Alaska doesn’t greet you—it tests you. Off the wild coast of Yaktag, where the sea crashes like judgment, our ship couldn’t get closer than miles from land. Horses, trapped below deck for 12 days, were lowered into the open ocean in crates. We watched through binoculars as they broke free, panicked—then turned, swam, survived. When they hit the sand, they ran. Not just to run—but to be free. It was raw, wordless joy. Even the hard-eyed pilot beside me wiped his eyes. 170 miles later came Kayak—reached not by dock, but by rope ladder into a rolling dory. You kick each rung to steady yourself. You wait, dangling alone. Then the cry: “Now! Jump!” If luck—and a sailor—catches you, cheers erupt. If not... well, don’t ask. At Kayak, white-painted grave houses offer food, beads, unfinished baskets to the dead. A place of respect—and a land of oil. The drills of the Lippy Company sank deep. The “English” company spent millions. Nearby, Katalla bloomed overnight: shacks to saloons, tents to telephones. It’s how Alaska works: landings are wild, towns are sudden, life is lived between storms and strikes of fortune.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twenty one. There is an open roadstead at yak
Tag or Yakataga. The ship anchors several miles from shore.
When the fierce storms which prevail in this vicinity, will
permitted to anchor at all, and passengers and freight are
lightered ashore. I have seen horses hoisted from the deck
in their wooden cages and dropped into the sea, where
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they were liberated. After their first frightened, furious plunges, they
headed for the shore and started out bravely on their
long swim. The surf was running high, and for a
time it seemed that they could not escape being dashed
upon the rocks. But with unerring instinct, they struggled away
from one rocky place after another, until they reached a
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strip of smooth sand, up which they were borne by
the breaking sea, and where they fell for a few moments, exhausted.
Then they arose, staggered, threw up their heads, and ran
as I have never seen the horses run with such wildness,
such gladness, such utterance of the joy of freedom. In
the fling of their legs and the streaming of mane
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and tail. They had been penned in a narrow stall
under the forward deck for twelve days. They had been
battered by the storms and unable to lie down and rest.
They had been plunged from this condition unexpectedly into the ocean,
and compelled to strike out on a long swim for
their lives. The sudden knowledge of freedom, the smell of
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sun and air, the very sweet of life itself, all
combined to make them almost frantic in the animal expression
of their joy. We put down the powerful glasses with
which we had painfully watched every yard of their progress
toward the land. I looked at the pilot. There was
a moisture in his eyes which was not entirely a
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reflection of that in my own. It is one hundred
and seventy miles from Yactat to Kayak. Off this stretch
of coasts between Lituya and Cape Suckling. The soundings are
moderate and by whalers have long been known as farewith
the grounds just before reaching Kayak, Cape Suckling is past.
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The point of this cape is low. It runs up
into a considerable hill, which, in turn, sinking to very
low land, has the appearance of an island. It was
named by Cook. Around this cape lies Comptroller Bay the
bay which should have been named Baring's Bay. It was
on the two islands at its entrance that Bearing landed
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in seventeen forty one. He named one Saint Elias, and
to this island, Cook in seventeen seventy eight gave the
name of ky for the excellent reason that the Reverend
Doctor k gave him two silver twopenny pieces of the
date of seventeen seventy two, which he buried in a
bottle on the island to the other, with the names
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of his ships and the date of discovery. Unhappily, this
immortal island retains the name which could lightly bestowed upon it,
instead of the name given it by the illustrious Stain.
It is, now, however, more frequently known as Wingham Island.
The settlement of Kayak is upon it. The southern extremity
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of the larger island retains the name Saint Elias. For
the splendid headland that plunges boldly and challengingly out into
the sea. It is a magnificent sight in a storm,
when seabirds are shrieking over it, and a powerful surf
is breaking upon its base. At all times it is
a striking landmark. I have been to kayak four times.
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Landings have always been made by passengers and dories, or
in tiny launches which come out from the settlement and
which bob up and down like corks. It requires a
cool head to descend a rope ladder twenty or thirty
feet from the deck to a dory that rolls away
from the ship with every wave, and which may only
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be entered as it rolls back. There is art in
the little kick which one must give each rung against
the side of the ship to steady the ladder. At
the last comes in awful moment when a woman must
hang alone on the last swaying rum end await the
return of the dory. If the sea is rough, the
ship will probably roll away from the boat. When the
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sailors therefore sing out, now jump, she must close her eyes,
put her trust in heaven and forordination, and jump if
she chances to jump just at the right moment. If
one sailor catches her just right and another catches him
just right, she will know by the cheer that arises
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from hurricane and textus that all is well, and she
may open her eyes under other conditions other situation, Yes,
but let no woman be deterred by the possibility of
the latter from descending a rope ladder when she has
an opportunity. Thus, hair crinkling moments in an ordinary life
are few enough. Heaven knows. There are several business houses
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and dwellings at Kayak and an Indian village. The Indian
graveyard is very interesting. Tiny houses are built over the
graves and surrounded by picket fences. Both are painted white.
Through the windows may be seen some of the belongings
of the dead. In dishes are different kinds of food
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and drink that the deceased may not suffer of hunger
or thirst. In the bourne to which he may have journeyed,
there are implements and weapons for the men, unfinished baskets
for the women, with the long strands of warp and
wolf left ready for the idle hand for the children,
beads and rattles made of bare claws and shells. The
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houses are on posts a few feet above the graves.
For a number of years, Kayak was the base of
operation for oil companies. In eighteen ninety eight, the Alaska
Development Company stake the country, but later leased there lands
to the Alaska Oil and Coal Company, commonly known as
the English Company, for a long term of years with
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the privilege of taking up the lease in nineteen o six,
this company spent millions of dollars and drilled several wells.
The Alaska Petroleum and Coal Company, known as the Lippy Company,
put down two holes, one seventeen hundred feet deep. The
cost of drilling is about five thousand dollars a whole
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of two thousand feet. The rig laid down six thousand,
five hundred dollars. These wells are situated at Katala, sixteen
miles from Kayak, at the mouth of the Copper River.
The oil lands extend from the coast to the Malaspina
and Bearing glaciers. Since the recent upspringing of a new
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town at Katala, the center of trade has been transferred
from Kayak to this point. Katala was founded in nineteen
o four by the Alaska Petroleum and Coal Company, but
not until the actual commencement of work on the Bruner
Railway Company's road in nineteen o seven from Katala into
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the heart of the coal and oil fields did the
place rise to the importance of a northern town. It
has attained a wide fame within a few months on
account of the remarkable discoveries of high grade petroleum and
coal in the vicinity. For many years these two products
of Alaska were considered of inferior quality, but it has
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recently been discovered that they rivaled the finest of Pennsylvania.
