Clarence Leroy Andrews

“ It is a link to connect the Sitka of the past, the Novo Arkangelsk of the great Russian American Company in the romantic days of the fur trade when it was the center of the vast domain of Russian America and gathered to its magazines the pelts of sea-otter and fox, with the Sitka of today with its fisheries and mines. The old landmarks are fast disappearing, scarce a year passes without some monument passing away, and even their location will soon be forgotten unless some record is made for those who do not know where they stood. ”

“ Later, when they were settled under the walls of the fort they became more tractable, for their homes and families were commanded by the guns of the fortress, but on the least provocation the savagery in their blood would boil, from their great tribal houses they issued forth, faces blackened to the semblance of devils, war masks grinning, and the howling mob shouted defiance at their neighbor over the stockade. ”

“ Hunters and fishermen by nature and training, they are skillful boatmen, and in those days they built wonderfully beautiful canoes of the red cedar, some of them large enough to carry sixty men at the paddles. Each spring more than a thousand men gathered together in Sitka Bay, coming from the different villages, to fish for herring at the spawning time, when those fish run in countless myriads in those waters. ”

“ The American soldiers were quartered in the barracks of the Siberian Battalion, and the sentries of the United States walked the beats of the Russian guards. Sitka gradually adjusted itself to the new conditions, to the crowds of adventurers who thronged its streets seeking a profit in speculations in lands and furs. They were doomed to disappointment, for the titles to lands were withheld and the fur trade was overdone, so most of the newly arrived drifted away as they came. Distinguished visitors came and were entertained in the old castle where the Commandant dispensed hospitality. ”

“ Of all the missionaries who came to Russian America, the greatest was Ivan Veniaminof. Father John he is often called in the old records, a wonderful man, broad of mind and of body, combining the qualities that inspire awe and reverence with a gentleness of word and deed that made him beloved wherever he was known. His zapiski, or letters, are among the best authorities extant which remain from those years on Alaskan matters, and they were written home to Russia during his stay in the Aleutian Islands and at Sitka. ”

“ The commander, Captain Alexei Chirikof, had sailed three thousand miles across the unknown Pacific from the shores of the Okhotsk Sea. Civilized eyes had never before rested on these shores and he was keen with the excitement of adventure and discovery as he dropped anchor. He sent a party ashore in the ship’s longboat to explore, and awaited the result. Days passed and no word or signal came, so the remaining boat was sent to recall the party and it was swallowed up in the labyrinth among the green islands. ”

“ Most of the Sitkan Kolosh kept aloof from the Russian settlement after the establishment of the new fort on Chatham Strait, near the entrance of Peril Strait. All the kwans, the Khootznoos, the Hoonahs, the Chilkats, the Auks, Stikines, Kakes and others, joined with the Sitkas in the hatred of the Russians. Parties going out from the fort at Sitka for hunting expeditions, for cutting of wood, for traveling to the Hot Springs, had to be on their guard and with arms at hand prepared to fight at a moment’s notice. [9] Small groups were often cut off and murdered. ”

“ From prehistoric time this has been the home of the Sitka Kwan of the Thlingit people. For sixty-three years it was the scene of the chief activities of the Russian American Company, who represented the rule of the Muscovites, who, when Chicago was but a blockhouse in a sedgy swamp on the banks of a sluggish, reedy river, and when San Francisco was but a mission and a Presidio of sun-burned bricks, maintained in Sitka a community of busy people who were casting cannon and bells, and who were building ships for commerce. ”

“ On striking the shore it was so heavily laden with the bodies of the dead that tradition says the canoe split from end to end. It is said that the bones of the dead are still to be seen in the undergrowth along the shore. In retaliation, about 1855, the Wrangell Kolosh made an attack on the Hot Springs settlement, burned the buildings, stripped the inhabitants of property and clothing and left them to make their way over the mountains around the head of Silver Bay to Sitka, where they arrived more dead than alive from hunger and exhaustion. ”

