Inspired by groundbreaking discoveries and the lucrative fur trade with China, Russian traders known as "promyshleniki" ventured eastward into the Aleutian Islands, marking the beginning of a long and tragic era. Amidst brutal exploitation and cruelty, the establishment of permanent settlements like Kodiak Island and the rise of influential figures such as Grigor Shelikoff and Alexander Baranoff shaped the early history of Russian America. Despite the success of the Russian-American Company, it was also marred by violence, oppression, and harsh management — a complex legacy of ambition, conflict, and colonization in the North Pacific.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter forty six. The Yukon is a mighty and a
beautiful river, and its memory becomes more haunting and more
compelling with the passage of time. From the slender blue
stream of its source, it grows in its twenty three
hundred miles of wandering to the sea, to a width
of sixty miles at its mouth. In its great course,
(00:22):
it widens, narrows, and widens cuts through the foothills of
vast mountain systems, spreads over flats, makes many splendid sweeping curves,
and slides into hundreds of narrow channels around spruce covered islands.
It is divided into four great districts, each of which
has its own characteristic features. The valley extending from white
(00:46):
Horse to some distance below Dawson is called the Upper
Yukon or Upper Ramparts, the river having a width of
half a mile in a current of four or five
miles an hour, and the valley in this district being
from one to three miles in width. Following this are
the Great Flats, of which one hears from his first
(01:08):
hour on the Yukon, then the Ramparts, and last the
Lower Yukon or Lower River. The flats are vast lowlands,
stretching for two hundred miles along the river, with a
width and places of one hundred miles. Their very monotony
is picturesque and fascinates by its immensity. Countless islands are
(01:30):
constantly forming, appearing and disappearing in the whimsical changes of
the currents. Indian white and half breed pilots patrol these reaches,
guiding one steamer down and another up, and by constant travel,
keeping themselves fairly familiar with the changing currents. Yet even
(01:50):
these pilots frequently fail in their calculations. At Eagle, a
couple of gentlemen joined our party down the river on
the Campbell, expecting to meet this same day in return
on the famous Sarah, as famous as a steamer, as
is the island of the same name on the inland passage.
But they went on and on, and the Sarah came.
(02:10):
Not one day, two days, three days went by end
they were still with us. One was in the Custom's service,
and his time was precious. Whenever we approached a bend
in the river, they stood in the bow of the boat,
eagerly staring ahead. But not until the fourth day did
the cry of Sarah ring through our steamer. Hastening on deck,
(02:35):
we beheld her white end shining on a sand bar
where she had been lying for several days, notwithstanding the
fact that she had an experienced pilot aboard. Throughout the
flats lies a vast network of islands, estimated as high
as ten thousand in number, threaded by countless channels, many
of which have strong currents, while others are but still sluggish.
(02:59):
Sloughs mountains line the far horizon lines, but so far
away that they frequently appear as clouds of bluish pearl
piled along the sky. At other times, snow peaks are
distinctly visible. Cottonwoods, birches, and spruce trees cover the islands
so heavily that from the lower deck of a steamer
(03:20):
one would believe that he was drifting down the single
channel of a narrow river, instead of down one channel
of a river twenty miles wide. It is within the
Arctic Circle that the Yukon makes its sweeping bend from
its northwest course to the southwest, and here it is
entered by the Porcupine, twenty miles farther by the Chandler
(03:42):
and just above the ramparts by the dull. These are
the three important rivers of this stretch of the Yukon.
Many complain of the monotony of the flats, but for me,
there was not one dull or uninteresting hour on the Yukon.
