El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-02-26

sian prosperity it frequently had mill
lion dollars worth of furs stored away
| in il. At the time of the sale to the
| United States it contained 10000 seal
skins. each OF which then sold for less
| than SO apiece.
A little farther up the street is a
! log building covered with the moss of
! many decades, and still farther away,
near the Russian cemetery. is a round
! Russian blockhouse which bears the
marks Of the wars the Russians had
with the indians.
Has Large schools and Churches.
! The Sitka of today has a number of
| fine churches and. large missionary
/ .chool There is ar Episcopal church
| built Of stone, with the residence Of
! the bishop of Alaska behind it, and
! there are the large buildings of the
Sheldon Jackson school, belonging to
the Presbyterians. The latter are a
half dozen in number. and they include
Industrial departments and dormitories
for both indian boys and indian girls
The schools have between one hundred
and two hundred pupils. representing
the chief tribes of southeastern Alas
ka- The children are clean ana Wen
dressed and the school has done a great
work with its practical educational
methods.
Has Russian Cathedral.
The most prominent church builolng
in Sitka IS the Russian cathedral IL
stands at the end of the main street
coming up from the wharves, on the
site OF a church that was built here
more than 100 years ago, when BaranoI
was governor Of Russian America. me
present building dates far back IN the
Russian occupation, but It is in use
today and has quite a large congre-
cation presided over by the Russian
dean Of Alaska. I met this man dur
ing my visit to the church, and at my
request he put on his robe and allowed
me to photograph him, stanoins IN
front OF the altar. His name is the
Very Rev. Amphilohy. He is straight:
stockv man Of perhaps 40 years OF
age. He has long brown hair that
flows down upon his shoulders, and
heavy brown beard that half covers
his chest
Loses Old Time Importance.
OF late years Sitka has lost Its I'M
portance in the opening UP and de-
velopment Of Alaska. The removal OF
the capital to Juneau took away about
all the United States offices. and there
is now no more quite town in the ter
ritory.
The place IS away from the main
lines of travel, and II is only reached
by a small steamer. or by the tourist
boats in the summer, which bring
sightseers here on account Of the beauty
and historic interest. It is well worth
a visit. It is one Of the scenic spots
Of the world, and il will always be i'm
bOA AdhN III lAit AAoNcA1 anu - fNNAANSA-7 ~
the territory.
The history o. Alaska covers Just
about $50 years, and, roughly speaking.
Il may be divided into three periods
Of 80 years each. The first so was the
period OF exploration and discovery. The
next so was that of the Russian occu-
patton and the last 40 years covers the
time since we purchased the territory.
Discovered in 18th Century.
Alaska was discovered by the Rus
slams during the 18th century. but very
little was known about II until almost
the beginning Of the 18th. 1t was in
1711 that Peter Popoff sailed from ST.
IBERIA around through Boring strait and
brought back rumors that a continent
existed on the other side Of Asia. Sew
enteen years later, Peter the Great Of
Russia who had heard OF these stories.
sent Vitus Boring, a Danish navigator
who had become Russian, out from
Kamchatka to find out II they were
true. BerinR went through Bering
strait, but It must have been foggy. for |
he did not see the American shore or
even the Diomede Islands. which lie |
half way in the strait. The strait is /
only so miles wide and on clear days |
It is possible to look from America to /
Asia So he came back and reported /
that he had found nothing.
He tried IT nine years later with /
n similar result and il was not until /
1741 that he saw the American conti- l