The town has grown as only a new Alaskan or
Puget Sound town can grow. At night, perhaps there will
be a dozen shacks and as many tents on a
town site. The next morning, a steamer will anchor in
the bay, bearing government offices, stores, hotels, saloons, dance halls, banks,
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offices for several large companies, electric light plants, gas works, telephones,
and before another day dawns business is in full swing.
For fifteen miles along the Controller Bay water front, oil
wells may be seen some of the largest oil seepages
existing close to the shore. The coal and oil lands
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of this vicinity, however, are about one hundred miles in
length and from twenty to thirty in width. During the
fall and early winter of nineteen o seven, Catala suffered
a serious menace to its prosperity owing to its total
lack of a harbor. The bay is but a mere indentation,
and an open roadstead sends its surf to curl upon
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the unprotect to beach. The storms in winter are ceaseless
and terrific. Steamers cannot land, and anchors will not hold
as known. Similarly, Situated is cut off from the world
for several months by ice. So is Catala, cut off
by storms. Steamer after steamer sails into the Roadstead rolls
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and tosses in the trough of the sea. Lingers regretfully
and sails away without landing even a passenger or mail.
In October nineteen o seven, one whole banking outfit, including
everything necessary for the opening of a bank, save the
cashier who was already there and the building which was waiting,
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was taken up on a steamer. Not being able to
lighter it ashore, the steamer carried the bank to cook Inlet.
Upon its return, conditions again made it impossible to enter
the bay, and the bank was carried back to Seattle.
When the steamer again went north, the bank went too.
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When the steamer returned, the bank returned. In the meantime,
other events were shaping themselves in such wise as to
render the situation extremely interesting. A few miles northwest of Katala,
The town of Kordovo was established three years ago, with
the terminus of the Copper River Railway located there. Mister m. J. Henny,
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who had built the White Pass and Yukon Railway, received
the contract for the work. The building of wharves in
the excellent harbor and the laying out of a town
site capable of accommodating twenty thousand people and one that
might have pleased even the fastidious Schlikov, was energetically begun.
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Early in nineteen o seven, the Copper River Railway sold
its interests to the Northwestern and Copper River Valley Railway,
promoted by John Rossing and financed by the Guggenheims. It
was semi officially announced that the new company would tear
up the court of Attracts and that Katalla would be
the terminus of the consolidated line. The announcement precipitated the
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boom at Katala. Mister Henny retired from the new company
and spent the summer voyaging down the Yukon. Immediately upon
his return to Seattle in September, he journeyed to New York.
In a few days, newspapers devoted columns to the sale
of the Rossian interests in the railway, also a large
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fleet of first class steamers and wharves to the Copper
River and Northwestern Railway Company. The contract for the immediate
building of the road had been secured by mister Henny,
who had returned to his original surveys. The terminus at
once traveled back to Cordova, and the itinerant bank may
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yet thank its guiding star, which prevented it from getting
itself landed at Katala. Important strikes are made constantly in
the Tananaw country, in the Sushitna, and in the Kayakuk,
where pay is found surpassing the best of the Klondike.
The trail from Valdez to Fairbanks may yet be as
thickly strewn with eager eyde stampeders as were the day
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and Skagway trails a decade ago. Never again, however, in
any part of Alaska, can the awful conditions of that
time prevail. Steamer, rail and stage transportation have made traveling
in the North luxurious compared to the horrors endured in
the old days. The Guggenheims have been compelled to carry
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on a fantastic fight for rightoff way for the Copper
River and Northwestern Railroad. In the summer of nineteen o seven,
they attempted to lay track at Katala over the disputed
Bruner right of way. The Bruner company had constructed an
immense go devil of railway rails, which, operated by powerful machinery,
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could be swung back and forth over the disputed point.
It was operated by armed men behind fortifications. The Brunner
concern was known as the Alaska Pacific Transportation and Terminal Company,
financed by Pittsburgh Capital, and proposed building a road to
the coal regions, thence to the Copper River. They sought
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right of way by condemnation proceedings. The town site of
Katala is owned by the Alaska Petroleum and Coal Company,
which had deeded a right of way to the Guggenheims,
also a large tract of land for smelter purposes. At
one point it was necessary for the latter to cross
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the right of way of the Brunner road. The trouble
began in May when the Bruner workmen dynamited a pile
driver and trestle belonging to the Guggenheims, who had then
approached within one hundred feet of the uner right of way.
On July third, a party of Guggenheim laborers, under the
protection of a fire from detachments of armed men, succeeded
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in laying track over the disputed right of way. Tony
de Pascal daringly led the construction party and received the
reward of a thousand dollars offered by the Guggenheims to
the man who would successfully lead the attacking forces. Soon afterward,
he was shot dead by one of his own men,
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who mistook him for a member of the opposing force.
Ten other men were seriously injured by bullets from the
Brunner block houses. In the autumn of the same year,
a party of men surveying for the Reynolds Home Railway
from Valdez to the Yukon met armed resistance in Keystone
Canyon from a force of men holding right of way
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for the Guggenheims. A battle occurred in which one man
was killed and three seriously wounded. The wildest excitement prove
in fiery Valdez, and probably only the proximity of a
United States military posts prevented the lynching of the men
who did the killing. Ever since, the advent of the Russians.
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Copper River has been considered one of the Bonanzas of Alaska.
It was discovered in seventeen eighty three by Negev, a
member of Potap Zaykov's party. He ascended it for a
short distance and traded with the natives, who called the
river Atna Rufus. Sarah Brennikoff and his men attempted an exploration,
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but were killed. General Miles under Abercrombie attempted to ascend
the river in eighteen eighty four with the intention of
coming out by the Chilcot country, but the expedition was
a failure. In the following year, Lieutenant H. T Alan
successfully ascended the river, crossed the divide to the Tannina,
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sailed that streamed to the Yukon, explored the Kaycuk, and
then proceeded down the Yukon to Saint Michael, and returned
to San Francisco by ocean. His description of Myles Glacier
was the first to be printed. This glacier fronts for
a distance of six miles and splendid palisades on Copper River.
