In August, 1880, the writer was ordered by the Navy Department to proceed to Sitka, Alaska, and relieve Commander L.A. Beardslee, U.S. Navy, in command of the sloop-of-war Jamestown, then stationed at that place. The Jamestown had been hurriedly fitted out at Mare Island Navy Yard, in the spring of 1879, no steamer being then available for the duty, and sent to Sitka to preserve order among the Indians, and to prevent threatened conflicts between them and the white residents and traders and miners scattered about that portion of the territory.
From the impossibility of the Jamestown's cruising about the tortuous channels and sounds of Southeast Alaska, she remained quietly moored in the inner harbor of Sitka during the entire period of her service on the station, small detachments of officers and men being moved from point to point, as found necessary, by means of the steam launches with which the ship had been supplied when fitted out for that special service.
On reporting for the duty assigned, it was soon found that much more was involved than the simple command of a vessel of war, the commander of the Jamestown representing in himself the whole machinery of government in the territory, so far at least as affording protection to the lives and property of citizens was concerned—something very foreign to the ordinary routine work of a naval officer in time of peace. The only guides for my action were a copy of the letter of general instructions from the Navy Department to my predecessor, authorizing him to take any steps that he might consider necessary for the preservation of good order in the territory, and his various reports from time to time of his actions, all of which had received the full approval of the Department.
At this time Alaska was absolutely without any form of local government, and was in a condition almost as free from the operation of civil law as the interior of Africa. Our Congress had, since the cession of the territory by the Russian government in 1867, been content with making the whole of Alaska a single district for the collection of duties on imports, with a Collector of Customs at Sitka and deputies at Fort Wrangell and Kadiack Island, extending over the territory certain sections of the Act of 1835, governing intercourse with Indian tribes; these sections, however, related only to the introduction and sale of spirits and breech-loading fire-arms and ammunition, and authorized a contract with the Alaska Commercial Company of San Francisco by which that company was granted for a term of years the exclusive privilege of taking seals on the Prybilof Islands in Behring's Sea. The terms of the treaty of cession guaranteed to Russian subjects, electing to remain in the territory after the change of nationality, all the rights and privileges of American citizens, and the undisturbed possession of their property, but no steps had been taken to secure to them those rights; no courts had been established, nor had any means been provided for the acquisition or transfer of titles to property.
Alaska was for several years after the cession a district of the Military Division of the Pacific, with a portion of a regiment of artillery garrisoning Sitka and one or two other points; but this form of control was abandoned in 1876, and a period of nearly three years elapsed with no exhibition of force, beyond the occasional visit of a revenue cutter, until the administration of affairs was assumed by the Navy Department in 1879.
As illustrating the situation of affairs, the following case may be cited. In the fall of 1879, Commander Beardslee arrested and sent to Portland, Oregon, for trial before the United States District Court at that place, a miner who had in broad daylight, and in the presence of a dozen witnesses in Sitka, deliberately attempted the murder of a person with whom he had some trifling dispute. The wounded man recovered, and, as actual murder had not been committed, the District Judge directed the discharge of the prisoner. The opinion of the Judge was to the effect that in territory such as Alaska, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the general government, and not organized, only the statutes defining piracy, and such special acts as had been passed by Congress for the government of the territory, were operative, and that, as the offense charged did not come under any of these, the court had no jurisdiction.
The Collector of Customs at Sitka and his deputies were the only civil officers in the territory, and could exercise no authority beyond their routine duties under the Treasury Department. Hence it will be seen that the entire responsibility for the security of life and the preservation of good order in Alaska at that time devolved upon the commanding naval officer. That the difficulties of the situation were not greater must be ascribed to the orderly character of the white population at Sitka and other settlements, and to the generally tractable disposition of the Indians.
