READING HALL "THE DOORS OF WISDOM" 2024 |
CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING GENESIS |
HISTORY
OF ALASKA.
CHAPTER XXXI.
SETTLEMENTS, AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.
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Such was Sitka about the middle of the XIXth century, when its inhabitants mustered about one
thousand souls; and there are today on the Pacific coast few more busy
communities than that which peopled the capital of Alaska toward the close of
the Russian occupation. After the withdrawal of the Russian employes who
departed for their native land, and of American speculators who departed with empty
pockets, the settlement gradually fell into decay, and soon was but the ghost
of its former self. In 1875 the population had decreased to one half; in 1883
it was little more; many of the dwellings were tenantless; the harbor was
almost deserted, and the arrival or departure of the mail steamer was the sole
incident that roused from their lethargy the people of the once thriving town
of Novo Arkhangelsk.
With the exception of the fort, or castle, which
crowns a rock about a hundred feet in height, and is reached by a steep flight
of steps, the buildings occupy a low and narrow strip of land at the base of
Mount Verstovoi. On Kruzof Island, at the entrance of the bay, is Mount Edgecumbe, the prominent landmark
of this portion of the coast. In the bay are several islets, which partly
screen from view the portion of Baranof Island on which Sitka is built, until
the vessel arrives within a few cables’ length. On landing, one notices
unmistakable signs of decay. Many of the houses are falling into ruins; and
some of them, being built of logs and their lower portion continually
water-soaked, are settling down on their foundations. After passing the fort we
come to a better class of buildings, prominent among which is the Greek church,
with its dome and roof painted an emerald green. Beyond this are the
club-house, the principal schoolhouse, and the hospital; then come a score or
two of huts, and then the forest, through which is cut for a short distance a
path, the second road made in Alaska before the purchase.
Of social life at Sitka, before the transfer, some interesting
records have been handed down to us by travellers,
and by the annalists of the Russian American Company, among whom were several
of the company’s servants. Officers and officials had cast in their lot in this
the Ultima Thule of the known world, far removed from all centres of civilization, and from all civilizing influences. Some were of noble birth,
and had passed their youth and early manhood among the cultured circles of St
Petersburg; but here, amidst this waste, there was for many years no society,
no home circle, no topic even for conversation. How best should they beguile
the long years of their banishment, the tedium of barrack life, the drear monotony
of their voluntary servitude? No wonder that many fell victims to gambling and
strong drink, sank even to yet lower depths, and gradually debased themselves
oftentimes below the level of the savage.
To remedy this state of affairs, and especially to provide
comfortable accommodation for unmarried officers and officials of the higher
rank, Etholen, during the first year of his
administration, established at Sitka a social club, furnished with reading,
billiard, card, and supper rooms. Here the members entertained visitors, when
the hospitalities tendered by the governor were intermitted. Until the
transfer, this institution was conducted on the system adopted at its
foundation, and wrought much benefit in the colony, save, perhaps, in the cause
of temperance—a virtue which the Russians were loath to practise.
“Russian hospitality is proverbial,” remarks Whymper, “and we all somewhat
suffered therefrom. The first phrase of their language acquired by us was ‘petnatchit copla’—fifteen drops.
Now this quantity—in words so modest—usually meant a good half-tumbler of some
unmitigated spirit, ranging from cognac to raw vodka, and which was pressed
upon us on every available occasion. To refuse was simply to insult your host.
Then memory refuses to retain the number of times we had to drink tea, which
was served sometimes in tumblers, sometimes in cups. I need not say the oft-described
samovar was in every household. Several entertainments—balls, suppers, and a fête
in the clubgardens—were organized for our benefit,
and a number of visitors came off daily to our fleet of four vessels.”
At all seasons of the year the tables of the social
club and of the higher class of employes were supplied with venison or other
game, with chickens, pork, vegetables, berries, and of course with fish. A similar
diet was provided for the lower officials, while the staple food of the
laborers was for about nine months in the year fresh fish, and for the
remaining three, salt fish.
There was little variation in the routine of life at
Sitka. Employes, other than the higher officials, were required to rise at 5 a.
m., and to work in summer for about twelve hours a day; at reveille and at 8 p.
