Volume 15 — THE CESSION OF RUSSIAN AMERICA TO THE UNITED STATES. (continued 3)

It is especially when seeking to estimate the mineral products that we feel the want of careful explorations. We know more of the roving aborigines than of these stationary tenants of the soil. We know more of the trees. A tree is conspicuous; a mineral is hidden in the earth, to be found by chance or science. Thus far it seems as if chance only had ruled. The Russian Government handed over the country to a trading company, whose exclusive interest was furs. The company followed its business, when it looked to wild beasts with rich skins rather than to the soil. Its mines were above ground, and not below. There were also essential difficulties in the way of exploration. The interior was practically inaccessible. The thick forest, saturated with rain and overgrown with wet mosses, presented obstacles which nothing but enlightened enterprise could overcome. Even at a short distance from the port of Sitka all effort failed, and the inner recesses of the island, only thirty miles broad, were never penetrated.

The late Professor Henry D. Rogers, in his admirable paper on the Physical Features of America, being part of his contribution to Keith Johnston’s Atlas, full of knowledge and of fine generalization, says of this northwest belt, that it is “little known in its topography to any but the roving Indians and the thinly scattered fur-trappers.” But there are certain general features which he proceeds to designate. According to him, it belongs to what is known as the tertiary period of geology, intervening between the cretaceous period and that now in progress, but including also granite, gneiss, and ancient metamorphic rocks. It is not known if the true coal measures prevail in any part, although there is reason to believe that they exist on the coast of the Arctic Ocean between Cape Lisburne and Point Barrow.

Beginning at the south, we have Sitka and its associate islands, composed chiefly of volcanic rocks, with limestone near. Little is known even of the coast between Sitka and Mount St. Elias, which, itself a volcano, is the beginning of a volcanic region occupying the peninsula of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, and having no less than thirty volcanoes, some extinct, but others still active. Most of the rocks here are volcanic, and the only fossiliferous beds are of the tertiary period. North of Alaska, and near the mouth of the Kwichpak, the coast seems volcanic or metamorphic, and probably tertiary, with a vein of lignite near the head of Norton Sound. At the head of Kotzebue Sound the cliffs abound in the bones of elephants and mammals now extinct, together with those of the musk-ox and other animals still living in the same latitude. From Kotzebue Sound northward, the coast has a volcanic character. Then at Cape Thompson it is called subcarboniferous, followed by rocks of the carboniferous age, being limestones, shales, and sandstones, which extend from Cape Lisburne far round to Point Barrow. At Cape Beaufort, very near the seventieth parallel of latitude, and north of the Arctic Circle, on a high ridge a quarter of a mile from the beach is a seam of coal which appears to be of the true coal measures.

From this general outline, which leaves much in uncertainty, I come to what is more important.

It is not entirely certain that iron has been found, although frequently reported. Evidence points to the south, and also to the north. Near Sitka it was reported by the Russian engineer Doroschin, although it does not appear that anything has been done to verify his report. A visitor there, as late as last year, saw excellent iron, said to be from a bed in the neighborhood, reported inexhaustible, and with abundant wood for its reduction. Then again on Kotzebue Sound specimens have been collected. At 66° 13´ Kotzebue found a false result in his calculations, which he attributes to the disturbing influence of “iron.”[141] A resident on the Yukon thinks that there is iron in that neighborhood.

Silver, also, has been reported at Sitka by the same Russian engineer who reported iron, and, like the iron, in “sufficient quantity to pay for the working.”

Lead was reported by the Russian explorer, Lieutenant Zagoyskin, on the lower part of the Kwichpak; but it is not known to what extent it exists.

Copper is found on the banks of the Copper River, called by the Russians the Mjednaja, meaning copper, and of its affluent, the Tchetchitno, in masses sometimes as large as forty pounds. Of this there can be little doubt. It is mentioned by Golowin, in the “Archiv” of Erman, as late as 1863. Undoubtedly from this neighborhood was obtained the copper which arrested the attention of the early navigators. Traces of copper are found in other places on the coast; also in the mountains near the Yukon, where the Indians use it for arrow-heads.

Coal seems to exist all along the coast,—according to Golowin, “everywhere, in greater or less quantity.” Traces are reported on the islands of the Sitkan archipelago; and this is extremely probable, for it has been worked successfully on Vancouver’s Island below. It is also found on the Kenaian peninsula, Alaska, the island of Unga, belonging to the Shumagin group, Oonalaska, and far to the north at Cape Beaufort. At this last place it is “slaty, burning with a pure flame and rapid consumption,” and it is supposed that there are extensive beds in the neighborhood better in quality. For an account of this coal I refer to the scientific illustrations of Beechey’s Voyage. The natives also report coal in the interior on the Kwichpak. The coal of Oonalaska, and probably of Alaska, is tertiary, and not adapted for steamers. With regard to that of Unga scientific authorities are divided. That of the Kenaian peninsula is the best and the most extensive. It is found on the eastern side of Cook’s Inlet, half way between Cape Anchor and the Russian settlement of St. Nicholas, in veins three quarters of a yard or more in thickness, and ranging in quality from mere carboniferous wood to anthracite. According to one authority, these coal veins extend and spread far into the interior. This coal has more than once been sent to California for trial, and was there pronounced a good article. Since then it has been mined by the Company, not only for their own uses, but also for export to California. In making these statements, I rely particularly upon Golowin, in the “Archiv” of Erman, and upon the elaborate work of Grewingk, in the “Transactions of the Mineralogical Society of St. Petersburg” for 1848 and 1849,[142] where is a special map of the Kenaian peninsula.

