The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-11-17

Mr. John w. Chapman, the special agent
appointed for the Yukon District. mad all
ready proceeded down the river to st. Mi
chael, together with most Of the traders and
miners, who annually 60 to meet the incOm-
i ng supply steamer. AS had no means OF
ascertaining when that steamer would ar
rive and when Mr.. Chapman'S return might
be expected. l concluded to proceed TO the
Roman Catholic mission at kozyrevSky in
search of somebody to undertake the census
work in that region. This was little jaunt
of 100 miles up stream, which was, however,
accomplished quite rapidly, it being the
first fine weather had met with in my tray
els thus far. At the Mission of the Holy
Cross, conducted by Jesuit fathers and three
sisters of the order of st. Anne, ] was re-
ceived with cordial hospitality. Every as
sistance in the line of my investigation vas
freely offered, but l failed to induce the
only father then present to accept the ap-
pointment. OF the wonderful success
achieved by these toilers in the wilderness.
in the way of educating and ciyilizins saw
| age children within period OF less than
| two years, l shall speak at length IN an
| other place.
Failing in my object there, I was obliged
| to undertake the journey to SAINT Michael,
some 400 miles distant. At the Russian mis-
| sion, the priest of which had also gone down
! to the coast, sent back my paddlerS from
| the Kuskokyim and hired others to take me
| to my next objective point. On this part OF
| the river | had also been unable to obtain
| any supplies beyond a little tea and sugar,
| kindly given 10 me by Father Robaut out OF
| his scanty store, aud some loaves Of bread
| baked for me by the sisters (the first of that
| luxury l had tasted for nearly month";.
EN- ROUTE TO THE COAST.
The journey 10 the coast led me through
| the vast expanse of fiat tundra" or
morass, interspersed with thousands of
water courses, Which line the banks Of the
many estuaries of the Yukon River. Here
| there is no population. Nothing could be
! purchased, and occasionally the intervals
between meals were uncomfortably pro-
| lOnged. At last the coast was reached, and
| after skirting the north and east coast of
| Saint Michael Island fof nearly day | ar
| rived at the only seaport Of all that north
| western region. | found here a large assem-
| blage OF miners and traders, numbering
| nearly 200, who, after having been reduced
| to the last sack of flour, had just been made
| happy by the arrival of a steamer with sup
| plies. John W. Chapman, whose commits
| sion | carried with me, was here, awaiting
| supplies for his mission. located at
| Anvik, on the Upper Yukon. He asked
| for two days to consider the natter
| and then decided adversely, declining
| the appointment. He said that he acted
! altogether upon conscientious grounds, be-
| ing of the opinion that be could not serve
| two masters. This action Of Mr.. Chapman
| left me in difficult position. Such men as
| / found assembled there were not the mate
| rial wanted for our work. tried again to
| obtain assistance from the various mission
| aries who had gathered there, including the
| Jesuit fathers. but without success. Finally
| heard that the bOok-keeper of the Alaska
| Commercial Company, who had resided in
| the country for eleven years, was about to
| resign his position, and as l was personally
| acquainted with him and knew his excellent
| qualifications, at once secured his services.
| Upon the following day Mr.. Greenfield took
| the oath Of Office and entered upon his dp-
| ties. So much time having elapsed in my
| search for competent special agent found
| it necessary to secure additional assistance
| for some outlying districts. The Rev. Zach
| arius Belk0ff OF the Russian mission of lkog-
| mute consented TO take the census of the
| Lower Yukon river and n few tributaries,
| aud on the same date | succeeded in per-
| suading Rev. AXel L. karson of the Swed-
| ish mission a Unakleet, on Norton Sound,
| to attend to the census work in his district.
| Mr.. Greenfield at the same time set out by
| steamer to ascend the Yukon as far as the
boundary line and to work both OF It's banks
and the tributaries, proceeding down stream
by canoe
THE OoNALAsKA DISTRICT.
