his report to the Company he tells us: "The fort is on the high hill, +or kekoor, on a peninsula in the gulf. On the left side of the kekoor +close on the peninsula is built an immense barracks with two projecting +blockhouses or towers. All the building is made from mast timber from +the top to the foundation, under which is a cellar. Besides this +building are two warehouses, a material magazine and two cellars, also +two large sheds for storing food, and under the sheds are the quarters +for the workmen. On the side opposite the fort is a shed for storing +cargo, at the right side is the kitchen, bath, and quarters for the +servants of the Company, clerks, etc., and on the shore are the +blacksmith shops and other workshops. On the top of the kekoor is a +building five sazhens[5] long and three sazhens wide, with two rooms. In +one I live, and in the other there are two shipmasters. There are still +some old Kolosh _yourts_, in which live the _kayours_ and the +Kodiak Americans (Aleuts, they are generally called).[6] + +"Our guns are always loaded, everywhere are sentinels with loaded arms, +and in the rooms of each of us arms constitute the greater part of the +furniture. All the night the signals from post to post continue, war +discipline prevails; in a word, we are ready at any minute to receive +our dear guests, who generally profit by the darkness of night to make +an attack." + +The additional number in the garrison owing to the arrival of the +Chamberlain and his suite made it more difficult to procure provisions +for the winter. The hostile Kolosh made hunting and fishing dangerous. +In the autumn there was but flour enough for an allowance of a pound a +week for one month for the 200 men in the fort. For other food supply +they were dependent on the fish caught in the bay, the dried +_yukali_ and sealion meat from Kodiak, and the dried seal meat from +the Seal Islands. + +Baranof bought the ship "Juno," an American sailing ship of about 250 +tons, from Captain George D'Wolf, of Bristol, Conn., with its cargo of +flour, sugar and other articles, for the sum of 68,000 piastres +(Spanish), equivalent to about the same number of dollars. This relieved +the immediate necessity, but before spring the supply became so low that +the scurvy, that dread malady of the seas and of outlying localities, +attacked the garrison. This scourge often fell heavily on the early +Russian expeditions, and in 1821 the Russian ship "Borodino" lost 40 men +through its ravages in a voyage from Sitka to Kronstadt. + +In March, Resanof sailed for San Francisco in the "Juno" to purchase +breadstuffs and other supplies. He also wished to examine the coast with +the view of making other settlements farther south, at Nootka, at the +Columbia, or even farther south in California. He secured a cargo of the +products of the south and returned to Sitka in June. + +On his southward journey Resanof reconnoitred the mouth of the Columbia +River, seeking a site for a future settlement. He was unable to enter +the river owing to contrary winds; and the condition of his crew, +debilitated by lack of proper food and suffering from scurvy, caused him +to hasten on. He heard that a party of U. S. soldiers were building a +fort there. This rumor doubtless came from the presence of Lewis and +Clarke near the present Astoria. + +While on this visit to San Francisco Resanof met the Spanish beauty, +Dona Concepcion de Arguello, of whom one of the visitors said, "She was +lively and animated, had sparkling, love-inspiring eyes, beautiful +teeth, pleasing and expressive features, a fine form and a thousand +other charms," and he lost his heart to her. The romance of the Russian +courtier and the fair Californian furnished to Bret Harte the theme for +some of his most beautiful verse. Resanof, hurrying home to Russia to +gain the Imperial permission to his marriage, died at Krasnoyarsk, +Siberia, and Dona Concepcion waited for years for the coming of her +lover, not knowing that he lay dead under the Siberian snows. When the +news of his sad fate came to her she donned the habit of a nun and +devoted herself to charitable works. + +This visit to California was the beginning of a trade that continued for +many years, through all the period of Russian occupation. During the +days of the gold discoveries in California large shipments of goods were +made from Sitka to San Francisco, and after the sale of the territory to +the United States great quantities of merchandise were shipped from the +warehouses of the Company to the California metropolis, amounting to +over a quarter of a million dollars in one year. + +The breadstuffs for the colonies were procured from California, from San +Francisco and from Ross Colony, or from Peru, until 1840, when a +contract was made with the Hudson's Bay Company under which the supplies +were brought from the farms of the Nisqually or from Vancouver, in +Oregon Territory. + +Until the time of the arrival of the "Neva", 1804, all trading goods +were brought across Siberia to Okhotsk, and thence by sailing vessel to +the colony, or were purchased from the American or English trading ships +which came to the coast for furs. To the natives the English who came to +these waters became known as "King George Men," and the Americans were +called "Boston Men," the latter being from the great number of ships +that sailed from the great shipping port of New England. From these +traders goods were purchased by Baranof at lower rates than those cost +which were brought from Russia. John Jacob Astor was one of the first to +engage in the trade. He sent the ship "Enterprise" to Sitka in 1810, and +the "Beaver" in 1812. From Washington Irving we have the description, +through the account of the Captain, of the "Hyperborean veteran +ensconsed in a fort which crested the top of a high rock promontory," +which is well known to all readers of stories of western life, and in +which the impression of the character of Baranof as given to the reader +is very erroneous. The traders exchanged their goods with the Russians +for furs, sometimes going to the Pribilof Islands to receive the +seal-skins; sailed to China, where the furs were traded for silks, +nankins, and teas; they then voyaged on around the world to their home +port. + +The sloop-of-war "Diana," the first Russian warship to reach Sitka, +arrived in 1810 under the command of Captain Vasili M. Golofnin, who was +widely known for his adventures while a captive in the Kingdom of the +Nipponese, where he was carried about in a bamboo cage and exhibited to +the populace. His description of his visit to Sitka is entertaining, and +of it he says: + +"In the fort we met nothing so unusual or costly as to be worthy of +special remark; the fort consisted of solid log towers, and high strong +palisades, with apertures or embrasures, in which were set guns and +carronades of different calibres. The interior construction, barracks, +storehouses, house of the commander and other buildings were made of +thick logs and were very solid, these being very common in this place, +around which grows, so to say, within reach of a windlass, a multitude +of most beautiful trees suitable for structures of every description. + +"In the house of Mr. Baranof were ornaments and furniture in profusion, +of masterly workmanship and costly price, brought from St. Petersburg +and from England, which corresponded with his position as the head +official of a great company. What astonished us most was an extensive +library in nearly all European languages, and many pictures of +remarkable merit. I must confess, that I badly judge in painting, and +only could know, that in the uncultivated wild border of America, there +would be none except Mr. Baranof to value and understand them, unless +there might happen to be educated travelers, or masters of United States +trading vessels visiting this place, there would be no one to appreciate +the fine art. Mr. Baranof, noting my astonishment, explained the riddle, +saying, that the pictures attracting our attention were gifts of the +Company and of distinguished persons in St. Petersburg, for the +establishing of a library, and the Directory sent them out. On these +works he commented with the following remarkable view: 'Better that our +directors had sent us a doctor, for in all the Company's colonies there +is not one doctor, nor one doctor's assistant, nor one doctor's pupil.'" + +Golofnin soon left Sitka to return to St. Petersburg. His successful +voyage, together with that of the "Neva" and the "Nadeshda," encouraged +the shipment of goods by sea from Russia, and from that time onward +ships came regularly, laden with supplies of every kind for the post, +and returned with rich cargoes of peltry. + +By 1825 surgical and astronomical instruments of the best quality were +sent to the colony, an apothecary shop of three rooms provided +medicines, and four Creole boys, under the charge of a doctor, attended +to the dispensing of the potions. A hospital was in connection and the +sick received fresh food, tea, sugar, and medicines, free, upon the +order of the doctor. + +An observatory, equipped with the most improved magnetic and +meteorological instruments was later provided and there was kept a +record of natural phenomena, while a museum of objects of interest from +the surrounding country was open for the instruction of all. + +The library was brought from St. Petersburg in 1806 by Resanof. Mr. +Khlebnikof tells us that it contained more than 1,200 volumes, valued at +7,500 rubles, and they were in the Russian, French, German, English, +Latin and other languages. + +When Mr. Resanof was preparing for his journey he addressed letters to +many of the leading men of St. Petersburg, soliciting their contribution +of books to promote the beginning of education in the far off possession +of the Czar. Many sent a response in writing accompanied by one or more +volumes, and the letters so sent were richly bound in a separate volume +and placed with the library in the building at Sitka. Among the patrons +were the Metropolite Ambrosia, Count Rumiantzof, Count Stroganof, +Admiral Chichagof, Minister of Justice Dimitrief, Senator Zakarof and +others. The sentiments were varied, but many agreed in voicing the +desire to "sow the seed of science in the breasts of the peoples so far +outlying from the enlightenment of Europe." Some of them reflected the +personal character of the donors: The Metropolite Ambrosia sent books +for church services; the Minister of Marine sent plans of ships; and +Count Rumiantzof contributed works on husbandry.[7] + +Mr. Kyril Khlebnikof, the accountant of the Company, who was in charge +of the counting house at Sitka from 1818 to 1832, to whom we are +indebted for many valuable writings relating to the early history of the +settlements, tells us that when Mr. Baranof left the colony the +buildings had become badly decayed and much new construction had to be +done. In 1827 there had been built, three sentry houses, a battery of +thirty guns on the kekoor, and below them magazines, barracks and other +buildings, a bakery, wharf, arsenal, etc. In the shops were blacksmiths, +coppersmiths, locksmiths, coopers, turners, rope spinners, chandlers, +painters, masons, etc. + +At the Ozerskoe Redoubt, on Deep Lake, were barracks and a fort, a +flouring mill, a tannery, and other buildings. A zapor, or fish trap, in +the stream took sixty thousand fish each year. + +[Illustration: The Bakery and Shops of the Russians--Later the Sitka +Trading Co.'s Building.] + +The workmen got out timber from the forest for the building of ships, +they cut fuel and burned charcoal in large quantities; kept the +buildings in repair and did other duties required on the factory. The +work of the gardening was chiefly done by the Aleuts, who were paid a +ruble a day for their services. + +The Russian Captain Lutke came to Sitka about this time and he tells us +that there were many pigs and chickens raised by the inhabitants, and +that a pig might be had for 5 to 7 rubles, a hen for 4 to 5 rubles, and +eggs at from 3-1/2 to 10 rubles per dozen. The chief drawback to the +chicken industry was the presence of the great black ravens that carried +away the young chicks and sometimes even the old hens. The ravens were +such successful scavengers that they were called the New Archangel +police, and he says they even bit the tails off the young pigs, so that +all the hogs of the place were tailless. + +He mentions the abundance of deer on the islands and also says that +mountain sheep were killed by the Aleuts and brought to the fort. He +must have confused the sheep with the goats, for the sheep never +approach the coast so closely, and he speaks of the wool being used for +weaving the blankets for the ceremonial dances of the Kolosh. This would +indicate that the animal in question was the mountain goat. A later +writer says that 2,700 game animals were brought into Sitka for sale +during the winter of 1861-62. + +A shipyard was established as soon as the necessary buildings to house +the garrison were completed. It occupied a part of the present parade +ground near the Russian Barracks and included a portion of the present +street. Many vessels were built