M. the drums beat; at 9 lights were extinguished, and at half-hour intervals
during the night bells were tolled, the sentries responding at each stroke. For
the higher officials there were card-parties, dance-parties, or
drinking-parties at the clubrooms, varied occasionally with an amateur
theatrical entertainment, and when there was no other recourse the evening
hours were passed at the library.
The Sitka library, which, it will be remembered,
Rezanof founded in 1805, contained in 1835 about 1,700 volumes in the Russian
and other languages, in addition to 400 periodicals and pamphlets, and a
valuable collection of charts. Of any printed local literature before the
purchase we have no records.
On the 1st of March, 1868, the first newspaper concerning
Alaska, styled the Alaska Herald, was published in San Francisco by a
Pole named Agapius Honcharenko, and contained the
first part of a Russian translation of the United States constitution. It was
issued semi-monthly, printed in Russian and English, and about twelve months
after its first appearance, claimed a circulation of fifteen hundred copies.
During the same year the Alaska Coast Pilot was published by the United States
Coast Survey, and also the Sitka Times, which was at first issued in
manuscript, and had but an ephemeral existence.
Near the mainland, a little more than a hundred miles
to the south-east of Sitka, is Fort Wrangell, built on an island of the same
name, and situated about a hundred and thirty miles north of the boundary line
of British Columbia, at the head of ship navigation on the route to the Cassiar mining district. While the mines were prosperous,
this was, during a few months in the year, the busiest town in Alaska, the
miners who ascended the Stikeen each spring to the number of about four
thousand, and returned in the autumn, averaging in good seasons as much as
fifteen hundred dollars per capita, and leaving most of their earnings among
the store and saloon keepers. The fort is now deserted, and the town nearly so,
except by Indians. The government buildings, which cost the United States a
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, were sold in 1877 for a few hundreds. The
main street is choked with decaying logs and stumps, and is passable only by a
narrow plank sidewalk. Most of the habitations contain but one room, with
sleeping-berths arranged round the walls and a stove in the centre,
and many of them have neither windows nor openings, except for the chimney and
a single door. Nevertheless, in these comfortless abodes several hundreds of
white men were content to pass the long winter months in former years, and a
few score still remain, who have not yet lost their faith in the mines.
"Fort Wrangell,” writes one who visited that settlement
in 1883, “is a fit introduction to Alaska. It is most weird and wild of aspect.
It is the key-note to the sublime and lonely scenery of the north. It is
situated at the foot of conical hills, at the head of a gloomy harbor filled
with gloomy islands. Frowning cliffs, beetling crags stretch away on all sides
surrounding it. Lofty promontories guard it, backed by range after range of
sharp volcanic peaks, which in turn are lost against lines of snowy mountains.
It is the home of storms. You see that in the broken pines on the cliff sides,
in the fierce, wave-swept rocks, in the lowering mountains, and in the sullen
skies. There is not a bright touch in it—not in its straggling lines of native
huts, each with its demon-like totem beside its threshold; nor in the fort, for
that is dilapidated and fast sinking into decay; not even in the flag, for the
blue is a nondescript tint, and the glory of the stars has long since
departed.”
On a small island at the mouth of the Portland Canal,
and close to the southern boundary of Alaska, is Fort Tongass,
the first military post established by the United States government after the
purchase. The site was well chosen, containing a plentiful supply of timber and
pasture, while fish and game abound in the neighborhood.
At the foot of a perpendicular bluff fifteen hundred
feet in height, and about two hundred miles north of Sitka, is the town of
Harrisburg, or Juneau, the latter name, and the name now commonly in use, being
that of one of the discoverers of a mining district, of which mention will be
made later. In 1883 this was probably the most thriving settlement in Alaska,
containing in winter about a thousand inhabitants, and before that date the
mail service between Port Townsend, Wrangell, and Sitka had been extended to
Harrisburg, the last being the most northerly point from which the United
States mails were distributed.
Passing from the Alexander Archipelago westward to
Cook Inlet and Kadiak, we find at the former point few remaining traces of
Russian civilization. A short distance from Port Chatham is the settlement of Seldovia, with about seventy native and creole hunters, and
a few leagues north of it the village of Ninilchik, where dwell thirty Russian
and creole descendants of the colonial citizens, who subsist mainly by
agriculture and stock-raising. Close to it is the mouth of a small river, the
waters of which discharge, or are rather filtered into the sea through the bar
that chokes its outlet. In former years this was a favorite spawningground for salmon, which still attempt to leap the bar in vast numbers, many of them
failing to gain the stream beyond, and being gathered up by the settlers, who
select only the choicest.