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This and Child's Glacier afford the chief obstacles to navigation
on this river, and mister A. H. Brooks reports their
rapid recession. Copyright by E. A. Hegg Juno, courtesy of
Webster and Stephen's Seattle Lake Bennett in eighteen ninety eight.
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Copyright by E. A. Hegg Juno, courtesy of Webster and
Stephen's Seattle Lake Bennett in eighteen ninety eight. The river
is regarded as exceedingly dangerous for steamers, but may with caution,
be navigated with small boats. Between the mouth of the
Chettina and the head of the broad delta of the
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Copper River is the only canyon. It is the famous
Wood Canyon, several miles in length and in many places
of only forty yards wide, with the water roaring through
perpendicular stone walls. The Tikal Tassanina and other streams tributary
to this part of the Copper also flow through narrow
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valleys with precipitous slopes. The Copper River has its source
in the mountains east of its Great Plateau, whose eastern
margin it traverses, and then, passing through the Chugach Mountains,
debouches across a wide delta into the North Pacific Ocean
between Catala and Cordova. It rises close to Mount Wrangel,
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flows northward for forty miles south and southwest for fifty
more when the Chettina joins it from the east and
swells its flood for the remaining one hundred and fifty
miles to the coast. The Copper is a silt laden,
turbulent stream. From its source to the sea, its average
fall is about twelve feet to the mile From the
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Chattina to its mouth. It is steep sided and rock
bound for its entire length. It is weird and impressive.
By land, the distance from Catala to Cordova is insignificant.
It is a distance, however, that cannot as yet be
traversed on account of the delta and other impassable topographic
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features which only a railroad can overcome. The distance by
water is about one hundred and fifty miles. In the
entrance to Cordiva Bay is Hawkins Island, and to the
southwest of this island lies Hinchingbroke Island, whose southern extremity
at the entrance to Prince William Sound was named Cape
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Hinchingbroke by Cook in seventeen seventy eight. At a point
named Snug corner Bay. Cook keeled and mended his ships.
This peerless sound itself brilliantly blue, greenly island, and set
round with snow peaks and glaciers, including among the latter
the most beautiful one of Alaska, if not the most
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beautiful of the world. The Columbia was known as chew
Gash Gulf, a name to which I hope it may
some day return, until Cook renamed it. A boat sent
out by Cook was pursued by natives and canoes. They
seemed afraid to approach the ship, but at a distance,
saying stood up in the canoes, extending their arms and
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holding out white garments of peace. One man stood up
entirely nude, with his arms stretched out like a cross,
motionless for a quarter of him hour. The following night
a few natives came out in the skin boats of
the Eskimos. These boats are still used from this point
westward and northward to nomen up the Yukon. As far
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as the Eskimos have settlements. They are three kinds. One
is a large, open, flat bottomed boat. It is made
of a wooden frame covered with walrus skin or sealskin,
held in place by thongs of the former. This is
called a numiak by the Inuits or eskimos, and a
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bidara by the Russians. It is used by women or
by large parties of men. A boat for one man
is made in the same fashion, but covered completely over,
with the exception of one hole in which the occupant
sits and around which is an upright rim. When at sea,
he wears a walruscut coat, completely waterproof, which he ties
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around the outside of the rim. The coat is securely
tied around the wrists, and the hood is drawn tightly
around the face, so that no water can possibly enter
the boat. In the most severe storm. This boat is
called the baidarka. The third, called a kayak, differs from
the baidarka only in being longer end having two or
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three holes. The wallascut coats are called kamalinkas or kamalaikas.
They may be purchased in curio stores and Atzeldovia and
other places on cook Inlet. They are now gaily decorated
with bits of colored wool, and range in price from
ten to twenty dollars according to the amount of work
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upon them. There is a difference of opinion regarding the
names of the boats. Doll claims that the one wholeed
boat was called a kayak by the natives and by
the Russians, a by Dharka, and that the others were
simply known as two or three hold by Darkas. The
other opinion which I have given is that of people
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living in the vicinity at present. Each of the men
who came out in the Bidarkas to visit Cook had
a stick about three feet long, the end of which
was decorated with large tufts of feathers. Bearing's men were
received in precisely the same manor at the Schumigen Islands
far to westward in seventeen forty one, their sticks, according
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to Miller, being decorated with hawk's wings. These natives were
found to be thievish and treacherous, attempting to capture a
boat under the ship's very guns and in the face
of a hundred men. Cook then sailed southward and discovered
the largest island in the sound, the Souklock of the Natives,
which he named Montague nut Check, or port Etches as
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it was named by port Lock, is just inside the
entrance to the sound on the western shore of the
island that is now known as Hinchingbroke, but which was
formerly called Nutchek. Here Barenoff several years later built the
ships that bore his first expedition to Sitka. The Russian
trading post was called the Redoubt Constantine and Elena. It
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was a strong stockade fort with two bastions. There is
a salmon cannery at Nutschek, and the furs of the
Copper River country were brought here for many years for Barter.
Orca is situated about three miles north of Kordova in
Courtiva Bay. There is a large salmon cannery at Orca
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and a number of sea birds to be seen in
this small bay, filling the air in snowy clouds and
covering the precipitous cliffs facing the wharf. Is surpassed in
only one place on the Alaskan coast, Karluk Bay. For
several years before the founding of Valdez, Orca was used
as a port by the Argonauts, who crossed by way
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of Valdas passed to the Copper River mining regions, and
by way of the Tannanoa River to the Yukon. Prince
Williams Sound is one of the most nobly beautiful bodies
of water in Alaska. Its wide blue water sweeps its
many mountainous, wooded and snow peaked islands. The magnificent glaciers
which palisaded seisinlets, and the chain of lofty snowy mountains
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that float mistily like linked pearls around it through the
amethystan clouds give it a poetic and austere beauty of
its own. Every slow turn of the prow brings forth
some new delight to the eye. Never does one beautiful
snow dome fade lingeringly from the horizon, ere another pushes
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into the exquisitely colored atmosphere, in a chase beauty that
fairly thrills the heart of the beholder. The Sound or
Gulf extends winding blue arms in every direction, into the
mainland and into the many islands. It covers an extent
of more than twenty five hundred square miles. The entrance
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is about fifty miles wide, but is sheltered by countless islands.