in the yard during the Russian +occupation, the first, being the tender "Avoss," launched in 1806, +followed by the brig "Sitka," built by an American shipbuilder named +Lincoln, and for which he was paid 2,000 rubles as a royalty upon the +completion of the ship. A frigate of 320 tons was the largest vessel +built before 1819, and at that time construction was discontinued until +1834, when work was resumed and continued until the close of the Russian +regime. + +The "Politofsky" was one of the last vessels to be built at Sitka, and +it was sold by Prince Maksoutoff to H. M. Hutchinson and Abraham Hirsch +for $4,000 in 1867. The next year it was sold to Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., +and later was sold to a firm that ran it to Puget Sound, and from Alaska +to San Francisco. It was built of Alaska cedar timber, the _dushnoi +dereva_ or scented wood of the Russians, and was spiked with +hand-made copper spikes. It was taken to Alaska in the gold rush of +1898, and found its last resting place, very appropriately, in the land +where it was built, in the harbor of St. Michael, the old Russian port +on Bering Sea. + +The fear of shipwreck, and of death at sea hung over every soul of the +community. The long voyages in uncharted and unlighted waters with +sailing ships--more than six months at the shortest from +Kronstadt--often three months or more against baffling winds from +Okhotsk--the voyages to the redoubts and _odinoshkas_ (detached +posts with one man only) of the Bering Sea and of the Gulf of Alaska, to +collect the fur catch of the year and bring it to Sitka; the long +journey via Canton on the return to Russia--all held many dangers for +the sailing ships of those days. The "Phoenix," the first ship built on +the Alaskan shores, foundered with all on board, including the Bishop +and his retinue, in 1799, on the return voyage from Okhotsk; the "St. +Nicholas" went ashore on the coast of Washington in 1808, and those who +survived the waves were held in bondage for years by the savages of that +coast. + +During the latter part of August, 1812, the ship "Neva" left +Okhotsk--contrary winds delayed her in the Sea of Okhotsk--storms beat +her back along the Aleutian Islands till it was November before land was +sighted in Alaska. The storms damaged the rigging and ship until it was +necessary to put into Voskresenski Harbor (Resurrection Bay) for +repairs. She arrived off Sitka about December 1st. After four or five +days Mt. Edgecumbe was sighted but a storm drove the ship to sea where +she beat about for weeks before again nearing the port. Scurvy afflicted +the passengers and crew and added to the general distress. On January +8th, 1813, Mt. Edgecumbe again appeared. In trying to make the harbor +the ship grounded on the rocks under the cape on the morning of the 9th +and speedily broke to pieces under the terrific pounding of the seas.[8] +Some of the people on board reached shore after incredible suffering and +hardship. + +After several days two of the sailors wandering along the shore met a +Kolosh boy and persuaded him to take them to Sitka, where they arrived, +cold, exhausted, and almost starving. Boats were at once fitted out by +Mr. Baranof, the survivors were rescued, brought to Sitka, and their +sufferings relieved. From those on board the ship, 38 had perished, +including Kalinin, the commander, Boronovolokof, the intended future +chief manager of the Company, and five women passengers. In the cargo +was food and clothing, the messages of the year for the exiles, and rich +vestments and furnishings for the church that was soon to be built in +Sitka, all scattered for miles along the wild coast of Kruzof Island. +This was one of the worst disasters of the sea that visited the colony, +although many others are part of the records of the time. + +It is said that Chief Katlean tore his hair with rage when he learned of +the wreck, because he did not find it and destroy the survivors out of +revenge for his defeat and expulsion from his home at Sitka. + +There are many traditions among the residents of Sitka concerning the +wreck of the "Neva." Among them is that there was a vast treasure of +gold for the use of the garrison and the traders. This is erroneous, for +there was no gold used in the colonies, the trade being by barter or +conducted with scrip, called _assignats_, issued by the Company for +the purpose. The story of the gold has been so generally believed that +serious plans have been made for attempting the salvage of the treasure. + +The term of office of Alexander Andreevich Baranof as the chief manager +of the Russian American Company came to a close in 1818. He had been 28 +years in the colonies, leaving Russia in 1790 for the post of Three +Saints on Kodiak Island, which at that time constituted almost the only +Russian establishment in America, the other stations being little more +than outlying trading posts. He left their dominion an empire in extent, +reaching from the Seal Islands in Bering Sea, at the edge of the ice +pack of the Arctic, to Fort Ross, among the sunny hills of Golden +California. Captain Hagmeister came to relieve him, and in his 72nd year +the old chief manager, bent with the weight of years and of long and +arduous service, closed his accounts and set sail on the "Kutusof," one +of the Company's vessels, for his far-off home in Russia. + +When the time arrived for Baranof to take his departure from the land he +had made his home for so many years, sorrowfully he took his leave of +the associates with whom he had so long shared the dangers and hardships +of the uncivilized land. Upon being relieved of the duties of his office +he first considered building a home at the Ozerskoe Redoubt and spending +the remainder of his days in the place he had learned to love. Later he +decided to return to his native land and sailed on the "Kutusof" for +Kronstadt. A delay at Batavia in the tropics proved too severe for his +advanced years. The day after leaving Batavia he died and was buried at +sea in the waters of the Indian Ocean. + +Captain Leontius Andreanovich Hagemeister succeeded to the office of +chief manager but remained only a short time at Sitka, then sailed for +Russia, leaving Captain Simeon Ivanovich Yanovski in charge. + +Captain Yanovski became enamored with the beautiful daughter of Baranof, +and if you search the old records of the Cathedral of St. Michaels at +Sitka you will find the entry as made of the marriage of Simeon Ivanof +Yanovski "with the late head governor of the Russian American +possessions, Collegiate Adviser and Cavalier Baranof's daughter Irina, +one of Creoles." + +In 1830, Baron Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangell, scientist and explorer, +came to administer the office. He had sailed the frozen ocean along the +northern shores of Siberia as an explorer, and Wrangell Island, +Wrangell Strait, etc., on the maps of today perpetuate his name. + +Under Baron Wrangell, as assistant to the manager, served Adolph +Carlovich Etolin, a native of Finland, who came to the colony as an +officer on the war sloop "Kamchatka" in 1817, who sailed in the service +of the Company to nearly every port from the Seal Islands of Bering Sea +to Chile, who made several voyages around the world, and who was made +chief manager in 1840. In 1846 he returned to Russia to accept the trust +of Commercial Counsellor in the head office of the Company in St. +Petersburg. + +About fourteen miles to the southwest, across the bay and facing +Edgecumbe, with a beautiful view of the peak and islands, is the Hot +Springs, well known for their medicinal properties by the natives before +the advent of the Russians, and frequently resorted to by both as a +panacea for many ills. In the Place of Islands _(Chasti Ostrova)_ +is reputed to be a spring with a sour taste, while almost within the +limits of the town of Sitka, Dr. Scheffer, a German physician who made a +sojourn in the place about 1815, claimed to have found a medical spring +whose waters were equal to some of the famed watering places of Germany. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +NATIVES + + +Most of the Sitkan Kolosh kept aloof from the Russian settlement after +the establishment of the new fort on Chatham Strait, near the entrance +of Peril Strait. All the kwans, the Khootznoos, the Hoonahs, the +Chilkats, the Auks, Stikines, Kakes and others, joined with the Sitkas +in the hatred of the Russians. Parties going out from the fort at Sitka +for hunting expeditions, for cutting of wood, for traveling to the Hot +Springs, had to be on their guard and with arms at hand prepared to +fight at a moment's notice.[9] Small groups were often cut off and +murdered. As it was impossible to decide which of the many kwans did the +act, and as there were those in each kwan who were peaceable, with whom +it was desired to keep the peace, revenge against any village was +inadvisable. Even as late as the date of the lease to the Hudson's Bay Co. +the Russian ships that sailed among the islands to trade with the Kolosh +were compelled to act with the strictest caution. Only a few natives +were admitted on board at a time, the trading was done in a space near +the stern, and was conducted under the muzzles of loaded cannon +concealed in the fore part of the ship.[10] The conditions were thus +until 1821, when the Sitkas were invited to reoccupy the site of the old +village and to live in what is now known as the "Ranche," under the guns +of the redoubt. + +The Thlingit nation is a strange, warlike, shrewd people, physically +strong and enduring, and possessed of many excellent qualities. Hunters +and fishermen by nature and training, they are skillful boatmen, and in +those days they built wonderfully beautiful canoes of the red cedar, +some of them large enough to carry sixty men at the paddles. Each spring +more than a thousand men gathered together in Sitka Bay, coming from the +different villages, to fish for herring at the spawning time, when those +fish run in countless myriads in those waters. Hemlock boughs were +placed in the water, and on them the herring roe collected until they +were encrusted with the eggs which were then stripped off and dried for +future use. + +[Illustration: The "Ranche"--Looking north from the top of the Baranof +Castle. The Steamer at the left is the "Coquitlam," noted for her +participation in pelagic sealing and she was under seizure by the U. S. +Government.] + +In 1807 there were over 2,000 hostile natives gathered in the harbor at +the herring season and they threatened an attack on the settlement. +Kuskof, the most trusted and able lieutenant of Baranof, was in charge, +and it put his wisdom and watchfulness to the test to avert disaster. +The strictest discipline was maintained. The tribesmen waited outside +day after day, hoping for news of some relaxation of the precautions of +the defenders to be brought to them by the women of the tribe who were +married to the Russian promishleniki (hunters). Day and night the +sentinels paced the beats on the stockade and along the waterfront, +till, weary of waiting, the Kolosh finally dispersed to their homes. + +In the great tribal houses several families lived, sometimes as many as +fifty or sixty persons. Over the door of the house was painted the +family totem, for the Sitkas did not raise the house totem in a pole in +front as did many of the kwans of the Thlingits, and as the Hydahs do. +In these houses were held the potlatches, or gift parties, which were +made by the wealthy chiefs. + +The potlatches were of different kinds, although all partook of the +nature of a feasting or merrymaking and were distinguished by the giving +of gifts. In the ordinary visiting potlatches, or in the berry +potlatches, the visitors came in their canoes with which they formed a +line off shore opposite the houses, put planks from one canoe to another +and on these planks danced the tribal dance. Those on shore danced the +welcome dance and invited the guests ashore. Then the visitors +disembarked and each family became the guest of their kinsmen of their +totem or they went to the guesthouse of the kwan. All the people of the +same totem are supposed to be blood relations, so all those of the wolf +totem go to the _Gooch-heat_, or the dwelling blazoned by the rude +heraldry with the wolf rampant. In the great social potlatches a wealthy +chief invites his friends from many villages and entertains them for a +week or more with dancing and feasting and makes presents varied and +valuable, from Hudson's Bay blankets to bolts of calico or of flannel, +and in primitive days, copper tows,[11] Chilkat blankets, and even +slaves were handed over with a lavish hospitality. + +On special occasions in the olden time, with great ceremony the visitors +landed at a distance from the village, drew their canoes ashore and +proceeded to the village dressed in festive garments adorned with +sealion heads or other strange headdresses, in which they danced the +rare and picturesque "Beach Dance," in acknowledgement to the Spirit of +the Sea for the bountiful supply of salmon and herring of the past +season--for the native American is a thankful being and omits not to +show it when occasion