Sitka had in 1880 a white population of between two and three hundred, made up of a few Russians who had elected to become citizens of the United States, in accordance with treaty provisions, Russian half-breeds, traders, and a few miners who had been attracted there in the previous year by reported discoveries of rich gold-bearing quartz ledges on Baranof Island near Sitka. The Indian village, or rancho, separated in part by a stockade from the white settlement, contained usually in the winter season nearly a thousand persons, living in a straggling row of houses along the beach, a single house often sheltering twenty or thirty men, women, and children. The Indians had a sort of tribal, or rather family, organization; each family, of which there were four at Sitka, having its distinguishing name and crest, or totem, such as the Raven, the Wolf, the Bear, and the Whale, and each being under the nominal control of a head man or chief. The powers exercised by these chiefs were very vague, and even the manner of appointment or succession to leadership in the different families did not seem to be regulated by any fixed principle; but generally the office was hereditary in the richest and most powerful families.
Commander Beardslee, whom I relieved, had made while in command a careful study of the Indian question as it presented itself at Sitka, and displayed great tact and firmness in controlling the Indians and in preserving a good understanding between them and the white settlers. He employed the chiefs as a sort of irregular police force, taking them into the pay of the navy as scouts, thereby greatly increasing their importance and influence among the tribes, the very indefiniteness of their powers assisting him materially. This system, somewhat extended, was continued; the chiefs were put into uniform, assimilated to that of the naval service, their respective districts of the Indian village defined, and they were made, as far as possible, responsible for the condition of affairs in the village and the conduct of the members of their tribes.
It being impracticable to take the Jamestown into the interior channels on which the Indian villages are nearly always located, and the great extent of the territory to the westward making easy and rapid communication impossible, her influence was in a great degree confined to Sitka, and that port became the scene of efforts to improve the condition of the Indians and establish order among them. These efforts were afterwards extended to other points in the territory, and the seat of government was shifted from the quarterdeck of the Jamestown as occasion demanded.
Affairs went on quietly enough for some time after my arrival at Sitka, and my attention was directed chiefly to preparing the ship for the coming winter and to settling occasional disputes on shore that were submitted to me for arbitration. But with the approach of bad weather and the long nights of the dreary winter in that latitude, the Sitka Indians began to return from their summer hunting and fishing camps, and it was soon apparent that some active measures must be taken to suppress the disorder that at times reigned supreme in the village and often turned the night into pandemonium. Fighting was of almost daily occurrence, frequently attended by serious wounds to the parties engaged, and the howls of drunken Indians, rioting and dancing about their camp fires, could be heard on board the ship at almost any hour. To remove, as far as possible, the danger of collisions between the white people and the Indians, the latter were compelled to leave the limits of the white settlement each day at sunset, and no white men were allowed to go into the Indian village at any time except under orders for duty.
Drunkenness was found to be very prevalent, the Indians having been taught by white men to distill a wretched sort of rum, called Hoo-che-noo, from molasses supplied them for the purpose by the traders. The process was very simple, and required only a crude apparatus that the Indians could readily procure. A mixture of molasses and water, fermented by the use of yeast made from the roots of certain plants, was put into a boiler, usually made from an old coal-oil can, and set over the fire in the middle of the house. The worm was made of a bent tin tube, or in some cases an old gun barrel served this purpose; a stream of water was usually directed on the tube, and a wooden bowl received the spirit as it trickled out. The process could be carried on day and night, and it was subsequently found that in the village of fifty or sixty houses over two hundred of these primitive distilleries were in operation in December, 1880.
This condition of affairs is not so much to be wondered at, taking all the circumstances into consideration. The short winter days of that latitude give the Indians little opportunity for hunting and fishing, and the long nights are without any amusements known to civilization. Ignorant, intensely superstitious, and compelled to endure several months of enforced idleness, with no mental employment, gambling and drunkenness naturally became habits of these Indians, and they eagerly embraced the means of intoxication so readily supplied them.
Becoming convinced that some measures to end the scenes of drunkenness and violence constantly presented in the village were absolutely necessary, it was decided to commence at the bottom and stop the importation and sale of molasses. As no law existed for this, a meeting of all the citizens was called at the Custom House, the situation and its needs fully explained, and all the traders were urged to enter into an agreement not to import molasses into the territory from that time, and not to sell any large quantity of molasses at one time to any Indian. Several of the traders showed a reluctance to sign an agreement that would cut off a considerable portion of their trade, but upon a significant hint from one of the miners present that, if the commander of the Jamestown would send all his officers and men on board ship and promise to know nothing of what was going on ashore for a few hours, it would be put out of the power of any one to sell molasses to Indians in Sitka, all hands came into the agreement, which was thereafter faithfully observed. But as it was known that many of the Indians had bought considerable quantities of molasses and had it stored in their houses, in readiness for making the usual winter supply of fire-water, this agreement of the traders was only a beginning.
