CHAPTER XVIII.
THE FOUNDING OF SITKA.
1798-1801.
The news of the final organization of the Russian
American Company, the granting of its privileges by the emperor, and of his own
appointment as chief manager, reached Baranof at a time when he was plunged in
despondency. Nearly every undertaking of the preceding seasons had failed. He
had lost numbers of men, both Russians and natives, during the long voyages to
distant hunting-grounds. A spirit of revolt was still alive, especially among
those who had transferred their allegiance from former oppressors. At every
point eastward of Kadiak where he had endeavored to open trade he had found
himself forestalled by English and American ships, which had raised the prices
of skins almost beyond his limited means. In his attempts to hunt with his
Aleuts, he had also been unfortunate, whole parties having been surprised and
slaughtered by the warlike Thlinkeets. One of his
sloops built at Voskressenski Bay foundered during her first voyage, while
others had been injured on the shoals lining the mouth of Copper River, and he
had just returned to Pavlovsk, in the damaged sloop Olga, intending to
repair the vessels as best he might, in order to carry out during the following
spring his cherished plan of locating a permeant settlement in the vicinity of
Norfolk Sound.
He landed, suffering the agonies of inflammatory
rheumatism and depressed in spirit, only to meet with upbraidings and complaints on the part of his subordinates, who were on short rations,
owing to the nonarrival of the supply-ship. Certain leaders of the malecontents openly refused obedience unless provisions
were first given them. Sick and dejected, he was unable to address them as he
was wont to do, and retired to his wretched little cabin and to bed, when a
little later the cry was heard, “A ship in the offing!” Once more inspired with
life and hope, the sick man rose from his couch and climbed the mountain
overlooking the settlement of St Paul. It was true; a large vessel, the
brigantine Elizaveta, commanded by Bocharof, was
standing in under full sail, and soon was lying at anchor in the roadstead,
with Baranof on board. She had sailed from Okhotsk the preceding autumn, and
had wintered on one of the westernmost Aleutian Isles, where the passengers and
crew had lived on what they could gather; so that the cargo remained intact,
and plenty reigned once more in the half-famished settlement. Fifty-two
laborers and mechanics were now added to Baranof’s force; and though the season
was far advanced, a small party was at once despatched to Prince William Sound to complete another sloop.
The winter of 1798-9 was passed by the colonists at
Kadiak in cheerful content, for they were busy in preparing for the great
movement to the eastward in the following spring, and the letters written by
Baranof at this juncture bear evidence of his confidence. Early in March the
new sloop Konstantin arrived at Kadiak from Prince William Sound, and was
supplied with sails and rigging from the stores brought by Bocharof.
On the 10th of April, Baranof set sail with the two vessels, manned by
twenty-two Russians and accompanied by a fleet of nearly two hundred canoes.
The course was along the coast of the Kenai peninsula to Prince William Sound,
where the expedition was joined by Baranof’s most trusted assistant, Kuskof, with one hundred and fifty additional canoes which
had wintered on Nuchek Island.
Misfortune attended Baranof’s enterprise from its
inception. On the 2d of May, while weathering Cape Suckling on the coast
opposite Kayak, thirty of the canoes, containing two men each, were swallowed
by the heavy seas into which even a moderate breeze raises these shallow
waters. In a letter to his friend Delarof, Baranof tells of his further
troubles: “While we were still mourning the loss of our hunters, night came on,
and as I saw further indications of storm, I ordered all the canoes to make for
the shore, accompanying them in person in my own bidarka. In the darkness we
underestimated the distance, and when at last we reached the sandy beach,
exhausted from continued paddling, we threw ourselves upon the sand
overshadowed by dense forests. No sooner had we closed our eyes, than the
dreaded war-cry of the Kolosh brought us again to our feet. The greatest
consternation prevailed among the naturally timid Aleuts, who were filled with
such dread of the well-known enemy as to think it useless to make any resistance.