The largest and richest are Montague, hinchingbroke Law to Shay, Knights,
and Hawkins. There are many excellent harbors on the shop
of the Gulf, and on the islands, and the Russians
built several ships here. In Chalmers Bay, Vancouver discovered a
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remarkable point which bore stumps of trees cut with an axe,
but far below low water mark. At the time of
his discovery, he named its Sinking Point. There is a
portage from the head of the Gulf to Cook Inlet,
which the earliest Russians learned had long been used by
the natives, who are of the Inuit or Eskimo tribe
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similar to those of the inlet, and are called Judashes.
The northern shore of Kenai and the western coast of
the inlet are occupied by Indians of the Athabaskan stock
photo by Case and Draper, white Horse, Yukon Territory. Photo
by Case and Draper, white Horse, Yukon Territory. Cook found
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the Natives of the Gulf of medium size, with square
chests and large heads. The complexion of the children and
some of the younger women was white, many of the
latter having agreeable features and pleasing appearance. They were vivacious,
good natured, and of engaging frankness. These people, of all
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ages and both sexes, wore a close robe reaching to
the ankles, sometimes only to the knees, made of the
skins of sea otter, seal, gray fox, raccoon, and pine marten.
These garments were worn with the fur outside. Now and
then one was seen made of the down of sea birds,
which had been glued to some other substance. The seams
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were ornamented with thongs or tassels of the same skins.
In rain, they wore kamalinkas over the ferrobes. Cook's description
of a kamalinka as resembling a gold beater's leaf is
a very good one. His understanding of the custom of
wearing the labor it, however, differs from that of other
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early navigators. The incision in the lip, he states, was
made even in the children at the breast, while La
Perouse and others were of the impression that it was
not made until a girl had arrived at a marriageable age.
It appears that the incision in time assumes the shape
of real lips through which the tongue may be thrust.
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One of Cook's seamen, seeing for the first time a
woman having the incision from which the labor it had
been removed, fell into a panic of horror and ran
to his companions crying that he had seen a man
with two mouths, evidently mistaking the woman for a man.
Cook reported that both sexes wore the labor it, but
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this was doubtless in error. When they are clad in
the for garments, which are called parka's, it is difficult
to distinguish one sex from the other. Among the younger people,
I had a rather amusing experience my mind at the small
native settlement of Anvik on the Yukon. It was midnight
but broad daylight, as we were in the Arctic circle.
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The natives were all clad in parka's. Two sitting side
by side, resembled each other closely. After buying some of
their curios I asked, one, indicating the other, is she
your sister? To my confusion, my question was received with
a loud burst of laughter, in which a dozen natives,
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sitting around them, hoarsely and hilariously joined. They poked the
unfortunate object of my curiosity in the ribs, pointed at
him derisively, and kept crying she she, until at last
the poor young fellow, not more embarrassed than myself, sprang
to his feet and ran away with laughter and cries
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of she she following him. I have frequently recalled the scene,
and feared that the innocent, dark eyed, end sweet smiling
youth may have retained the name which was so mirthfully
bestowed upon him that summer night. But since the mistake
and sex may be so easily made, I am inclined
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to the belief that Cook and his men were misled.
In this particular, a most remarkable difference of opinion existed
between Cook and other early explorers as to the cleanliness
of the natives. He found their method of eating decent
and cleanly, their persons neat without grease or dirt, and
their wooden dishes in excellent order. The white headed eagle
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was found here, as well as the shag, the great
kingfisher of brilliant coloring, the humming bird, water fowl, grouse, snipe,
and plover. Many other species of water and land fowl
have been added to these. The floor of the islands
is brilliant, varied, and luxury. In seventeen eighty six, John Meres,
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who is dear to my heart because of his confidence
in Wan de Fuca, came to disaster in the Chugash Gulf,
overtaken by winter. He first tried the anchorage at snug
corner cove in his ship, the Nootka, but later moved
to a more sheltered nook closer to the mainland, in
the vicinity of the present native village of Tatalik. The
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ill provisioned vessel was covered for the winter. Spruce beer
was brewed, but the men preferred the liquors, which were
freely served, and fresh fish being scarce, scurvy became epidemic.
The surgeon was the first to die, but he was
followed by many others. At first, graves were dug under
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the snow, but soon the survivors were too few and
too exhausted for this last service to their mates. The
dead were then dropped in fissures of the ice which
surrounded their ship. At last, when the lowest depth of
despair had been reached Captain's port, Lock and Dixon arrived
and furnished relief and assistance. In seventeen eighty seven to
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seventeen eighty eight, the Cheugash Gulf presented a strange appearance
to the natives, not yet familiar with the presence of ships.
Englishmen under different flags, Russians and Spaniards were sailing to
all parts of the Gulf, taking possession in the names
of different nations of all the harbors and islands. In
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Voskresensky Harbor now known as Resurrection Bay, where the new
railroad town of Seward is situated. The first ship ever
built in Alaska was launched by Baranoff in seventeen ninety four.
It was christened the Phoenix and was followed by many others.
Preparations for ship building were begun in the winter of
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seventeen ninety one. Suitable buildings, storehouses and quarters for the
men were erected. There were no large saws, and planks
were hewn out of whole logs. The iron required was
collected from wrecks in all parts of the colonies. Steel
for axes was procured in the same way. Having no tar,
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Barnoff used a mixture of spruce, gum and oil. Provisions
were scarce and no time was allowed for hunting or fishing.
So severe were the hardships endured that no one but
Baranoff could have kept up his courage and that of
his suffering men, and cheered them on to final success.
The Phoenix, which was probably named for an English ship
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which had visited the Cheugash gulf in seventeen ninety two.
Was built of spruce timber and was seventy three feet long.
It was provided with two decks and three masts. The
calking above the water line was of moss. The sales
were composed of fragments of canvas gathered from all parts
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of the colonies. On her first voyage to Kadiak, the
Phoenix encountered a storm which brought disaster to her frail rigging,
and instead of sailing proudly into harbor as Bereonov had hoped,
she was ignominiously towed in. But she was the first
vessel built in the colonies to enter that harbor in
any fashion, and the Russian joy was great. The event
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was celebrated by solemn mass, followed by high eating and
higher drinking. The Phoenix was refitted and re rigged and
sent out on her triumphal voyage to Okotsk. There she
arrived safely and proudly. She was received with volleys of artillery,
the ringing of bells, the celebration of mass, and great
(33:50):
and joyous feasting. A cabin and deck houses were added,
the vessel was painted, and from that time until her
loss in the Alaskan Gulf. The Phoenix regularly plied the
waters up Bearing Sea and the North Pacific Ocean between
Okotsk and the Russian colonies in America.