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The islands of Kadiak and Afognak, ‘the garden spots
of Alaska,’ as they are termed, enjoy more sunshine and fair weather than any
portion of the territory, with the exception, perhaps, of some favored
localities on Cook Inlet. Here are found, in parts, rich pastures dotted with
woodlands, and covered, during summer, with a carpet of wild flowers. When the
Russians were compelled to remove their capital from Saint Paul to Sitka, they
did so with extreme reluctance, for the former, as Dall remarks, “deserves far
more than Sitka the honor of being the capital.”
The village of Saint Paul, or Kadiak, contained in
1880 about four hundred inhabitants, a large proportion of whom were creoles.
Here were built the stores and warehouses of the Alaska Commercial Company, the
Western Fur and Trading Company, and the barracks formerly occupied by the
United States troops. While a garrison was stationed at this point, bridges
were built across the rivulets that intersect the village, and culverts to
drain the neighboring lakes and marshes; but so little enterprise had the inhabitants
that after the withdrawal of the soldiers no attempt was made to keep them in
repair. The culverts were washed away, and the bridges allowed to rot, except
those which were used for fire-wood. The houses are built of logs, the crevices
being filled with moss, but are clean and comfortable. The people are probably
better circumstanced than those of their own status in other portions of
America. Labor is in demand and fairly paid; food is cheap and abundant; there
are no paupers in their midst, no lawyers or tax collectors; and all are at
liberty to make use of unoccupied land.
At Wood Island, opposite to Saint Paul, is a thriving
settlement, the inhabitants of which support themselves in summer by hunting,
and in winter by cutting, and storing ice. In order to develop the latter industry
was built the first road constructed in Alaska, comprising the circuit of the
island, a distance of about thirteen miles.
A few versts farther to the north-west is Spruce
Island, on which is a village containing about eighty creoles. “Here,” says Tikhmenef, “died the last member of the first clerical
mission, the monk Herman, and was buried side by side with the Hieromonakh Joassaf. During his
life-time Father Herman built near his dwelling a school for the daughters of
the natives, and also cultivated potatoes”
The village of Three Saints, where, it will be remembered,
Shelikof landed from a vessel of that name in 1784, and founded the pioneer
colony in Russian America, now contains about three hundred inhabitants. There
were in Shelikof’s days the finest seaotter grounds,
and are now perhaps the finest halibut grounds in Alaska.
The village of Afognak, on the island of the same
name, separated by a narrow channel from the northern shore of Kadiak, is one
of the most thriving settlements in Alaska. Though mountainous, and in some
parts thickly wooded, the cutting of timber and fire-wood being one of the
chief industries, it contains many spots suitable for pasture and agriculture.
Boat-building is also a profitable occupation. Many of the inhabitants, who now
muster about three hundred and fifty, live in substantial frame houses, this
being one of the few places in the territory where any considerable number of
dwellings other than log. huts are to be found.
The principal port in the Aleutian group is Illiuliuk, or, as it is sometimes called, Unalaska, on the
island of the latter name. Its main recommendation is that it possesses one of
the best harbors in Alaska, and it is probable that it will always remain, as
it is today, the chief centre of trade for this
district. Nevertheless, the population of Illiuliuk is little more than four hundred, and of the island from six to seven hundred.
Most of them are hunters by occupation, for so rugged is the coast and so
deeply indented that there is little room for other pursuits. Brought
frequently into contact with foreigners, and especially with Americans, they
are perhaps among the most enlightened of their race. More than half of them
can read and write, and it is said that on festive occasions, as on the 4th of
July, their exploits in wrestling, dancing, and foot-racing surpass anything
that can be witnessed elsewhere in the territory.
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Under the volcano of Makushin,
in a small settlement of the same name on the western coast of Unalaska, lived,
in 1880, a man named Peter Kostromitin, who
witnessed, about sixty years before that date, a volcanic eruption, during
which a new island made its appearance to the north of Oumnak.
