READING HALL "THE DOORS OF WISDOM" 2024

CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING GENESIS

HISTORY OF ALASKA.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY’S LAST TERM.

1842-1866.

At the request of the directors, and after a careful investigation into the condition of the colonies, the imperial council al St Petersburg decided, on the 5th of March, 1841, to renew the charter of the Russian American Company for a further period of twenty years. “In the variety and extent of its operations,” declare the members of the council, “no other company can compare with it. In addition to a commercial and industrial monopoly, the government has invested it with a portion of its own powers in governing the vast and distant territory over which it now holds control. A change in this system would now be of doubtful benefit. To open our ports to all hunters promiscuously would be a death-blow to the fur trade while the government, having transferred to the company the control of the colonies, could not now resume it without great expense and trouble, and would have to create new financial resources for such a purpose.” This opinion, together with a charter defining the privileges and duties of the company, was delivered to the tzar and received his signature on the 11th of October, 1844.

The new charter did not differ in its main features from that of 1821, though the boundary was of course changed in accordance with the English and American treaties. None of the company’s rights were curtailed, and the additional privileges were granted of trading with certain ports in China, and of shipping tea direct from Shanghai to St Petersburg. The board of managers, through its agent the governor of the colonies, was recognized as the supreme power, though appeal could be made to the emperor through the minister of finance. A colonial council was established, consisting of the deputy governor and four naval officers, or officials of the company, with criminal jurisdiction in all but capital cases. Much indulgence was shown to naval, military, and civil officers, who while in the company’s service received half-pay, and did not forfeit their right of promotion, their time of service being counted double.

The sale of fire-arms, ammunition, and spirituous liquor to the natives was still forbidden; and this prohibition was followed by an order from the governor that no intoxicating drink should be sold in the colonies. It is related that when this order was read to the servants of the company many of them could not refrain from tears. The temperance cause had but few advocates in Russian America. One of the men, named Markof, who in 1845 sailed from Novo Arkhangelsk for San Francisco, thus relates his experience: “How easily and willingly the labor of getting the ship under way was performed! Each sailor had it in his mind that he could enjoy himself for his trouble in the first tap-room in California. In the evening we could only see the outlines of our former home, traced in black, indistinct shapes against the darkening sky. ‘The devil must have planted these cursed sea-otters in these out-of-the-way regions, said one of the sailors; ‘as far as we can see land up and down the coast, not a single rum-shop is to be found.’ ‘Yes,’ answered another, ‘but I remember Father Baranof. There was a time when a camp-kettle was set out brimming full, and he would shout, “Drink, children!” and he would join himself in a merry song. Those were better days,’ continued he, with his eyes fixed on the waning land; ‘but now what times have we! We can do nothing but work, and when that is done, we promenade, or smoke in the barrack. What a life!’ ‘You see,’ replied his comrade, ‘in this country we all have to join the temperance society.’ ‘What is that?’ ‘I don’t know exactly: it is some kind of a sect. I belonged to it once, but it is so long ago I forget. I can make no reckoning of time when I get no drinks to count by; but I remember we all had to pay a beaver skin apiece.’ ‘A beaver skin apiece! That is a big price to pay for the privilege of drinking nothing but water. I’ll have nothing to do with any such sect. There was that German Mukolof; he joined the sect, and in a few weeks he was dead. God knows where he is now’—crossing himself: ‘I don’t think there is much room for Dutchmen in heaven; so many Russians go there.’”

As soon as war between England and Russia became a certainty, representatives of the Russian American and Hudson’s Bay companies met in London to consult on the exigences of the case. It was agreed that both companies should petition their governments for a convention of neutrality, that should include the Russian and English possessions on the north-west coast of America, the parties being allowed to trade freely with each other, while-forbearing to furnish aid to the squadrons of Russia or of the allies. The powers at war, considering this a small matter, and wishing to keep their hands free in other quarters, consented to sanction the agreement. A few English cruisers appeared at the entrance of Sitka Bay at various times, but finding no vessels of war in port, nor any evidence of a violation of the agreement, inflicted no damage. The company suffered some loss, however, by the bombardment of Petropavlovsk in 1854,6 and through its destruction in the following year, on which occasion the allies burned the government buildings, plundered the Greek-catholic church, broke all the windows in the town, and captured a vessel belonging to the Russian American Company. A part of the allied forces then sailed for Ourup, and bombarded the Russian settlement on that island, burned all the buildings, seized the furs and papers belonging to the company,7and hoisted the union-jack, the tricolor, and a sign-post declaring that they took possession of the territory on behalf of England and France. These proceedings were sufficiently disgraceful—the most disgraceful affair, perhaps, of the whole war, if we except the Sinope massacre; but yet more disgraceful was the conduct of the English government which sanctioned them, on the ground that the convention of neutrality extended only to the north-west coast of America, and not to all the company’s territory.