Many of them rushed into the forest, into the very hands of their assailants,
instead of launching their canoes and putting to sea. I had only two Russians
with me, and we fired our guns into the darkness wherever the cries of the
Kolosh were loudest; but when our ammunition was expended, we did not know what
execution we had done. A few of the native hunters who had been presented with
fowling-pieces also made a feeble show of resistance; but what saved us from
total destruction was the intervening darkness, which prevented our assailants
from distinguishing friends from enemies. After an unequal contest, lasting
over an hour, the Kolosh retired to the woods, while I and my assistants
endeavored to rally our scattered men. By shouting to them in the Aleutian
tongue, we succeeded in gathering the survivors, still hidden in the woods and
among the driftwood lining the shore, and before morning departed from the
inhospitable beach, leaving thirteen canoes, the owners of which had been
killed or carried into captivity. The rising sun showed us the sloops in the
offing, and we lost no time in seeking their welcome protection.”
This attack by the natives, added to the loss at sea,
had so reduced the force, that Kuskof advised a
return to Prince William Sound; but Baranof was not to be thus thwarted. He
pressed forward, travelling along the coast, chiefly by night, and daring to
camp only on prominent points, where there was least danger of surprise. At
last, on the 25th, the expedition entered the sheltered basin of Norfolk, or
Sitka Sound. The towering heights were still covered with snow, almost to the
water’s edge, and the weather was stormy; rain, snow, and sleet alternating
with furious gusts of wind. The landing was accomplished at a point still known
as Old Sitka, about six miles north of the present town of that name. A large
crowd of natives had assembled to watch the movements of the new-comers. A
Sitkan chief, Katleut, or Katlean,
whom Kuskof had met during his hunting expedition of
the preceding summer, approached Baranof and demanded to know his intentions,
telling him at the same time that a Boston ship was anchored a short distance
to the southward, and that her captain had purchased many skins.
Baranof replied in a lengthy harangue, reciting the
long-stereotyped European falsehood, that the emperor of all the Russias, who was the lord of that country, had sent him to
establish a settlement for trade, and to assure his new subjects of his
fatherly care and protection. At the same time he asked for the grant of a
small piece of ground for the erection of buildings, and for which he offered
to pay in beads and other trading goods. The barter was concluded, and Katleut even asserted that he could force the other chiefs
into the agreement. A few hours afterward the sound of Russian axes was heard
in the virgin forest, the crash of falling timber was echoed from the sides of Verstovoi, and all was bustle and high determination. The
site bordered a shallow stream alive with salmon. One half of the company were
employed in building, while the remainder were sent to hunt sea-otter in the
vicinity. On the following day the chief manager received a visit from the
Boston ship, which proved to be the Caroline, in charge of Captain Cleveland,
who stated that he had only ten men before the mast, and that on account of the
fierce character of the natives he had found it necessary to take great
precautions. He had placed a screen of hides round the ship with the exception
of the stern, whence trade was carried on with the natives, who could not see
the deck, or know how few men he had. Two pieces of cannon were placed in
position, and on the taffrail was a pair of blunderbusses on swivels.
The savages who then inhabited the neighborhood of
Norfolk Sound were among the most treacherous and repulsive of all the Alaskan
tribes. “A more hideous set of beings in the form of men and women,” writes the
captain, “I had never before seen. The fantastic manner in which many of the
faces of the men were painted was probably intended to give them a ferocious
appearance; and some groups looked really as if they had escaped from the
dominions of Satan himself. One had a perpendicular line dividing the two sides
of' the face, one side of which was painted red, the other black; with the hair
daubed with grease and red ochre, and filled with the down of birds. Another
had the face divided with a horizontal line in the middle, and painted black
and white. The visage of a third was painted in checkers, etc. Most of them had
little mirrors; before the acquisition of which they must have been dependent
on each other for those correct touches of the pencil which are so much in
vogue, and which daily require more time than the toilet of a Parisian belle.”
From the ship Enterprise, which arrived at
Kadiak from New York on the 24th of April, 1800, the chief manager heard that
hostilities had broken out in Europe, that Spain had formed an alliance with
France, and that a Spanish frigate was to be sent to Russian America. The news
was received with no little anxiety. At this time all the storehouses at Three
Saints were full of choice furs, which Baranof now caused to be concealed in
the adjacent islands. “Truly,” he writes, “if the terrible emergency should arise,
and the enemy come upon us, they cannot take much more than our lives, and
these are in God’s hands. It would take more than mortal eyes to discover where
our precious skins are concealed.”
Several other American vessels, among them the brig Eliza,
under Captain Rowan, visited the bay during the summer, and absorbed the
trade, while the Russians were preparing to occupy the field in the future.