On the 10th of March, 1825, a violent disturbance occurred at Oonimak, which is thus described by Veniaminof: “After a
prolonged subterraneous noise, resembling a cannonade, which lasted almost an
entire day, and was heard at Unalaska, the north-eastern mountain chain of Oonimak opened in the middle of the day, in five or more
places, for a considerable distance, accompanied with eruptions of flame and
great quantities of black ashes, which covered the whole extent of Alaska to
the depth of several inches. In the neighboring localities on the peninsula it
was dark for three or four hours. On this occasion the ice and snow lying on
the top of the chain melted, and a considerable stream flowed from it for
several days, the width of which was five to ten versts. These waters ran down
the eastern side of the island in such volume that the sea in the vicinity was
of a mud color until late in the autumn.” ’ Some of the islands on the coast of
Alaska are unmistakably of volcanic origin, and it is the received opinion of
geologists that the greater portion of the Alaskan peninsula is being gradually
raised by Plutonic action. Nevertheless, though between 1700 and 1867 many
earthquakes and violent eruptions are reported, none of them have proved very
destructive, the last severe earthquake shock having occurred in 1880, and
being severely felt at Sitka, though causing no damage worthy of mention.
Of the Innuit races that people the neighborhood of
Bristol Bay and the Kuskovkim Valley, no mention is
required in this chapter. Sailing in a northeasterly direction from the Prybilof Islands we find, close to the southern shore of
Norton Sound, the old port and trading post of Mikhaielovsk,
or as it is now termed St Michael, founded, as will be remembered, by Tebenkof, during Wrangell’s administration. Here was the
chief mart of trade in the district of the Yukon, for no sea-going vessel can
enter the mouth of this vast river, the volume of whose waters is said to be
greater than that of the Mississippi. Of St Michael, Whymper remarks: “It is
not merely the best point for a vessel to touch at in order to land goods for
the interior, including that great tract of country watered by the Yukon, but
it has been and is, to a great extent, a central port for Indian trade, and for
the collection of furs from distant and interior posts. The inhabitants of the
fort—all servants of the company—were a very mixed crowd, including pure
Russians and Pinlanders, Yakutz from Eastern Siberia, Aleuts from the islands, and creoles from all parts. They
were not a very satisfactory body of men; in point of fact, it is said that
some of them had been criminals, who had been convicted at St Petersburg, and
offered the alternative of going to prison or into the service of the Russian
American Company! We found them—as did Zagoskin years
before—much given to laziness and drunkenness. Fortunately their opportunity
for this latter indulgence was limited, usually to one bout a year, on the
arrival of the Russian ship from Sitka with their supplies; while the ‘provalishik,’ Mr Stephanoff, the
commander of this fort, who had charge of the whole district, stood no nonsense
with them, and was ever ready to make them yield assistance. His arguments were
of a forcible character. I believe the knout formed no part of his
establishment, but he used his fists with great effect!”
Since the purchase little attention has been given to
the Yukon district, or to the territory of the Ingaliks.
At St Michael and an adjoining Innuit village, at Nulato, and at Fort Yukon,
the total population mustered, in 1879, only three hundred and eighty souls, of
whom all but eleven were natives. The site of Fort Yukon on the verge of the
Arctic zone, where the thermometer sometimes rises above 100° of Fahrenheit in
summer and sinks occasionally to 55° below zero in winter, was in 1867 one of
the cleanliest of the Russian settlements. At this, the northernmost point in
Alaska inhabited by white men, the Russians appear to have established friendly
relations with the natives. “Each male,” says Whyniper,
“on arrival at the fort, received a present of a small cake of tobacco and a
clay pipe; and those who were out of provisions drew a daily ration of moosemeat from the commander, which rather taxed the
resources of the establishment.” Game and fish were the principal diet of both
Russians and natives, for during the greater portion of the year, bread and
vegetables were seldom to be had, though it has frequently been stated that
vegetables can be raised in abundance during the brief hot summer of the Yukon
valley.
A vast amount of nonsense, as Whymper remarks, has
been published and republished in the United States on the agricultural
resources of Alaska. Dall, for instance, assures us that potatoes, turnips,
lettuce, and other garden vegetables were raised at Fort Yukon, but his
statement lacks confirmation.