Though no attack was made, during the war, on the Alaskan settlements, the Russians suffered more severely about this date from outbreaks among the natives than at any time since the Sitka massacre. In 1851 the fort at Nulato was surprised by Indians, and most of the inmates butchered. Among the victims were the commandant Derzhavin and Lieutenant Barnard, an English naval officer on board the Enterprise, despatched in search of Sir John Franklin and his party. In that year Barnard was sent to investigate the truth of certain rumors as to the murder of a party of his countrymen near Lake Mintokh, and in his blunt English fashion announced that he intended to send for the chief of the Koyukans, named Larion, who was then holding festival at his village a few leagues distant. But, as Dall remarks, this man was not accustomed to be sent for. When the Russians desired to see him, they respectfully requested the honor of his presence. Now Larion was a great chief, and also a shaman, and his ire was thoroughly roused at the insult. Moreover, there was another cause of provocation. One of his daughters had for some time been living with Derzhavin as a concubine. This was perfectly legitimate and seemly according to the native and even the Russian code of morals; but a second daughter had recently found favor in the eyes of the commandant, and when the shaman demanded, in person, the surrender of at least one of his children, Derzhavin coolly answered that he had at the fort a visitor, who must also be provided with a concubine. After his departure perhaps one of the damsels might be restored.

A council was called, and Larion swore that the salmon should have blood to drink before they went back to the sea. At this moment a dog-sled appeared in sight on the Yukon, by the side of which walked a Russian and a Nulato workman. Soon afterward the sled was drawn up on the bank for the purpose of cooking the midday meal, and while the Nulato was searching for water, a party of Indians stole up stealthily behind the Russian, and stunning him with a blow on the head, beat in his skull with their clubs. His flesh was then cut in strips, roasted, and devoured, and the Koyukans set forth at once for Nulato. Half a mile from the fort were three large buildings, in which were many Nulato families. These were set on fire, and their occupants were either smothered in the smoke or fell beneath the knives and arrows of the savages, one man only making his escape to the mountains, and a few women being spared to serve as slaves.

The Koyukans then advanced on the fort, where most of the inmates were yet asleep, and all were unconscious of the impending danger. Derzhavin, who had just risen, was stabbed in the back and fell dead without a struggle. Barnard, who was reading in bed, grasped his gun and fired two shots, but each time the barrel was struck upward and the balls lodged in the ceiling, whereupon he was stabbed in the stomach, his intestines protruding from the wound. The work­men, who lived in a separate building in which were two Russians and a few creoles, had now taken the alarm and barricaded the door. Muskets were fired at the savages, but without effect, and were answered by a flight of arrows. At length one of them fell, whereupon the entire party at once took to flight, carrying with them their booty and prisoners. A new fort surrounded with a stockade was built two or three years later on the spot where it now stands, and within a hundred yards of it is a cross that marks the resting-place of Barnard and Derzhavin.

In the following year a party of Kolosh destroyed the buildings at the hot springs near the Ozerskoi redoubt. The inmates were stripped of all that they possessed, even to their shirts, and in this plight made their way across the mountains to the capital. In 1855 the Andreief station, south of Fort Michaielovsk, was destroyed by Indians, two of the company’s servants being slaughtered. In the same year an attack was made on Novo Arkhangelsk. The Sitkan Kolosh, without apparent provocation, fell upon a sentry who was guarding the wood-piles of the company and wounded him with spears. The governor demanded the surrender of the guilty individuals, but was answered with threats. Two cannon-shot were then fired, whereupon the savages made a rush for the fort and began to chop down the palisade. A sharp fire of musketry and artillery was opened on them, but without effect. Some tried to force themselves through the embrasures; others broke in the door of a church, built outside the stockade for the use of natives, and returned the fusillade from the windows. If the Kolosh had been in possession of a few pieces of cannon, it is not improbable that there might have been a repetition of’ the Sitka massacre. For two hours they stood their ground, but after losing more than a hundred of their number, were forced to capitulate and give hostages to the Russians. A strict surveillance was thenceforth kept over the independent native tribes, and no serious émeutes occurred.

