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

nent and discovered the Shumagin
! Islands At that time he anchored near
: the mouth Of the Copper river and went
J on back through the Aleutans to the
| Island Of Boring, belonging to Siberia.
] He was wrecked on that island and
/ died there of scurYy. Some of his
| sailors made their way back to the
mainland and they carried the story
/ or the existence of Alaska and the
wonderful furs of the Aleutians.
Fame as Fur Land Spreads.
From that time the Russians made
many expeditions to the Aleutians. They
| brought back furs, and the reports went
out over the world of the great wealth
OF furs in the northern Pacific. This
attracted the attention Of other cOun-
tries and other naviEators and there
were a number OF exploring tours made
by Spaniards and Englishmen which
| did much toward the opening of our
great land at the north.
II was in 1774 and 1775 that Juan
Perez was sent by the king Of Spain
from Mexico to the north. lie reached
Dixon entrance, our International
boundary, in 1774. and the wear follow
ing came TO Sitka sound. Capt Cook
sailed from Plymouth. England, for this
part Of the world at just about the time
that jefferson was writing the Decla-
ration OF Independence It was he
who established the fact that there was
no land connection between America
and Asia and he surveyed a part OF the
coast outlining the chief features
through more than IL degrees of lati-
tude. He then went south to Hawaii,
Wnere he was killed by the natives.
Later still there were other explora-
tons by the Russians, who formed
trading companies and there were in
dependent fur traders from England
ana from our Atlantic coast There
were five ships from New England that
came to Alaska in the latter part Of
me iSth century to buy furs, and ono
OF these, commanded by Capt. Gray
LOOK MS cargo of furs to Canton. in
Cniha' ana there got a cargo OF tea,
which he carried on around the Cane
OF Good Hope to Boston, making the
tirst voyage of an American vessel
around the world He landed in Boston
August 10, 1890.
Try to Control the Pacific.
IN the meanwhile the Russians had
been gradually making their claims to
AIaska. ana along about the beginning
OF the last century they made treaties
with England which conceded to them
the Alaskan coast down to "a degrees
40 minutes Of north latitude, including
the whole OF the Alaska that we bought
from them. Al that time II IS said
that Russia had a great ambition to
control the Pacific, and that ii was her
aim TO grab the whole of California and
the Hawaiian Islands as well
Baranof, the man who founded SitlIa,
had fur trading stations as far south
~ where san fTan cisco now is. ana
he actually owned the farm which later
came Into the hands of John Suter,
where gold was first discovered in Cali
fornia- 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.
II 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. control
ing them with an iron hand. He was
small in stature, but he had the quail
ties Of Napoleon, and il was due to his
management and organization that RUS
STA got such a foOthold on the CONT
nent He had many fights not only
with the indians but also with his own
people, and at one time. when a con-
spiracy occurred and one Of the colo
nists attempted to assassinate him, he
grabbed hold of the mans hand hold ,
ing the weapon and then strangled him
to death with his own hands.
Indians Massacre Russians
It was in 1893 that he moved his head
to Sitka, and three years later,
while he was absent, the indians mas
scored the Russians, killing all Of the
officers and 30 men. Only five Rus
SLAMS escaped. The indians then built
a fort Of logs and defied the Rus