The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-11-10
Life in Sitka, Alaska.

prising grocer was empty.
Life in Sitka, Alaska.
Correspondence St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Nothing could be finer than the picture
that opened before us on the shining Sun
day morning when the steamship Idaho
wound her way between the little islands
in the harbor and fired resounding shot
point-blank against the echoing mountains
behind Sitka. The queer and out-of-the-
way capital of our latest Territory seemed
quite metropolis after the unbroken wild
erness we had been journeying through,
and the rambling collection Of weather
beaten and moss-covered buildings that
have survived from Russian days, and the
government buildings, in their coats of yell
low-b brown paint, smote us with sense of
urban vastness and importance. The castle
frowned from its rocky height as castles
are supposed to DO, and the 1920 inhabi-
tants Of the town, more than half of whom
are Indians, gave Immediate signs of life
before the echoes of the cannon had ceased
ringing on the air At a first look it wears
the air and dignity of town with histo-
ry, and can reflect upon the brilliant, good
old days of Russian rule, to which fifteen
years of American occupancy have only
given more lustre by contrast. When Ba-
rauoff founded the town of old Sitka, in
1899, the United States knew nothing of
this end of the world, and few of its people
learned of the Indians numbering the in
A new site was chosen for town, and the
first buildings for the settlement of New
Archangel were erected in 1904. In 1882
Baron Wrangell moved the capital from
the island of Kodiak to Sitka, or New
Archangel, and then followed the brilliant
Russian regime that closed ON the 18th of
October, 1868, when the territory was for
mally transferred to the United States in
consideration of the sum of 81 100000 in
gold. In all the vast territory of SIT 800
square miles there were but 10000 inhab-
itants, and not one-tenth of them were
white. The withdrawal of the Russian
Governor and his miniature court, the civil
officers, the military garrison, and the naval
feet, left Sitka deserted village, with the
grass growing higher and higher in its
streets with every year that goes over its
head, until it has now become picturesque
in its decay and melancholy in its ruin and
abandonment.
With the most beautiful harbor in the
world, the glories of its sea and shore have
been unsung, and bay full of little wooded
islands and circle of mountain peaks that
rise straight from the water await the new
generation of poets and painters. A de-
serted castle crowns the rocky headland
and looks down upon the scattered town,
and one street meanders from the landing
wharf to the square around the Church of
st. Michael, and then spreads out into a
network of branches and by-ways. From
the church main by-way follows the curv-
ing bay for two miles down shore, and as
a relic of Russian rule this dry and gray
elled walk is the most appreciated by resi-
dents, tourists, and exiled officers of our
navy As the one promenade in Alaska,
it has unique fame, and after two weeks
on ship-board we were properly thankful
for the chance of long walk that did not
90 over stony beaches or miry paths sunk
deep in the heart of the rank forest growth.
A ''blarney stone" of mysterious origin and
many legends lies beside this pathway at
the edge of the town, and many Russian
maidens and skeptical strangers have kissed
its smooth top.
The castle, the church, the old govern
ment barracks, and the custom house con-
stitute the public buildings and sightseeing
places of Sitka and row of howitzers at
the foot of the castle steps and before the
barracks give certain air of Importance to
what presumably stands for the heart of
the city The castle, where the Romanofs,
Maugells, Kupriasoffs, Makstuofs, and
other stately Russians held sway, is now
untenanted, save by the signal officer, who
keeps his whirligigs and instruments in the
tower and lives in one of the lower rooms.
The castle is built of heavy cedar logs and
planks in a way to fit it for a fortress, and
with care and occupancy would last for
centuries. No banner hangs from its outer
walls or streams from the roof, and the
empty rooms, with their deep windows, tall
porcelain stoves, and quaint brass chande-
liers and latches, are just the habitatlons
for historical and aristocratic ghosts. Dc
casionally the officers of the men-of-war get
up entertainments in the extemporized
theatre on the upper floor, and the old
drawing room of the governors wives is the
g Ill = lo holls and ravalc fbat tho
high society of Sitka indulges in. Other
wise the ghosts and the rats and the signal
officer have it to themselves; and there is
the ghost of beautiful Russian princess
who still haunts this deserted castle. Like
a well-behaved ghost, the princess comes
out at the midnight hour. She wears long,
trailing robes of black, and her forehead,
her neck and wrists are flashing with dia-
monds. She wrings her beautiful white
hands and wanders with sorrowful mien
from room to room, and leaves faint per-
fume as of wild roses where she passes.
Innumerable young officers from the men
of-war have nerved up their spirits and
gone to spend solitary night in the castle,
but none have yet held authentic converse
with the beautiful spirit and learned the
true story of her unresting sorrow. By
tradition the lady in black was the daugh-
ter of one of the old governors. On her
wedding night she disappeared from the
ball room in the midst of the festivities,
and after long search was found dead in one
of the small drawing rooms. Being forced
to marry against her will, one belief was
that she voluntarily took poison, while
another version ascribes the deed to an un-
happy lover; while, altogether, the tale of
this Lucia of the Northwest isles gives just
the touch of sentimental interest to the
castle of the old Russian governors.
Bonanza Floods new palace, to be erected
on the north side of California street, San
Francisco, will be a two-story- land basement