Berries and the hardier class of vegetables are the
only produce of which the soil is capable, even in favored localities, and
though numberless and patient attempts were made to raise cereals, during and
after the Russian occupation, nearly all proved a failure. A scant crop of
barley may mature in a few localities in exceptional seasons, and both wheat
and barley will grow in many portions of the territory, but barley seldom
kernels, and wheat never. Potatoes, cabbages, turnips, lettuce, radishes, and
horse-radish are produced in many parts of the territory, but cabbages often
fail to head. On Kadiak, Afognak, and Prince of Wales islands, at Fort Wrangell
and Bristol Bay, potatoes of fair quality can be raised in favorable seasons,
but are often a partial or total failure, and when they mature are, in common
with other vegetables, for the most part watery.
A fair crop of hay is often secured at Kadiak and at
some other points, where cattle and sheep are raised. Live-stock were supplied
to some of the Aleuts free of charge early during the company’s regime, but
most of them perished from want of care. The Aleuts, being accustomed to a diet
of fish, did not relish milk or flesh, and regarded animals as a nuisance. The
cows were kept in corners used for storing salmon, and knocked down with their
horns the poles on which the fish were suspended, trampling them under foot;
while pigs undermined the natives’ huts by scratching out the earth in search
of refuse, and goats climbed on the roofs and tore away the thatch.
The cattle sent to Alaska during the Russian occupation
were of the hardiest Siberian stock, but even in 1883 the herds seldom mustered
more than twenty head; though beef-cattle are, often sent from San Francisco to
fatten at Kadiak or the Aleutian Islands, and are slaughtered in October.
Horses and mules are of course little valued in a territory where there are few
roads, and where, as in Venice, travel is almost entirely by water. Sheep
thrive well during the short, hot summer, especially on the nutritious grasses
of the Kadiak pastures, and at this season their mutton is of choice quality;
but in winter they are crowded together in dark, sheltered corners, whence they
crawl out, in early spring, weak and emaciated.
Among the resources of the territory, timber will
probably be an important factor in the future, though of course in the distant
future; for, so long as the immense forests of Oregon, Washington Territory,
and British Columbia arc available, those of Alaska can have little commercial
value. There are at present no exports of lumber, or none worthy of mention,
while several cargoes are shipped yearly to the Aleutian Islands from Puget
Sound, and even from San Francisco.
Forests clothe the valleys and mountain sides of the
Alexander Archipelago and the mainland adjacent, and are found at intervals
throughout the territory between Cross Sound and the Kenaï Peninsula. Thence
the timber belt extends westward and northward at a distance of fifty to more
than one hundred miles from the coast, as far as the valley of the Yukon. A
little beyond this point the timber line practically ceases, though clumps of
stunted trees are met with along the banks of rivers that discharge into
Kotzebue Sound and even into the Arctic.
Spruce is the most abundant timber in Alaska, and
attains its largest growth in the islands of the Alexander Archipelago. On
account of the slow growth of the trees, the boards, after being put through
the saw-mill, are found to be full of knots, and when subjected to heat, exude
gum or resin. Hence they are not in demand for cabinet or other work where
paint or varnish, is applied. The hemlock-spruce is plentiful, and its bark may
be in demand for tanneries, when, as is already threatened, the supplies of
California oak bark become exhausted. The white spruce abounds in the Yukon
district, and for spars has no superior, though for masts most of it is too
slender. Houses built of this material will last, when the logs are seasoned,
for more than twenty years, and when green for about fifteen years.
The most valuable timber is yellow cedar, which is
found on some of the islands in the Alexander Archipelago and in the
neighborhood of Sitka, and frequently attains a height of one hundred feet,
with a diameter of five or six feet. This wood is in demand by ship-builders
and cabinet-makers on account of its fine texture, durable quality, and
aromatic odor. The clumps of birch, poplar, maple, willow, and alder found in
some parts of the territory have little value, though the inner bark of the
willow is used for making twine for fishing-nets, and both willow and alder
bark are used for coloring deer-skins3
There were, in 1880, only three saw-mills in operation
throughout the territory—one at Sitka, one near the northern point of Prince of
Wales Island, and one at Wood Island. All of them were closed during a portion
of the year. The first two were established mainly to supply the limited demand
for lumber at Fort Wrangell and Sitka, and the last principally for the making
of sawdust for use in packing ice. In this and other branches of industry, as
in the manufacture of bricks, flour, leather, machinery, and especially in
ship-building, there is less activity in Alaska at the present day than there
was during the Russian occupation.
