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CHAPTER XXVI.
SECOND PERIOD OF THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY’S
OPERATIONS.
1821-1842.
At the end of the twenty years for which the exclusive
privileges of the Russian American Company were granted, we find this powerful
monopoly firmly established in the favor of the imperial government, many
nobles of high rank and several members of the royal family being among the
shareholders. The company already occupied nearly all that portion of the.
American continent and the adjacent islands south of the Yukon River now
comprised in the territory of Alaska. The country north of Cook Inlet and Prince
William Sound, and the Alexander Archipelago north of Dixon Sound, was also
universally acknowledged as belonging to Russia, though her right was not
established by treaty until some years later. With an imposing list of
permanent stations represented as forts and redoubts, with a long list of
tribes converted to Christianity and brought under subjection, the directors
now sought to obtain, not only a renewal of the favors already granted, but
important additions to their privileges.
Aware that such a request would be made, the
government had instructed Captain Golovnin to inquire
into the condition of the settlements during his cruise in the Kamchatka.
His report was by no means favorable. “Three things are wanting,” he says, “in
the organization of the company’s colonics: a clearer definition of the duties
belonging to the various officers, a distinction of rank, and a regular
uniform, so that foreigners visiting these parts may see something indicating
the existence of forts and troops belonging to the Russian sceptre—something
resembling a regular garrison. At present they can come to no other conclusion
than that these stations are but temporary fortifications erected by hunters as
a defence against savages.” The captain expresses
almost unqualified condemnation of the treatment of creoles and hired laborers,
but concludes his report with the following words: “I consider it my duty to
remark that these abuses occurred before Lieutenant Hagemeister’s accession to
office. Though he has but recently assumed control, and their entire abolition
cannot yet be expected, the measures which he has already adopted for improving
the condition of natives and promyshleniki promise complete success in the near
future.”
It was of course to be expected that Golovnin, being a naval officer, should condemn Baranof’s
administration, and speak in favor of Hagemeister. Some of his suggestions were
adopted, but notwithstanding his adverse criticism, an imperial oukaz was issued, in September 1821, granting exclusive
privileges to the company for another period of twenty years.
This document was introduced by the following words,
which are in strong contrast with the tenor of the captain's report: “The
Russian American Company, under our highest protection, having enjoyed the
privileges most graciously granted by us in the year 1799, has to the fullest
extent justified our hopes and fulfilled our expectations, in extending
navigation and discovery as well as the commerce of our empire, in addition to
bringing considerable immediate profit to the shareholders in the enterprise.
In consideration of this, and desiring to continue and confirm its existence,
we renew the privileges given to it, with some necessary changes and additions,
for twenty years from this time; and having made for its guidance certain
rules, we hereby lay them before the governing senate, with our orders to
promulgate the same, to be submitted to us for signature.”
In the new charter, the text of which included twenty
paragraphs, the jurisdiction of the company was established over all the
territory from the northern cape of Vancouver Island, in latitude 51° N., to
Bering Strait and beyond, and to all islands belonging to that coast as well as
to those between it and the coast of eastern Siberia, also to the Kurile
Islands, where they were allowed to trade as far as the island of Ourupa, to the exclusion of other Russian subjects and of
foreigners. It was granted the right to all that existed in those regions, on
the surface as well as in the bosom of the earth, without regard to the claims
of others. Communication could be carried on by sea between the colonies and
adjoining regions belonging to foreign powers, but only with the consent of
their rulers.
Considering the vast territory controlled by the
company, and the large numbers of its inhabitants, the government saw fit to
confer certain rank and official standing on the company’s servants. The chief
manager was to be placed on the same footing as the governors of Siberia;
government officials of the military, naval, and civil service were allowed to
enter the company’s service, retaining half their former pay, and without
losing their turn for promotion; all officials in the company’s employ, not previously
invested with rank, were to be promoted to that of collegiate assessor after
two years’ service in the colonies; all servants of the company were exempt
from conscription, and all officials and agents from the payment of taxes.
Employes were granted the right of complaining to the senate for injustice or
abuse on the part of the company, the complaint to be made within six months
after the occurrence; right of appeal to the senate from the decision of the
company’s authorities was also given, the appeal to be made within the same
period.
If the company’s shares should fall fifty per cent in
market value, the government was to assume the responsibility and sell them at
auction. The right to change the relations of the company was given to the
larger assembly of the shareholders, subject to appeal to the senate, and
permission was granted to the board of directors to despatch vessels from Kronstadt to the colonies with cargoes of Russian and foreign
commodities free of duty, and also to ship goods to the colonies on government
vessels at low rates. Finally, all military, naval, and other officers were
enjoined to aid the company, and to insist on the strict observance of these
rights by Russian subjects and foreigners. Most of the privileges contained in
the oukaz of 1799 were also renewed in the charter of
1821.
The regulations appended to this charter were very
voluminous, referring to the treatment of the natives, the obligation of the
company to maintain churches and schools at its own expense, and to provide for
the importation of supplies in sufficient quantity, the rights and privileges
of creoles, and the rights and duties of shareholders and of the company’s
officials. It was provided that the chief manager must be selected from the
naval service, and rank not lower than captain of the second class; the assistant
manager must also be a naval officer; the board of directors, each of whom must
hold not less than twenty-five shares, was to consist of four members, to be
elected by the assembly of shareholders, and all the transactions of the
company were to be subject to the supervision of the minister of finance, to
whom detailed reports were to be submitted.