In my quiet home on summer evenings, I can still
see the men taking soundings from the square bow of
(04:03):
our steamer, and hear their hoarse cries six feet starboard,
five feet port, seven feet starboard, five feet port, five
feet starboard, four feet port. At the latter cry, the
silent watchers of the pilot house came to attention, and
(04:25):
we proceeded under slow bell until a greater depth was
reached on the shores. As we swept past, we caught
glimpses of dark figures and Indian villages, or farther down
the river, primitive Eskimos settlements, and the stillness, the pure
and sparkling air, the untouched wilderness, the blue smoke of
(04:47):
a woodchopper's lonely fire. The wide spaces swimming over us
and on all sides of us, charmed our senses, as
only the elemental forces of nature can charm. One longs
to stay awake, always on this river to pace the
wide decks and be one with the solitude and the
stillness that are not of the earth as we know it,
(05:09):
but of God as we have dreamed of him. The
blue hills of the ramparts are seen long before entering them.
The valley contracts into a kind of canyon, from which
the rampart like walls of solid stone rise abruptly from
the water. The hills are not so high as those
of the upper ramparts, which bear marked resemblance to the lower,
(05:32):
And although many consider the latter more picturesque, I must
confess that I found no beauty below Dawson so majestic
as that above. Many of the hills here have a
rose colored tinge, like the hills of Lake Bennett. In places,
the river does not reach a width of half a
mile and is deep and swift. The shadows between the
(05:54):
high rock bluffs and pinnacled cliffs take on the mysterious
purple tones of twilight. Many of the hills are covered
with spruce, whose dark green blends agreeably with the gray
and rose color. The bends here are sharp, and many
at the rapids. The current is exceedingly rapid and dull.
Reported a fall of twelve feet to the half mile,
(06:16):
with the water running in sheets of foam over a
granite island in the middle of the stream. This was
on June first, eighteen sixty six. In August eighteen eighty three, Schwatka,
after many hours of anxiety and dread of the reputed rapids,
inquired of Indians and learned that he had already passed them.
(06:37):
They were not formidable at the time of our voyage August,
and it is only during high stages of water that
they present a bar to navigation. We reached Rampart at
six o'clock in the morning after ten and all this
is the loveliest place on the Yukon, its sparkling emerald
(06:58):
beauty shone under a silvery blue sky. There was a
long street of artistic log houses and stores on a
commanding bluff, up which paths wound from the water. Roofs
covered with earth and flowers carried out in brilliant bloom
over the porches added the characteristic Yukon touch, every door,
(07:20):
yard and window blazed with color. Narrow paths ran through
tall fireweed and grasses over and around the hill, each
path terminating like a winding lane in a pretty log
cabin home. There was an atmosphere of cleanliness, tidiness and
thrift not found in other settlements along the Yukon. Captain Mayo,
(07:42):
who with mc queston founded Rampart in eighteen seventy three,
still lives here. The two commercial companies have large stores
and warehouses, and residences were comfortably and even luxuriously furnished.
Rampart is two hundred and thirty miles below fort Yukon
and is about halfway between Dawson and the sea. It
(08:05):
has a population of four or five hundred people when
they are in from the mines, and almost as many
fighting hungry dogs. Its street winds and the buildings follow
its windings. Sometimes it stops all together and the buildings
stop with it. Then both go on again, and in
front of all the public buildings are clean, rustic benches
(08:28):
where one may sit and look to the rows about him.
The river here is half a mile wide, and on
its opposite shore the green fields of the Government experimental
station slope up from the water. Gold was discovered on
the New Creek, half a mile from town in eighteen
ninety five, and the camp is regarded as one of
(08:49):
the most even producers in Alaska. In nineteen o six,
despite an unusually dry season, the output of the district
was three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In the afternoon
of the same day, we reach Tananaw, which is, as
I have said, the most beautiful place on the Yukon.