offers to acknowledge it to the Giver of all good +and perfect gifts. + +During the earlier years of the colony the Kolosh were implacable +enemies. War parties of young men constantly haunted the islands of the +bay, lying in wait for any unwary hunter or fisherman from the fort. +Later, when they were settled under the walls of the fort they became +more tractable, for their homes and families were commanded by the guns +of the fortress, but on the least provocation the savagery in their +blood would boil, from their great tribal houses they issued forth, +faces blackened to the semblance of devils, war masks grinning, and the +howling mob shouted defiance at their neighbor over the stockade. Many a +bloody tragedy was enacted in the "Ranche" for their code was primitive, +"an eye for an eye," and a life for a life. + +Feuds raged between the different totemic families. About 1853 a party +of Wrangell Indians (Stikines) visited Sitka, and while being +entertained in the guest-house were murdered and their bodies piled into +a canoe which was then paddled to Japonski Island. On striking the shore +it was so heavily laden with the bodies of the dead that tradition says +the canoe split from end to end. It is said that the bones of the dead +are still to be seen in the undergrowth along the shore. In retaliation, +about 1855, the Wrangell Kolosh made an attack on the Hot Springs +settlement, burned the buildings, stripped the inhabitants of property +and clothing and left them to make their way over the mountains around +the head of Silver Bay to Sitka, where they arrived more dead than alive +from hunger and exhaustion. This feud was not settled until 1918, when a +peace treaty was consummated between the kwans on Armistice Day, a +coincidence which is much made of by the tribesmen. + +The Kolosh were as firm believers in witchcraft as any of the more +civilized nations. They resorted to their shamans (_ekhts_) or +medicine men in case of illness. If his weird incantations failed to +relieve the sufferer, his resort was that the victim was bewitched and +some poor unfortunate paid the penalty by enduring the most fiendish +torture. + +One March day in 1855 a commotion arose in the Kolosh village. A sentry +caught an Indian who was stealing and punished him, for which the tribe +called for vengeance. Some rushed to the stockade and began to cut away +the palisades. Other forced their way into the Koloshian Church through +the outer door. From this vantage point they fired on the garrison and +in return the batteries of the fort blazed back with solid shot and +shrapnel. For two hours the fight continued, when the Kolosh gave up all +hope of success, and ceased the battle. The Russian loss in killed and +wounded was 20 men, while the Kolosh loss was estimated at 60. This was +the last attempt of the natives to destroy the Russian stronghold. + +At times during the later days of the colony the Kolosh were employed as +seamen and as workers in the ice trade by the Russians and thus they +occupied a place in the industrial life. Etolin was the most successful +in conciliating them of any of the chief managers, and he at one time +held a fur fair at Sitka to which peltry was brought from far and near, +modeled somewhat upon the idea of the great fur mart of Nizhni Novgorod. +Most of them, however, hunted and fished, lived in their tribal houses, +carved their canoes, wove their baskets, and practiced their witchcraft, +while their civilized neighbors gathered the furs and built ships. + +Under the walls of the fort, in the old tribal houses of the Kolosh +which had not been destroyed, lived the Aleuts. Properly speaking the +name belongs to the natives of the Aleutian Islands, but the term was +also applied to the natives of Kodiak Island and the surrounding islets. +These speak a different language from the true Aleuts, but otherwise +resemble them closely. During the hunting season they scoured the seas +in their skin bidarkas, in the pursuit of fur animals. In winter many of +them remained at Sitka instead of returning to their homes. Their time +was spent in idleness, spending the summer's earnings in the pleasures +and vices of the white man. One who saw them in their kazhims, as their +dwellings were often called, describes them: "Morally, the Aleut is not +bloodthirsty. He delights in simple rejoicings and will play you a game +of chess with walrus ivory pieces--a duck for a pawn and a penguin for a +king--with the greatest of good humor. Even when squabbles arrive the +argument is carried on in poetry to the accompaniment of dancing, and +one would be inclined to prefer the Aleut angry to the Aleut amiable, +did he not know he also dances when festive and when religious. + +"Among them the social duty of visiting has its drawbacks. Several +families live together in the kazhims, and during one's visit they all +lie around in every conceivable posture, jolly and genial, naked and +unashamed. The fumes of the blubber oil lamps and stoves, the stores of +raw meat, the many naked bodies, well smeared with grease and scented +with primitive unguents, combine to make an atmosphere difficult to +tolerate and not easy to describe. Yet, if you will, you may enjoy the +warmest hospitality, and have heaped upon you the most assiduous +attentions." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS + + +It was not until 1816 that a priest arrived at Sitka, and in that year +the first entry is made in the church records under the name of +Alexander Sokolof. A church was built at the south of the street, which +was then called the Governor's Walk, almost opposite the present +cathedral. A monument marks the spot where the altar stood, and a cross +marks the site of a grave, said to be that of a priest. Tradition also +tells that there are two graves there, and assigns the other one to the +daughter of Baron Wrangell, the chief manager of the Company at one +time.[12] + +[Illustration: Cathedral of St. Michael] + +The present cathedral of St. Michael, which is the central point of +historic interest, in the center of the town at Lincoln Street, was +dedicated November 20, 1848. It fronts on a small court and with its +green painted spire surmounted by the Greek Cross is so typically +Russian that it might readily be believed to have been transplanted from +old Russia. The chime of bells, a gift from the Church at Moscow, would +be worthy of any shrine. The building is in the form of a cross, has +three sanctuaries and three altars. The larger and central sanctuary is +that of the _Archistrategos_ Michael. In the center is an elevated +platform, the episcopal _Cathedra_, and it is separated from the +main body of the church by a partition called the _Ikonastas_, +which is ornamented with twelve _ikons_, or holy paintings, covered +by plates of silver in _repousse_ work in the true Russian style of +art, and through the Royal Gates the priest appears. The silver in the +ikons is valued at over $6,000. The ikon of St. Michael is said to have +been in the wreck of the "Neva," and was rescued after being cast up by +the sea. Another is a gift of the monks of the monastery of Solovetsk; +another was brought by Bishop Innocentius (Veniaminof) from +Petropavlovsk. The ikon of the Resurrection is painted on a board from a +tree in Hebron, was consecrated in Bethlehem, and bears the autograph +signature of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. + +The chapel at the right is dedicated in the name of St. John the +Precursor and Prince Alexander Nevsky. + +The chapel at the left is in honor of Our Lady of Kazan. In it is a +painting of a Madonna and Child from which the beautiful Byzantine face +looks down with a sweet radiance. + +The vestments and sacred vessels are rich and elegant. The white Easter +vestment is of cloth of silver and the cloth of gold for high feast days +was the personal gift of Alexander Andreevich Baranof, the great Russian +who established the colony. The belfry clock is said to be the work of +the hands of Veniaminof. The priest in richly brocaded vestments holds +the services, and a choir of boys chant the chorus with a melody that +would be the envy of many a far more pretentious edifice. The worshipers +stand during the services, the clouds of incense rise toward the rounded +dome, then one by one the worshipers pass and kiss the jeweled cross in +the hand of the priest. Father Metropolski presided over the church for +many years, and Father Sergius is one of the best known in recent years. + +[Illustration: The Madonna.] + +There were two other churches during Russian days, one, a Lutheran, +built during Etolin's time, which stood near the site of the first +church, and is said to have contained a small but very excellent pipe +organ, brought from Germany. The other church stood near the blockhouse +on the hill, was on the line of the stockade, and had two doors, one +inside the fortification, the other outside and used as an entrance by +the natives. It was known as the Koloshian Church, and its site is +marked by a monument. Both these buildings long ago fell into ruin and +were removed. + +The Russian religion was closely associated with the Government, so in +the colonies the official charter of the Company compelled them to +provide well for the church and the priests according to the standard of +the times, and the work was carried on with zeal and fortitude by the +missionaries who came from the monasteries of the old Russian cities. + +Of all the missionaries who came to Russian America, the greatest was +Ivan Veniaminof. Father John he is often called in the old records, a +wonderful man, broad of mind and of body, combining the qualities that +inspire awe and reverence with a gentleness of word and deed that made +him beloved wherever he was known. His zapiski, or letters, are among +the best authorities extant which remain from those years on Alaskan +matters, and they were written home to Russia during his stay in the +Aleutian Islands and at Sitka. He came to Sitka after a ten-year stay at +Unalaska, remained there for five years working for the church and +teaching in the schools, then returned to Moscow and was consecrated as +bishop of the new diocese. He again arrived in Sitka in 1842, and made a +tour of all the churches in the colonies, traveling by sailing ship to +every settlement, then went home to Russia where he became Metropolite +of Moscow. + +The schools of Sitka, under the Russian regime, were well maintained, +and many of the mechanics, clerks, pilots, and men of other trades were +educated there. Kadin, who drew the charts for Tebenkof's Atlas of +Alaska from the surveys made by the Russian Navigators; Tarantief, who +engraved the maps on copper-plate at Sitka; and many of the shipmasters +and accountants in the employ of the Company, were the product of the +educational institutions of Sitka. In the time of the greatest prosperity +there were five schools. The church school was advanced to the grade of +a seminary in 1849 and there were taught navigation, mathematics, +astronomy, bookkeeping, and other branches of learning. Some of the best +pupils, both Russian and Creole, were sent to St. Petersburg for more +advanced instruction. Chief Manager Etolin was the especial patron of +education, and made many improvements in the system. Under the auspices +of Madame Etolin, who was a native of Helsingfors and was educated in +the schools of that city, a school was opened and maintained by the +Company for the girls of the colony. After the transfer to the United +States of the Territory the teachers returned to Russia and the schools +were closed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SOCIAL LIFE + + +At the top of the kekoor, or the Baranof Hill as it was called in recent +years, there stood a building occupied during Russian days as a +residence by the chief managers of the Russian American Company. The one +known to the residents and visitors of the earlier days of the American +occupation was known as the Baranof Castle, although Baranof himself +never lived in it. There were three, if not four different buildings +which occupied that position. The first to be placed there was built at +once upon the founding of the post and is described by Resanof in his +letters to the Company as being a very "Unpretentious building, and +poorly constructed." Before the close of Baranof's administration, +however, according to the account of Captain Golofnin, it was an +establishment well built and furnished with some degree of luxury. + +[Illustration: The Baranof Castle. Built in 1837 for the official +residence of the chief managers of the Russian American Company, and +occupied from the time of Kuprianof until 1867. It was the headquarters +building of the Commanding Officers of the U. S. troops 1867 to 1877, and +was destroyed by fire in 1894. The U. S. Agricultural Department +building occupies the site at the present time.] + +The structure known as the Baranof Castle, which stood on the hill at +the time of the transfer to the United States, would seem to be the +third building constructed on the site, was completed about 1837,[13] +and was burned to the ground on the morning of March 17th, 1894. + +The historic