Chapter twenty one. There is an open roadstead at yak
Tag or Yakataga. The ship anchors several miles from shore.
When the fierce storms which prevail in this vicinity, will
permitted to anchor at all, and passengers and freight are
lightered ashore. I have seen horses hoisted from the deck
in their wooden cages and dropped into the sea, where
(00:23):
they were liberated. After their first frightened, furious plunges, they
headed for the shore and started out bravely on their
long swim. The surf was running high, and for a
time it seemed that they could not escape being dashed
upon the rocks. But with unerring instinct, they struggled away
from one rocky place after another, until they reached a
(00:46):
strip of smooth sand, up which they were borne by
the breaking sea, and where they fell for a few moments, exhausted.
Then they arose, staggered, threw up their heads, and ran
as I have never seen the horses run with such wildness,
such gladness, such utterance of the joy of freedom. In
the fling of their legs and the streaming of mane
(01:08):
and tail. They had been penned in a narrow stall
under the forward deck for twelve days. They had been
battered by the storms and unable to lie down and rest.
They had been plunged from this condition unexpectedly into the ocean,
and compelled to strike out on a long swim for
their lives. The sudden knowledge of freedom, the smell of
(01:30):
sun and air, the very sweet of life itself, all
combined to make them almost frantic in the animal expression
of their joy. We put down the powerful glasses with
which we had painfully watched every yard of their progress
toward the land. I looked at the pilot. There was
a moisture in his eyes which was not entirely a
(01:54):
reflection of that in my own. It is one hundred
and seventy miles from Yactat to Kayak. Off this stretch
of coasts between Lituya and Cape Suckling. The soundings are
moderate and by whalers have long been known as farewith
the grounds just before reaching Kayak, Cape Suckling is past.
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The point of this cape is low. It runs up
into a considerable hill, which, in turn, sinking to very
low land, has the appearance of an island. It was
named by Cook. Around this cape lies Comptroller Bay the
bay which should have been named Baring's Bay. It was
on the two islands at its entrance that Bearing landed
(02:38):
in seventeen forty one. He named one Saint Elias, and
to this island, Cook in seventeen seventy eight gave the
name of ky for the excellent reason that the Reverend
Doctor k gave him two silver twopenny pieces of the
date of seventeen seventy two, which he buried in a
bottle on the island to the other, with the names
(03:00):
of his ships and the date of discovery. Unhappily, this
immortal island retains the name which could lightly bestowed upon it,
instead of the name given it by the illustrious Stain.
It is, now, however, more frequently known as Wingham Island.
The settlement of Kayak is upon it. The southern extremity
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of the larger island retains the name Saint Elias. For
the splendid headland that plunges boldly and challengingly out into
the sea. It is a magnificent sight in a storm,
when seabirds are shrieking over it, and a powerful surf
is breaking upon its base. At all times it is
a striking landmark. I have been to kayak four times.
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Landings have always been made by passengers and dories, or
in tiny launches which come out from the settlement and
which bob up and down like corks. It requires a
cool head to descend a rope ladder twenty or thirty
feet from the deck to a dory that rolls away
from the ship with every wave, and which may only
(04:06):
be entered as it rolls back. There is art in
the little kick which one must give each rung against
the side of the ship to steady the ladder. At
the last comes in awful moment when a woman must
hang alone on the last swaying rum end await the
return of the dory. If the sea is rough, the
ship will probably roll away from the boat. When the
(04:30):
sailors therefore sing out, now jump, she must close her eyes,
put her trust in heaven and forordination, and jump if
she chances to jump just at the right moment. If
one sailor catches her just right and another catches him
just right, she will know by the cheer that arises
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from hurricane and textus that all is well, and she
may open her eyes under other conditions other situation, Yes,
but let no woman be deterred by the possibility of
the latter from descending a rope ladder when she has
an opportunity. Thus, hair crinkling moments in an ordinary life
are few enough. Heaven knows. There are several business houses
(05:16):
and dwellings at Kayak and an Indian village. The Indian
graveyard is very interesting. Tiny houses are built over the
graves and surrounded by picket fences. Both are painted white.
Through the windows may be seen some of the belongings
of the dead. In dishes are different kinds of food
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and drink that the deceased may not suffer of hunger
or thirst. In the bourne to which he may have journeyed,
there are implements and weapons for the men, unfinished baskets
for the women, with the long strands of warp and
wolf left ready for the idle hand for the children,
beads and rattles made of bare claws and shells. The
(06:01):
houses are on posts a few feet above the graves.
For a number of years, Kayak was the base of
operation for oil companies. In eighteen ninety eight, the Alaska
Development Company stake the country, but later leased there lands
to the Alaska Oil and Coal Company, commonly known as
the English Company, for a long term of years with
(06:24):
the privilege of taking up the lease in nineteen o six,
this company spent millions of dollars and drilled several wells.
The Alaska Petroleum and Coal Company, known as the Lippy Company,
put down two holes, one seventeen hundred feet deep. The
cost of drilling is about five thousand dollars a whole
(06:46):
of two thousand feet. The rig laid down six thousand,
five hundred dollars. These wells are situated at Katala, sixteen
miles from Kayak, at the mouth of the Copper River.
The oil lands extend from the coast to the Malaspina
and Bearing glaciers. Since the recent upspringing of a new
(07:08):
town at Katala, the center of trade has been transferred
from Kayak to this point. Katala was founded in nineteen
o four by the Alaska Petroleum and Coal Company, but
not until the actual commencement of work on the Bruner
Railway Company's road in nineteen o seven from Katala into
(07:28):
the heart of the coal and oil fields did the
place rise to the importance of a northern town. It
has attained a wide fame within a few months on
account of the remarkable discoveries of high grade petroleum and
coal in the vicinity. For many years these two products
of Alaska were considered of inferior quality, but it has
(07:50):
recently been discovered that they rivaled the finest of Pennsylvania.
The town has grown as only a new Alaskan or
Puget Sound town can grow. At night, perhaps there will
be a dozen shacks and as many tents on a
town site. The next morning, a steamer will anchor in
the bay, bearing government offices, stores, hotels, saloons, dance halls, banks,
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offices for several large companies, electric light plants, gas works, telephones,
and before another day dawns business is in full swing.