(09:11):
It has a splendid sight on a level plateau, and
all the spring like greenness, the cleanliness and order the
luxuriant vegetation of Dawson are outdone here. One walks in
a maze of delight along streets of tropic instead of
Arctic bloom. The log houses are set far back from
(09:31):
the streets, and the deep door yards are seas of
tremulous color through which neat paths lead to flower roofed homes. Cleanliness, color,
and perfume are everywhere delights, but on the lonely Yukon,
their unexpectedness is enchanting. In nineteen hundred, Fort Gibbon was
established here, and this post has the most attractive surroundings
(09:55):
of any in Alaska. Tanninaw is situated at the mouth
of the Tanninaw River, seventy five miles below rampart and
passengers for Fairbanks connect here with luxurious steamers for a
voyage of three hundred miles up the Tanninel. It is
a beautiful voyage and it ends at the most progressive
and metropolitan town of the North
Chapter forty six. The Yukon is a mighty and a
beautiful river, and its memory becomes more haunting and more
compelling with the passage of time. From the slender blue
stream of its source, it grows in its twenty three
hundred miles of wandering to the sea, to a width
of sixty miles at its mouth. In its great course,
(00:22):
it widens, narrows, and widens cuts through the foothills of
vast mountain systems, spreads over flats, makes many splendid sweeping curves,
and slides into hundreds of narrow channels around spruce covered islands.
It is divided into four great districts, each of which
has its own characteristic features. The valley extending from white
(00:46):
Horse to some distance below Dawson is called the Upper
Yukon or Upper Ramparts, the river having a width of
half a mile in a current of four or five
miles an hour, and the valley in this district being
from one to three miles in width. Following this are
the Great Flats, of which one hears from his first
(01:08):
hour on the Yukon, then the Ramparts, and last the
Lower Yukon or Lower River. The flats are vast lowlands,
stretching for two hundred miles along the river, with a
width and places of one hundred miles. Their very monotony
is picturesque and fascinates by its immensity. Countless islands are
(01:30):
constantly forming, appearing and disappearing in the whimsical changes of
the currents. Indian white and half breed pilots patrol these reaches,
guiding one steamer down and another up, and by constant travel,
keeping themselves fairly familiar with the changing currents. Yet even
(01:50):
these pilots frequently fail in their calculations. At Eagle, a
couple of gentlemen joined our party down the river on
the Campbell, expecting to meet this same day in return
on the famous Sarah, as famous as a steamer, as
is the island of the same name on the inland passage.
But they went on and on, and the Sarah came.
(02:10):
Not one day, two days, three days went by end
they were still with us. One was in the Custom's service,
and his time was precious. Whenever we approached a bend
in the river, they stood in the bow of the boat,
eagerly staring ahead. But not until the fourth day did
the cry of Sarah ring through our steamer. Hastening on deck,
(02:35):
we beheld her white end shining on a sand bar
where she had been lying for several days, notwithstanding the
fact that she had an experienced pilot aboard. Throughout the
flats lies a vast network of islands, estimated as high
as ten thousand in number, threaded by countless channels, many
of which have strong currents, while others are but still sluggish.
(02:59):
Sloughs mountains line the far horizon lines, but so far
away that they frequently appear as clouds of bluish pearl
piled along the sky. At other times, snow peaks are
distinctly visible. Cottonwoods, birches, and spruce trees cover the islands
so heavily that from the lower deck of a steamer
(03:20):
one would believe that he was drifting down the single
channel of a narrow river, instead of down one channel
of a river twenty miles wide. It is within the
Arctic Circle that the Yukon makes its sweeping bend from
its northwest course to the southwest, and here it is
entered by the Porcupine, twenty miles farther by the Chandler
(03:42):
and just above the ramparts by the dull. These are
the three important rivers of this stretch of the Yukon.
Many complain of the monotony of the flats, but for me,
there was not one dull or uninteresting hour on the Yukon.
In my quiet home on summer evenings, I can still
see the men taking soundings from the square bow of
(04:03):
our steamer, and hear their hoarse cries six feet starboard,
five feet port, seven feet starboard, five feet port, five
feet starboard, four feet port. At the latter cry, the
silent watchers of the pilot house came to attention, and
(04:25):
we proceeded under slow bell until a greater depth was
reached on the shores. As we swept past, we caught
glimpses of dark figures and Indian villages, or farther down
the river, primitive Eskimos settlements, and the stillness, the pure
and sparkling air, the untouched wilderness, the blue smoke of
(04:47):
a woodchopper's lonely fire. The wide spaces swimming over us
and on all sides of us, charmed our senses, as
only the elemental forces of nature can charm. One longs
to stay awake, always on this river to pace the
wide decks and be one with the solitude and the
stillness that are not of the earth as we know it,
(05:09):
but of God as we have dreamed of him. The
blue hills of the ramparts are seen long before entering them.