building was the scene of many interesting events, and +sheltered many distinguished persons. + +The first mistress who presided over the mansion on the kekoor was +Madame Yanovski, a daughter of Baranof and the wife of Lieutenant +Yanovski, the third chief manager of the Russian American Company. + +Lady Wrangell was the first to come from Russia to preside as the First +Lady of Sitka, and she was succeeded by Madame Kupreanof, who is said to +have crossed Siberia and the Pacific Ocean to accompany her husband to +his post. Sir Edward Belcher gives a spirited account of a ball given in +his honor, in the castle, which was then, in 1837, just completed. He +says: "The evening passed most delightfully," although "few could +converse with their partners," English being spoken by few at that time +in the capital of Russian America. + +Princess Maksoutoff, the wife of the last chief manager of the colonies, +came from St. Petersburg, but died soon after her arrival, and the stone +which marks her grave may be seen on the hill between the two +cemeteries, near the site of the upper Blockhouse. Her successor, the +second Princess Maksoutoff, young and beautiful, presided with grace and +tact over the mansion until the transfer of the territory to the United +States. She was one of six Russian ladies present at the ceremonies and +is said to have wept when the Russian flag was lowered. + +There is a legend of a beautiful princess whose ghost haunted the Castle +for many years. The story has been told by many at different times and +is one of the romantic tales that cluster around the old metropolis of +the fur trading days. Her lover was sent away or killed through the +influence of an _ober offitzer_ who sought her hand in marriage. +Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, who wrote so delightfully of Sitka in her +journeys in Alaska in 1883, says that, "By tradition the Lady in Black +was the daughter of one of the old governors. On her wedding night she +disappeared from the ballroom in the midst of the festivities, and after +a long search was found dead in one of the small drawing rooms."[14] + +[Illustration: The Grave of the Princess Maksoutoff.] + +The chief managers entertained lavishly, and the dinners in the Castle +were events long to be remembered. They were well worthy the +representatives of a rich and powerful company, a corporation with a +domain that was greater than the realm of many a royal ruler. Into the +sumptuously furnished and richly decorated dining-room came the bishop +and priests, resplendent in the official robes, the naval officers +glittering in their gold laced uniforms, the secretaries, accountants, +storekeepers, all in the uniform of the Ministry of Finance, the masters +and mates of the ships in the harbor; the guests in their best apparel; +all gathered around the hospitable board of the chief manager. At times +a hundred sat at the table and back of them dined the cadets of the +naval school. After the dinner came dancing and until morning the gayety +went merrily on, for Russian cheer is proverbial, and their hospitality +is lavish. + +Usually the Captain of the port, the secretaries, three public and two +private, two masters in the navy, the commercial agent, two doctors, and +the Lutheran clergyman, dined with the chief manager by general +invitation, Sir George Simpson tells us. The civilian masters of +vessels, accountants, engineers, clerks, and bookkeepers, dined at a +club which was organized by Mr. Etolin, and they lived at the old club +house a little to the east of the church. + +A wedding was an elaborate affair, a bridal cake which figured in many +mystic signs, tea, coffee, chocolate and champagne; the ladies attired +in muslin dresses, white satin shoes, silk stockings, kid gloves, fans, +and other necessary appurtances. After the ceremony of an hour and a +half was consummated, the ball was opened by the bride and the highest +officer present, and the dancing lasted until three in the morning. + +Easter was an event of much hilarity after the close of Lent, which was +strictly observed by all. From morning to night everyone ran a gauntlet +of kisses; when two persons met, one said, "Christ has risen," while the +other replied, "He has risen, indeed," and then followed the +salutations. These seemed not to have been distasteful to visitors, +although one remarks that most of the dames had been more liberal with +other liquids than of pure water. Throughout it all was a continuous +peal of bells, for the Russian is fond of bell-ringing. All carried +eggs, boiled into stones, and dyed, gilded or painted, which they +presented to their friends. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TRADE AND INDUSTRY + + +Sitka, under the Muscovite, existed because of the fur trade, and every +energy and interest centered on the gathering of peltries from every +available quarter. Sailing ships moved in and out of the harbor, taken +to their moorings or out to sea by the harbor tug; some from Michaelovsk +with the beaver and martin from the Yukon, others _en route_ to +California or to the Sandwich Islands; the supply ships from Kronstadt +around Cape Horn or returning via Canton and the Cape of Good Hope laden +with furs; still others bound for the Kuril Islands or Okhotsk. The +steamer "Nikolai" plied along the passages of the Alexander Archipelago, +exploring the inlets, surveying the bays and rivers, gathering furs, +always furs, for that was the reason for their living on this distant +shore.[15] + +[Illustration: Sitka in 1860, Near the Close of the Russian +Administration.] + +Near the entrance to the Kolosh village was the market where the natives +were permitted to trade. There they brought their game and fish, their +furs and baskets, to trade for calico and beads, blankets and +ammunition.[16] This market was closed by a portcullised door which +permitted entrance through the stockaded wall, and was enclosed by a +railed yard. Armed guards stood on duty, and at the least dispute in the +market, down came the door and they proceeded to punish the delinquents. + +The warehouses were stored with thousands on thousands of the richest +furs of the Northland; sea-otter, worth today from $800 to $1,000 per +skin, and not to be had at any price, were numbered by thousands in the +earlier years; sealskins by shiploads, some killed off the harbor, but +mainly from the Seal Islands; of land otter, the Hudson's Bay Company +paid them two thousand skins each year for the lease of the territory +from Portland Canal to Cape Spencer. The martin, the American sable, +with its fluffy pelage. Foxes, blue, white, black, silver gray, red and +cross, were there by thousands, brought from the Arctic, from the +Aleutian Islands, from the Valley of the Yukon; mink, ermine, muskrat, +beaver, land otter, pile on pile. Tons of ivory from the walrus herds of +Morzhovia and bearskins and wolfskins from Cook Inlet and the Copper +River. The right to the fur trade belonged exclusively to the Company by +Royal ukase, and any employe who was found attempting to infringe on +their rights was arrested and sent to Russia for punishment.[17] + +From the top of the Castle, over 100 feet above the sea, a light burned +as a beacon to mariners entering the harbor, and this was the first +light-house to throw its beams over the waters of this northern ocean. +In the cupola which rose from the roof were four little square cups into +which seal oil was poured and wicks burned in grooves rising from them, +while back of the flame was a reflector that threw the light far out to +sea among the islands. + +The stock of goods in the magazines was large and varied. It covered +almost every article carried in the general European trade as a +necessity, and many of the luxuries--sugar and sealing wax, tobacco, +both Virginia and Kirghis, silk and broadcloth, calico and Flemish +linen, ravens duck and frieze, arshins of blankets and poods of yarn; +vedras of rum, cognac and gin; butter from the Yakut, from California +and from Kodiak; salt beef from Ross Colony, from England and from +Kodiak; beaver hats and cotton socks. + +In the arsenal were kept about a thousand muskets, three hundred +pistols, two hundred rifles, as well as sabres, cutlasses, etc., while +four fire engines provided against loss by conflagration. Some rare +weapons were also found there. A saber set with gems valued at 560 +rubles; a Persian carbine of a value of 450 rubles; two Persian +yatighans, silver mounted; a Damascus saber, and two Persian pistols, +silver mounted. + +The soldiers' guns were for a great part of French or English +workmanship; rockets and false-fire for signalling ships were made each +year. + +Tallow for candles was brought from California, moulded at the port and +distributed so many candles to each employe according to their presumed +needs each month. + +Liquors, generally rum, were served by the Company, a drink twice a +week, extra allowance being made on difficult work and also for +holidays. All kinds of devices were resorted to by individuals in order +to get rum, and one author says that a pair of boots for which the +makers would demand ten rubles might be secured in barter for a bottle +of rum worth three rubles. + +The soldiers stationed at the fort when not on duty were employed by the +Company and given a special compensation for their labor. Some of the +soldiers and hunters by their industry and thrift accumulated +considerable money which the Company held to their account and either +paid to them on their discharge or sent home to Russia for them. Others +spent their earnings, were continually in debt to the Company, and as +their contract provided that they were not to be discharged while in +arrears of debt, some of them served the remainder of their lives with +no hope of return to Russia. + +Around the hill ran a parapet and sentries walked their beat night and +day. On the stockade which enclosed the town from the beach at the edge +of the "Ranche" to the shore beyond the sawmill, making with the shore +line an irregular rectangle, also walked the sentinels on their vigil, +for the Thlingit at the gates was at all times an enemy to be feared. +Strict military discipline was maintained at all times. At the foot of +the hill were clustered barracks, storehouses, bakeries, warehouses, +etc., for the use of the garrison and workmen. The old structure which +was used as a bakery, and for shops, was later known as the Sitka +Trading Company's building, and has recently been removed. The barracks +are at present the jail, and the Russian counting house is today the +postoffice of the United States. The fur warehouse stood to the west of +the hill and was torn down in 1897-8, while the landing warehouse on the +wharf was burned in 1916. These were all built about the time of the +incumbency of Etolin, and that time might be termed the Golden Age of +the Colony. Ships were being built, the fur trade was still prosperous, +new explorations were being made into the interior of the country, trade +was being extended into the Yukon Valley and there was an active +interest in all the industries of the settlement. There were men of many +trades, engineers, cabinet makers, jewelers, tailors, builders, etc., +and an efficient machine shop constructed engines to equip the vessels +constructed in the shipyard. Plowshares and spades for the Spanish +farmers in California were forged and bells for the Franciscan missions +were cast here. The first steam vessel to be built on the shore of the +North Pacific Ocean was constructed at Sitka, for, before 1840 the whole +of the machinery for a tug of seven horsepower, as well as of two +pleasure boats had been constructed here. The steamer "Nikolai" of 70 +horsepower was built and equipped with the exception of the boilers +which were brought from New York. The ship ways at Sitka was the +repairing place for many a vessel in the days of the gold seekers in the +valleys of California. + +Two sawmills, one near the site of the present mill, the other on +Kirenski River, now called Sawmill Creek,[18] cut the lumber for the +settlement and for export. Two flouring mills, one in Sitka, the other +at the Ozerskoe Redoubt on Globokoe[19] (Deep) Lake, ground the +breadstuffs. A tannery furnished the leather for shoes, made from +California hides, and also prepared the _lavtaks_ for the bidarkas +for the seal and sea-otter hunters. The burrs for the Sitka mill were of +the finest French stone but those at the Redoubt were cut from the +granite found on the lake shore.