The first step taken by the board of directors, after
obtaining their second charter, was the. election of a successor to
Hagemeister, or rather his representative Yanovsky, who, having married
Baranof’s daughter, was not considered free from the taint thrown upon the
latter’s fame by Golovnin. M. N. Mouravief,
a captain in the navy and a scion of an old family belonging to the Russian
nobility, was the one selected, and his appointment being confirmed, he sailed
for Novo Arkhangelsk during the year 1821. He at once took measures to
reconstruct the garrison, to repair the fortifications of all the settlements,
and to erect new buildings wherever they were required.
Mouravief at once saw the absurdity of Baranof’s policy in keeping the Kolosh at
a distance from Novo Arkhangelsk. Up to this time they had been compelled to
live on the islands north and south of the settlement, and this arrangement,
intended to insure the safety of the Russians, had only served to increase the
danger of hostile attack. Away from all communication and supervision, they had
been at liberty to plot mischief at leisure, while they were kept informed of
all that occurred in the garrison by the females of their tribe, whose
intercourse with the promyshleniki was never interrupted. The result was, that
murder and robbery were committed with impunity on detached parties of
laborers and fishermen. Mouravief, taking advantage
of the presence of the well armed ship which brought him to the colonies,
summoned the chiefs of the Sitkas, and told them that
they might return with their people to their former village adjoining the fort.
The permission was gladly accepted, and the removal effected within a few days.
Meanwhile the palisade separating the native huts from the company’s precincts
had been strengthened, and a heavy gate built, through which no savage was
allowed to enter without a permit. On certain days, they might, at a stated
hour, visit the enclosed space for the purpose of disposing of game, fish,
furs, and other commodities. Before sunset the streets were patrolled by an
armed guard, and all the natives kept out from that time until daylight;
sentries were doubled and kept vigilant by a half-hourly, exchange of signals.
These regulations were found so satisfactory that they were continued by Mouravief’s successors, and to a certain extent even by the
American troops who took charge of the territory after its transfer in 1867.
The chief manager, or governor as he was now styled,
also issued orders that the garrisons should be placed under strict discipline
at all the outlying stations; but only in Kadiak could this be done, for at
other points the force was too small to allow of military organization. He then
made a tour of inspection through the colonies, visiting all the stations
except those at Atkha and Atoo, and on his return
divided the colonies into districts. The Sitka district included the mainland
of Russian America from Mount St Elias as far as latitude 54° 40'., together
with the islands along the adjacent shore. The Kadiak district embraced the
coast and the islands on the gulfs of Kenai and Chugatsch,
the Alaska peninsula as far south as Shumagin Island,
the Kadiak, Ookamok, Semidi,
and all adjacent islands, the shores of Bristol Bay, and the coast between the
mouths of the Nushagak and Kuskokvim rivers. In the Mikhailof district were included the
basins of the Kvichak and Kuskokvim rivers, and the
coast lying between Norton Sound and Bering Strait. The Unalaska district
comprised all of the Alaska peninsula not included in the district of Kadiak,
and the Lissiev, Sannakh,
and Prybilof islands. The Atkha district consisted of the Andreanofsky group and the Blishie, Krissie, and Commander islands, and the Kurile
district of the islands of that name lying between Ourupa and the Kamchatka peninsula.
Soon after Mouravief’s arrival, the colonies were once more threatened with starvation, a danger which
was due to the following incidents: In the summer of 1821 supplies were despatched from Kronstadt in the Rurik, which had
been placed at the company’s disposal at the conclusion of Kotzebue’s voyage,
and in the Elizaveta, a Hamburg ship. The command of the Rurik and of the expedition was given to Master Klotchkof.
The Elizaveta was intrusted to Acting Master Kisslakovsky. While rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the two
craft met with a hurricane, during which the Elizaveta lost several
sails and sprung a-leak, whereupon both vessels were headed for Simon Bay. On
again putting to sea, after repairs had been made at great expense, it was
found that the ship still leaked, and it was thought best to return to port,
sell the Elizaveta, and transfer her crew to the Rurik, which
arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk in November 1822. As most of the supplies had been
given in payment for repairs, the governor detained her in the colonies, having
no other vessel at his disposal fitted for a long voyage in search of
provisions.
When informed of this disaster, the directors at once
ordered the purchase of a ship of four hundred tons in New Bedford,
Massachusetts. The craft was renamed the Elena, and placed under command
of Lieutenant Chistiakof, who had before made the
voyage from Kronstadt to Novo Arkhangelsk. A few days before the vessel was
ready for sea a general assembly of shareholders was held, at which one of the
directors stated that, as several rich cargoes had recently been despatched to the colonies, goods and provisions must have
accumulated there in great quantity, and that there was no necessity to despatch another vessel round the world. The majority of
the shareholders present adopted this view of the matter, and the expedition
was abandoned for the time.
Thus in the year 1823 it became known throughout the
settlements that supplies need not be expected from home during that and the
following year. At the same time a despatch was
received from the company’s commissioner in California, stating that, on
account of a failure of crops and for other reasons, it would be impossible to
forward the usual quantity of bread-stuffs from that country. The colonies were
now in evil case, and starvation, or at best the prospect of living for a time
on seal flesh, appeared to be inevitable, for already the storehouses were
almost empty. Mouravief at once sent an urgent appeal
to the managers, and meanwhile despatched Lieutenant Etholen to the Sandwich Islands in the brig Golovnin for a cargo of provisions, the Rurik being then engaged in the intercolonial trade. Calling at San Francisco on his
voyage, Etholin succeeded, notwithstanding the
dearth, in bartering furs for a large quantity of wheat at moderate rates.
Proceeding thence to the Sandwich Islands, where he found the price of most
commodities extremely high, he purchased at a fair price an American brig named
the Arab, with her cargo of provisions and trading goods, the captain agreeing
to take his craft to Novo Arkhangelsk. Both vessels arrived safely, and in time
to prevent any serious suffering among the colonists. A few months later the
stock of provisions was further increased by the cargo of the Rurik, which was
sent to the Sandwich Islands with the crew of the Arab, after calling at
California ports during the voyage, and returned with a moderate supply.