During the company’s second term ship-building was a
prominent industry. In 1821, the company’s fleet, apart from a few small craft,
consisted only of ten sea-going vessels, whose total measurement was 1,376
tons. Between that date and 1829, the Urup, a four-hundred-ton ship, and
several smaller craft were built. In 1834 Wrangell ordered the colonial
shipyards to be abandoned, with the exception of the one at Sitka, where all
the conveniences could be obtained, and good mechanics were employed. About the
year 1839 the brig Promissel, and between that
date and 1842 the steamer Nikolai I, of sixty horse-power, and the
steam-tug Muir, of eight horse-power, the first vessels of the kind ever
launched on colonial waters, were constructed at the port. The machinery for
the Nikolai I was imported from Boston, but everything needed for the
tug was manufactured at Novo Arkhangelsk, under the superintendence of the machinist
Muir, after whom the craft was named.
Although other sea-going craft were built in the
colonies between 1821 and 1842, while at least four were constructed for the
company elsewhere, and several purchased, there were at the latter date only
fifteen vessels belonging to Alaskan waters; many losses having occurred from
shipwreck, and some after a few voyages proving worthless except for
storeships. It was found that vessels could be purchased from foreigners, and
especially from Americans, to better advantage than they could be built in the
colonies, and it is probable that the managers would have saved money if no
attempt at ship-building had been made in Russian America, except perhaps for
intercolonial traffic. During the last term little was attempted in this
direction. In 1860 the company’s fleet consisted of only three steamers, four
sailing ships, two barks, two brigs, and one schooner, or twelve vessels in
all, of which but two were constructed in the colonies. The schooner was built
at Sitka in 1848, at a cost of more than three thousand roubles per ton; while one of the barks, purchased in the Sandwich Islands during the
same year, and built at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1845, cost only about eighteen
hundred roubles a ton, and the other sailing craft
were purchased at about the same rate.
Since the time of the purchase, only a few small
coasting vessels have been built, though attempts have been made to obtain from
congress grants of land and the right of cutting timber in certain localities,
ostensibly for ship-building purposes. To procure at a nominal price a few
thousand acres of the best timber-lands in Alaska, on condition of building a
vessel or two, would doubtless be a profitable speculation, but thus far no
sale or lease of timber-lands has been made. It is not improbable, however,
that at no very distant day ship-building may again rank among the foremost
industries in Alaska, for coal, iron, and suitable timber are found in several
portions of the territory, within easy access of navigable water.
Lignitic, bituminous, and anthracite coal, but especially lignite, are found in
many portions of Alaska, from Prince of Wales Island to the banks of the Yukon,
and even on the shore of the Arctic Ocean, the best veins being found in
southern and western Alaska and the adjacent islands.
Coal-mining in Alaska was first begun about the middle
of the present century near the mouth of Cook Inlet, or Kenai Bay, at a point
that still bears the name of Coal Harbor. Machinery was erected and run by
steam power; a force of laborers was obtained in Siberia; several experienced
miners were brought from Germany, and every available man in the Siberian line
battalion, then stationed at Sitka, was sent to aid in the work. The prospect
of furnishing the company’s steamers with coal obtained in the colonies, and of
selling the surplus at high prices in San Francisco and elsewhere, acted as a
powerful incentive. In 1857 shafts had been sunk and a drift run into the vein
for a distance of nearly 1,700 feet, nearly all of which was in coal. During
this and the three following years, over 2,700 tons were mined, the value of
which was estimated at nearly 46,000 roubles, but the
result was a net loss. The thickness of the vein was found to vary from nine to
twelve feet, carrying 70 per cent of mineral, and its extent was practically
unlimited; but the coal was found to be entirely unfit for the use of steamers,
and a shipment of 500 tons forwarded to San Francisco realized only twelve and
a half roubles per ton, or considerably less than
cost.
It was hoped that as greater depth was attained the
vein at Coal Harbor would improve in strength and quality, but there is no
sufficient evidence that, in this or other portions of Alaska, any considerable
quantity of marketable coal has yet been produced except for local consumption.