[20] + +A hospital of forty beds provided for the comfort of the sick, of which +Governor Simpson said: "The institution in question would do no disgrace +to England." + +Brickyards were maintained, ice was cut on the lakes and at times +shipped to California. The ice-houses were near the outlet of Swan Lake +and were of a capacity of 3,000 tons. + +One day in the spring of 1852 the American ship "Bacchus" came into +Sitka to purchase a cargo of ice. All the ice for San Francisco had to +this time been brought in the hold of sailing ships around Cape Horn +from Boston and the idea of getting the supply from Sitka was conceived. +From the Company's icehouses was laden on the ship 250 tons, and this +was the beginning of a trade during the year of not less than 1800 tons +at an average price of about $25.00 per ton. A Company was organized in +San Francisco for carrying on the trade and it was known as "the Ice +Company." The ice on the lake was not of sufficient thickness owing to +the fact that four degrees below zero is the coldest record ever made in +Sitka during a hundred years, consequently the Ice Company later +transferred their chief place of operation to Wood Island, near Kodiak. + +Cows were kept for milk, and the hay for their provender was cut on the +Katleanski Plains on Squashanski Bay. + +Sir George Simpson, Governor-in-Chief of the Honourable, the Hudson's +Bay Company, visited Sitka in 1841 and in 1842. He describes the +settlement, the natives, and the fur trade, and was entertained at the +Castle by Chief Manager Etolin. During his stay he indulged in a Russian +steam bath. His humorous description of the details ends with a promise +never again to undergo such a castigation. The account of his stay at +the Hot Springs is enlivened by a story of how a rosy cheeked Russian +damsel, each time she passed his chair, made a profound obeisance, which +he attributed to his personal attraction until he discovered her doing +the same when the chair was empty, and then saw that a saintly ikon +occupied a place on the wall directly over it, which dispelled the +illusion. Thirteen ships were in the harbor, and he remarks that the +bustle was sufficient to have done credit to a third rate port in the +civilized world. Sir George sailed for Okhotsk on the Russian ship +"Alexander," then crossed Siberia overland on his return to England from +a journey round the earth. + +There were eighty cannon mounted in the batteries which commanded the +bay or which looked down on the Kolosh village. These cannon were of +different make, some being cast in Sitka, others purchased of English or +Americans, which were purchased on the ships on which they were mounted, +as on the "Juno" and the "Brutus;" and other ordnance was brought from +Kronstadt, Russia, as in 1804 on the "Neva," and in 1820 on the +"Borodino." + +Teahouses were situated on the little knoll in the center of the town +where the public Gardens were located; the museum, and the library +offered instruction to the workers who occupied this lonely post halfway +round the world from the Russian Fatherland. + +There were fourteen chief managers who directed the affairs of the +Company at Sitka between the date of the founding in 1804 and the +surrender to the United States in 1867.[21] + +Many of the officers resided long in the colonies and their record would +establish their right to be denominated as "Sourdoughs." Baranof was +manager 28 years; Zarembo was rewarded in 1844 for 25 years' service; +Krukof, the manager at Unalaska, was rewarded in 1821 for 40 years' +service; Banner remained at Kodiak for at least ten years, and he and +his wife both died there; while Kuskof came with Baranof in 1790 and +returned to Russia in 1821. + +[Illustration: Sitka in 1869--During the Time of the Military Occupation.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SITKA UNDER UNITED STATES RULE + + +Then came the day when the Russian was to withdraw from his colonies, +and the United States was to occupy them as Alaska. An area as broad as +an empire, equal in extent to Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark +combined, was to be handed over from the Imperial Ruler of all the +Russias to the Republic of the United States, and Sitka, the Capital of +the Colonies, was to be the scene of the actual transfer. The +statesmanship of Secretary Seward, aided by the eloquence of Sumner, had +secured for our country a domain one sixth as large as the whole United +States. + +October 18th, 1867, Alexei Pestchouroff, the Commissioner of the Tsar, +appeared in front of the Baranof castle, and beside him stood Lovell H. +Rousseau, the Commissioner for the United States, who was to receive the +Territory. + +The Russian soldiery were drawn up along the terrace which ran around +the Baranof Hill, and next to them were the men of the United States +Infantry.[22] The ensign of Russia was lowered, the flag of the United +States raised to the accompaniment of the salutes from the batteries and +of the guns of the ships in the harbor.[23] The few words of the +ceremony of transfer were spoken, and Alaska became a possession of the +United States. + +Most of the Russian residents went back to their native land as soon as +they were able to do so, but some remained to cast their lot in the land +that had so long been their home.[24] Among those who remained are the +Kashavaroffs, the Kostromitinoffs, the Bolshanins, the Shutzoffs, and +others, whose descendants now live in Alaska. + +The commanding officer of the American troops, Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, +made his headquarters in the building on the hill that had been so long +the residence of the Russian officers. The American soldiers were +quartered in the barracks of the Siberian Battalion, and the sentries of +the United States walked the beats of the Russian guards. Sitka gradually +adjusted itself to the new conditions, to the crowds of adventurers who +thronged its streets seeking a profit in speculations in lands and furs. +They were doomed to disappointment, for the titles to lands were +withheld and the fur trade was overdone, so most of the newly arrived +drifted away as they came. Distinguished visitors came and were +entertained in the old castle where the Commandant dispensed +hospitality. Lady Franklin, the widow of the famous Arctic explorer, was +once a guest at the mansion on the kekoor, and Secretary Seward was +entertained there in 1869 when he visited the land he added to the +possessions of the United States. + +While the military garrison were content with their conditions and were +not troubled with the affairs of the world at large, the civil +population wished for the law and authority of other communities, and +set themselves to remedy the omission of the Government in far-off +Washington so far as was possible to do, for there was no provision for +an organization of civil government in the community. They organized a +municipal association, drafted ordinances, elected councilmen, collected +revenue for improving the Governor's Walk, changed the name to Lincoln +Street, and in December opened a school. After five years the civil +population declined until the revenue was insufficient to maintain the +expense, the organization was abandoned, with it passed the school, and +the first attempt at self-government closed. + +Then followed dark days for Sitka.[25] Military rules for the garrison +and no law or protection for the people. Soldiers from the fort are said +to have robbed the church of its ornaments, tearing the covers from the +richly bound Bible of the Cathedral. The offenders were apprehended, but +there being no civil law all the punishment meted out was to be drummed +out of the service and sent to the States on an army transport. The +stolen property was hidden under the old hospital building and was +discovered by some boys and nearly all was restored to the church. + +On New Year's Day, 1869, Colcheka, a noted chief of the Chilkats who was +visiting Sitka, was entertained by General Davis at the castle on the +hill. The liquid refreshments served to him by the General raised his +spirits and his pride of race. After it was over he descended the long +flight of steps leading from the Commandant's quarters and strode across +the parade ground with the dignity becoming to the hereditary chief of +the Chilkats, the proudest kwan of the Thlingits. For some reason he +crossed the part reserved for officers, was challenged by the sentry, +and, not heeding, when he reached the stockade gate was kicked by the +sentry stationed there. He was furious. + +"Me, Colcheka, Chief of the Chilkats, kicked!" + +He turned in a rage, seized the musket of the sentry, wrenched it from +his hands, then carried it to his house in the Ranche. + +The guard was turned out for his arrest and a skirmish ensued in which +the guard was worsted and retreated to the barracks. The Sitkas were +neutral. The Chilkats were too few in number to fight the troops, so +next day Colcheka surrendered, was kept in the guardhouse for a few days +and then released. + +Meantime orders that no Indians be permitted to leave the Ranche were +issued which were revoked upon Colcheka's surrender. Through some +mistake in revoking the orders the sentries were not notified. A canoe +load of Indians left the Ranche to get wood. The sentries fired on the +canoe and killed two of the occupants, a Chilkat and a Kake. It was an +unfortunate mistake. Those shots rang from Lynn Canal to Kuiu Island and +the echoes vibrated for more than twenty years. By listening intently +one might yet hear the vibrations. Two white men died and three Indian +villages burned directly as a result, but it happened in places distant +from Sitka, and, as they say, it is another story. + +On a June day of 1877 the troops of the United States army embarked on a +ship for the States and sailed away from Sitka. The buildings and +property were left in charge of the Collector of Customs, who, with the +Postmaster, constituted the only officials in the Territory. The +presence of the military had guaranteed safety from attack by the +Indians to the people of the town, and the officers had been a pleasant +addition to the social life; with their departure both were lost. + +The animosity of the Thlingits had been kindled by many wrongs, some +real and others fancied. They saw in the new order of things an +opportunity to recompense themselves for past grievances. All the old +stories of the killing of their countrymen by the troops, the burning of +old Kake and other villages, the loss of five Keeksitties, in the +Schooner "San Diego" in Bering Sea and other tales were rehearsed and +were used to stir the lust for vengeance. The Keeksittis, under the +leadership of Katlean, openly advocated sacking the town, killing the +men and making slaves of the women. + +"The government does not care for the country. They have abandoned it. +It belongs to us, anyway; why not take the town and do as we wish with +it?" said Katlean. + +The Kokwantons, under Annahootz, their chief, opposed the outrage. For +months there was danger of an outbreak. Insult after insult was placed +upon the citizens. The stockade was cut down and carried away by the +Indians. Every male inhabitant was armed and expecting a call to battle +at any time. A man was killed at the Hot Springs by a Keeksitty. The +murderer was arrested through the assistance of the Kokwantons under +Annahootz.[26] The Keeksitties assembled to rescue the criminal, but the +citizens of the town rallied for defense, the Kokwantons joined them and +the murderer was safely placed on board the Steamer "California" and +taken to Portland for trial where he was afterward hanged. + +On the same boat went an appeal for assistance, directed to the United +States Government, but it fell on deaf ears. Another petition was sent +to Victoria, B. C., and was heeded. Captain A. Holmes A'Court, of +H. M. S. "Osprey," at once set out for Sitka, arrived on March 1st, 1879, +anchored opposite the Ranche and trained his guns for immediate use. The +danger was averted. Captain A'Court remained until the arrival of the U. +S. S. "Alaska," on April 3rd, then departed for Esquimault with the +blessings of the grateful people of Sitka. + +On June 14th into the harbor came the U. S. S. "Jamestown." Her +Commander, Captain L. A. Beardslee, assumed control of affairs in the +community and administered them in a manner which brought credit on his +name. He found everything at the lowest ebb; every woman and child who +could leave, had gone to escape the danger of Indian massacre; +witchcraft prevailed among the natives and anarchy among the whites. He +took a census[27] upon his arrival, and the result was 325 people, +exclusive of the Creole population. He appointed an Indian police; +established more sanitary conditions in the "Ranche," numbered the +houses, and compelled the attendance of the Indian children at the +Mission School. + +A school was opened in the old Russian barracks building on April 17, +1878, by Rev. John G. Brady and Miss Fannie E. Kellogg, of the +Presbyterian Mission, which was later followed by the present Sheldon +Jackson Mission School. George Kostromitinoff, afterward known as Father +Sergius, was the interpreter. The opening of the school was a great +event for Sitka and nearly everyone in the town attended. Annahootz, the +friendly Kokwantan war chief, made a speech. Mr. Cohen, the brewer, +hunted up another interpreter to assist. Hymns were sung and the events +were auspicious. The Indians stole in one at a time, some with their +faces blackened, all in blankets, but they squatted by the wall and +listened attentively. The school was continued until December, when it +was given up, but in the spring of 1880 Miss Olinda Austin, from New +York City, reopened it on April 5th, in one of the rooms of the +guardhouse, with an attendance