The chiefs were next called together and told that the manufacture of Hoo-che-noo must immediately stop, but all declared their inability to put down what they nevertheless loudly declared to be the ruin of their tribes. One of the chiefs, Ana-hootz, who was looked upon as an authority by the others, suggested making a raid on the village and destroying all the stills and molasses as the only effectual means of dealing with the evil. All agreed that this would be the only means of stopping drunkenness among their people, and they united in a request that it should be adopted. This had been done by Commander Beardslee in the previous year, but on that occasion the houses of the chiefs had not been subjected to search and their stills had not been molested, hence their readiness in advocating the raid.
After waiting for some days for any uneasiness among the Indians to subside, the chiefs were assembled on board the Jamestown and told that the raid had been decided upon as they had requested, and that all preparations had been made to carry it out successfully. Three of the ship's boats, fully manned and armed, were in readiness, under command of the executive officer, for landing, and the entire marine guard of the vessel sent on shore. All being ready, signal was made from the ship, the marines were marched into the village at the double quick and posted in rear of the line of houses to prevent any stills being carried out and secreted, and the boats pulled in for the beach. The blue-jackets were landed in three parties, in the center and at each end of the village, and being provided with axes and hammers, commenced at once their work in aid of the cause of temperance. Every house in the village was carefully searched, no exceptions being made. The Indians looked on in sullen astonishment, but no resistance was attempted by any one, and finally many of those whose stills had been first destroyed joined actively in the work, and were of assistance in hunting out concealed stills and stores of molasses, showing a childish glee at the discomfiture of those who had supposed themselves secure. In all, over two hundred of these stills were found and destroyed, with a great deal of molasses prepared for distillation. In one house five stills were found ready, or in operation, with six barrels of molasses, the owner of the house being a distiller of some prominence in the community, the quality of whose Hoo-che-noo enjoyed a great reputation. He was allowed to sell the molasses not needed as food for his family.
The night following this raid was the quietest one the village had enjoyed for several months, and from that time no serious affrays ever occurred among the Sitka Indians.
A few of the stills escaped the general destruction, but they were discovered and broken up within a few days, and the manufacture of Hoo-che-noo became a lost art at Sitka.
The principal winter employment and amusement of the Indians having thus been destroyed, it was necessary to give them something else to do and think of, and this was done in establishing a general system of cleaning and draining the village, which was in an indescribably wretched condition.
The village was built on sloping ground in front of some low hills, which, in the almost constant rain of the winter season, sent down small streams of water that in many cases entered the houses in rear, and converted all the spaces between them into mud-holes, while all the filth and refuse from the village were thrown on the beach. The Indians were set to work, under direction of some of the officers and leading men of the ship, digging a deep ditch in rear of the houses, with outlets at intervals running down to the beach; earth was heaped up about the sides and in rear of the houses to prevent the water's running into them, and the beach was cleaned up, smoothed, and neatly graveled down to low-water mark. The sections into which the village had been divided were in charge of their respective chiefs, and daily inspections were made to ascertain that the orders given were properly carried out.
Of course, there were some cases of holding back, and even of resistance to the new order of things, but a judicious system of confinement in the guard-house for a day or two at a time, with the infliction of small fines of blankets, the usual currency among the Indians, soon convinced the most conservative among them that it was wisest to join in the march of improvement. A very few days sufficed to make a decided change for the better in the appearance of the village; the Indians themselves soon began to appreciate the benefits resulting from their enforced labors, and no trouble was found in continuing the system.
Finding a great deal of sickness existing in the village, a dispensary was established on shore under charge of the senior surgeon of the vessel, who showed great interest in the efforts to improve the condition of the Indians, and who willingly treated all cases reported to him. This, and the improved cleanliness of the village, resulted in a few months in a perceptible decrease in the mortality, especially among the Indian children.