For fifteen miles along the Controller Bay water front, oil
wells may be seen some of the largest oil seepages
existing close to the shore. The coal and oil lands
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of this vicinity, however, are about one hundred miles in
length and from twenty to thirty in width. During the
fall and early winter of nineteen o seven, Catala suffered
a serious menace to its prosperity owing to its total
lack of a harbor. The bay is but a mere indentation,
and an open roadstead sends its surf to curl upon
(08:59):
the unprotect to beach. The storms in winter are ceaseless
and terrific. Steamers cannot land, and anchors will not hold
as known. Similarly, Situated is cut off from the world
for several months by ice. So is Catala, cut off
by storms. Steamer after steamer sails into the Roadstead rolls
(09:20):
and tosses in the trough of the sea. Lingers regretfully
and sails away without landing even a passenger or mail.
In October nineteen o seven, one whole banking outfit, including
everything necessary for the opening of a bank, save the
cashier who was already there and the building which was waiting,
(09:43):
was taken up on a steamer. Not being able to
lighter it ashore, the steamer carried the bank to cook Inlet.
Upon its return, conditions again made it impossible to enter
the bay, and the bank was carried back to Seattle.
When the steamer again went north, the bank went too.
(10:04):
When the steamer returned, the bank returned. In the meantime,
other events were shaping themselves in such wise as to
render the situation extremely interesting. A few miles northwest of Katala,
The town of Kordovo was established three years ago, with
the terminus of the Copper River Railway located there. Mister m. J. Henny,
(10:29):
who had built the White Pass and Yukon Railway, received
the contract for the work. The building of wharves in
the excellent harbor and the laying out of a town
site capable of accommodating twenty thousand people and one that
might have pleased even the fastidious Schlikov, was energetically begun.
(10:49):
Early in nineteen o seven, the Copper River Railway sold
its interests to the Northwestern and Copper River Valley Railway,
promoted by John Rossing and financed by the Guggenheims. It
was semi officially announced that the new company would tear
up the court of Attracts and that Katalla would be
the terminus of the consolidated line. The announcement precipitated the
(11:14):
boom at Katala. Mister Henny retired from the new company
and spent the summer voyaging down the Yukon. Immediately upon
his return to Seattle in September, he journeyed to New York.
In a few days, newspapers devoted columns to the sale
of the Rossian interests in the railway, also a large
(11:35):
fleet of first class steamers and wharves to the Copper
River and Northwestern Railway Company. The contract for the immediate
building of the road had been secured by mister Henny,
who had returned to his original surveys. The terminus at
once traveled back to Cordova, and the itinerant bank may
(11:55):
yet thank its guiding star, which prevented it from getting
itself landed at Katala. Important strikes are made constantly in
the Tananaw country, in the Sushitna, and in the Kayakuk,
where pay is found surpassing the best of the Klondike.
The trail from Valdez to Fairbanks may yet be as
thickly strewn with eager eyde stampeders as were the day
(12:18):
and Skagway trails a decade ago. Never again, however, in
any part of Alaska, can the awful conditions of that
time prevail. Steamer, rail and stage transportation have made traveling
in the North luxurious compared to the horrors endured in
the old days. The Guggenheims have been compelled to carry
(12:40):
on a fantastic fight for rightoff way for the Copper
River and Northwestern Railroad. In the summer of nineteen o seven,
they attempted to lay track at Katala over the disputed
Bruner right of way. The Bruner company had constructed an
immense go devil of railway rails, which, operated by powerful machinery,
(13:03):
could be swung back and forth over the disputed point.
It was operated by armed men behind fortifications. The Brunner
concern was known as the Alaska Pacific Transportation and Terminal Company,
financed by Pittsburgh Capital, and proposed building a road to
the coal regions, thence to the Copper River. They sought
(13:25):
right of way by condemnation proceedings. The town site of
Katala is owned by the Alaska Petroleum and Coal Company,
which had deeded a right of way to the Guggenheims,
also a large tract of land for smelter purposes. At
one point it was necessary for the latter to cross
(13:46):
the right of way of the Brunner road. The trouble
began in May when the Bruner workmen dynamited a pile
driver and trestle belonging to the Guggenheims, who had then
approached within one hundred feet of the uner right of way.
On July third, a party of Guggenheim laborers, under the
protection of a fire from detachments of armed men, succeeded
(14:09):
in laying track over the disputed right of way. Tony
de Pascal daringly led the construction party and received the
reward of a thousand dollars offered by the Guggenheims to
the man who would successfully lead the attacking forces. Soon afterward,
he was shot dead by one of his own men,
(14:30):
who mistook him for a member of the opposing force.
Ten other men were seriously injured by bullets from the
Brunner block houses. In the autumn of the same year,
a party of men surveying for the Reynolds Home Railway
from Valdez to the Yukon met armed resistance in Keystone
Canyon from a force of men holding right of way
(14:50):
for the Guggenheims. A battle occurred in which one man
was killed and three seriously wounded. The wildest excitement prove
in fiery Valdez, and probably only the proximity of a
United States military posts prevented the lynching of the men
who did the killing. Ever since, the advent of the Russians.
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Copper River has been considered one of the Bonanzas of Alaska.
It was discovered in seventeen eighty three by Negev, a
member of Potap Zaykov's party. He ascended it for a
short distance and traded with the natives, who called the
river Atna Rufus. Sarah Brennikoff and his men attempted an exploration,
(15:35):
but were killed. General Miles under Abercrombie attempted to ascend
the river in eighteen eighty four with the intention of
coming out by the Chilcot country, but the expedition was
a failure. In the following year, Lieutenant H. T Alan
successfully ascended the river, crossed the divide to the Tannina,
(15:58):
sailed that streamed to the Yukon, explored the Kaycuk, and
then proceeded down the Yukon to Saint Michael, and returned
to San Francisco by ocean. His description of Myles Glacier
was the first to be printed. This glacier fronts for
a distance of six miles and splendid palisades on Copper River.
(16:20):
This and Child's Glacier afford the chief obstacles to navigation
on this river, and mister A. H. Brooks reports their
rapid recession. Copyright by E. A. Hegg Juno, courtesy of
Webster and Stephen's Seattle Lake Bennett in eighteen ninety eight.