of 103 children. The school thus +established was the beginning of the present Sheldon Jackson Training +School. The support of the naval officers at the station was such that +the missionary teacher was moved to say: "It is not often that the +Government sends out a missionary, but they have sent one in this young +commander and his lieutenant, Mr. F. M. Symonds," in referring to +Captain Glass, who succeeded Captain Beardslee. + +Some form of local government giving the residents a right to regulate +their civil affairs was favored by the Commander, who had not even a +code under which to act. A meeting was called, ordinances were drafted, +a magistrate and councilmen elected for a town government. But all were +not agreed upon these acts and opposition arose against it from the very +inception of the movement. One of the traders of the town, Caplin, said: +"De Captain may go to ---- wid his tam government; I'll bay no daxes." +And from Silver Bay where he was mining, Geo. E. Pilz sent in a protest +against the proceeding. The dealers who traded molasses to the Indians, +from which the villainous liquor called "hoochinoo" or "Hooch," was +distilled, objected to the ordinances restricting the trade. Finally an +English miner named Roy was shot by his partner, "Scotty," and the +inability of the self-made government to try the offender brought a +crisis. The next day a notice appeared stating the organization had been +dissolved, and the second attempt at self-government by the people in +Alaska passed into oblivion. + +Scotty was sent to Oregon for trial and was discharged because of lack +of a law to punish a man for assault with a dangerous weapon in Alaska. + +But the dawn of a better day was at hand, Alaska's darkest hours were +past, and morning was breaking. The rule of the Navy Department +continued until 1884, then, although the warships still remained in +Alaskan waters, by Act of Congress of May 17th, a form of civil +government was granted, and the official Capital was placed at Sitka. +The terror of the Indian outbreaks was past; schools were in reach, for +the same act provided for the establishment of a system of public +education, and the Code of Oregon was adopted as the law of the +land.[28] + +Then some of the life of the former years returned to the beautiful +village by the sea; there were pleasant parties among the residents, the +Governor held receptions, the officers of the warships added to the +social life, many a gay ball was celebrated on the top floor of the +court house, and for more than twenty years it was the Capital of +Alaska.[29] + +With the influx of the Americans prospecting began, for in the vast wild +mountains of Baranof and Chicagof Islands there is a wealth of mineral +stored in the ledges. + +The Russians had attempted to find the mineral of the mountains, and in +1848 a Mr. Doroshin, a mining engineer, had been sent out from St. +Petersburg to search for mineral wealth in the colonies. He was not +successful enough to make it of profit to them, although he found coal +on Cook Inlet, gold on the Kenai Peninsula, earth promising to bear +diamonds near Kootznahoo, and copper was known to be on the Myednooskie, +or Copper, River. + +Discharged soldiers of the garrison were the first to take to the hills +with pick and shovel. Nicholas Haley, an old-time prospector of Arizona, +who came with the troops to Sitka, was one of the most energetic and +daring of these. Year after year, with pick and shovel, with rifle and +blankets, Nicholas attacked the rugged mountains. Rich specimens were +brought in and yielded enough when brayed in a mortar to keep him in a +grubstake, but it takes capital to develop a hard rock mine and capital +was wary. So Nicholas toiled on year after year, keeping up his +assessments and living on hopes until at last he passed over the Great +Divide to a Better Diggings. + +Others tried it. In 1878 a mining company was organized at Sitka, but +there was not yet a law under which a claim could be legally taken. +Ledges were found, small mills were placed on the ground at the Stewart +Mine, the Lucky Chance and elsewhere, and later great fakes were +promoted at the Pande Basin and elsewhere. But it was years after that +when two Indian boys, hunting on Chicagof Island, lay down to drink at a +stream, and, behold, in the shimmering water was white rock with yellow, +glittering particles dancing in the clear stream. With the fear it was +but fools gold they took specimens and marked the place where they were +found. When they reached Sitka they submitted these samples to Judge +DeGroff, and to Professor Kelly of the Sheldon Jackson School. It was +pronounced to be gold, pure shining, yellow gold, and richer than the +most sanguine had hoped for. After much labor and many disappointments +the ledge was located from which the float came, and today that mine, +the Chicagof it is called, is known as the richest and best paying mine +in the United States in proportion to the money invested, and more than +one fortune has been taken out of the tunnels in the mountain. + +Off the shores of the continent, reaching far off to the westward almost +to the shores of Asia are vast fishing grounds, perhaps the greatest in +the world. A great submarine plateau stretches along shore, past the +Aleutian Islands and into Bering Sea. There are estimated to be forty +thousand square miles of cod and halibut banks that are known to the +surveys. The fisheries of Gloucester and Cape Cod fade into +insignificance and the famous Newfoundland Banks are but small in +comparison. + +Sitka goes back the farthest in historic memory of any city of the +Northwest. When Lewis and Clarke came to the mouth of the Columbia River +she was looking out over the Pacific from her stockaded walls and +Resanof was sailing to search for locations for new colonies. When +Astoria was founded she was placing her outpost on the Russian River in +California. Before San Francisco was a city she sent her bidarkas to +take the sea-otter from under the very noses of the Padres in their +missions. Here the civilization of the East met the progress of the +West, the Orient and the Occident met here and met without bloodshed. +Sitka, with her wealth of fisheries in the waters at her doors, with her +wealth of mineral in the ledges at her back, with the wealth of forest +on the mountain slopes around her, is in the same latitude as Edinburgh, +Scotland. The time is coming when she will have population, and wealth; +beauty she already has. What more is wanted for the happiness of her +people? Only energy, perseverance, and thrift, and those will be +forthcoming. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHAT TO SEE + + +Approaching Sitka by the usual steamer route from the north at a +distance of six miles the site of Old Sitka is passed. It lies to the +left of the steamer track, in a small bay, and is marked by a native +house which is visible from the ship. From near this place, looking to +the westward, the first sight of Mount Edgecumbe is to be had between +the islands. On approaching the town the ship goes through a narrow +channel between Japonski Island at the right and the townsite at the +left. Near the middle of the channel a rock is marked by a buoy and +along the shore is the native village, or "Ranche," with a sloping beach +upon which in former days the canoes were drawn up. The paths by which +they were brought from the water may be seen, marked by the rocks being +thrown to each side from the track. + +[Illustration: Sitka--East on Lincoln Street--the Governor's Walk of the +Russians.] + +On Japonski Island is the U. S. Naval Coaling Station and the U. S. +wireless telegraph. The magnetic observatory of the Russians was +situated there. The name means Japan Island and is given because Resanof +designated it as the place to keep captive Japanese whom he expected to +capture through his expedition against the lower Kuril Islands in 1806. + +The dock at which the ship lands is in the same location as the one used +by the Russians, but it has been extended to deeper water. The timbers +of the old hulk once used by the Russians as a landing stage may still +be seen in the water at low tide. On the dock was the landing warehouse +of the Russians, a log structure with a passage through the center. It +was burned in 1916. Leaving the wharf and going eastward along Lincoln +Street, at the side are the booths or tents of the native merchants, +kept by the women from the village, a veritable arcade of little +markets, and each of the vendors is as interested as though she occupied +a seat on the famous Rialto Bridge to sell the wares of ancient Venice. +The picturesque, dark-skinned Thlingit women sit at the doors of their +little tents hour after hour, offering the strangely carved totems, the +beautiful baskets of spruce roots woven in mystic designs, the beaded +moccasins, etc., products of their industry during the long winter when +the tourist boats do not call at the Sitka wharves. Passing up the +street to the east from the landing--at the right is the U. S. cable +office, occupying the site of the old Russian fur warehouse. Next is the +three-story building used for courthouse and jail, formerly the Russian +Barracks where the Siberian Battalion was quartered. This is one of the +most prominent of the old buildings which remain. In front of this is +the stairway leading to the top of the hill on which is situated the +building of the Agricultural Department, on the site of the former +residence of the chief manager of the Russian American Company. Around +this hill were the batteries of the Russians, commanding the Kolosh +village and the harbor. The former building was often called the +Governor's Mansion, or the Baranof Castle, was built about 1837 and was +destroyed by fire in 1894. The hill commands a fine view of the harbor +and the surrounding islands. The present structure is the headquarters +of the Alaska division of the Agricultural Department. Opposite the +stairway to the hill is the way leading to the "Ranche;" the open square +was the former parade ground of the Army, and later of the U. S. Marines +from the Man-of-War which was stationed here. East of the old barracks +building is the former counting house of the Company, now occupied as +the U. S. Postoffice, and during the time when Sitka was the Capital of +the Territory it was used by the United States for a Customs office, and +by the Governor as an office. Going east on Lincoln Street, the next +large building at the right was the old bakery and shops of the Company, +later commonly known as the Sitka Trading Company Building, having been +occupied by that company for many years. Beyond this on the same side of +the street at a short distance is a small building, standing back from +the walk, surmounted by a Greek cross, which marks the site of the first +church built in Sitka, in 1817. Next to this lot is the one formerly +occupied by the Lutheran Church, built in the time of Etolin, and in +which the first church service was held by Chaplain Rainier of the U. S. +Army, after the American occupation. + +[Illustration: Interior of Cathedral of St. Michael] + +Across the street is the Cathedral of St. Michael, the headquarters of +the Greek Orthodox Church in Alaska. In the Territory are claimed to be +ten thousand communicants of that faith and from Sitka the management of +affairs is conducted. The church is in the form of a cross and is +surmounted by the Greek cross. The interior is richly decorated after +the usual custom of the Russian churches. Candlesticks of massive design +stand at either side of the doors of the inner sanctuary. The building, +with its dome, is distinctive, and is a good example of Russian church +architecture.