With the change in the condition of the village there was soon noticed a change in the habits and appearance of the Indians themselves. More and better articles of clothing were bought from the traders; about the village there were seen fewer Indians whose clothing consisted of a single blanket; cooking stoves were in some cases bought and used instead of the open fires with kettles hanging over them; lamps appeared in some of the houses, and, above all, soap, to which the Alaska Indian is usually a total stranger, became an article of steady and increasing consumption.
A number of new and smaller houses were commenced, many of the Indians showing a disposition to abandon the usual communal system of living practiced all over Alaska.
Frequently a family consisting of several generations will be found living in common in a single house. The usual Indian house in Southeast Alaska is a large square structure, built of hewn timbers planted upright in the ground, with no partitions. The sleeping quarters are usually narrow, raised platforms running around three sides of the house. The fire for warming the house, cooking, and giving such light as they need at night, is built on the ground in the middle of the house, the smoke escaping through a hole in the roof left for that purpose.
Under such circumstances any improvement in the moral condition of the people is almost impossible. Those who showed a disposition to abandon this mode of living were usually the younger members of a family, who would leave the older ones in possession of the family house and set up for themselves in a smaller one as near at hand as possible. The separation of families was encouraged as far as practicable, and assistance given to those desiring separate homes: their houses were planned for them, and they were often assisted by some of the men from the Jamestown in putting them up.
At the time spoken of, the Alaska Indians were almost entirely without education of any kind, only a few faint attempts having been made in that direction in the territory. The Russian Government had caused a few Indians to be educated, with the purpose of using them as missionaries of the Greek Church among the different tribes; but no attempt had been made to educate and improve the Indians as a race. The New York Board of Home Missions had sent out two or three missionaries to Alaska, and a teacher sent out by the same body had attempted to establish a school for Indian children at Sitka in 1879. The first teacher had resigned and been replaced by a young lady specially educated for this work, who was making a brave effort for success, but under the most discouraging circumstances, when the improvements in the Indian village were commenced. A visit to the school, established in an old building originally intended by the Russians for school purposes, afterwards used as a hospital for a time, then abandoned and fast crumbling to decay, showed a picture of earnest, faithful work that could apparently result only in failure unless a change could be brought about. The schoolroom was bleak and desolate, the furniture consisting of a table and a few rough benches, and with no means of instruction save a few elementary books not sufficient in number for the few children present. The number of children attending the school varied so greatly from day to day, and their ages were so dissimilar, that no systematic teaching seemed possible.
Interest was excited in the undertaking—the enthusiasm of the young teacher being contagious ; all school books and appliances in the trading stores at Sitka were bought,—a meager assortment at best,—and orders sent to San Francisco for a larger supply, the fund accumulated from fines imposed on the Indians for petty misdemeanors being used for this purpose. Compulsory education was decided upon and put into operation at once. A census of the village was taken and all children between the ages of five and fifteen years were enrolled and required to attend school, the number reaching nearly two hundred.
To make this system effective several practical difficulties had to be met and overcome. From the number of children living frequently in the same house there was, of course, great difficulty in distinguishing them. Even where they had any names beyond those of the families to which they belonged, the teacher was unable to use them in mustering her scholars, and the Indian heads of families would have paid little attention to an order to send their children to school unless some means had been found to enforce obedience. To meet these difficulties each house in the village was numbered and the number of children of each sex noted. Then one of the men of the ship was directed to make a number of circular tin badges equal to the number of children enrolled for school purposes. On each of these badges was stamped the number of a house, with the sex and number of each child belonging to it, commencing with the oldest. These badges were worn suspended about the neck by a cord, and became a ready means of identifying the children. A muster was held every morning and all absentees reported, noting carefully the numbers of the houses and the number of children that were absent from each house. These reports were handed to the officer in charge of the guard-house on shore after school hours, and on the following day the oldest man in each house from which absentees were reported, who was presumed to be the owner and head of the family, was arrested and brought before the commander. If no valid excuse was presented for keeping the children away from school, the head of the family was punished for disobedience of orders. The usual punishment was a fine of a blanket or restraint in the guardhouse for a day. The sum realized from the sale of blankets collected as fines was applied to making improvements about the school.