“ Day and night the sentinels paced the beats on the stockade and along the waterfront, till, weary of waiting, the Kolosh finally dispersed to their homes.
In the great tribal houses several families lived, sometimes as many as fifty or sixty persons. Over the door of the house was painted the family totem, for the Sitkas did not raise the house totem in a pole in front as did many of the kwans of the Thlingits, and as the Hydahs do. In these houses were held the potlatches, or gift parties, which were made by the wealthy chiefs. ”

“ SETTLEMENT
The sea-otter, a marine animal about four feet in length when fully grown, with soft, long black pelage of silky texture, is one of the most valued of the fur-bearers. It was found abundantly all the way along the Northwest Coast, and especially in the passages about Sitka. It is now nearly extinct.
The Russians had been gathering the skins of the sea-otter in the northern waters for years, ever since Chirikof made his voyage to Sitka, and they were truly an El Dorado, in fur, to the traders who plied their trade along the coasts. ”

“ All the people of the same totem are supposed to be blood relations, so all those of the wolf totem go to the Gooch-heat, or the dwelling blazoned by the rude heraldry with the wolf rampant. In the great social potlatches a wealthy chief invites his friends from many villages and entertains them for a week or more with dancing and feasting and makes presents varied and valuable, from Hudson’s Bay blankets to bolts of calico or of flannel, and in primitive days, copper tows, [11] Chilkat blankets, and even slaves were handed over with a lavish hospitality. ”

“ There are many traditions among the residents of Sitka concerning the wreck of the “Neva.” Among them is that there was a vast treasure of gold for the use of the garrison and the traders. This is erroneous, for there was no gold used in the colonies, the trade being by barter or conducted with scrip, called assignats, issued by the Company for the purpose. The story of the gold has been so generally believed that serious plans have been made for attempting the salvage of the treasure. ”

“ The present structure is the headquarters of the Alaska division of the Agricultural Department. Opposite the stairway to the hill is the way leading to the “Ranche;” the open square was the former parade ground of the Army, and later of the U. S. Marines from the Man-of-War which was stationed here. East of the old barracks building is the former counting house of the Company, now occupied as 95 the U. S. Postoffice, and during the time when Sitka was the Capital of the Territory it was used by the United States for a Customs office, and by the Governor as an office. ”

“ The account of his stay at the Hot Springs is enlivened by a story of how a rosy cheeked Russian damsel, each time she passed his chair, made a profound obeisance, which he attributed to his personal attraction until he discovered her doing the same when the chair was empty, and then saw that a saintly ikon occupied a place on the wall directly over it, which dispelled the illusion. Thirteen ships were in the harbor, and he remarks that the bustle was sufficient to have done credit to a third rate port in the civilized world. ”

“ His English vocabulary was very limited and he was accustomed for many years to fly the Russian flag over his canoe when he went out to a neighboring village for a potlatch.
Some of the silversmiths were skilled workmen. Sitka Jack, and Kooska, and Hydah Jake, all fashioned bracelets, spoons, and other articles, carved with totemic designs of delicate beauty and line of proportion, made from silver coins which they melted down.
Some of the shamans of the olden time acquired great influence and made life miserable for their fellow-citizens by the practice of witchcraft. ”

“ The Russian loss in killed and wounded was 20 men, while the Kolosh loss was estimated at 60. This was the last attempt of the natives to destroy the Russian stronghold.
At times during the later days of the colony the Kolosh were employed as seamen and as workers in the ice trade by the Russians and thus they occupied a place in the industrial life. Etolin was the most successful in conciliating them of any of the chief managers, and he at one time held a fur fair at Sitka to which peltry was brought from far and near, modeled somewhat upon the idea of the great fur mart of Nizhni Novgorod. ”

“ Properly speaking the name belongs to the natives of the Aleutian Islands, but the term was also applied to the natives of Kodiak Island and the surrounding islets. These speak a different language from the true Aleuts, but otherwise resemble them closely. During the hunting season they scoured the seas in their skin bidarkas, in the pursuit of fur animals. In winter many of them remained at Sitka instead of returning to their homes. Their time was spent in idleness, spending the summer’s earnings in the pleasures and vices of the white man. ”