[30] + +Continuing east along Lincoln Street a short distance beyond the +Cathedral a vacant space on the right marks the spot formerly occupied +by the clubhouse, built by Etolin for a home for the clerks, navigators, +and other employes of the Company--opposite it was situated the foundry +and machine shops, while a little farther to the east stood the +sawmills, at the mouth of the outlet to Swan Lake. Along this stream was +the eastern boundary of the stockade of the Russian fort, with a +blockhouse near the point of the lower end of the lake. East of this +stockade were the kitchen gardens, but all traces of them have long +since vanished. Continuing along the street following the shore, the +Bishop's house is passed on the left, where the Russian school is +taught, and a short distance beyond is the house of the Episcopal Bishop +of the diocese, Rev. Bishop P. T. Rowe. Still farther to the east is the +Sheldon Jackson School, the Presbyterian Mission School, consisting of a +group of buildings, the first of which was completed in 1880, under the +superintendence of Rev. Alonzo Austin, and others have been added from +time to time until the present fine establishment has resulted. An +octagonal structure shelters the Sheldon Jackson Museum, a fine +collection of native work of many kinds, gathered from all parts of +Alaska by the first superintendent of native schools for the Territory. +A small paper is published by the mission, the _Verstovian_, and is +printed by the native students of the institution. + +Opposite the mission, at the edge of the curving beach, a large, +flat-topped rock lies at the side of the way, called the Blarney Stone. +On this it is said that Baranof often sat, during the last year of his +residence here, and looked out through the vistas between the islands to +the broad Pacific. What were the thoughts of the brave, strong, strange, +old man as he sat here will never be known, but it is sure that there +was much of sadness for him in those days. + +Beyond the Mission is the famous Indian River Road, a continuation of +the Governor's Walk of the Russians, and often called the Lover's Lane. +It winds along the shore of the sea, through the Park, with here and +there an opening in the forest where there are splendid examples of +Hydah carvings in the tall totems placed in well chosen spots. These +totem poles were taken to the St. Louis Fair in 1904, as a part of the +Alaska Exhibit, and afterward returned to this park. One of the most +interesting is the house totem of Chief Son-i-hat, of Kasaan, +accompanied by the four supporting columns of the ancient tribal house. + +From the rustic bridge on the Indian River there are enticing paths +leading along the stream and toward Mt. Verstovia, which towers above +the bay to the height of 3,216 feet. Along the river, known as the +_Kolosh Ryeka_, by the Russians, the winding paths are bordered +with huge Sitka spruces and giant cedars, with the space thickly filled +with a dense growth of shrubbery, among which is prominent the Devil's +Club (_panax horridus_), with its beautifully palmated leaves and +its cruel spines concealed underneath. This shrub was formerly used by +the natives as an instrument of torture in their witchcraft. In the +depths of the forest the earth is covered with a carpet of ferns and +mosses, and the trunks of fallen trees of former years may be seen with +other trees of from two to three feet in diameter growing on their +prostrate bodies. + +Returning toward the town, at the Mission the Davis Road turns toward +the north. It was built by the Army during their occupation, in the +process of their securing wood from the forest, and named for General +Jeff C. Davis, the Commander of the post. Following it the Military +Cemetery is reached at the distance of about three-eighths of a mile. +Here are some interesting monuments, among them being that of Gouverneur +Morris, a descendent of the famous financier of the Revolution. A stone +marks the resting place of a lieutenant of the U. S. Army, around whose +memory lingers stories of a duel with a brother officer in a solitary +spot along Indian River, over a Russian beauty of Sitka. + +Turning aside from Lincoln Street at the Mission, or at the street next +westward, a walk of a quarter of a mile leads to the experiment farm of +the Agricultural Department of the United States. There may be seen many +products, including apples and strawberries of an excellent quality. Of +the latter is a variety originated by Prof. Georgeson through +hybridizing the cultivated berries with the wild native berry which +grows luxuriantly at many places in Alaska. + +On reaching the Cathedral a street turns northward along which one +finds, at the right, on the little knoll in the town, among the +scattered spruce trees, the spot where formerly stood the tea houses of +the Russians. They were in the center of the public gardens which +covered the knoll and were approached by beautifully bordered walks. +Farther along, on the left of the walk, is the remaining Russian +blockhouse, the last of three which formerly stood on the line of the +stockade that protected the town from the Kolosh. A little back of the +blockhouse is the grave of the Princess Maksoutoff, marked with a marble +slab lying on the raised mound above her resting place. At the end of +the walk is the modern Russian cemetery, with its forest of Greek +crosses, and in the center, at the highest point, is a platform from +which is had an excellent view of the harbor, islands, Mt. Edgecumbe, +and of the lake and town. + +Returning as far as the site of the tea gardens, then going westward +toward the water, at the right is an enclosure in which there is a small +building marking the site of the Koloshian Church, or the Church of the +Resurrection, as it is called in the church records. This was the +building occupied by the natives in 1855 when they made an attack upon +the town. It was on the line of the stockade which formerly ran from the +water front at the end of the "Ranche," east to the lake, then back to +the water at the sawmill. On the line of the stockade were three +blockhouses, the church being between the first and second of these. +Surrounding the site of the church are a number of graves, and among +them are some interesting monuments dating back to the Russian days, for +this is the older of the two cemeteries. + +[Illustration: Russian Blockhouse.] + +Going down to the entrance to the native town, or "Ranche," there is a +choice of two streets, one in front of the houses along the water front, +the other at the rear. The one at the front is preferable. The houses +are built of lumber and in general are constructed by the native +workmen, who have been instructed at the mission school, at which there +is an excellent manual training department. The great tribal houses of +former days have long since disappeared. The older houses were named by +the natives much as were the inns of old England; the _Gooch-haet_, +or wolf house; the _Tahn-haet_, or sea-lion house; the +_Kahse-haet_, or cow house, and others, named for different +animals. The _Kahse-haet_ was named from the head of a cow being +brought there from a wreck off the coast in which the animal was +drowned. Formerly there were many canoes along the water front--as many +as 150 at a time being often seen, but now their place is occupied by +gas boats--generally built by the owners and the engines installed by +them. The loss in the picturesque is partly compensated by the gain in +utility, but the native canoe was a wonder of marine architecture, cut +from a single log and shaped with fire and adzed into elegant lines. An +occasional specimen is sometimes yet to be seen on the beach or +carefully covered from the weather in some sheltered and secluded cove. + +There were no great house totem poles in front of the houses as there +are at Wrangell, Kasaan and elsewhere. There were some mortuary columns +near the grave houses which formerly stood on the ridge back of the +village, but these have long been covered by the dense undergrowth which +sprang up in recent years. + +In this village have lived some interesting and strong characters. +Annahootz and Katlean both figured boldly in the history of the town, +and Sitka Jack was noted for his great potlatch held in 1877, when he +gave a housewarming at which he presented to his visitors over 500 +blankets, not to mention the hoochinoo and whiskey which flowed +liberally for all. He beggared himself by the feast, but his reputation +was established above reproach for the rest of life. Princess Tom was +another celebrity, whose fame was founded on her wealth which was +estimated at ten thousand dollars, and which was acquired by skill in +basket making and shrewdness in dealing in native manufactures on which +she was a connoisseur--going out to the villages in her long canoe to +gather the stock of baskets, bracelets, carved dishes, masks, dance +hats, etc., which she disposed of to advantage upon her return to Sitka. +Chief Tlan Tech was one of the prominent citizens and frequently might +have been seen on the street in his frock coat, tall hat, with cane and +kid gloves, cutting quite a dash. His English vocabulary was very +limited and he was accustomed for many years to fly the Russian flag +over his canoe when he went out to a neighboring village for a potlatch. + +Some of the silversmiths were skilled workmen. Sitka Jack, and Kooska, +and Hydah Jake, all fashioned bracelets, spoons, and other articles, +carved with totemic designs of delicate beauty and line of proportion, +made from silver coins which they melted down. + +Some of the shamans of the olden time acquired great influence and made +life miserable for their fellow-citizens by the practice of witchcraft. +One of the most obnoxious of these, called Skondoo, was captured and his +shock of matted hair, which, like that of Samson, was supposed to be the +seat of his power, was shorn by the commander of the U. S. S. "Pinta," and +in addition he was thoroughly scrubbed with soap and brush, perhaps for +the first time in his existence. + +Even to this day there are instances of the weird belief in the villages +at Hootznahoo or at Klukwan. Not many years ago an Indian girl was +rescued by the whites from a damp hole under a house where she had been +confined to die of cold and starvation by the order of the shaman, or +_Ekht_, as the Thlingit calls him. + +Among the island and the inlet dented shores surrounding the town are +many interesting places forming an opportunity for delightful +excursions. The most desirable of these are: + +Mount Edgecumbe, 3467 ft.--Taking a launch from Sitka the trip may be +made to Crab Bay, or to the landing behind the island of St. Lazaria on +which is a populous bird rookery, and the ascent of the mountain is +possible to be made in a day. Perhaps better that two days be taken to +the trip, however. The first to go to the top was Lisianski in 1804. +From the summit of the mountain an unusually beautiful panorama is to be +had of island-studded bay, and mountain ridges capped with glaciers on +one side, while on the other spreads the expanse of the broad Pacific. + +Old Sitka, and Katleanski Bay.--By launch the site of the Russian +settlement of 1799-1802 may be reached and from that point a +continuation of the excursion may be made to the head of Nesquashanski +Bay, where the meadows are situated from which the Russians procured +their provender for the cattle kept at the post. In the streams entering +the bay may be seen, during the season of the salmon run, the strange +spectacle of the brown bears in the role of fishermen, scooping salmon +from the waters with their paws, if good fortune attend. This journey +may be made in a day. + +Silver Bay.--A veritable Norwegian fjord transplanted to Alaska--with +picturesque waterfalls plunging into its waters, deep glacial valleys +entering at right angles with Yosemite-like cliffs bordering them, the +Scottish bluebells clinging to the dripping rocks which beetle overhead, +Kalampy's Slide around which hangs a tale, the Stewart mine, etc.--about +ten miles to the head of the bay, where a fine waterfall plunges from +the mountainside. + +The Redoubt and the Globokoe Lake.--Southwest from Sitka about ten miles +was the location of the fishery of the Russians from which for more than +sixty years they drew their stores of _krasnia ruiba_ (the red +salmon), which provided so important a part of their subsistence. Here +in the rocky wall which divided Globokoe, or Deep Lake, from the sea, +and over which the outlet flowed, channels were blasted, forming +reservoirs, and in these channels were placed _zapors_, or fences, +which made traps into which the salmon swam and lay in the clear cold +pools until they were removed for use. Here also was one of the Russian +flouring mills, where they ground the wheat brought from California, or +from the farms of the Hudson's Bay Company at Nisqually or on the +Columbia. + +The Sitka Hot Springs.--About four miles farther to the southwest than +the Redoubt, is situated the Sitka Hot Springs, possessing valuable +medicinal qualities, and used for more than a century as a health +resort. Here Dr. Goddard has established a sanitarium in the midst of a +veritable nature lover's paradise, the forest behind, and the +island-studded sea in front, with game in the deep woods and fish in the +sea, all to be had for the taking. + +Many other interesting and beautiful places may be visited. Lisianski +Bay, Deep Bay, Herring Bay with the gorge of Sawmill Creek and the chain +of lakes, Blue Lake, and others lying adjacent, are among the important +ones. + +Mt. Verstovia.