As in this instance, the colonies had frequently been
relieved from want by trade with foreigners; and indeed, this was too often the
only means of averting starvation. Even between 1818 and 1822, when supplies
were comparatively abundant, goods, consisting mainly of provisions, were
obtained by traffic with American and English masters to the value of more than
three hundred thousand roubles in scrip. The supplies
shipped by the company were never more than sufficient for the actual needs of
the settlements, and if a ship were lost, her cargo was seldom replaced. The
Aleuts were, of course, the principal sufferers, often perishing during their
hunting expeditions from hunger and exposure. But what mattered the lives of
the Aleuts? It were better that hundreds of them should perish for lack of food
than that the shareholders should suffer from want of dividends
The governor’s appeal was, however, too urgent to be
neglected, and, on the 31st of July, 1824, the Elena sailed from
Kronstadt with a cargo of supplies, arriving at Novo Arkhangelsk a year later
the ship was again placed in charge of Lieutenant Chistiakof,
who was directed to relieve Mouravief, the latter
returning home on board the same vessel.
It is probable that the only reason for Mouravief’s recall was some slight disobedience of orders,
coupled with the failure of the hunting expeditions sent out by his direction.
About the close of the year 1822 the Russian sloop of war Apollon had
arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk, with instructions that all trade with foreigners
should cease, and for two years the interdict remained in force. Willing as he
was to obey even this ill-advised order, he was sometimes compelled to enter
into transactions that were necessary to the very existence of the Ross colony,
to which he must now look for supplies in case of need. Of sea-otter, the catch
during the four years of Mouravief’s administration
was little more than fifteen hundred skins—a grievous contrast with the
condition of this industry in the days of Baranof, who, it is related, could
estimate, almost exactly, the number of furs which could be collected in each
section of his hunting grounds.
Not satisfied with prohibiting foreign trade, the
Russian government issued an order forbidding the approach of any foreign
vessel within thirty leagues of the coast. In 1822 the sloops-of-war Kreisser and Ladoga arrived in the colonies
from St Petersburg, having been sent out to enforce the provisions of the oukaz, and remained in colonial waters for two years.
The shareholders soon began to see the folly of their
senseless agitation against traffic with foreigners; receipts fell off to an
alarming extent, and it became evident that something must be done to avert the
dissolution of the company. At a general meeting, one of the directors, named Prokofief, laid before them the report of Mouravief in relation to the evil effects of the imperial
order, and stated that a famine would have ensued in all the colonies if the
governor had obeyed the spirit as well as the letter of his instructions. He
pointed out to them how much Baranof owed to his unfettered intercourse with
foreign traders in developing the resources of the colonies. He also showed
them the enormous expense of expeditions sent direct from Kronstadt, and the
advantage of purchasing goods from foreign skippers who came to the company’s
ports at their own risk and expense. His appeal was successful, and a
resolution was adopted by the assembly petitioning the government to reopen to
foreign vessels the port of Novo Arkhangelsk. The request was granted, and the
consequence was that under Chistiakof’s management
there was a great improvement in the company’s affairs.
While the company’s business was thus progressing
satisfactorily, a cloud arose in the diplomatic horizon, which at one time
threatened the very existence of the colonies. As soon as the arbitrary measure
of Russia became known to English and American northwest traders,
protestations and complaints were forwarded to their respective governments.
The matter was discussed with some heat in the United States congress, causing
voluminous diplomatic correspondence. In the mean time some traffic was carried
on under protest, and the matter was finally settled by the Anglo-Russian and
Russo-American treaties of 1824 and 1825, when the eastern and southern boundaries
were then established as they remain to the present day, the limit of Russia’s
territory being fixed at latitude 54° 40'. The clause relating to the boundary
between the Portland Canal and Mount St Elias furnishes an instance of the
absurdity of legislation by diplomates in regard to regions of which they were
entirely ignorant. At some time in the future this work will have to be undone,
and another line agreed upon, as it is impossible to follow in reality the
wording of the treaty.
The convention between the Russian and English
governments was concluded in February 1825. The commissioners on the part of
Russia were the same as those who concluded the American treaty, while Great
Britain was represented by Lord Stratford Canning, a privy councillor.
The third article contains the boundary clause which was subsequently inserted
in the Russo-American treaty at the cession of Alaska, and is thus worded: “The
boundary line between the possessions of the high contracting powers on the
coast of the mainland and the islands of north-western America is established
as follows: beginning at the southernmost point of the islands named Prince of
Wales, which point is situated in latitude 54° 40' n. and between the 131st and
133d degrees of western longitude, the line extends north along a sound known
as Portland Canal, to a point on the mainland where it crosses the 56th degree
of north latitude. Hence the boundary line follows the chain of mountains
running parallel with the coast to the point of intersection with the 141st
degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and finally from this point of
intersection on the same meridian to the Arctic Sea, forming the boundary
between the Russian and British possessions on the mainland of northwestern
America.”
It was further provided in these conventions that
citizens of the United States and subjects of Great Britain should have the
right of free navigation, fishery, and trade in the Alaskan waters for a period
of ten years, but that the trading-posts of either contracting power could not
be visited by subjects or citizens of the other without the consent of the
officer in command; that at the end of ten years this right might be abrogated
by Russia; that in the mean while arms, ammunition, and spirituous liquors were
in no case to be sold to the natives, and that British subjects should always
have the privilege of passing to and fro on rivers
and streams flowing into the Pacific and cutting the strip of coast already
described.