After his return from the colonies, Tebenkof, who succeeded Etholen as governor, published, in 1852, an atlas, in which the results were exhibited of all the explorations of the previous twelve years, together with many of former periods. To mention the discoveries of all the exploring parties that were despatched during the company’s third term would serve but to tax the reader’s patience. More interesting are the operations of the scientific corps that sailed from Stuart Island on the 17th of September, 1865, under the auspices of the Western Union Telegraph Company.

It was intended by the managers to build an overland line to Europe through Alaska, across Bering Strait, and through Siberia by way of the Amoor River. The cooperation of the Russian government was obtained, and a party of explorers organized for making preliminary surveys on the American continent and in Siberia. Captain C. S. Bulkley was appointed to superintend the expedition, and for this purpose proceeded to Novo Arkhangelsk in the spring of 1865. A steamer, three barks, and other craft were purchased for the use of the members, and with the permission of the secretary of the treasury several revenue officers participated in the enterprise. One vessel sailed for British Columbia, the intention being to penetrate from the head waters of the Frazer River to those of the Yukon; another to Novo Arkhangelsk, a third to Fort Mikhaielovsk, and a fourth to the mouth of the Anadir River in Siberia. In the following year explorations were continued; but in 1867, a few months after the first pole was raised, the company, after having incurred an expense of three millions of dollars, abandoned the enterprise and recalled its explorers, finding that the line could not compete with the Atlantic cable. The details of their operations do not concern the purposes of this volume, but we have some interesting descriptions, which will be mentioned later, of the condition of the Russian settlements, especially in the work of Dall, who was appointed director of the scientific corps.

I shall venture also to give a brief extract from a statement made in 1878 by Ferdinand Westdahl, who was employed to survey Norton Sound and other points for the purpose of determining their exact position on the company’s chart, and had not then heard of his recall: “We lay at Unalakleet until February, when we went into the field and continued to work on the line, putting up some 30 miles—the posts only—for we had no wire. The country is a complete bog. If you dig down on the hills there two feet, you strike ice. We dug three holes with crow­bars. In many places we found snow 15 feet in depth to leeward of a hill. Our poles were on an average 15 feet long, but on the leeward side we had to make them 24 feet long. We should have made them all 24 or 30 feet long, but that the timber was too short. We dug them three feet into the ground, which consists of frozen dirt. In summer when the surface thawed, we found many of them, which we supposed to be very firmly erected, entirely loose.

“The men were very contented. They were of course exposed to severe cold, and we had the thermometer as low as 68° below zero, but we did not suffer in the least. We were dressed in furs like Indians, and slept in open camps. For rations we had only beans and graham flour. We also obtained seal­oil from the Indians, and sometimes frozen fish. This was just the kind of food that we needed in such a climate. When we started forth on journeys, we used to cook an entire sack of beans into bean soup. Before it was entirely cold, we would pour it into a bag, let it freeze, and take it with us. When we camped at night, we took out an axe, chopped off a little, made our fire, and our supper was ready immediately.”

In 1860 the general administration of the Russian American Company submitted to the minister of finance a draught of a new charter, together with a request that the privileges be renewed for a further term of twenty years, to commence from the 1st of January 1862.18 In the following year Captain Golovnin was sent to Novo Arkhangelsk, with instructions to make a thorough investigation into the condition of the company’s affairs and report thereon to the government. His report was in the main favorable, though suggesting many changes and containing much adverse criticism. It was followed by a reply from the creole Kashevarof, exposing abuses which had hitherto been kept secret; and the statements of the latter being indorsed by Baron Wrangell, the government refused to renew the charter, except on such conditions as the company was not willing to accept. In 1865 meetings of the imperial council were held at which these conditions were determined, and in the same year they were approved by the president and submitted to the general administration. Some of them were extremely unpalatable, especially those requiring that the Aleuts and other dependent tribes be exempt from enforced labor, and that all the inhabitants of Russian America be allowed to engage, without distinction or restriction, in whatever industry they preferred except that of fur-hunting. After much intrigue, some concessions were obtained from government, and a subsidy was even promised, but no satisfactory arrangement was made, though negotiations were continued almost until the transfer of the territory to the United States.

During the debates which occurred in congress on the purchase question, and in the comments of the press on the same subject, it has frequently been stated that, in 1866, the charter of the Russian American Company was about to expire. It had already expired oil the 1st of January 1862, and about two years later Prince Maksutof, an officer appointed by the imperial government, took charge of the company’s affairs. That the renewal of the charter was contemplated, however, appears in the following extract from a decision of the imperial council, confirmed by its president, the grand duke Constantine, on April 2, 1866: “The company is allowed to increase its working capital by the issue of new shares, but at the final settlement of the company’s business, within twenty years hence or later, all claims must be satisfied at the company’s expense, without assist­ance from the government.”