The valley contracts into a kind of canyon, from which
the rampart like walls of solid stone rise abruptly from
the water. The hills are not so high as those
of the upper ramparts, which bear marked resemblance to the lower,
(05:32):
And although many consider the latter more picturesque, I must
confess that I found no beauty below Dawson so majestic
as that above. Many of the hills here have a
rose colored tinge, like the hills of Lake Bennett. In places,
the river does not reach a width of half a
mile and is deep and swift. The shadows between the
(05:54):
high rock bluffs and pinnacled cliffs take on the mysterious
purple tones of twilight. Many of the hills are covered
with spruce, whose dark green blends agreeably with the gray
and rose color. The bends here are sharp, and many
at the rapids. The current is exceedingly rapid and dull.
Reported a fall of twelve feet to the half mile,
(06:16):
with the water running in sheets of foam over a
granite island in the middle of the stream. This was
on June first, eighteen sixty six. In August eighteen eighty three, Schwatka,
after many hours of anxiety and dread of the reputed rapids,
inquired of Indians and learned that he had already passed them.
(06:37):
They were not formidable at the time of our voyage August,
and it is only during high stages of water that
they present a bar to navigation. We reached Rampart at
six o'clock in the morning after ten and all this
is the loveliest place on the Yukon, its sparkling emerald
(06:58):
beauty shone under a silvery blue sky. There was a
long street of artistic log houses and stores on a
commanding bluff, up which paths wound from the water. Roofs
covered with earth and flowers carried out in brilliant bloom
over the porches added the characteristic Yukon touch, every door,
(07:20):
yard and window blazed with color. Narrow paths ran through
tall fireweed and grasses over and around the hill, each
path terminating like a winding lane in a pretty log
cabin home. There was an atmosphere of cleanliness, tidiness and
thrift not found in other settlements along the Yukon. Captain Mayo,
(07:42):
who with mc queston founded Rampart in eighteen seventy three,
still lives here. The two commercial companies have large stores
and warehouses, and residences were comfortably and even luxuriously furnished.
Rampart is two hundred and thirty miles below fort Yukon
and is about halfway between Dawson and the sea. It
(08:05):
has a population of four or five hundred people when
they are in from the mines, and almost as many
fighting hungry dogs. Its street winds and the buildings follow
its windings. Sometimes it stops all together and the buildings
stop with it. Then both go on again, and in
front of all the public buildings are clean, rustic benches
(08:28):
where one may sit and look to the rows about him.
The river here is half a mile wide, and on
its opposite shore the green fields of the Government experimental
station slope up from the water. Gold was discovered on
the New Creek, half a mile from town in eighteen
ninety five, and the camp is regarded as one of
(08:49):
the most even producers in Alaska. In nineteen o six,
despite an unusually dry season, the output of the district
was three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In the afternoon
of the same day, we reach Tananaw, which is, as
I have said, the most beautiful place on the Yukon.
(09:11):
It has a splendid sight on a level plateau, and
all the spring like greenness, the cleanliness and order the
luxuriant vegetation of Dawson are outdone here. One walks in
a maze of delight along streets of tropic instead of
Arctic bloom. The log houses are set far back from
(09:31):
the streets, and the deep door yards are seas of
tremulous color through which neat paths lead to flower roofed homes. Cleanliness, color,
and perfume are everywhere delights, but on the lonely Yukon,
their unexpectedness is enchanting. In nineteen hundred, Fort Gibbon was
established here, and this post has the most attractive surroundings
(09:55):
of any in Alaska. Tanninaw is situated at the mouth
of the Tanninaw River, seventy five miles below rampart and
passengers for Fairbanks connect here with luxurious steamers for a
voyage of three hundred miles up the Tanninel. It is
a beautiful voyage and it ends at the most progressive
and metropolitan town of the North
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