The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-08-07
The Fur Trade Of Alaska.

Mexico and Central America, dominated
the Pacific and enriched herself with
tho commerce of the Indies. In vain
England and other powers sought tor
some other route into the Pacific than
the long and dangerous one around
Cape Horn. There existed at that time
q general belief among geographers
that from Hudson's Bay or the North
Sea, as the Arctic Ocean was then
called, and which was considered easily
accessible from the Atlantic, there
must be passage into the Pacific,
which was known as the Straits of
Anian. Diligent search on the Allan
tic side, and occasional voyages in the
Pacific, failed to reveal such q geo.
graphical feature. At last, in 1928,
Russian expedition under Behring
sailed through the straits which now
bear his name, without being aware
that they were out of the open sea.
In 1741 Behring, after a long voyage
in search of the American coast, sighted
the snowy crest of this giant peak, the
first glimpse the great explorer had of
the continent of America, and namedit
St. Elias. With his crew afflicted with
scurvy, engendered by improper food
and exposure during their long voyage,
and himself failing rapidly in health,
Behring sailed for home without ex-
ploring the discovered land. For
months the vessel wandered aimlessly
about until it was wrecked upon a
small island of almost barren rock
rising abruptly from the water. Here
the crew passed the winter, subsisting
upon fish and the fur-bearing seals and
other amphibious animals they were
4 able to capture. On this bleak isle,
where the roar of the surf beating
against its rocky cliffs never ceases, the
! spirit of Behring took it's fight. He
and many of his afflicted crew
were buried there by their
surviving comrades before the
return of spring and sunshine
gave them renewed vigor and hope.
Constructing then rude craft from the
timbers of their wrecked vessel, the few
survivors launched it upon the un-
known waters, and, turning the bow to
the westward, finally reached the Bay
of Avatscha. from which they had
started year before. With. them they
took the skins of the animals they had
slain, using them for clothing and
blankets. These proved to be very val
liable, leading to the dispatch of several
vessels to the islands of the Aleutian
group in search of more. Thus began
the fur trade to the Pacific. The little
sea-girt island is known to the present
day as Behring's Isle. This was fol
lowed by the establishment of stations
for the fur trade on the islands and at
various points on the mainland. These
furs were chiefly procured by purchase
from the natives, and were all sent by
vessel to the town of PetropavloVski,
in Kamtschatka, from which they were
forwarded by dog sledges to Irkutsk,
distance of $3.50 miles. From there
some were sent south 1900 miles to
| Pekip, China, and the others were for
warded across $3.50 miles of dreary
waste to St. Petersburg. The poorest
nayigators and least scientific explorers
of the Pacific we're the Russians and
Spaniards. One English voyage was
worth dozen such as they frequently
made. Russians occupied the coasts
and islands of Alaska thirty years, en-
| tertaining the belief that from Mount
| st. Elias westward and nortwestward
to the coast of Asia was vast sea of
islands; while the Spaniards, after sew
eral voyages from Mexico to Alaska,
were unable to draw a chart of the
coast line with the least approach to
accuracy. 1t was left for the celebrated
Captain Cook, who was dispatched by
England in search of the Straits of
Anian, to demonstrate to the Russians
| in 1878 that Alaska was vast north
western projection of the continent,
fringed with thousands of islands great
and small, and to enlighten the
Spaniards upon the character of our
coast line, though only following the
course pursued by their own vessels .
few years before
The Alaskan fur trade was concen-
trated in thes hands of the Russian
American Trading Company by royal
charter in 1871, and was expanded
gradually until there were forty sta
tions established on the islands and
mainlands, with headquarters at New
Archangel, or Sitka, as it is now called.
The charter was renewed in 1889, and
expired finally in 1868, and four years
later Alaska was purchased by the
United States. In 1870 the Govern
ment leased to the Alaska Commercial
Company the exclusive privilege of
catching fur seals in the new territory,
confining them to the two islands of St.
Paul and ST. George, and limiting the
number of seals to be killed annually
to 100000. This lease was for twenty
years, and has six years yet to run.
The yearly rental is $50, 900 and 80 tax
upon each seal taken, not enough to
pay in the twenty years the purchase
price, though the company has realized
that sum many times over. The North
west Trading Company has stations at
various points, where are collected
furs of all kinds, and where they are
largely engaged in packing fish and
manufacturing oil. The fur-bearing
animals that abound, such as the wolf,
fox, beaver, ermine, marten, otter,
squirrel, bear, and the numberless
multitude of fur seals that swarm about
the rocks and islands of the coasts, fur
nish an annual supply of fur that is ex-
ceedingly valuable. 1t was at first
feared that the destruction of 100000
seals annually would result in their
practical determination, but observa.
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