Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-08-30

yard at Resurrection bay, on Prince William
sound. About this time the first missionaries
of the Greek church arrived, and missions
were established at Kodiak, Ounalaska and
Spruce Island. The next year Baranoff ex-
tended his operations and trading posts to
Yakutat bay. Following this was the con-
solidation of all Russian interests in North
America, giving rise to the Russian America
company, which was chartered the year that
Baranof founded Sitka, 1899. Under this
company, chartered by the crown, patron
led by nobility, sustained by consolidated
capital and led by the energy of Baranof,
new explorations and settlements inevitably
followed.
In 1867 negotiations were opened for the
purchase of Alaska by the United States.
The territory was transferred by Russia for
S7,2OO,0OO, the treaty being ratified by the
United States senate on May 20, 1867, and
Gen. Lowell H.. Rousseau, a Union general of
distinction, was appointed commissioner to
take possession. This he did on Oct IS of
the same year. The headquarters of the
military and collecting district were fixed at
Sitka.
1t is claimed by those who hold to the
''closed sea theory that when Alaska was
coded to the United States, the line of de-
markation determining the western boundary
of Behring's sea made it a Mare Clausum,
from the s-outhernmost point on Prince of
Wales Island to a point near Alton Island of
the Aleutian grant, thus making a complete
close. This imaginary line of demarkation
runs a course of about 900 miles from north
east TO southwest. The whole area of Behr-
ing's sea, including Norton's sound and Bris-
tol bay, is about 100000 square miles The
st. George and st. Paul Islands, where most
of the seal are captured, are about 700 miles
north of the Aleutian peninsula and 500
miles west of the main line of coast The seal
are frequently ound now several hundred
miles from shore, and are gradually working
their way to the northward-
An excellent summary of the events lead
ing up to the present condition of the Alas
kan seal fisheries was given by Sir Lionel
Sackville West-afterward Lord Sackville-
late British minister to the United States, In
September, 1856, to LORD Addesleigh, then
English secretary of state for foreign affairs:
The transfer of the territory of Alaska
to the United States government, in compli-
ance with the terms of the treaty between
the two governments, included the transfer
of all the Russian government property,
such as public buildings at Sitka, governors
house, custom house, hospital and wharves,
etc. There were, however, certain buildings
preserved as the property of the Russian
Fur company, and as Gen. Rousseau, the
United States commissioner, could not, in
his official capacity, take any active or open
part in its disposal, Prince Matsukoff, the
Russian governor, concluded a bargain with
Mr.. Hutchinson, who accompanied Gen.
Rousseau as his private secretary.
This bargain included all the property of
the Russian Fur company and the American
officers stationed at Sitka, who claimed that
they were entitled to a share of the spoils.
By virtue of this bargain with Prince Mat
sukoff, who was governor Of the company,
Mr.. Hutchinson proposed to take possession
of the fur trade of Alaska and the seal isl.
ands, and left for Victoria, British Columbia,
and San Francisco to make the necessary ar
rangementS At the former place he met
with a Mr.. Kohl, owner of a British steamer