The news of these treaties, which was not received
until after Chistiakof had taken command, aroused a
storm of remonstrance on the part of the Russian American Company. The imperial
government was besieged with petitions to abrogate the clauses granting free
trade and navigation to Americans and Englishmen for a period of ten years. It
was represented as a most flagrant violation of the rights granted by the
imperial government, the result of which would inevitably be the dissolution of
the company. The most active promoter of this agitation was Admiral N. P. Mordvinof, a shareholder of the company, who, in a letter
to the minister for foreign affairs, defended the sanctity of the company’s
privileges, pointing out that the vague wording of some of the treaty clauses
would lead to many misunderstandings. During the lifetime of Alexander, no
attention was paid to these complaints; but after Nicholas had ascended the
throne, negotiations were inaugurated with the British and United States
governments for an abolition of the treaty. The first proposals met with a firm
refusal in both countries, but to appease the shareholders a supplementary oukaz was issued, stating that the privileges of navigation
and trade extended to foreigners would be confined to the strip of coast
between the British possessions and the 141st meridian. The standpoint of
Russia on this question was communicated to all the representatives of that
nation abroad, and as the north-west trade was then in its decline, no further
complications ensued, and no attempt was ever made to apply the provisions of
the convention to the islands and coasts of western Alaska.
While the directors of the company were loud in their
remonstrance against foreign encroachment, they did not hesitate themselves to
establish settlements in regions to which they had no valid claim, A committee
established by the company at Petropavlovsk in November 1830 ordered that an
expedition be sent to the Kurile Islands. A settlement on Ourupa Island, abandoned in 1805, bad been rebuilt in 1828, and during that and the
following year furs to the value of eight hundred thousand roubles had been obtained. In 1830 a ship was despatched from
Novo Arkhangelsk with a party of hunters, well supplied with provisions and
material, to form a colony on Simusir Island. The
natives were not numerous, numbering in 1812 only sixty-seven souls for the
entire group, and the Russians found no difficulty in annexing their territory
to the possessions of the company.
During the second term of the Russian American
Company’s existence, several important expeditions were undertaken. Within the
colonies, explorations were continued by Mouravief,
the principal one being under command of Khramchenko, Etholen, and Master Vassilaief,
who sailed from Novo Arkhangelsk in the brig Golovnin and the schooner Baranof, in June 1822, and remained absent for two
years. A detailed survey was made on this occasion of the coasts from Bristol
Bay westward to the mouth of the Kuskokvim. Norton
Sound was also explored along its eastern and northern coast, the deep identation on the north shore being named Golovnin. Many prominent points were definitely located
with the help of astronomical observations, but the coast between Stuart Island
and the Kuskokvim was again neglected, as it had been
by all previous explorers. To this expedition we owe the only charts now
existing of the coast between Bristol Bay and Cape Newenham.
In 1826 the Russian government despatched an exploring expedition in command of Captain Lütke,
who arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk in June of the following year. After remaining
in port for a month, the captain proceeded to Unalaska and the Prybilof Islands, making also a careful survey of the
northern coast of the Alaska peninsula, naming the various points, and finally
visiting St Matthew Island and Petropavlovsk before proceeding south for the
winter. Two other vessels belonging to the expedition, the Krotky and the Moller, sailed in 1828, the former commanded by Hagemeister, the latter
by Captain Staniukovich. Both officers made important
surveys of the coasts of Bering Sea, which was visited about the same time by
Captain Beechey in the ship Blossom.
In 1829 Chistiakof ordered
an inland exploration to the north of the Nushagak River, in charge of Vassilaief, the creole Alexander Kolmakof being one of the party. The expedition was
organized on Kadiak Island, and crossing the peninsula ascended the Nushagak to the region of the lakes, and thence reached the Kuskokvim. Kolmakof on this
occasion selected the site for a trading-post, built by him two or three years
later; and in 1841 a redoubt was constructed and named after him, near the
junction of the Kvigin and Kuskokvim rivers. The furs brought back were fox and sable of fine quality, and the establishment
of a permanent station in the interior was determined. On his return, Vassilaief laid before the governor a plan for establishing
communication with Norton Sound by way of the route which he had discovered. On
the Kuskokvim he had met with natives living on the
lower Yukon and the shores of Norton Sound who assured him that the transit
from one river basin to the other was short and easy of accomplishment.
In 1830 the brig Chichagof was despatched northward in charge of midshipman Etholen, with instructions to explore Norton Sound and
proceed thence to Bering Strait, touching at St Lawrence, Asiak,
and Ookivok islands. Ookivok the midshipman found to be an entirely barren island; and “one wonders,” he
writes in his report, “how people could ever settle upon it, but the countless
number of walrus around its shores soon solves the riddle. The savages who hunt
these animals receive in exchange from the inhabitants of the mainland all the
necessaries of life, and gain their subsistence easily.” At St Lawrence Etholen found five native villages, the inhabitants of
which also lived chiefly by hunting walrus. On his return to Novo Arkhangelsk,
he reported that it would be beneficial to the company’s trade to establish a
fort on or near Stuart Island at the entrance of Norton Sound.
On the arrival in the colonies of Baron Ferdinand P.
von Wrangell, who was appointed Chistiakof’s successor,
explorations were made on a larger scale. After examining the reports of Vassilaief’s and Etholen’s expeditions, Wrangell came to the conclusion that communication between Bering
Bay and Norton Sound could be established overland. For this purpose he ordered
Lieutenant Tebenkof to proceed to the latter point in
the sloop Ourupa. Tebenkof erected a fortification with the consent of the natives, who promised to trade
with the Russians, and gave to the settlement and to the island on which it was
founded the name of Mikhaielovsk. When the necessary
buildings had been completed preparations were begun for the inland
explorations included in the governor’s instructions.
