The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-11-22
or; also that it is not every person who
should be entrusted with the care of an
orphan asvlum.-N. Y.#WOrRd. .Sz.<.:.z :
Our Alaska Investment.

II A decade has elapsed since the double
crested eagle flew from the dreary length
and chilly breadth ofAlaska, and during
that time the intense materialistic eyes
of our tellow-citizens have been keenly,
scrutnizing the rugged land, the timber
thickets, the furry beasts, and dnny yisi-
tants that are purely and essentially Al.
askan, with the undisguised determine
ton to strike in at once where it would
pay. They have struck thus far once,and
only once. =.
Few understand, or understood, the
underlying motives that prompted the
purchase Of Russian America; tor the
truth is that the idea was suggestion at
first on the part of Seward, and the pur-
pose arose within the distinguished Sec
retary's mind by asudden cogn,zance of.
the following facts: The charter of the
old Russian American company ex-
pired in 1862: The company was deeply
in debt, and the government was hesita
ting over the ACCESSIBILITY OF renewing the
lease to- the same company and under the
same terms; and while hesitat,ng in this
way from year to year, a company Of
American merchants in San Francisco
made, through the Russian consul there,
overtures tor the purchase of the exck1-
sive right of trade in Alaska for a stated
term Of years. .
Baron Stocked, Russian minister at
Washington, had occasion soon to call
Stewards attention to this matter, and
then the idea entered the secretary's
mind of purchasing the country out and
out; for, he reasoned, if few of our trad:
els find the enterprise of practically own
ing and controlling that vast area one so
simple and profitable, why should not the
United States government at once possess
itself of Russian America, since it evil
IDENTIFY begs for an owner? And, acting
on this logic, Mr.. Seward moved prompt
ly with negotiation, and found a willing
coadjutor in the form of the Russian min
ister; and we all know how, in storm of
mingled appreciation and lively opposi-
ton, the treaty was finally ratified.
And so we took Alaska ten years ago
just as big boy takes a strange toy, full
of great satisfaction, and fired with an in
tense desire to investigate its inner work
ings, and, like the boy we have made the
examination, and we have laid the toy
aside. How We pitied the ignorance Of
our Russian friends who declared in re-
ply to our call for information regarding
its natural resources, that they had been
SO engrossed in the one idea of getting
furs that they really ibid not know
of anything else;" and after ten
seasons Of careful inquiry, we find
too, that we to-day "don't know of any,
thing else"
However. though we have lost the wild
apples of Sitka. and have failed to see the
simmer Of golden fields of corn at Ko-
diak, yet we have much to please and far
more to interest us in Alaska. 1t is par
adise for the naturalists, happy hunting
ground for the ethHologist, a new and
boundless field for the geologist, and the
physical phenomena of its climate are
something wonderful to contemplate. It
is, and will be for years to come, a per-
feet treasure trove for these gentlemen
but alas! it bids fair from what we
know, never to be treasure trove for the
miner or the agriculturist. -Rarper's
| Monthly.