(16:40):
Copyright by E. A. Hegg Juno, courtesy of Webster and
Stephen's Seattle Lake Bennett in eighteen ninety eight. The river
is regarded as exceedingly dangerous for steamers, but may with caution,
be navigated with small boats. Between the mouth of the
Chettina and the head of the broad delta of the
(17:01):
Copper River is the only canyon. It is the famous
Wood Canyon, several miles in length and in many places
of only forty yards wide, with the water roaring through
perpendicular stone walls. The Tikal Tassanina and other streams tributary
to this part of the Copper also flow through narrow
(17:23):
valleys with precipitous slopes. The Copper River has its source
in the mountains east of its Great Plateau, whose eastern
margin it traverses, and then, passing through the Chugach Mountains,
debouches across a wide delta into the North Pacific Ocean
between Catala and Cordova. It rises close to Mount Wrangel,
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flows northward for forty miles south and southwest for fifty
more when the Chettina joins it from the east and
swells its flood for the remaining one hundred and fifty
miles to the coast. The Copper is a silt laden,
turbulent stream. From its source to the sea, its average
fall is about twelve feet to the mile From the
(18:07):
Chattina to its mouth. It is steep sided and rock
bound for its entire length. It is weird and impressive.
By land, the distance from Catala to Cordova is insignificant.
It is a distance, however, that cannot as yet be
traversed on account of the delta and other impassable topographic
(18:28):
features which only a railroad can overcome. The distance by
water is about one hundred and fifty miles. In the
entrance to Cordiva Bay is Hawkins Island, and to the
southwest of this island lies Hinchingbroke Island, whose southern extremity
at the entrance to Prince William Sound was named Cape
(18:49):
Hinchingbroke by Cook in seventeen seventy eight. At a point
named Snug corner Bay. Cook keeled and mended his ships.
This peerless sound itself brilliantly blue, greenly island, and set
round with snow peaks and glaciers, including among the latter
the most beautiful one of Alaska, if not the most
(19:11):
beautiful of the world. The Columbia was known as chew
Gash Gulf, a name to which I hope it may
some day return, until Cook renamed it. A boat sent
out by Cook was pursued by natives and canoes. They
seemed afraid to approach the ship, but at a distance,
saying stood up in the canoes, extending their arms and
(19:34):
holding out white garments of peace. One man stood up
entirely nude, with his arms stretched out like a cross,
motionless for a quarter of him hour. The following night
a few natives came out in the skin boats of
the Eskimos. These boats are still used from this point
westward and northward to nomen up the Yukon. As far
(19:56):
as the Eskimos have settlements. They are three kinds. One
is a large, open, flat bottomed boat. It is made
of a wooden frame covered with walrus skin or sealskin,
held in place by thongs of the former. This is
called a numiak by the Inuits or eskimos, and a
(20:17):
bidara by the Russians. It is used by women or
by large parties of men. A boat for one man
is made in the same fashion, but covered completely over,
with the exception of one hole in which the occupant
sits and around which is an upright rim. When at sea,
he wears a walruscut coat, completely waterproof, which he ties
(20:41):
around the outside of the rim. The coat is securely
tied around the wrists, and the hood is drawn tightly
around the face, so that no water can possibly enter
the boat. In the most severe storm. This boat is
called the baidarka. The third, called a kayak, differs from
the baidarka only in being longer end having two or
(21:03):
three holes. The wallascut coats are called kamalinkas or kamalaikas.
They may be purchased in curio stores and Atzeldovia and
other places on cook Inlet. They are now gaily decorated
with bits of colored wool, and range in price from
ten to twenty dollars according to the amount of work
(21:24):
upon them. There is a difference of opinion regarding the
names of the boats. Doll claims that the one wholeed
boat was called a kayak by the natives and by
the Russians, a by Dharka, and that the others were
simply known as two or three hold by Darkas. The
other opinion which I have given is that of people
(21:45):
living in the vicinity at present. Each of the men
who came out in the Bidarkas to visit Cook had
a stick about three feet long, the end of which
was decorated with large tufts of feathers. Bearing's men were
received in precisely the same manor at the Schumigen Islands
far to westward in seventeen forty one, their sticks, according
(22:07):
to Miller, being decorated with hawk's wings. These natives were
found to be thievish and treacherous, attempting to capture a
boat under the ship's very guns and in the face
of a hundred men. Cook then sailed southward and discovered
the largest island in the sound, the Souklock of the Natives,
which he named Montague nut Check, or port Etches as
(22:31):
it was named by port Lock, is just inside the
entrance to the sound on the western shore of the
island that is now known as Hinchingbroke, but which was
formerly called Nutchek. Here Barenoff several years later built the
ships that bore his first expedition to Sitka. The Russian
trading post was called the Redoubt Constantine and Elena. It
(22:56):
was a strong stockade fort with two bastions. There is
a salmon cannery at Nutschek, and the furs of the
Copper River country were brought here for many years for Barter.
Orca is situated about three miles north of Kordova in
Courtiva Bay. There is a large salmon cannery at Orca
(23:16):
and a number of sea birds to be seen in
this small bay, filling the air in snowy clouds and
covering the precipitous cliffs facing the wharf. Is surpassed in
only one place on the Alaskan coast, Karluk Bay. For
several years before the founding of Valdez, Orca was used
as a port by the Argonauts, who crossed by way
(23:38):
of Valdas passed to the Copper River mining regions, and
by way of the Tannanoa River to the Yukon. Prince
Williams Sound is one of the most nobly beautiful bodies
of water in Alaska. Its wide blue water sweeps its
many mountainous, wooded and snow peaked islands. The magnificent glaciers
which palisaded seisinlets, and the chain of lofty snowy mountains
(24:03):
that float mistily like linked pearls around it through the
amethystan clouds give it a poetic and austere beauty of
its own. Every slow turn of the prow brings forth
some new delight to the eye. Never does one beautiful
snow dome fade lingeringly from the horizon, ere another pushes
(24:23):
into the exquisitely colored atmosphere, in a chase beauty that
fairly thrills the heart of the beholder. The Sound or
Gulf extends winding blue arms in every direction, into the
mainland and into the many islands. It covers an extent
of more than twenty five hundred square miles. The entrance
(24:45):
is about fifty miles wide, but is sheltered by countless islands.
The largest and richest are Montague, hinchingbroke Law to Shay, Knights,
and Hawkins. There are many excellent harbors on the shop
of the Gulf, and on the islands, and the Russians
built several ships here. In Chalmers Bay, Vancouver discovered a
(25:09):
remarkable point which bore stumps of trees cut with an axe,
but far below low water mark. At the time of
his discovery, he named its Sinking Point. There is a
portage from the head of the Gulf to Cook Inlet,
which the earliest Russians learned had long been used by
the natives, who are of the Inuit or Eskimo tribe
(25:32):
similar to those of the inlet, and are called Judashes.