Only a short time was needed to convince the Indians of the value of education, or at least of the advisability of having their children attend school regularly, and it became a common thing to see an Indian taking several children up to the school building for delivery to the teacher. In many cases the parents, after taking their children to school, would remain as interested spectators, the total number present on some days reaching nearly three hundred men, women, and children.
The success of this effort to introduce education among the Indians, and the readiness with which some of the children learned, led to the establishment at Sitka of what was intended to become a manual training school for Indian boys, under the general management of the Board of Home Missions, a portion of the same building being used. This undertaking was encouraged and assistance given by the officers and men of the Jamestown in repairing the building, fitting up a dormitory for the boys, and laying out a garden. When the school was fairly established in July, 1881, it had twenty boys, varying in age from eight or ten to twenty years, who had gladly left the Indian village to obtain the instruction given, while living in a greater degree of comfort than was possible in their former homes. The expense of maintaining this school is borne by the Board of Missions; it has since been enlarged and a department for girls added, and the latest reports are encouraging for the future.
While this school is reported to have been attended with some degree of success, it is to be regretted that the instruction given has not been of a more practical character, as was originally intended. Had it become really a school for teaching useful trades to boys and girls, far more good would have been accomplished in improving the conditions of life among the Indians than by all the teaching of catechisms and church dogmas that could ever be given them. It is to be hoped that the very liberal appropriation made by the last Congress, for the support of education in Alaska, will be utilized in the establishment of training schools for boys and young men where they may learn trades useful to them in the present condition of the territory and in its future development, and that other instruction, except in rare cases, will be confined to the English language alone. Even the ordinary branches of a common school course cannot be advantageously taught, except in very few cases, and an effort to do so will be productive of no lasting good.
Singularly enough, as investigations into the habits and customs of the Alaska Indians were pursued, a well-established system of slavery was found to exist in the territory, although over thirteen years had elapsed since the date of cession to our government. The slaves were held by a title of ownership as absolute as ever existed in any of our Southern States, the owners having even the power of putting slaves to death at their pleasure, and in times quite recent it was not an unusual occurrence for one or more slaves to be sacrificed at the burial, or rather cremation, of the former master, to accompany him in his future life.
This next required attention, and the names and ages of all persons held in slavery, with the names and families of the owners, were ascertained as far as possible. In Sitka alone nearly twenty slaves were found, varying in age from mere children to old men and women. The children were descendants of slaves, as, since the American acquisition of the territory, the Sitkas had been engaged in no active wars in which prisoners had been made, the usual custom having been to kill or make slaves of all captives not ransomed.
After informing the leading men of the village that no form of slavery could exist in any territory of the United States, the entire population of Sitka was assembled on the parade ground, and a formal order read declaring slavery abolished in the territory. It was also declared that any person attempting to exercise any right of ownership over another would be severely punished. Taking advantage of the superstitious reverence in which any written document is held by the natives of Alaska, a paper had been prepared for each of the liberated slaves and delivered in presence of the former owners. These papers gave the names and ages of the holders, and recommended them to the protection of all officers of the government. Attached to each paper was the seal of the Jamestown, with the signature of the commanding officer.
Some of the interested parties were inclined to contest this very summary deprivation of their property, but these cases were few and confined to those who had acquired slaves by purchase. A few decided words caused all to submit to the inevitable, and in no cases were any of the new freedmen molested. Many of the latter soon took advantage of their newly acquired freedom, and returned to their native villages, from which they had been taken as mere children. The same order was published among other tribes, and was, it is believed, generally obeyed, and the slaves in that portion of the territory liberated.
The Indians in all parts of Alaska are grossly superstitious, and stand in abject fear of their Shamans or witchdoctors. These Shamans are said to be selected for their peculiar office at their birth, and the cardinal requirements for fitness for it seem to be never to cut or dress the hair or allow any water to touch the person. Before final admission into the ranks of the regular practitioners, the candidate is subjected to various severe ordeals testing his endurance of hunger and exposure. They are supposed not only to have the power of discovering witches and counteracting their spells, but also of calling up their own familiar demons to annoy or punish any who offend them; hence the great terror in which they are held by all Indians. An Alaska Indian would prefer at any time to engage a grizzly bear in single-handed fight rather than to touch one of the charms used by a Shaman in his incantations.