During the preceding winter the relations between the colonists and the natives
had been peaceable, but there was much suffering on account of insufficient
food and shelter. A fort was erected, and named after the archangel Michael, in
“the hope that the great champion of the Lord would protect the promyshleniki,
nevertheless, soon after the establishment of the settlement misfortune again
reduced Baranof’s force. On the 18th of July, he received news from an Aleutian
party which had camped for the night on the tortuous passage connecting Norfolk
Sound with Chatham Strait, that a number of the men had died from eating
poisonous mussels. The passage was thereafter named Pogibshie,
or Destruction Strait, which name has subsequently been changed by Americans to
Peril Strait.
While Baranof was thus engaged in establishing his new
colony, a block-house and stockade had been built by Polomoshnoi at Yakutat, or Bering Bay, for the reception of the Siberian convicts, or
agricultural settlers, as they were called. The site for this settlement had
been chosen by mistake. After his first visit to Prince William Sound, Baranof
had recommended the country bordering on Comptroller Bay as probably adapted to
agricultural pursuits. Cape Suckling, the western point of this bay, had been
erroneously called Cape St Elias, the name applied to the south point of Kayak
Island by Bering, and in his recommendation Baranof spoke of the country about
Cape St Elias. Subsequently the bay of Yakutat had been visited by Purtof and Kuskof; and as this affords the only good harbor on that
part of the coast, and is overshadowed by the peak of St Elias, the proposed
settlement had been located there in a desolate region of ice and rock,
entirely unfit for occupation by man. Polomoshnoi only obeyed orders in locating the block-house there, but as soon as the
buildings were completed, he returned to Kadiak to remonstrate ever, by
Baranof’s representative, and sailed for his destination on the brig Orel,
laden with provisions for the new settlement, in charge of Talin, a naval
officer in the service of the company, but one who, like all of his profession,
was little disposed to heed the chief manager’s instructions, and when his
vessel was lying in Norfolk Sound had threatened to hang Baranof from the
mast-head if he dared to show himself on board. While beating against head
winds, the ship was wrecked on the island of Sukluk (Montague), and Polomoshnoi, with five men,
perished.6
Yakutat Bay Settlement.
From other parts of the country news of disaster had
also reached Baranof. The year before his departure for Norfolk Sound he had
been informed that two of the company’s establishments, at Ilyamna and Kadiak,
had been surprised, and all the Russians stationed there, twenty-one in number,
massacred. The outbreak appears to have been caused, as usual, by the cruelty
of the settlers, for all the native servants were spared.
Notwithstanding occasional misfortunes, Baranof’s
management of the affairs of the company appears to have met with the approval
of most of the directors, though he himself was dissatisfied with his position.
In answer to a letter from Larionof, in 1799, he
remarks: “The lowest and most insignificant official in the service of the
company pretends to know more about the business of this section than its head,
and expresses his opinion on everything. They write about us, but nobody ever
thinks of asking, How do they live there, and what are they doing?” When
writing to his friend Delarof, he mentions that he had never failed to earn for
the shareholders a dividend, and that its amount for 1795 was 22,000 roubles. He also refers to his request to the managers of
the company to send from Russia some one to relieve him. As we shall see, this
request was repeated several times during a period of nearly twenty years
before a successor finally reached the colonies, though two were appointed
meanwhile, but were shipwrecked on the way. There can be no doubt that the
chief cause of his dissatisfaction was the unpleasant relations with the naval
officers and the intrigues of the missionaries, though his failing health and
the condition of his finances were additional reasons.
Believing the Sitka settlement to be now firmly
established and safe from hostile attacks, Baranof returned to Kadiak in the
autumn of 1800. But prior to his return he made an official visit to various
settlements, an account of which I give in his own words.
Writing to Larionof, the
agent at Unalaska, in July of this year, he says: “On Kenaï Bay at Ilyamna Lake
the rebellious tribes have killed three of our men since Lebedef’s people departed. Our establishments on the gulf of Kenai have been broken up
three times, and a conspiracy has been discovered to destroy all places
occupied by Russians, and to kill them as well as the natives of Kadiak in
their employ; and we have not been able as yet entirely to suppress the spirit
of rebellion. But the saddest news of all, and the most disastrous to us, is of
the wreck of the Feniks, and the loss of the whole cargo and all on
board. For two months portions of the wreck have been cast on the beach in
various localities, but the exact place of the disaster remains unknown.