Though the abuses mentioned by Kashevarof were no doubt sufficiently culpable, it would seem that the treatment of the natives was somewhat less severe than during the two first terms of the company’s existence. The number of Aleuts, which in 1840 had decreased, it will be remembered, to 4,007, was in 1860 about 4,400, the entire Indian population subject to the company having increased during the same time from about 5,400 to over 7,600. Meanwhile the Russian population had increased to 784, and the creoles mustered nearly 1,700, the whole population of the colonies being about 12,000, a gain of more than 58 per cent since the census of 1841.

The increase in the native population was due in part to their being better fed and housed than in former years. Though except for a scant crop of vegetables raised chiefly at Kadiak, nearly all food supplies, with the exception of fish and game, were imported, the company not only supplied fair rations of flour, fish, sugar, tea, and other provisions to its servants, but sold flour to them at a small fixed price, and often at a heavy loss. Fish was of course the staple food, and was supplied to servants free of charge, those who received less than 1,000 roubles a year being allowed to draw each day their dole of bread and fish, of pease or gruel twice a week, of salt beef on holidays, and of game when it was plentiful, from the public kitchen; while married men could receive an equivalent in money. The Aleuts and others employed on hunting expeditions also re­ceived a liberal supply of food and warm clothing, and were allowed higher rates for their furs.

At the beginning of the company’s third term, rules were established for the preservation of fur-bearing animals by a system of alternation at the various hunting-grounds, those which were threatened with exhaustion being allowed to lie undisturbed for a period of ten years. The increase which occurred after this regulation in the number of fur-seals was remarkable, especially at the Prybilof group. In 1851, 30,000 could be killed annually at St Paul Island alone, and in 1861 as many as 70,000, without fear of exhausting the supply. Between 1842 and 1861 shipments of furs from the colonies included about 25,600 sea-otter, 338,600 fur-seal, 161,000 beaver, and 129,600 fox skins. It will be observed that these figures show a considerable decrease from the quantity forwarded during the period 1821-1842. This was caused mainly by the encroachments of foreign traders, and especially of American whaling-vessels, whose masters often touched at various points in the Russian possessions during their voyage, and paid much higher prices for furs than those fixed by the company’s tariff. Another reason was the growth of intertribal traffic, clothing worn by the natives far in the interior and made up by Aleutian women being bartered for small skins, oil, and bone.

In 1826 Chistiakof wrote to the directors, asking that an experienced whaler be sent to the colonies. No further steps were taken in the matter until 1833, when an American named Barton arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk, under a five-years contract to engage in this industry, and to instruct the natives in harpooning and in rendering oil. He met with little success, for the method employed by the Aleuts of shooting the whales with spears or arrows, and waiting until the carcass was washed ashore, was found easier and less dangerous. Moreover, the company had neither funds nor vessels to spare for the active prosecution of this industry, as trade with California and the Hawaiian Islands was now on a large scale, and severely taxed the company’s resources. For several years, therefore, the whale-fisheries were left in the hands of foreigners, since without the cooperation of the Russian government the directors had no power to prevent their intrusion.

In 1842 Etholen transmitted a report from Captain Kadlikof, commanding the company’s ship Naslednik Alexandr, wherein the latter stated that he had spoken an American whaler north of the Aleutian Islands, and had learned from the captain that he had sailed together with 30 other whalers for Bering Sea. He also mentioned that, the preceding year, he had been in the same waters with 50 other vessels, and that he alone had killed 13 whales, yielding 1,600 barrels of oil. Upon this report Etholen based a request that the imperial government should send armed cruisers for the preservation of Bering sea as a mare clausum. Etholen’s efforts were assisted by the board of managers, but did not meet with immediate success, the minister for foreign affairs replying that the treaty between Russia and the United States gave to American citizens the right to engage in fishing over the whole extent of the Pacific Ocean. Etholen, however, would not allow the matter to rest, but continued his correspondence on the subject, urging that so lucrative an industry should be placed in the hands of Russians, instead of being left entirely to Americans.

The government at length referred the matter to a committee, composed of officials of the navy department, who reported that the cost of fitting out a cruiser for the protection of Bering Sea against foreign whalers would be 200,000 roubles in silver, and the cost of maintaining such a craft 85,000 roubles a year. To this a recommendation was added that if the company were willing to assume the expenditure, a cruiser should at once be placed at their disposal. Though the directors would not consent to this outlay, complaints of the doings of American whalers were forwarded from time to time, referring chiefly to the practice of landing on the Aleutian Islands and other portions of the coast for the purpose of trying out blubber, on which occasions a wanton destruction of fuel took place, causing great hardship to the inhabitants, who depended entirely on the scant supplies of drift-wood. It was not until 1850 that an armed corvette was finally ordered to cruise in the north Pacific.

