The Wrangell sentinel., 1930-03-06
Old Russian
 BlOCkhOuSe
 Gift College
lFarthest North collegianl


 tion of western Alaska. The gift is log bloekhouse which formerly stood at Kolmakof or Kolmakovsky on the Kuskokwim. The donor, MT. A. Walsh of Crooed creek, merits the thanks of the college for his rare gift. It was necessary to wreck the house, label all the parts for re- assembling and get them to the nearest boat landing for shipment to the college, all of which work Mir. Walsh did. The building is now on the campus. ready to be erected in the spring as soon as a proper foundation can be laid. The house is octagonal and has four rifle ports and a door. The floor was so heavy, water-soaked and de- cayed that it could not be saved. A better description cannot be given at this time due to the fact that the house cannot be conveniently measured in it's present condition.
 According to H. H. Bancroft's History of Alaska" several im- portant expeditions were under taken during the second term of the Russian-American Company's existence. In 1929, the company's governor, Chistiakoff, ordered an inland exploration to the north of the Nushagak river. The expedition was in charge of Vassilaief. One of the party, a creole, was Alexander Kolmakof. The explorers started from Kodiak Island and crossed the Alaska Peninsula to the Nushagak. This river they ascended as far as the lake region and then crossed to the Kuskokwim. The year 1929 ap- ears to be the date of the discovery of the Kuskokwim. It was on this expedition that Kolmakof selected the site for the trading post which he built, probably two years later, though the date of building is yet certain. The furs received on the exploration were of such value that the company determined to estab fish a permanent station in the in terior. Natives told the Russians that the portage from the Kuskok- vim basin to the Yukon basin was short and not at all difficult.
 Kolmakof returned to the KUsko- kwim in 1881. With him was his guide and an interpreter, Ivan Lu- keen, known as Creole Luke" In his Our Arctic Province" Henry W. Elliott has it that Ivan Lukeen was a creole born in California of Russian and Spanish parents, and was educated at Sitka. While sta toned at the fort at Nushagak he acted as interpreter and guide for Vassileief before acting in the same capacity for Kolmakof Elliott men tions that Lukeen left the Nusha- gak fort and ascended the Nushagak river, made portage to the Holimikuk (Hoholitna), tribu- tary of the Kuskokwim by means of which he reached the latter riv- CT. After floating ninety miles down the Kuskokwim, Lukeen landed and built the blockhouse. Elliott does not mention Kolmakofs having a part in the building of the original blockhouse.
 MT. Walsh says that the building is the oldest on the river, and that it was bcilt by Kolmakof and Gre ole Luke and was called Luke's Fort It first stood on the other side of the river from Hoffman's half way between Hoffman's and Kol- makoysky.
 Bancroft says that soon after Bar on von Wrangell succeeded Chistia- kof as governor of the Russian-Am- erican company, the new official concluded that overland communi- cation could be established between Boring (Kakutat) Bay and Norton Sound. A creole, Andrei Glazonof, was to take charge of the expedi- tion, which set out in January of 1883 Glazonof had been instructed in the use of astronomical instru- ments and was familiar with vari- ous Innuit dialects. In lodging hos tile natives the expedition ran out of food and endured severe priva- tions. The party came into contact with two natives who had been bap- tized by Kolmakof in 1882. Other natives asked Glazonof to baptize them but he refused on the grounds that he had not the authority to do so. Glazonof later met party of natives who had been to the block house to visit Kolmakof but found that he had gone to Nushagak, leaving Creole Luke in the block