This superstition was discouraged as far as possible, and the witch-doctors were warned that they would be severely punished if found at any time practicing their profession. The usual course of procedure was, when an Indian was ill, to call in one of the Shamans, who, after some incantations and beating on tom-toms, would declare the sick person under the spell of some witch, and exact a fee for discovering the witch and dissolving the spell, the fee being in proportion to the wealth and importance of the patient. The fee being agreed upon, the Shaman usually selected as the witch to be denounced some helpless old crone, or member of the community without friends, who would be arrested and put in close confinement, beaten and starved until confession was made, the witch died, or the sick person recovered. In some cases the witches were burned alive.
During a short absence from Sitka, in January, 1882, a case of witch-denouncing occurred there, of which I was promptly informed on my return. Fortunately, the accused witch was rescued by some of the miners and others in Sitka, who heard of the case before he was put to death. An investigation left no doubt of the guilt of the leading Shaman of the village, and he was arrested and confined in the guard-house just as he had about completed all his preparations for leaving Sitka in a very hurried manner. All the Indians were assembled in front of the guard-house, the witch-doctor was brought out, and the case and the absurdity of his pretensions explained through an interpreter. It was announced that the Shaman's hair would be cut off close to his head, that he would be scrubbed thoroughly, to deprive him of the supernatural powers he claimed, and then be kept at work for a month, and afterwards banished from the Sitka settlement. He was first invited, however, to test his powers, in presence of the Indians, in bringing any plagues he chose on the commander and his officers and men. The sentence was carried out, to the great delight of all the Indians present, but banishment was not found necessary, as the Shaman was not proof against the ridicule to which he was subjected, and left the village of his own accord at the expiration of his confinement. This case seemed to have a good effect in breaking down the witchcraft superstition, and no more cases occurred for some time; none, at least, that were made public.
A peculiar Indian trait is shown in the patience with which tribal feuds are kept alive for many years, with occasional outbreaks of active hostilities. In one case a sort of intermittent war had lasted for nearly eighty years between the Sitkas and the tribe living at Fort Wrangell. The origin of the war, which had caused the loss of a great many lives on both sides, was unknown to the present generation, but it was a point of honor with both tribes to carry on hostilities as occasion served until an equality of losses had been secured. According to the universal custom among the Alaska Indians, the death of any member of a tribe, if occasioned in any manner, however innocent, by another, demands the death of a member of the offending tribe of equivalent rank, or the payment of a number of blankets equal to the computed value of the man to his tribe.
The balance had, in the war mentioned, apparently inclined to one side or the other from time to time by the murder or capture of single individuals or small hunting and fishing parties, an equality never being secured, until neither tribe dared to approach the territory claimed by the other. As this state of affairs was unfortunate for the Indians, and annoying to the white men coming into the territory as prospectors and to establish fisheries, it was decided to make an effort to put an end to it.
The tribe at Fort Wrangell was directed to send three of their leading chiefs to Sitka for a conference with the Sitka chiefs, a safe conduct being furnished them for the purpose. On their arrival at Sitka they were called on board the Jamestown, where they were met by the three oldest Sitka chiefs, and peace negotiations opened, presided over by the commanding officer, assisted by an interpreter. After grave deliberations on the part of the chiefs, lasting several days, during which as accurate a computation as possible of the losses on both sides was made, it was decided that the two tribes were as nearly even on the general result as they could hope to be, and a formal treaty of peace was drawn up and presented to the chiefs for signature. All gladly acquiesced in the decision and the terms of the proposed treaty, the chiefs signing it with their totems. Copies of the treaty were exchanged and carefully preserved by each tribe, and the terms faithfully observed. Feasting was indulged in for some days, and the Fort Wrangell Indians returned to their homes, very happy over the result of their mission. Other tribal feuds were ended in the same manner.