The northern shore of Kenai and the western coast of
the inlet are occupied by Indians of the Athabaskan stock
photo by Case and Draper, white Horse, Yukon Territory. Photo
by Case and Draper, white Horse, Yukon Territory. Cook found
(25:54):
the Natives of the Gulf of medium size, with square
chests and large heads. The complexion of the children and
some of the younger women was white, many of the
latter having agreeable features and pleasing appearance. They were vivacious,
good natured, and of engaging frankness. These people, of all
(26:16):
ages and both sexes, wore a close robe reaching to
the ankles, sometimes only to the knees, made of the
skins of sea otter, seal, gray fox, raccoon, and pine marten.
These garments were worn with the fur outside. Now and
then one was seen made of the down of sea birds,
which had been glued to some other substance. The seams
(26:40):
were ornamented with thongs or tassels of the same skins.
In rain, they wore kamalinkas over the ferrobes. Cook's description
of a kamalinka as resembling a gold beater's leaf is
a very good one. His understanding of the custom of
wearing the labor it, however, differs from that of other
(27:01):
early navigators. The incision in the lip, he states, was
made even in the children at the breast, while La
Perouse and others were of the impression that it was
not made until a girl had arrived at a marriageable age.
It appears that the incision in time assumes the shape
of real lips through which the tongue may be thrust.
(27:24):
One of Cook's seamen, seeing for the first time a
woman having the incision from which the labor it had
been removed, fell into a panic of horror and ran
to his companions crying that he had seen a man
with two mouths, evidently mistaking the woman for a man.
Cook reported that both sexes wore the labor it, but
(27:46):
this was doubtless in error. When they are clad in
the for garments, which are called parka's, it is difficult
to distinguish one sex from the other. Among the younger people,
I had a rather amusing experience my mind at the small
native settlement of Anvik on the Yukon. It was midnight
but broad daylight, as we were in the Arctic circle.
(28:10):
The natives were all clad in parka's. Two sitting side
by side, resembled each other closely. After buying some of
their curios I asked, one, indicating the other, is she
your sister? To my confusion, my question was received with
a loud burst of laughter, in which a dozen natives,
(28:31):
sitting around them, hoarsely and hilariously joined. They poked the
unfortunate object of my curiosity in the ribs, pointed at
him derisively, and kept crying she she, until at last
the poor young fellow, not more embarrassed than myself, sprang
to his feet and ran away with laughter and cries
(28:55):
of she she following him. I have frequently recalled the scene,
and feared that the innocent, dark eyed, end sweet smiling
youth may have retained the name which was so mirthfully
bestowed upon him that summer night. But since the mistake
and sex may be so easily made, I am inclined
(29:16):
to the belief that Cook and his men were misled.
In this particular, a most remarkable difference of opinion existed
between Cook and other early explorers as to the cleanliness
of the natives. He found their method of eating decent
and cleanly, their persons neat without grease or dirt, and
their wooden dishes in excellent order. The white headed eagle
(29:41):
was found here, as well as the shag, the great
kingfisher of brilliant coloring, the humming bird, water fowl, grouse, snipe,
and plover. Many other species of water and land fowl
have been added to these. The floor of the islands
is brilliant, varied, and luxury. In seventeen eighty six, John Meres,
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who is dear to my heart because of his confidence
in Wan de Fuca, came to disaster in the Chugash Gulf,
overtaken by winter. He first tried the anchorage at snug
corner cove in his ship, the Nootka, but later moved
to a more sheltered nook closer to the mainland, in
the vicinity of the present native village of Tatalik. The
(30:27):
ill provisioned vessel was covered for the winter. Spruce beer
was brewed, but the men preferred the liquors, which were
freely served, and fresh fish being scarce, scurvy became epidemic.
The surgeon was the first to die, but he was
followed by many others. At first, graves were dug under
(30:49):
the snow, but soon the survivors were too few and
too exhausted for this last service to their mates. The
dead were then dropped in fissures of the ice which
surrounded their ship. At last, when the lowest depth of
despair had been reached Captain's port, Lock and Dixon arrived
and furnished relief and assistance. In seventeen eighty seven to
(31:12):
seventeen eighty eight, the Cheugash Gulf presented a strange appearance
to the natives, not yet familiar with the presence of ships.
Englishmen under different flags, Russians and Spaniards were sailing to
all parts of the Gulf, taking possession in the names
of different nations of all the harbors and islands. In
(31:33):
Voskresensky Harbor now known as Resurrection Bay, where the new
railroad town of Seward is situated. The first ship ever
built in Alaska was launched by Baranoff in seventeen ninety four.
It was christened the Phoenix and was followed by many others.
Preparations for ship building were begun in the winter of
(31:55):
seventeen ninety one. Suitable buildings, storehouses and quarters for the
men were erected. There were no large saws, and planks
were hewn out of whole logs. The iron required was
collected from wrecks in all parts of the colonies. Steel
for axes was procured in the same way. Having no tar,
(32:19):
Barnoff used a mixture of spruce, gum and oil. Provisions
were scarce and no time was allowed for hunting or fishing.
So severe were the hardships endured that no one but
Baranoff could have kept up his courage and that of
his suffering men, and cheered them on to final success.
The Phoenix, which was probably named for an English ship
(32:42):
which had visited the Cheugash gulf in seventeen ninety two.
Was built of spruce timber and was seventy three feet long.
It was provided with two decks and three masts. The
calking above the water line was of moss. The sales
were composed of fragments of canvas gathered from all parts
(33:04):
of the colonies. On her first voyage to Kadiak, the
Phoenix encountered a storm which brought disaster to her frail rigging,
and instead of sailing proudly into harbor as Bereonov had hoped,
she was ignominiously towed in. But she was the first
vessel built in the colonies to enter that harbor in
any fashion, and the Russian joy was great. The event
(33:29):
was celebrated by solemn mass, followed by high eating and
higher drinking. The Phoenix was refitted and re rigged and
sent out on her triumphal voyage to Okotsk. There she
arrived safely and proudly. She was received with volleys of artillery,
the ringing of bells, the celebration of mass, and great
(33:50):
and joyous feasting. A cabin and deck houses were added,
the vessel was painted, and from that time until her
loss in the Alaskan Gulf. The Phoenix regularly plied the
waters up Bearing Sea and the North Pacific Ocean between
Okotsk and the Russian colonies in America.
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