Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-27

a great ambition to control the Pacific,
and that it was her aim to grab the
whole of California and the Hawaiian
Islands as well. Baranof, the man who
founded sitka. had fur trading stations
as far south as where San Francisco
now is, and he actually owned the
farm which later came into the hands
of John Suter. where gold was first dis
covered in California. He went to the
Hawaiian Islands and tried to make
treaties for the car with some of the
kings there. and carried presents with
that in view.
It was Baranof who established the
first Russian colony at Kodiak. That
was eight years before our National
Capital was moved from Philadelphia
to Washington. Among the settlers
were a number of convicts, of whom he
made fur-traders and farmers, con-
trolling them with an iron hand. He
was small in stature, but he had the
qualities of a Napoleon, and it was due
to his management and organization
that Russia got such a foothold on the
continent. He had many fights not
only with the Indians but also with
his own people, and at one time, when
a conspiracy occurred and one of the
colonists attempted to assassinate him,
he grabbed hold of the mans hand
holding the weapon and then strangled
him to death with his own hands.
1t was in 1899 that he moved his head
quarters to Sitka, and three years later,
while he was absent, the Indians mas
sacred the Russians. killing all of the
officers and thirty men. Only five Rus
slams escaped. The Indians then built
a fort of logs here and defled the Rus
SLAMS, but Baranof came back with a
gunboat and starved the Indians into
submission. Before they left the fort
they killed their children and dogs.
and when Baranof landed he found the
only live occupant was a single old
woman.
Baranof then moved the site Of Sitka
eight miles, to where the town now Is.
and he erected the great log buildings.
many of which were here when we
took possession. 1t was about the time
he came to Sitka that the Russian Fur
Company was formed. This was a mo-
nopoly backed by the government. the
car and the empress and many of the
nobility being among the stockholders.
Baranof continued to manage the terri
tory until 1917, when, through mis-
representation and underhand political
work. he was deposed. He left Sitka
and died on his way home at Batavia.
Java, in 1919.
Alaska continued to belong to Rus
STA from the death of Baranof until
1857. During that time much of the
coast was explored, the Yukon river
was opened up as far as the mouth of
the Tanana by Lieut.. Zagoskin and
Kotzebue went through Boring strait
and discovered Kotzebue sound, on the
Arctic ocean north of the Seward pc
ninsula. The delta Of the Kuskokwim
was pretty we'll known and the south
ern coast, including the Panhandle, the
Gulf OF Alaska, the Alaskan peninsula
and the Aleutian Islands. were ex.
plored.
Complications. however. were aris-
ing as to the territory with the Brit
ish, who, under the Hudson's Bay Com
pany, were pushing their trading sta
lions from the Mackenzie river on to
the Yukon. and Russia became anxious
lest the territory should fall into the
hands of Great Britain. At the time Of
the Crimean war it offered to sell US