In all dealings with these Indians they were found to be proud, sensitive, and generally truthful, with a high sense of justice. They have great respect for white men of character and force, and are easily controlled when convinced that any system established for their government is just and equal for all in its operations. A case in point occurred in the summer of 1881, soon after the military post was established at the mining camp of Juneau City. A chief of one of the tribes living at some distance in the interior made his appearance at the post, accompanied by a number of his warriors, to ask the assistance of the officer in command in the adjustment of a claim made by some members of his tribe against one of the traders. The claim, on investigation, was admitted by the trader to be just, and a satisfactory settlement made promptly by him. The chief was highly delighted with the course taken, and expressed his entire conversion to the new mode of settling difficulties. He explained that it would have been quite easy for him to have obtained satisfaction in the usual way,—by killing the trader on the first opportunity that occurred,—but that having heard of the newly established system of administering justice, he had decided to give it a fair trial first, reserving to himself, however, the right to fall back upon the old custom, had justice or a hearing been denied him.
The Indians show a great desire for improvement in their surroundings and for acquiring property. Indeed, the possession of property is with them one of the chief claims to consideration. With such characteristics, the race, if properly treated, may become of great use in the future in the development of the fisheries and mines of Southeast Alaska, which are already valuable. But if they should be subjected to the course of treatment usually shown to Indians on government reservations, the result could net fail to be disastrous; it would certainly entail great expense on the government and lead to the extinction, in a short time, of a very interesting people.
Late in the fall of 1880 some discoveries of gold-bearing quartz ledges were made at a point on the mainland, about one hundred and fifty miles from Sitka, but within the territory of the United States. The exaggerated reports of the value of these discoveries, sent to San Francisco and other points on the Pacific Coast, led immediately to a rush of prospectors and miners to the territory; men who, in the majority of cases, had lived for years the rough life of mining camps, and were accustomed to little restraint except that imposed by the bowie-knife and revolver and the occasional administration of lynch law. A small mining town called Juneau City, after one of the original locators, was soon formed in the vicinity of the quartz ledges. While waiting for the winter snows to melt and expose the ledges sufficiently to allow prospecting, these men, who generally indulged in the most extravagant ideas of the richness of the country, wrought themselves into a high state of excitement over their prospects of wealth. The town was regularly laid out, town lots claimed and held at high figures, and conflicting claims, in some instances, soon led to threats of violence. Some of the miners, knowing the condition in which Alaska had been left so long by our Congress, without civil law or government, openly said "there is no law in Alaska," and proposed to exercise the law of individual might in settling cases where their claims were involved. In such a condition of affairs a slight spark might easily have produced an explosion of serious character, and it was manifestly the duty of the commander of the Jamestown to use the force at his disposal in the prevention of disturbances, and not wait for an actual outbreak before taking action.
For this purpose the miners and others were called together early in May, and after the condition of affairs had been explained, a proclamation was read and posted in a conspicuous place, putting all inhabitants, white as well as Indian, under military law for the preservation of order, the security of life and property, and the punishment of acts of violence. This proclamation, by its own terms, avoided interference with any rights to property already acquired, or to be acquired, or with any statutes in force, and was subject to the approval of the President.
Naturally, some opposition was manifested by the most turbulent portion of the small community to an innovation on mining camp procedure of so startling a nature, but the better disposed persons, who were in the majority, supported it, wisely regarding the military administration of justice as preferable to the irresponsible rule of Judge Lynch.
A reservation for government purposes was located in a position commanding the mining camp and the Indian village near at hand, and in a few days the miners saw the entirely new spectacle of a naval officer stationed among them with a force of blue-jackets and marines under his command sufficient to repress any disorder. The executive officer of the Jamestown, Lieutenant-Commander Charles H. Rockwell, was selected for this duty, and a force assigned him consisting of twenty-five officers and picked men, with a boat howitzer and a Gatling gun. Mr. Rockwell, by his cool and firm administration of affairs, under general instructions from the commanding officer, and the just settlement of many disputes referred to his arbitration, soon won the confidence of all, and the miners became rapidly accustomed to naval discipline. Affairs went on with the regularity and order of a well-disciplined man-of-war, and it was soon a subject of remark among the miners of longest experience that Juneau was the most orderly mining camp ever known on the Pacific Coast, while it enjoyed the singular good fortune of being one in which no murder was ever committed by a white man.