A native of the colonies, a creole named Andrei Glazanof, who had been instructed in the use of astronomical
instruments, and was familiar with various dialects of the Innuit language, was
selected to take charge of the expedition. The plan first adopted was to
proceed to the mouth of the river Pastol, making the
portage across a low divide to the Yukon; but rumors being heard of hostile
intent on the part of the natives in that region, it was found impossible to
secure a guide. Three natives were therefore secured to guide the party to the
banks of the Yukon in a north-easterly direction, and on the 30th of December,
1833, the explorers left the road with two sleds, each drawn by five dogs, and
a small quantity of provisions and trading goods, the men carrying their own
guns, knapsacks, and clothing. They travelled on the ice, following the coast
in a northerly direction until reaching the village of Kigikhtowik,
whence on the following day they struck eastward. After crossing several ranges
of hills with great difficulty, Glazanof arrived on
the banks of the Anvik. His progress was much impeded by the condition of the
ice on the rivers, and within two weeks his provisions were exhausted. In the
hope of finding natives, his party proceeded up the Anvik into the mountains,
but finding it impossible to reach their hunting-grounds, was forced to return,
subsisting on a small quantity of frozen fish taken from the Indian caches. On
the 17th of January the explorers stumbled on a subterranean dwelling occupied
by a native couple and their three children. Here they were treated to an ample
meal of rotten fish, and found an opportunity to mend their broken sleds and
snow-shoes.
A week later Glazanof and
his men, now completely exhausted, arrived at the mouth of the Anvik, where
they found a native village, the inhabitants of which, at the first sight of
the Russians, began to prepare for defence, but a
messenger being sent forward unarmed, succeeded in persuading them as to Glazanof’s peaceable intentions, whereupon a cordial
invitation was extended to the way-worn travellers to
rest and recuperate their strength. One of the subterranean dwellings was
vacated by its occupants to accommodate the guests, and after taking due
precautions, Glazanof proceeded to the kashim, or council-house, a large structure
containing several hundred people. He addressed the multitude, and less by his
eloquence probably than by a judicious distribution of tobacco, succeeded in
gaining their friendship. Presents of fish blubber, bear meat, and other food
were laid before him, and he was told that if he had other wants they should be
at once supplied. Here the party remained for some time, in friendly
intercourse with the natives, and finally proceeded down the Yukon, as their
new friends dissuaded them from attempting the portage route to the Kuskokvim.
The subsequent explorations of Glazanof and his party were confined to the delta of the Yukon, the dense population of
which astonished the Russians. His diary, which has been preserved, is full of
the most minute observations of the topography and ethnology of this region,
which modern investigations prove to be remarkably accurate. At one mouth of
the Yukon, named the Kashunok, he met with two
natives from the Kuskokvim, who had been baptized by Kolmakof in the year 1832. They described the
ceremony to the other natives, who were so much pleased with it that they
requested Glazanof to baptize them also; but he
declared that he had no authority to do so. A large number of these Indians
agreed to accompany the Russians on their return to Mikhaielovsk,
on condition that the guides who had accompanied them thus far be left as
hostages; but having acquired a good hold on the people, Glazanof resolved to push on to the Kuskokvim, which he
reached on the 19th of February. Here he was met by a party of natives
returning to their homes from the Yukon. They told him that they had intended
to visit Kolmakof, but that he had returned to the Nushagak, leaving behind his interpreter Lukin. On the following day the expedition proceeded
up the Kuskokvim, and on the 21st arrived at the
village called Kvigym Painagmute,
where they found Lukin in a log house built by Kalmakof. Glazanof was now informed of a portage route along a
tributary of the Kuskokvim, from which it was
possible in one day to reach a stream emptying into Cook Inlet, but he tried in
vain to obtain guides to lead him in that direction. The natives assured him
that several parties of their countrymen had been killed by the inhabitants of
the intervening mountains, and Lukin confirmed these sensational reports,
stating that he himself had failed in a similar attempt. Glazanof then resolved to proceed alone, but being unacquainted with the country and
having lost his compass, shaped his course too much to the north, and found
himself involved in a network of lakes and streams without provisions, and in a
country destitute of animal life at that season of year. His men were reduced
to the most cruel straits, and obliged to eat their dog-harness, boots, and
seal-skin provision bags. Finally, after wandering about until the 19th of
March, they once more found themselves upon the banks of the Kuskokvim, and soon afterward met Lukin, who had returned
from a journey into the mountains. Accompanied by him, and several friendly
natives who furnished them with ample supplies, Glazanof’s men at last regained the banks of the Yukon, and thence crossed over to the Mikhaielovsk settlement.
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In 1838, after Wrangell had been relieved from office,
an expedition was fitted out by the Russian American Company to explore the
arctic coast of America eastward from Kotzebue Sound. A creole named Alexander Kashevarof, a native of Kadiak, who was thoroughly
conversant with various Innuit dialects, was appointed to command the force,
the party, which was composed mainly of creoles and Aleuts, being taken
northward on the brig Polyfem. The skipper,
who was a Russian, Chernof by name, was instructed to pass through Bering
Strait, to proceed thence northeastward as far as possible, and to land Kashevarof with one bidar and five three-hatch bidarkas at
the furthermost point reached by the vessel. The Eskimos living on the coast
opposed Kashevarof’s progress, and as he advanced
slowly through the shallow sea washing the arctic shore, hostile bands began to
gather in rapidly increasing numbers, until, when still a hundred miles west of
Cape Beechey, the creole found himself compelled to turn back before an armed
body outnumbering the explorers twenty to one. On his return journey, he was
attacked at various times, but finally regained Norton Sound, where he found
Chernof awaiting him.