--The ascent of this mountain comprises one of the most +interesting excursions about the town. The trail leaves the shore of +Jamestown Bay at the point where the trough of the watering place of the +"Jamestown," came to the beach. This place may be reached by boat or on +foot through the Park by the mouth of Indian River. The ascent should be +under the guidance of one familiar with the route, for it is not plainly +marked and none but an experienced woodsman can find the way alone. It +leads through a forest, the first 800 or 1,000 feet through dense +undergrowth under the trees, the mosses and ferns forming a veritable +carpet; above that the woods are more open--at about 2,500 feet the +forest ceases. It is called Koster's Trail. The first eminence or +shoulder of the mountain is near the timber line and is often spoken of +as the Mountain of the Cross, while above it towers the Arrowhead, or +the summit of Verstovia, otherwise called at times Popoff Mountain, or +the Ponce, to a height of 3,216 feet, nearly a Russian verst, and from +this it derives its name. From the top an expanse of island-studded +waters stretch toward the sea. Eastward crest after crest of +glacier-capped peaks rise for a hundred miles, northward the lofty +summits of Mt. Crillon and Mt. Fairweather may be seen at an elevation +of over 15,000 feet, equal in height to the highest Alp of Switzerland. +Around the base of the Arrowhead, in July and August, are found a myriad +of wild flowers, carpeting the earth--violets, daises, cyclamen, and a +multitude of others. + +These are the nearer points which may be visited, but more extended +journeys full of new and varied interest, to Sergius Narrows and Peril +Straits or to the Place of Islands and the Chicagof Mine to the +northward, and to Redfish Bay to the southward, may be made. + + + + +Footnotes + +[Footnote 1: January 20th, 1820, a letter written by the Directory at +St. Petersburg to Chief Manager Muravief at Sitka enclosing instructions +previously given to Hagemeister, instructing him to find the descendants +of Chirikof's lost men, urging that it must be done, and expressing +surprise that it had been neglected thus long. (Russian American +Archives, Correspondence, Vol. II, No. 108.)] + +[Footnote 2: In Wrangell, and at a few other places in Alaska may yet be +seen some of these old tribal houses, built as in primitive days in most +ways. The beams and planks were fashioned with an adze, and the evenness +of the workmanship in hewing them is marvelous.] + +[Footnote 3: The livestock taken to Sitka in 1804 consisted of "Four +cows, two calves, three bulls, three goats, a ewe and a ram, with many +swine and fowls." (Lisianski, Voyage Round the World, p. 218.)] + +[Footnote 4: Lisianski made the surveys and named the islands of the +archipelago which had not been charted by Vancouver, of which he says: +"By our survey it appears that amongst the group of islands, which in my +chart I have denominated the Sitka Islands, from the inhabitants, who +call themselves Sitka-hans, or Sitka people, are four principal ones, +viz.: Jacobi, Crooze, Baranof, and Chichagof." (A Voyage Round the +World, Lisianski, p. 235.)] + +[Footnote 5: The Russian sazhen is 7 feet.] + +[Footnote 6: Pronounced Al-e-ut.] + +[Footnote 7: These books and letters were brought by Resanof in the +"Nedeshda," and upon reaching Kodiak Resanof established the library at +that place. It was afterward removed to Sitka, probably by Baranof when +he changed the chief factory to that place in 1807. After the United +States took possession the library disappeared, whether taken to Russia +or left in Sitka does not appear, but the books were likely left in +Sitka and gradually disappeared through theft in the years when there +was no custodian of such property.] + +[Footnote 8: The "Neva" was long identified with the affairs of the +colony. Bought in England for the first Russian expedition round the +world, Captain Lisianski reached Sitka in time for her to participate in +the driving of the Indians from their fortifications. She returned to +Russia later to be sailed to the colony in 1810, and was on her third +voyage at the time of her loss.] + +[Footnote 9: Golofnin, Voyage of the Sloop "Kamchatka," in Mat. Pt. 4, +p. 103.] + +[Footnote 10: Lutke: Voyages. Mat. Pt. 4, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 11: The tows were large pieces of native copper from the +Copper River hammered out flat by the natives. These were carried in +front of the chiefs by slaves who beat them like gongs.] + +[Footnote 12: In the church records appears the entry: "Died, August 27, +1832, Naval Captain of the 1st Rank and Cavalier Baron Ferdinand +Wrangell's daughter--Mary." There is also to be found: "Died, December +29th, 1839, Priest Vasili Michaeloff Ocheredin, 23 years old."] + +[Footnote 13: Narrative of a Voyage Round the World, 1836-1842, by +Captain Sir Edward Belcher, Vol. 1, pages 95 et seq.] + +[Footnote 14: Frederick Schwatka, the explorer, seems to have been one +of the first to put the story in print, which he did in the early +eighties. It appeared in the Alaska News, a newspaper of Juneau, on +December 24th, 1896, and the time is fixed as being in the +administration of Baron Wrangell. In 1891 Hon. Henry E. Hayden published +it in verse in a small volume printed at Sitka. John W. Arctander, in +his Lady in Blue, elaborates it to a small volume and ascribes it to +Etolin's time. + +There is a strange fact which gives some color to the story. In the +Russian American Company's Archives now on file in the State Department, +Washington, D. C., under date of September 23rd, 1833, a letter from St. +Petersburg refers to a report of Baron Wrangell of November 30, 1831, +which reported the death of under officer Paul Buikof, and implicating +one Col. Borusof. Unfortunately the records of 1831 are missing and so +the report cannot be had. Baron Wrangell's daughter, Mary, died during +his stay in Sitka.] + +[Footnote 15: Between 1821 and 1862 there were shipped by the Russian +American Company, from Alaska, 51,315 sea-otter, 831,396 fur-seal, +319,514 beaver, 291,655 fox. Fur-Seal Arbitration, Vol. 2, p. 127 +(Washington, Government Printing Office).] + +[Footnote 16: "For the largest deer, which weighs about four poods, five +sazhens of calico are paid; for a duck, a quid of tobacco; for a goose, +two quids; fish priced according to size all according to price list +established by the commander of the post of New Archangel." Russkie na +Vostochnom Okean (Russians on the Eastern Ocean), by A. Markof, St. +Petersburg, 1856.] + +[Footnote 17: Hunters who disposed of their furs to an English +shipmaster were arrested and sent to Siberia. Russian American Archives. +Corr. Vol. I, p. 275. In January of 1820 Muravief was ordered to watch +certain officers of a ship who were suspected of trading for furs on +their own account. Id. Vol. 2, p. 38.] + +[Footnote 18: The mill on Sawmill Creek was located in the gorge below +where the dam is situated which provides the power for the present light +plant of the town. The timbers of the old mill were removed in 1916 to +make way for the building of the present improvement.] + +[Footnote 19: Golobokoe Lake was sounded to a depth of 190 fathoms by +the Russians. Materialui, Pt. 3, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 20: Obzor Russkikh Colonii iv Syevernoe-Amerika, Survey of the +Russian Colonies in North America, by Captain-Lieutenant P. N. Golovin, +pp. 72-73.] + +[Footnote 21: Their names and dates of holding office are as follows: + Alexander Andreevich Baranof, 1790 to January 11, 1818. + Leonti Andreanvich Hagemeister, Jan. 11, 1818, to Oct. 24, 1818. + Semen Ivanovich Yanovski, Oct. 24, 1818, to Sept. 15, 1820. + Matvei Ivanovich Muravief, Sept. 15, 1820, to Oct. 14, 1825. + Peter Egorovich Chistiakof, Oct. 14, 1825, to June 1st, 1830. + Baron Ferdinand Von Wrangell, June 1st, 1830, to Oct. 29, 1835. + Ivan Antonovich Kupreanof, Oct. 29, 1835, to May 25, 1840. + Adolf Karlovich Etolin, May 25, 1840, to July 9, 1845. + Michael Dmitrevich Tebenkof, July 9, 1845, to Oct. 14, 1850. + Nikolai Yakovlevich Rosenberg, Oct. 14, 1850, to March 31, 1853. + Alexander Ilich Rudakof, March 31, 1853, to April 22, 1854. + Stephen Vasili Voevodski, April 22, 1854, to June 22, 1859. + Ivan Vasilivich Furuhelm, June 22, 1859, to Dec. 2, 1863. + Prince Dmitri Maksoutof, Dec. 2, 1863, to Oct. 18, 1867.] + +[Footnote 22: The Russian soldiery were dressed in a dark uniform, +trimmed with red, with glazed caps. The United States troops appeared in +the usual full dress. + +Of American ladies, six were present: the wives of General Davis, +Colonel Weeks, Capt. Wood, and Rev. Mr. Rainier, of the "John L. +Stevens," the wife of Mr. Dodge, Collector of the Port, and the wife of +Captain MacDougall, of the "Jamestown." Six Russian ladies were also +present: the Princess Maksoutoff, the wife and daughter of Vice-Governor +Gardsishoff, and three whose names I do not know. H. Ex. Doc. No. 177, +40th Cong. 2nd Sess., p. 72.] + +[Footnote 23: On the lowering of the Russian ensign it caught in the +halyards and a sailor was sent aloft to release it. He tore it loose and +flung it down on the bayonets of the Russian soldiery.] + +[Footnote 24: On December 14, 1807, the Russian ship "Czaritza," sailed +for Russia, via London, with 168 passengers. January 1, 1868, the +Russian ship "Cyane" cleared for Novgorod, Asia, with 69 soldiers of the +garrison on board. November 30, 1868, the Russian ship "Winged Arrow," +went to Kronstadt, but there is no record of the passengers. April 24th, +1868, the American steamer "Alexander" took special clearance for +Nikolofski, Asia, to touch at all the posts along the Alaskan coasts to +close up the business of the Russian American Company. Customs Records +of Alaska, Record of Clearances. + +The ship "Winged Arrow" sailed on December 8th, 1868, for St. +Petersburg, taking over 300 persons. Seattle Intelligencer, January 11, +1869. This is the same voyage as the one above under the clearance of +November 30th.] + +[Footnote 25: If we may believe the current reports of the time, the +military occupation of Sitka was anything but a happy time for the civil +inhabitants, especially the Russians who remained. See Colyer's Report, +Ex. Doc. H. R. 41st Cong. 2nd Ses., p. 1030; Seattle Intelligencer, +December 14th. 1868; The Victoria Colonist, et al.] + +[Footnote 26: Annahootz, the friend of the whites, married his 13th +wife. Afterward becoming blind and decrepit he starved himself to death. +See Sitka Alaskan, February 6, 1890. + +Katlean still lives at Sitka and may often be seen on the streets of the +town.] + +[Footnote 27: The population of Sitka in 1818 was: Russian, 190; +Creoles, 72; Aleuts, 173 of males, and female 185; of Russian and +Creole, total, 620. Materialui, pt. 3, p. 20. + +January 1, 1825, there were: Russians, 309; Creoles, 58; Aleuts, 33. +Total, 400. Ib. p. 52. + +In April, 1880, citizens by birth, 92; citizens by naturalization, 123; +citizens by treaty, 229. Total, 444. Beardslee's Report, 47th Cong. Sen. +Ex. Doc. No. 71, p. 34. In this census are many names well known in +Alaska by the "Old Timers," as: A. T. Whitford, John G. Brady, N. A. +Fuller, M. Travis, Edward DeGroff, S. Sessions, R. Willoughby, M. P. +Berry, A. Cohen, Miss P. Cohen, Miss H. Cohen, Ed. Bean, D. Ackerman, A. +Milletich, P. T. Corcoran, L. Caplin, Pierre Erussard, Ed. Doyle, George +E. Pilz, Nicholas Haley, John McKenna, Reub Albertson, John Olds and +others.] + +[Footnote 28: Governors of Alaska who made their residence at Sitka: + +John H. Kinkead, of Nevada, appointed July 4, 1884. Alfred P. +Swineford, of Michigan, appointed May 8, 1885. Lyman E. Knapp, of +Vermont, appointed April 32, 1889. James Sheakley, of Alaska, appointed +June 28, 1893. John G. Brady, of Alaska, appointed June 23, 1897. ] + +[Footnote 29: "The United States District Court, established by the Act +of May 17th, 1884, was formerly organized on the 4th day of November of +that year in a room set apart for the use of the court in the old +barracks building at Sitka, the following officers being present: Ward +McAllister, Jr., Judge; Andrew T. Lewis, Clerk of the Court; Munson C. +Hillyer, U. S. Marshal; Edward W. Haskett, District Attorney. + +"On the same day John F. McLean, an officer connected with the signal +service, and Major M. P. Berry, a veteran of the Civil and Mexican wars, +were admitted to the bar, as well as District Attorney Haskett. These +three gentlemen comprised the Alaska Bar of Attorneys until June 20th, +1885, when Mr. John G. Held was added to the roll and in the month of +October, 1885, Willoughby Clark, John F. Maloney, R. D. Crittenden, and +John G. Brady were admitted." Alaska Bar Association and Sketch of the +Judiciary, by Arthur K. Delaney.] + +[Footnote 30: The first church in Alaska was built at Kodiak (Paulovski) +in 1795, the next at Unalaska soon after, and the third at Sitka in +1817.] + + + + +[Illustration: MAP OF SITKA--OCTOBER, 1867] + + A. Battery No. 1. + B. Battery No. 2, Vralaskian Battery. + C. Blockhouse No. 1. + D. Blockhouse No. 2. + E. Blockhouse No. 3. + 1. Warehouse. + 2. Shop and Store. + 3. Subsistence Storehouse. + 4. Tannery for Furs. + 6. Barracks, three stories. + 7. Office Building, two stories. + 8. Governor's House. + 9. Wash and Bath House. + 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 22, and 23. Dock Yard and Buildings. + 16. School Building. + 18. Market for Indians. + 19. Lime Kiln. + 20. Unfinished Barracks. + 25. Bakery, Joinery, etc. + 61. Officers' Lodgings, two stories. + 66. Laundry. + 74. Sawmill. + 75. Tannery. + 76. Unfinished Bath House. + 77. Water Flour Mill. + 96. Aleutian Dwellings. + 102. Bishop's House, two stories. + 103. Hospital, two stories. + 116, 117. Arbors on Public Gardens. + 118. Powder Magazine. + 121. School Building for Indians. + 122. Observatory on Japonski Island. + 123. House for Observer, Wharf, Garden, Hotbeds, etc. + Cathedral of St. Michael. + Church of the Resurrection (Koloshian Church). + 129. Hulk and Movable Bridge. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Sitka, by C. L. 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