“I set out in person in July, first for the gulf of
Kenaï, to subdue the rebellious tribes, and the remnant of the Lebedef Company,
who had killed over a hundred people between them, and had divided themselves
into several bands of robbers. Many of them threatened our men on the Kaknu
River, which station they had occupied after the breaking-up of the Lebedef
Company, but fortunately the leaders of the conspiracy dispersed upon my
arrival, and though the combination was not entirely dissolved, I succeeded in
obtaining several hostages for the safety of our agent in command, Vassili Malakhof, but in the more distant settlements there is
still a strong inclination to warfare and plunder. I remained there until the
15th of August, making necessary arrangements to insure the safety of the place
by strengthening its fortifications. I also selected a more convenient site for
the fort, made a plan in accordance with the local facilities, and left its
execution to the agent Malakhof; and after collecting
all the furs at the station, consisting chiefly of those of small land-animals,
I proceeded to Fort Alexandroffsk at the entrance of
the gulf. Here I furnished the agent Ostrogin with
further instructions, and sailed again on the 30th of August, shaping my course
for the redoubt at Voskressenski Bay. Thence I proceeded to Nuchek Island,
where I made a searching investigation of everything, and established the fort
St Konstantin upon a new site. I also had several interviews with the natives,
and placed my assistant Kuskof in command of that
region.”
“Concerning the new settlement at Sitka,” the manager
says, for I cannot do better than permit him to continue his story, “I thought
there would be no danger with proper protection from the larger vessels, though
the natives there possess large quantities of fire-arms and all kinds of
ammunition, receiving new supplies annually from the English and from the
republicans of Boston and America, whose object is not permanent settlement on
these shores, but who have been in the habit of making trading trips to these
regions. It is to be hoped that the fruits of the discoveries of Russian
navigators may not be enjoyed by European or other companies, depriving us of
our hard-earned advantages. I trust that God in his justice will allow us to
enjoy the fruits of our enterprise, and as, with his help, I, an ignorant
subject, have been able to add something to the vast dominion of his imperial
Majesty, we must hope that we shall find the means to preserve our new
possessions intact, and make them profitable.
“At the settlement of Yakutat I found nothing but
trouble and disorder in every department. This was partly owing to the old
difficulties between Polomoshnoi and your brother
Stepan, who was appointed assistant manager in 1796. During the first winter
thirteen of the twenty-five hunters and seven of the settlers died of scurvy,
besides women and children. Polomoshnoi had written a
whole ream of trash and nonsense which he forwarded to Kadiak, the whole report
containing only what one settler had said of another, what the settlers had
said of the hunters, and the threats made by the latter against his life. In
conclusion, he asked to be relieved. The wish was complied with, and Nikolai Moukhin, who was thought to possess considerable
administrative ability, was sent as his substitute. I had all the property
forwarded to Yakutat on behalf of the settlers transferred to him, though it
was almost impossible to obtain any clear statement with regard to it from the
confused mass of papers left by Polomoshnoi. His reports
spoke of many acts of cruelty and abuse committed by the hunters, and he had
even gone so far as to appoint a commission to investigate the charges; but as
the members of the commission were all ignorant settlers who were interested in
the case, they did nothing beyond getting up a voluminous pile of testimony
which amounts to nothing but empty words. Several times I was on the point of
solving all difficulties by disbanding the settlement; but better thoughts
prevailed, and remembering the importance of the success of this experiment to
the company and to the country at large, I did my best to restore order and
reconcile the parties involved.