In the same year, Malakhof ascended the Yukon River as far as the present site of Nulato, where he built a
small block-house. In want of provisions, and with only two men, he was obliged
temporarily to abandon the building and repair to Mikhaielovsk for supplies. During his absence the Indians living in the neighborhood burned
the building.
In 1842 Lieutenant Zagoskin of the imperial navy Set forth for Norton Sound and Mikhaielovsk,
purposing to make an inland exploration of the northern territory. His work was
confined chiefly to the middle course of the Kuskokvim,
and the lower course and northern tributaries of the Yukon, especially the
Koyukuk, which he followed to its head waters and to the divide which separates
it from the streams running into Kotzebue Sound. At Nulato he was assisted by
Derzhavin in building a new fort. Zagoskin’s exploration
was performed conscientiously and well. Wherever we find mistakes, we may
ascribe them to his imperfect instruments and to local obstacles. He gathered
most valuable trading statistics for the company, and ingratiated himself with
all the tribes with which he came in contact. His expedition was not completed
until 1844, when he returned to Russia to superintend the publication of his
notes.
It had been Wrangell’s desire to explore the arctic
coast of the Russian possessions, but complications constantly arising with the
Mexican authorities in California required his personal attention. Figueroa,
then governor of California, had addressed to him several letters, demanding
the abandonment of the Ross settlement. The latter always had the excuse that
he was not authorized to treat on so weighty a subject; but when the end of his
term was approaching, he received news of Figueroa’s death, and resolved to
proceed homeward by way of Mexico, in order to negotiate with the authorities
at the capital of the new republic, visiting on his way the Ross settlement. In
the harbor of San Blas he met with the company’s ship Sitka, having on board
his successor, Captain Kuprianof. To him he
surrendered his office, and soon afterward proceeded to Mexico. His
negotiations with the Mexican government on behalf of the Ross colony and their
failure are related in connection with my History of California.
During Wrangell’s administration a serious dispute
arose with the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was then extending its operations
over the whole north-west, establishing forts at every available point on river
and sea-coast, and which a few years later entirely outbid the Russian American
Company in the trade of the Alexander Archipelago. Taking advantage of the
clause in the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825, providing for the free navigation
of streams crossing Russian territory in their course from the British
possessions to the sea, the English company had pushed forward its
trading-posts to the upper course of the Stikeen, and in 1833 fitted out the
brig Dryad for the purpose of establishing a permanent station on that
river. Information of this design had been conveyed to Wrangell during the
preceding year, and he at once notified the managers at St Petersburg, asking
them to induce the imperial government to rescind the clause under which the
Hudson’s Bay Company intended to encroach on Russian territory. As a further
motive for this request, he reported that the English company had violated the
agreement to abstain from selling fire-arms and spirituous liquor to the
natives. The emperor granted the petition, and the British and United States
governments were duly notified of the fact. Both protested through their
ministers at St Petersburg, but in vain; the reply of the Russian foreign
office being that the objectionable clause would terminate in the following
year. Without waiting to be informed of the success or failure of his
application, Wrangell despatched two armed vessels,
under command of Lieutenant Dionysi Zarembo, to the
mouth of the Stikeen. Here the latter established a fortified station on a
small peninsula, the neck of which was
flooded at high water, and named the fort St Dionysi.
These warlike preparations remained unknown to the
officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and when the Dryad approached the
mouth of the Stikeen, the men crowding her deck were surprised by a puff of
white smoke and a loud report from the densely wooded shore, followed by
several shots from a vessel in the offing. The brig was at once put about, but
anchored just out of range, whereupon a boat was sent from shore carrying
Lieutenant Zarembo, who, in the name of the governor of the Russian colonies
and the emperor of Russia, protested against the entrance of an English vessel
into a river belonging to Russian territory. All appeals on the part of the
Hudson’s Bay Company’s agents were ineffectual. They were informed that if they
desired to save themselves, their property, and their vessel, they must weigh
anchor as once, and after a brief delay the Dryad sailed for Fort
Vancouver.
The authorities of the Hudson’s Bay Company lost no
time in sending reports of this affair to London, accompanied with a statement
that the loss incurred through this interference with their project amounted to
£20,000 sterling. The British government immediately demanded satisfaction from
Russia, but the matter was not finally settled until 1839, when a commission
met in London to arrange the points of dispute between the two corporations,
and in a few weeks solved difficulties which experienced diplomates had failed
to unravel in as many years. The claim of the Hudson’s Bay Company was waived
on condition that the Russian company grant a lease to the former of all their
continental territory lying between Cape Spencer and latitude 54° 40'. The
annual rental was fixed at two thousand land-otter skins, and at the same time
the English company agreed to supply the colonies with a large quantity of
provisions at moderate rates. The abandonment of the Ross colony, whence the
Russians obtained most of their supplies, was now merely a question of time,
and the agreement appears to have given satisfaction to both parties, for at
the end of the term the lease was renewed for a period of ten years, and twice
again for periods of four years.
On the 1st of June, 1840, a salute of seven guns was
fired as the British flag was hoisted from Fort St Dionysi,
or Fort Stikeen, as it was renamed by Sir James Douglas, who then represented
the Hudson’s Bay Company, and during a previous visit had appointed John
McLoughlin, junior, to the command. Having arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk on April
25th of the same year, Sir James says, that “he had held daily conference with
the governor in a frank and open manner, so as to dissipate all semblance of
reserve, and establish intercourse on a basis of mutual confidence. The
question of boundary was settled in a manner that will prevent any future
misunderstanding... They wish to sell Bodega for $30,000, with a stock of 1,500
sheep, 2,000 neat-cattle, and 1,000 horses and mules, with important land
fenced in, with barns, thrashing-floor, etc., sufficient to raise 3,000 fanegas
of wheat. They of course cannot sell the soil, but merely the improvements,
which we can hold only through a native. We concluded to write to Mr McLoughlin on this subject, so that he may write to Mr Etholen in reply in the autumn
by the steam vessel, or appoint an agent to settle with the commandant at
Bodega.” What might have been the result if England, with her powerful navy and allgrasping policy, had now gained a foothold in
California on the eve of the gold discovery!