Subsequently, when in command of the steam sloop Wachusett, which vessel could easily reach the mining settlement at any time, seeing that the desired effect had been produced, and needing the services of the officers and men on board ship, it was decided to withdraw the force from shore, and the community was so informed. The miners at once, without exception, united in a petition to have the naval force remain, even those who had in the beginning been loudest in their opposition, saying they preferred naval administration of justice to any other.
Although, as has been said, the Jamestown could do no cruising in Southeast Alaska, her influence was not confined entirely to Sitka and the mining camp, but was extended quite widely. By means of the steam launches, with which the ship was supplied when fitted out for this special service, many other points were reached, and in July, 1881, parties of officers and men were scattered about over nearly four hundred miles of coast line from north to south, engaged in keeping order and suppressing disturbances among the Indian tribes. This duty became much easier and was attended with far less exposure to officers and men when the Wachusett replaced the Jamestown on the station in August of that year.
Southeast Alaska consists of a narrow strip of coast, ten marine leagues in width, with innumerable islands, some of large size, separated from the mainland by narrow channels, and extends from the middle of Portland Canal, in latitude 54° 40' North, to Mt. St. Elias, the initial point of the boundary line between the territory and British Columbia, which extends thence due north to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. It possesses a peculiarly equable climate, with an annual mean temperature much higher than found elsewhere in so high a latitude, due to the influence of the warm waters of the Kuro Siwo, or Black Stream of Japan, a portion of which, deflected by the Aleutian Islands, strikes the coast about Sitka. The thermometer rarely falls as low as 0° Fahr. in this portion of Alaska, and the lowest temperature recorded on board the Jamestown at Sitka in the winter of 1880-81, the thermometer being in an exposed situation, was only 19° Fahr., the mean for the three winter months being a little below 34° Fahr.
The natural conditions produce an excessive fall of snow and rain, and this, combined with the mild temperature, gives rise to a dense vegetation reaching everywhere from high-water mark to the snow limit on the mountains. The sides of the mountains, everywhere very steep, are covered with a dense growth of fir, spruce, alder, and cedar, with thick undergrowth that makes the country as impassable almost as a tropical jungle.
The timber is generally low in growth and not of much value, but in some of the valleys, especially on the larger islands, good timber is found in considerable quantities, the fir and a species of yellow cedar being the most valuable.
The fur trade of this portion of the territory is of no great value at present, the most esteemed furs being the sea otter and the silver gray fox, but only a few skins are taken annually.
The fisheries are at present the most valuable resource of Southeast Alaska. Salmon of fine quality is found in the greatest abundance in all the streams, and has already become an important article of export, there being several large establishments where the fish is packed for the San Francisco market and for foreign trade. Halibut, cod, and herring are also very abundant, while all the small streams are filled with delicious trout.
No portion of Alaska will ever become useful for purposes of agriculture, and very little of the surface can be utilized for pasturage. From the shortness of the summer no grain will ripen, and the luxuriant grasses that grow so rapidly in the long mid-summer days cannot be properly cured for hay. A few potatoes of fair quality are produced at Sitka and at places to the southward, and in the gardens about Sitka and the other settlements there may be seen growing fine beets, turnips, cabbages, and cauliflowers, but other vegetables do not mature. No fruit is found growing anywhere in Alaska except a few varieties of wild berries.
Of the mineral wealth of Alaska very little is yet known, no sufficient explorations having been undertaken. Some of the quartz ledges about Juneau have proved to be valuable, and are now being worked successfully, and a considerable amount of gold has been obtained from placer claims. Of most of the discoveries of 1880, upon which such bright hopes were founded, but little more is known than at the time the original locations were made. The failure of Congress to provide any effective form of civil government for the territory, with the consequent doubt concerning the acquisition of valid titles, has deterred capitalists from engaging largely in mining operations, except in one case, where the venture has proved largely remunerative. The infrequence of mail communications, the distance from points of supply of mining machinery and appliances, and the great cost of transportation, have also contributed in a great measure to this result.
The disadvantages under which the territory has labored for so long a time are now being remedied to a great extent, and as it becomes known, and its resources are developed, there is every reason to anticipate that the wisdom shown in the acquisition of Alaska will be fully demonstrated.