“ For more than seventy years the Russian Government sought for some sign of their fate. [1] Tales were told of a colony of Russians existing on the coast but each upon investigation proved but a rumor.
There is a dim tradition among the Sitkas of men being lured ashore in the long ago. They say that Chief Annahootz, the predecessor of the chief of that name who was the firm friend of the whites at Sitka in 1878, was the leading actor in the tragedy. Annahootz dressed himself in the skin of a bear and played along the beach. ”

“ During the earlier years of the colony the Kolosh were implacable enemies. War parties of young men constantly haunted the islands of the bay, lying in wait for any unwary hunter or fisherman from the fort. ”

“ The French ship “Solide,” in 1791, sailed from France to gather a portion of the harvest. Her captain, Étienne Marchand, anchored in Sitka Bay, and called it Tchinkitinay, as he declares it was known to the natives. To his ship flocked the painted and skin-clad natives with their peltries for barter. On their persons he saw articles of European manufacture, showing that other ships had visited there, and in the ears of one young savage were hanging pendant two copper coins of the colony of Massachusetts. ”

“ Some of the best pupils, both Russian and Creole, were sent to St. Petersburg for more advanced instruction. Chief Manager Etolin was the especial patron of education, and made many improvements in the system. Under the auspices of Madame Etolin, who was a native of Helsingfors and 59 was educated in the schools of that city, a school was opened and maintained by the Company for the girls of the colony. After the transfer to the United States of the Territory the teachers returned to Russia and the schools were closed. ”

“ The breadstuffs for the colonies were procured from California, from San Francisco and from Ross Colony, or from Peru, until 1840, when a contract was made with the Hudson’s Bay Company under which the supplies were brought from the farms of the Nisqually or from Vancouver, in Oregon Territory.
Until the time of the arrival of the “Neva”, 1804, all trading goods were brought across Siberia to Okhotsk, and thence by sailing vessel to the colony, or were purchased from the American or English trading ships which came to the coast for furs. ”

“ Continuing east along Lincoln Street a short distance beyond the Cathedral a vacant space on the right marks the spot formerly occupied by the clubhouse, built by Etolin for a home for the clerks, navigators, and other employes of the Company–opposite it was situated the foundry and machine shops, while a little farther to the east stood the sawmills, at the mouth of the outlet to Swan Lake. Along this stream was the eastern boundary of the stockade of the Russian fort, with a blockhouse near the point of the lower end of the lake. ”

“ The picturesque, dark-skinned Thlingit women sit at the doors of their little tents hour after hour, offering the strangely carved totems, the beautiful baskets of spruce roots woven in mystic designs, the beaded moccasins, etc., products of their industry during the long winter when the tourist boats do not call at the Sitka 94 wharves. ”

“ Skayeutlelt, the false friend of Baranof, directed the battle from a nearby knoll and his nephew, Katlean, was one of the principal actors in the bloody tragedy. A few survivors who were hunting in their bidarkas or were in the forest, escaped to the ships of the English and American traders which were in the bay.
Captain Ebbetts on an American ship and Captain Barber of the British ship “Myrtle” were in the harbor. Some of the survivors on reaching these ships asked them to rescue their countrymen. ”

“ The hunters, sailors, and Aleuts flung themselves against the fortifications, but meeting a murderous fire were driven back in disorder and only saved from disaster by the protection of the fire of the ships. Ten men were killed and 26 wounded, and among the wounded was Baranof.
Captain Lisianski then took command and moved his ships nearer the shore. A canoe with reinforcements and a supply of powder for the Indians approached among the islands but a shot from the “Neva” struck it, the powder exploded, and the Indians who were saved from the wreck were taken on board the Russian ship. ”

“ So skillfully did he simulate the sinuous motions of the animal that the Russians in the excitement of the chase plunged into the woods in pursuit and there the savage warriors killed them to a man, leaving none to tell the story. ”

“ The Russian Captain Lutke came to Sitka about this time and he tells us that there were many pigs and chickens raised by the inhabitants, and that a pig might be had for 5 to 7 rubles, a hen for 4 to 5 rubles, and eggs at from 3-1/2 to 10 rubles per dozen. The chief drawback to the chicken industry was the presence of the great black ravens that carried away the young chicks and sometimes even the old hens. ”