Almost as soon as the Hudson’s Bay Company’s men had
established themselves at Fort Stikeen, hostilities were commenced by the
natives. In 1840 an attempt was made to scale the stockade; in 1841 the Indians
destroyed the aqueduct which supplied the fort with fresh water, and the
beleaguered garrison only saved themselves by seizing one of their chiefs, whom
they held as hostage. In the following year a more serious attack was
threatened, which would probably have been carried out successfully but for the
timely arrival of two armed vessels from Novo Arkhangelsk in charge of Sir
George Simpson, the governor of the company’s territories, whose statement I
will give in his own words.
“By daybreak on Monday the 25th of April, we were in
Wrangell’s Straits, and toward evening, as we approached Stikeen, my
apprehensions were awakened by observing the two national flags, the Russian and
the English, hoisted half-mast high, while, on landing about seven, my worst
fears were realized by hearing of the tragical end of Mr John McLoughlin, jun., the gentleman recently in charge. On the night of the
20th a dispute had arisen in the fort, while some of the men, as I was grieved
to hear, were in a state of intoxication; and several shots were fired, by one
of which Mr McLoughlin fell. My arrival with two
vessels at this critical juncture was most opportune, for otherwise the fort
might probably have fallen a sacrifice to the savages, who were assembled round
it to the number of about two thousand, justly thinking that the place could
make but a feeble resistance, deprived as it was of its head, and garrisoned by
men in a state of complete insubordination.”
A few days later Simpson returned to Novo
Arkhangelsk, in order to discuss with Etholen, who
in 1840 had relieved Kuprianof as governor, the
difficulties constantly arising between the Russian and Hudson’s Bay Company’s
agents with regard to trade on the Alexander Archipelago. Though Etholen was unyielding in other matters, he was quite
willing to join Simpson in his efforts to suppress traffic in spirituous
liquors among the Kolosh, and an agreement to this effect was signed by the
representatives of both companies on the 13th of May, 1842. The evil was felt
in all parts of the archipelago, and nowhere more than at the capital.
“Some reformation certainly was wanted in this
respect,” writes Simpson, “for of all the drunken as well as of all the dirty
places that I had visited, New Archangel was the worst. On the holidays in particular,
of which, Sundays included, there are one hundred and sixty-five in the year,
men, women, and even children were to be seen staggering about in all directions.
The common houses are nothing but wooden hovels huddled together without order
or design in nasty alleys, the hot-beds of such odors as are themselves
sufficient, independently ,of any other cause, to breed all sorts of fevers. In
a word, while the inhabitant do all that they can to poison the atmosphere, the
place itself appears to have been planned for the express purpose of checking
ventilation.”
The Indian villages in the neighborhood of Novo
Arkhangelsk had suffered severely a few years before, when during Kuprianof’s administration the small-pox epidemic appeared
for the first time among the natives of Alaska. The disease broke out in 1836,
among the Kolosh tribes near the southern boundary, and was probably introduced
by Indians from the British possessions. During the first year the settlement
of Tongass suffered most severely, two hundred and
fifty dying in a settlement numbering nine hundred inhabitants. From Tongass the contagion rapidly spread over all the Kolosh
settlements of the Alexander Archipelago. The filthy dwellings of the Kolosh
fostered the germs of the disease, and the mortality was appalling, fifty to
sixty per cent of the population being swept away. From the outlying
settlements the scourge was introduced to Novo Arkhangelsk, and here as
elsewhere a large portion of the native population perished, while the
promyshleniki, almost as filthy as the natives in their habits, escaped with
comparatively small loss. Kuprianof did all in his
power to check the epidemic, enforcing vaccination wherever it could be
enforced, and keeping the whole medical staff of the company in the field,
surgeons, stewards, and medical apprentices. Dr Blaschke, a German, who was in
charge of the medical service, stated officially that three thousand natives
died before any vaccination was attempted, and that for an entire year its
effect was barely perceptible.
In 1838 the doctor proceeded to Unalaska in the Polyfem, then en route to
the Arctic. The disease broke out on that island immediately after his arrival,
and it was some time before the superstitious Aleuts could be made to
understand that Blaschke had come among them to cure and not to kill. They
consented to vaccination only after a most peremptory order had been issued by
the commander of the district. All the villages in the Unalaska district were visited
by the vaccinators, and parties were sent on the same errand of mercy to the
Alaska peninsula, to Bristol Bay, and Cook Inlet. In nearly every instance the
outbreak of the epidemic could be traced to the arrival of persons from
sections of the colonies already affected, a circumstance which greatly increased
the difficulties with which the medical men had to battle in treating and
protecting the natives. From the coast villages the disease spread into the
interior, decimating or depopulating entire settlements. From Bristol Bay it
advanced northward to the Kuskokvim and the Yukon,
and raged fiercely among the dense population of the Yukon delta and Norton
Sound. To this day the islands and coasts are dotted with numerous village
sites, the inhabitants of which were carried off to the last individual during
this dreadful period. In many instances the dead were left in their dwellings,
which thus served as their graves, and skeletons can still be found in many of
these ruined habitations.