My final success in obtaining assistance in
this direction left me free to proceed TO
Oonalaska district, for which purpose ! Sc
cured passage ON the Alaska Company's
steamer st. Paul After leaving my bag
| gagc.behind on the Kuskokvm and Yukon
| rivers Tor want of INSPIRATION, | was
| obliged to fit myself out anew at Saint
| Michael, in order to appear respectable
among civilized beings; but here nothing
| could be purchased except some rather gro
! tesque miners cOStu mes, with which | was
| Obliged TO lie satisfied. Our passage to
! Oonalaska occupied seven days, the steamer
| being detained by continuous fOgs. On my
| arrival AT this point | was pleased to find
| Mr. james Finnegan, special agent for the
| OOnalaska district. He had begun his work
| at Unga Island, and had already made his
| way westward TO the Aleutian Islands. After
| days consultation with Mr.. Finnegan,
| and having given him Instructions for his
| further guidance, | made arrangements with
a small schooner of ten tons burthpn to
| take me to tie Island of X dlak. Up to
this time | Lad received 10 news of the
| special agent for the kodiak district hay-
| it is very large district L nat
uraliy felt anxious about 1t. The
| voyage of between 700 and 500 miles over
| Stormy sea in so small craft was decidedly
uncomfortable, as there was no place to
| either walk or stand; and for period of
three days we were .'hoye to" in violent
| gale from the northeast | made landings
| at BekovSky and Sand Point, finding every
where evidences of Mr.. Finnegan's work.
| On the 18th of August | finally reached the
| settlement OF karIuE, on the island of 10
diak, the site of the largest fisheries of
| Alaska. and perhaps of the world. Here |
| found that Mr.. Frank Lowell, the special
| agent appointed for the Kodiak District,
| was at work, but not having received his
schedules until the middle of June be was
| still on the coast of the mankind of the
Alaska peninsula. As the season was rap
idly drawing to its close l set to work to
secure additional assistance. After making
the necessary arrangements l secured pass
age Tor myself to Prince William Sound on
the Alaska Commercial Company's steamer
Bertha. There | visited the cunning estab-
lishments and convinced myself that MeSsrS.
Guile and Fisher were Doing their work In
a satisfactory manner. L then secured
passage on small schooner for the purpose
OF visiting the west coast OF Prince William
Sound, and thence TO proceed to Cooks
Inlet and back IT, 10 lax.
SLOW PROGRESS.
Owing to succession of Gains and
contrary winds l was obliged to accom-
plish nearly the whole journey in skin
canoes, leaving the schooner at anchor;
but i succeeded in reaching every
point and convincing myself that the
labOrs OF my assistants were progressing
satisfactorily. In all these districts the
amount of labor was greatly increased for
the reasons that packages OF schedules
which l had left to be forwarded tn various
points had failed TO reach their destna-
ton. / was therefore Obliged to purchase
such paper as | could get at any price that
the traders chose to ask, and to have sched-
ules ruled by hand, III order to proceed
with the work Such mishap as this
could occur only in a country entirely de-
VOID of facilities, such as that part of
Alaska is at the present day. During the
whole time OF my journey throughout
Alaska, from the month of March to Oeto-
Der inclusive, not parcel of mail matter
reached me, though | had appointed several
places to which it was to be forwarded As
an example of how much such state of
affairs interfereS with the working Of an
undertaking such as mine, shall only men
ton the fac: that a large package OF sched-
uies, vouchers and letters mailed me from
the island of Unga by Mr. Finnegan on
one of the Alaska Commercial C0npany's
steamers was miScarried to ST. Michael,
where luckily found it on my visit to that
place, which was not included in my origi-'
nal programme. Every package and parcel
OF this matter was plainly addressed to my
Office in San Francisco. IVAN PETRoFF.
Hon. Robert p. Porter. Superintendent OF Census
sinele-T x Society.
The Single-tax Society held its regular
Sunday meeting in Pythian Castle, 909h
Market street, last night, at which the fol-
lowing programme WAS presented to full