“The tribes living in the vicinity of our Sitka
settlement at first met us in a very friendly manner, but of late they have
displayed some distrust, and when our men had formed a procession during holy
week in honor of the emperor, they thought we were preparing for a fight, and
seized our interpreter, who happened to be in the native village. The
procession was conducted with great solemnity and pomp, and after it had been
disbanded, our men went through some military evolutions, all of which had been
witnessed by the chiefs of the savages, who listened frowningly to our
discharges of musketry and artillery; but all this display did not induce them
to give up the interpreter, and some property which they had stolen; and I
found it necessary to assure them that we were not afraid of them. Therefore,
on the third day I proceeded to the principal village with twenty-two men,
landed fearlessly on the beach, and placed two small cannon in front of their
houses. Over three hundred armed men surrounded us, but we marched directly to
the house where the prisoner was reported to be. We fired a few blank volleys
to keep the crowd in awe, and seized a few men who seemed inclined to offer
resistance. Our determined attitude held the people in check, and when we had
accomplished our object and released the prisoner, they began to ridicule the
affair, bandying words with our men, and offering them food. I rejoiced in
having accomplished my end without bloodshed, and made up my mind not to allow
the slightest offence on their part to pass unnoticed in the future.”
The admixture of business and piety in this despatch is somewhat noteworthy. “With God’s help,” he
writes, “our men killed 40 sea-lions and 150 seals during the winter.” Speaking
of the hunter Mikhail, whom he had ordered to travel around Kadiak “for the
purpose of taking a census of that island, and to make presents to the leading
men among the Aleuts of tobacco and other trifles,” he remarks, “ I thought
this course of action best, in view of the misfortune which had happened last
year, as I wrote to you from Sitka; and with God’s help, he succeeded so well
in his mission that the necessary number of men were obtained in all districts,
from the first to the last, even to bird-hunting parties.”
Again, in a letter to Larionof,
dated March 22, 1801, the chief manager thus expresses his gratitude: “ The
All-creator of the world, in his infinite mercy, has overlooked and forgiven
our sins, and tempered the cruel blows of misfortune with success in sea-otter
hunting. In the three years which have elapsed since the arrival of the last
transport, we have collected over 4,000 skins of sea-otters—males, females, and
yearlings, besides cubs. The skins secured at Nuchek and Sitka will probably
amount to nearly 4,000, with the help of God. On the other hand, the trappers
have had but little success, on account of the unfavorable weather during the
winter; and, as you see from the statement, only 1,500 skins were obtained from
that source, while in former years from 2,000 to 2,500 was the average number.”
Baranof’s complaints of foreign encroachment appear to
have been well grounded. Within a few leagues of Sitka the captains of three
Boston ships secured 2,000 skins, though paying very high prices, each one
trying to outbid the other. For a single skin they gave cloth worth
twenty-eight roubles, or three coats of frieze lined
with cotton. In the same neighborhood two skins were formerly bartered for
cloth valued at ten and a half roubles. “The
Americans,” writes the chief manager, “ who have been acquainted with these
tribes for two or three years, and have sent from six to eight ships each year,
speak of the trade as follows: ‘The American republic is greatly in need of
Chinese goods, the Chinese teas, the various silk materials and other products
of that country, which had formerly to be purchased for coin, the Spanish
silver dollar exclusively, but since these shores have been discovered, with
their abundance of furs, they were no longer obliged to take coin with them,
but loaded their vessels with full cargoes of European goods and products of
their own country, which are easier obtained than coin.’ ” After touching on
the political complications that marked the close of the eighteenth century,
Baranof continues: “The resources of this region are such that millions may be
made there for our country with proper management in the future, but for over
ten years from six to ten English and American vessels have called here every
year. It is safe to calculate an average of 2,000 skins on eight, or say six vessels,
which would make 12,000 a year, and if we even take 10,000 as a minimum, it
would amount in ten years to 100,000 skins, which at the price at Canton of 45 roubles per skin would amount to 4,500,000 roubles.”
For the next year and a half, little worthy of record
occurred in connection with the affairs of the Russian American Company. A
number of agriculturists and mechanics, placed at the disposal of the company
by Count Zubof, arrived at Kadiak, together with a reenforcement of missionaries. The chief manager has little
to report, save that he has succeeded in bringing into friendly relations with
the Russians a number of tribes, among whom, as he supposed, were the Kolosh.
The question of boundaries between the Russian and British American possessions
had been mooted, however, almost from the time that Spain ceded Nootka to the
English, and Baranof feared that his people might be driven from their
settlements, although their right of discovery and occupation north of the 55th
parallel left little room for dispute. He begs the governor of Irkutsk to
intercede with the emperor, more especially in relation to the establishment of
an agricultural settlement, for it was useless to select a site until some
definite action was taken, and the colony at Cape St Elias was of no benefit.
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