One of the effects of the small-pox epidemic was a
general distress in the outlying settlements, caused by the death of so many
heads of families. Large issues of provisions were made to widows and orphans
for several years; and when it was reported to Etholen that in the various districts there existed many villages where only a few male
youths of tender age survived to take care of the women and children, and where
constant aid from the company would be required for some time to come, he
framed measures for the consolidation of small villages into large central
settlements, where people might help each other in case of distress. His plan
was not perfected until 1844, and though it met with violent opposition on the
part of the natives who were to be benefited by it, it was finally carried out,
and fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of the governor.
Notwithstanding the loss of life that occurred during
the years 1836-1839, the population of the colonies amounted, according to a
census taken in 1841, to 7,580 souls, a decrease since 1822, when the first
regular census was taken, of 706,and since 1819 of 1,439 persons. There were in
1841, 714 Russians or Europeans of foreign birth, 1,351 creoles, and 5,417
Indians. Between 1830 and 1840 the number of Aleuts decreased from 6,864 to
4,007, but the loss was in part compensated by the increase in the Russian and
creole population, the fecundity among the latter class being much greater than
among the natives, as they received better food and clothing, and were exempt
from enforced service on hunting expeditions,
Although the yield of the various hunting-grounds
decreased considerably during the second term of the Russian American Company’s
existence, it was still on a large scale. Between 1821 and 1842 there were
shipped from the colonies over 25,000 sea-otter, 458,000 fur-seal, 162,000
beaver, 160,000 fox skins, 138,000 pounds of whalebone, and 260,000 pounds of
walrus tusks. At the time of Simpson’s visit to the colonies in 1842, the catch
of sea-otter at Kadiak, Unalaska, and Atkha, then the
principal hunting-grounds, did not exceed 1,000 a year. Of course the diminished
yield was attended with a corresponding increase in price, six or seven
blankets being given for a good sea-otter skin, and thirteen for the best,
while as much as two hundred roubles in cash was
asked for a single fur of the choicest quality. Moreover, the natives were not
slow to better the instruction which had accompanied the progress of
civilization in the far north-west. They had learned how to cheat, and could
already outcheat the Russians. “One favorite artifice,” relates Simpson, “is to
stretch the tails of land-otters into those of sea-otters. Again, when a skin
is rejected as being deficient in size or defective in quality, it is
immediately, according to circumstances, enlarged or colored or pressed to
order, and is then submitted as a virgin article to the buyer’s criticism by a
different customer.”
It is somewhat remarkable that the decline in the
leading industry of the colonies and the increase in the value of furs was not
attended with a corresponding reduction of dividends. Between 1821 and 1841 about
8,500,000 roubles were distributed among the
shareholders, or nearly double the sum disbursed during the company’s first
term. The directors were, however, often in sore need of funds, and sometimes
could only declare a dividend by charging it to the earnings of future years.
During this period the gross revenues exceeded 61,400,000 roubles,
and in 1841 the capital had been increased to about 6,200,000 roubles, which was represented mainly by trading goods,
provisions, material, implements, furs, sea-going vessels, and real estate in
Russia, the amount of cash on hand at that date being less than 50,000 roubles.
Large quantities of furs were still exchanged at Kiakhta for teas and Chinese cloths, which were afterward
sold at Moscow and at the fair at Nijinei-Novgorod,
the remainder of the furs and all the walrus tusks and whalebone being marketed
at St Petersburg.
The contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company and the
reopening of intercourse with foreigners, though limited to the port of Novo
Arkhangelsk, were of great benefit to the shareholders. In 1822 and 1823, when
the prohibition against foreign traffic was in force, the company suffered a
clear loss of 85,000 roubles in silver, while for the
two following years the dividend was the largest paid during the second term,
amounting to nearly silver roubles per share.
Although furs were bartered with English and American skippers at half or less
than half the prices current in Russia, the loss was more than counterbalanced
by the cheaper rates at which provisions and trading goods could be obtained.
Moreover, the freight charged on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s vessels, accordingly
to the terms of the contract, was 50 to 78 silver roubles per ton, while from Kronstadt it was 180 to 254, and by way of Siberia 540 to
630 roubles in silver. Between 1821 and 1840 twelve
expeditions were despatched from Kronstadt to the
colonies with supplies, and yet more than once the governor was compelled to
send vessels to Chile for cargoes of bread-stuffs.
The expense of supporting the colonies, apart from the
sums required for the home office, taxes, and other items, increased from about
676,000 roubles, scrip, in 1821, to over 1,219,000 roubles in 1841, and amounted for the whole period to
nearly 18,000,000 roubles. The increase was due
mainly to the necessity of establishing more stations as seal became scarce
near the settlements, and of increasing the pay of employees. “The salaries of
the officers,” remarks Simpson during his stay at Novo Arkhangelsk,
“independently of such pay as they may have, according to their rank in the
imperial navy, range between three thousand and twelve thousand roubles a year, the rouble being,
as nearly as possible, equal to the franc; while they are, moreover, provided
with firewood and candles, with a room for each, and a servant and a kitchen between
two. Generally speaking, the officers are extravagant, those of five thousand roubles and upwards spending nearly the whole, and the
others getting into debt, as a kind of mortgage on their future promotion.
“For the amount of business done, the men, as well as
the officers, appear to be unnecessarily numerous, amounting this season to
nearly five hundred, who, with their families, make about one thousand two hundred
souls as the population of the establishment. Among the servants are some
excellent tradesmen, such as engineers, armorers, tin-smiths, cabinet-makers, jewellers, watchmakers, tailors, cobblers, builders, etc.,
receiving generally about three hundred and fifty roubles a year; they have come originally on engagements of seven years; but most of
them, by drinking or by indulging in other extravagance, contrive to be so
regularly in debt as to become fixtures for life.”
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