In the mean time Tebenkof took up the matter, and forwarded proposals to the company for the establishment at various points of whaling stations, provided with whale-boats and improved appliances, and in charge of experienced American whalers to be engaged by the company for a term of years. In the year 1850 it was estimated that 300, and in later years as many as 500 or 600 whalers annually visited the Arctic Ocean, the Okhotsk and Bering seas, and Alaskan waters, carrying off the stores of dried fish reserved for hunting parties, and bartering liquor, arms, and powder with the natives for furs. In 1849 a whaling enterprise was established at Abo under the name of the Russian Finland Whaling Company, with a capital of 200,000 roubles in silver, one half of which was furnished by the Russian American Company. The corporation received from the government a donation of 20,000 roubles, and a premium of 10,000 roubles each for the first four vessels equipped for this purpose, and was permitted to import material, implements, and stores, and to export its products, duty free, for a period of twelve years.

During the few years of the Russian Finland Whaling Company’s existence, six vessels were fitted out, but the losses incurred and the difficulty in selling cargoes during the war with England and France caused the enterprise to prove unprofitable. In 1854 the shareholders resolved to go into liquidation, and were enabled to settle their liabilities in full by a special grant from the imperial treasury, made on account of losses incurred during the war. Thus the whale fisheries were again left in the hands of foreigners, who, before long, caused their entire destruction in the sea of Okhotsk.

In consequence of the political complications then arising in Europe, no successor was appointed at the close of Tebenkof’s administration in 1850, until four years later, when Captain Voievodsky was elected governor. He was succeeded in 1859 by the mining engineer Furuhelm, the interval between Tebenkof and Voievodsky’s administrations being filled by the temporary appointment of lieutenants Rosenburg and Rudakof, who managed the company’s affairs during the first years of the Russo-Turkish war.

Notwithstanding some unfavorable features and the interruption to trade caused by the war of 1853, there was a considerable increase in dividends during the company’s last term, the amount disbursed being about 10,210,000 roubles, a gain of nearly 17 per cent over the sum distributed in the previous twenty years. At the close of the term the fixed and working capital of the company amounted to more than 13,600,000 roubles. The receipts from all sources exceeded 75,770,000 roubles, of which amount over 23,755,300 was required for the support of the colonies, and nearly 11,366,000 roubles for the general administration, including, among other items, pensions and rewards to officials and servants.

The entire amount received from sales of tea, which, as in former years, was mainly purchased at Kiakhta and marketed in Russia, exceeded 27,000,000 roubles. The profits on these transactions were greatly reduced when, on the application of a few Moscow manufacturers, a rule was established that the company’s agents should be required to accept Russian manufactured goods in part payment; the more so as these were always of inferior quality. Between 1835 and 1841 the company’s profits on each chest of tea were from 187 to 300 roubles; in 1845 it was less than 23 roubles. The loss fell entirely on the company, or more probably on the company’s servants. Two years after permission was given to send cargoes of tea from Shanghai to Russia, annual shipments were made of 4,000 chests; and yet cloths manufactured at Moscow could be bought cheaper at Shanghai than in the former city.

The discovery of gold in California was of course followed by a marked revival of trade with that country. One cargo of almost worthless goods, that had been in the company’s storehouses for years, was di­posed of in San Francisco at fabulous rates. Other ventures were less successful, though most of them were profitable.3In 1851 a party of San Francisco capitalists, among whom were Messrs Sanderson and J. Mora Moss, made a contract with Rosenberg for 250 tons of ice to be shipped from Novo Arkhangelsk at $75 per ton. The shipment was made in February 1852, and in October of the same year the price was reduced to $35 per ton, and the quantity forwarded increased to 1,000 tons, a contract to this effect being made for three years. Later the price was further reduced and the quantity again increased. Between 1852 and 1859 there were shipped from Novo Arkhangelsk 13,960 tons, and from Kadiak 7,403 tons. The ice was procured from two lakes, one of them near Novo Arkhangelsk and the other on Wood Island, near Kadiak, five buildings being erected for its storage with a total capacity of 12,000 tons. Rails were laid to connect the ice-houses with the wharves, these being the first tracks constructed in Russian America.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

1867-1883.