Nevertheless, there is little doubt that it exists, though whether in deposits
large enough to be of commercial value is a matter that has yet to be
determined. Most of the coal so far discovered in the territory belongs to the
tertiary system, and is deficient in thickness of seam. North of Coal Harbor,
deposits are found almost as far as Cape Ninilchik, but here as elsewhere they
seldom exceed seven feet of solid coal in thickness, and are more frequently
less than three feet. It is well known that a vein of the latter kind, when
situated at a distance from market, is almost worthless.
At Oonga and several other
points persistent attempts have been made to work the mines at a profit, but as
yet without success. The coal was not in demand except for local consumption.
When used by steamers, it was found to burn so rapidly as to eat into the iron
and endanger the boilers, so that many vessels sailing for Alaska bring with
them their own fuel, or are supplied from tenders laden in British Columbia.
It must be admitted, however, the mining prospect in
Alaska is far from discouraging. Petroleum of good quality has been found
floating on the surface of a lake near Katmai in the Alaska Peninsula. Long
before the purchase native copper was obtained from the Indians on the Atna or
Copper River, being found occasionally in masses weighing more than thirty
pounds. At Karta Bay, on Prince of Wales Island, there is a valuable copper
mine, which was sold a few years ago to a San Francisco company. Cinnabar is
known to exist in the islands of the Alexander Archipelago, but the exact
locality is as yet a secret. Lead has been found on Baranof, Wrangell, and
Kadiak islands, but not in large deposits. Native sulphur is very plentiful, and this metal is nearly always found in solution at the
mineral springs with which the territory abounds.
Among the lead and copper deposits is sometimes found
a small percentage of silver, but if there be any valuable silver mines in the
territory they are not yet discovered.
From Golovnin Sound it was
reported, in 1881, that silver ore, assaying a hundred and fifty dollars a ton,
and easily worked, had been discovered so near to tidewater, and in such
abundance, that vessels could be loaded with it as readily as with ballast. On
May 5th of that year a schooner was despatched to the
sound by way of St Michael, and on her return it was reported that the value of
the mine had been not a whit exaggerated, but that it was thirty miles from
tide-water. Of the ‘mountain of silver’ that was supposed to exist in this
neighborhood nothing further has yet been heard.
Gold-mining has been a little more successful. In
1880, a former state geologist of California remarked that “the gold of Alaska
was still in the ground, all save a few thousand ounces gathered here and there
from the more accessible veins and gravel-beds of the islands and the mountains
along the coast.” In 1883 there were in operation several quartz and placer
mines, which gave fair returns, and in south-eastern Alaska a trace of gold
could be obtained from the sands of almost every stream that discharges into
the Pacific.
Of the Stikeen River, or Cassiar,
mines brief mention will be made in the volume on British Columbia, to which
territory they belong.
Harrisburg was, in 1883, the mining centre of Alaska. On Douglas Island, separated from the
town by a channel two miles in width, are several promising quartz and surface
mines. Among the former, the Treadwell claim, owned by San Francisco
capitalists, was the only one thoroughly developed. Four tunnels had been run
into the ledge, and a large body of low-grade ore exposed. A five-stamp mill
was in operation, and several bullion shipments were made during the year.
Of the Takoo district, on the Takoo River, a few miles
from Harrisburg, great expectations were held, but as yet they have not been
realized.
On the 30th of January, 1877, the Alaska Gold and
Silver Mining Company was incorporated, the location being about fourteen miles
to the south-east of Sitka. In 1880 rock was extracted from the ledge on three
levels, averaging about $12 per ton, and at that date a considerable body of
ore had been exposed. “The ledge is well defined,” writes Walter, a practical
mining engineer, in 1878, “runs east and west, and is about 15 feet wide, with
a fissure vein from 3 to 4 feet in width. The rock is bluish gold-bearing
quartz, and lies in a slate formation.” A ten-stamp water-power mill was
erected, and the returns were for a time satisfactory, but the expense of
operating a quartz mine under such conditions as at present exist in the
territory forbids the working of veins that in more favored localities would be
fairly profitable. That valuable gold deposits exist is not disputed; but in a
mountainous and densely wooded territory such as is Alaska, and especially
southern Alaska, where the richest veins have been found, mines are neglected
which elsewhere on this coast would not lack capital for their development.