Gold is less important than coal, but its discovery produces more excitement. The report of gold in any quarter stimulates the emigrant or the adventurer hoping to obtain riches swiftly. Nor is this distant region without such experience. Only a few years ago, the British colony of Victoria was aroused by a rumor of gold in the mountains of the Stikine River, not far in the interior from Sitka. At once there was a race that way, and the solitudes of this river were penetrated by hunters in quest of the glittering ore. Discomfiture ensued. Gold had been found, but not in any sufficient quantities reasonably accessible. Nature for the present had set up obstacles. But failure in one place will be no discouragement in another, especially as there is reason to believe that the mountains here contain a continuation of those auriferous deposits which have become so famous further south. The Sierra Nevada chain of California reaches here.

Traces of gold have been observed at other points. One report places a deposit not far from Sitka. The same writer who reports iron also reports that during the last year he saw a piece of gold as large as a marble, which was shown by an Indian. But the Russian engineer, Doroschin, furnishes testimony more precise. He reports gold in at least three different localities, each of considerable extent. The first is the mountain range on the north of Cook’s Inlet and extending into the peninsula of Alaska, consisting principally of clay slate with permeating veins of diorite, the latter being known as a gold-bearing rock. He observed this in the summer of 1851. About the same time, certain Indians from the Bay of Yakutat, not far from Mount St. Elias, brought him specimens of diorite found in their neighborhood, making, therefore, a second deposit. In the summer of 1855, the same engineer found gold on the southern side of Cook’s Inlet, in the mountains of the Kenay peninsula. Satisfying himself, first, that the bank occupied by the redoubt of St. Nicholas, at the mouth of the Kaknu River, was gold-bearing, he was induced to follow the development of diorite in the upper valley of the river, and, as he ascended, found a gold-bearing alluvion, gradually increasing, with scales of gold becoming coarser and coarser, instead of scarcely visible, as at first.

It does not appear that the discoveries on Cook’s Inlet were pursued; but it is reported that the Hudson’s Bay Company, holding the country about the Bay of Yakutat under a lease from the Russian Company, have found the diorite in that neighborhood valuable. This incident has given rise to a recent controversy. Russian journals attacked the engineer for remissness in not exploring the Yakutat country. He has defended himself by setting out what he actually did in the way of discovery, and the essential difficulty at the time in doing more: all which will be found in a number, just received, of the work to which I have so often referred, the “Archiv” of Erman, for 1867.[143]

Thus much for the mineral resources of this new-found country, as recognized at a few points on the extensive coast, leaving the vast unknown interior without a word.

6. Furs.—I pass now to Furs, which at times have vied with minerals in value, although the supply is more limited and less permanent. Trappers are “miners” of the forest, seeking furs as others seek gold. The parallel continues also in the greed and oppression unhappily incident to the pursuit. A Russian officer, who was one of the early visitors on this coast, remarks that to his mind the only prospect of relief for the suffering natives “consists in the total extirpation of the animals of the chase,” which he thought, from the daily havoc, must take place in a very few years.[144] This was at the close of the last century. The trade, though essentially diminished, still continues an important branch of commerce.

Early in this commerce, desirable furs were obtained in barter for a trifle; and when something of value was exchanged, it was much out of proportion to the furs. This has been the case generally in dealing with the natives, until their eyes have been slowly opened. In Kamtchatka, at the beginning of the last century, half a dozen sables were obtained in exchange for a knife, and a dozen for a hatchet; and the Kamtchadales wondered that their Cossack conquerors were willing to pay so largely for what seemed worth so little. Similar incidents on the Northwest Coast are reported by the early navigators. Cook mentions that in exchange for “beads” the Indians at Prince William Sound “readily gave whatever they had, even their fine sea-otter skins,” which they prized no more than other skins, until it appeared how much they were prized by their visitors.[145] Where there was no competition, prices rose slowly, and many years after Cook, the Russians at Oonalaska, in return for “trinkets and tobacco,” received twelve sea-otter skins, and fox skins of different kinds to the number of near six hundred.[146] These instances show in a general way the spirit of this trade even to our own day. On the coast, and especially in the neighborhood of the factories, the difference in the value of furs is recognized, and a proportionate price obtained, which Sir Edward Belcher found in 1837 to be for “a moderately good sea-otter skin from six to seven blankets, increasing to thirteen for the best,” together with “sundry knick-knacks.”[147] But in the interior it is otherwise. A recent resident in the region of the Yukon assures me that he has seen skins worth several hundred dollars bartered for goods worth only fifty cents.

Beside whalers and casual ships, with which the Esquimaux are in the habit of dealing, the commerce in furs, on both sides of the continent, north of the United States, has for a long time been in the hands of two corporations,—being the Hudson’s Bay Company, with directors in London, and the Russian American Company, with directors in St. Petersburg. The former is much the older of the two, and has been the most flourishing. Its original members were none other than Prince Rupert, the Duke of Albemarle, Earl Craven, Lord Ashley, and other eminent associates, who received a charter from Charles the Second, in 1670, to prosecute a search after a new passage to the South Sea, and to establish a trade in furs, minerals, and other considerable commodities in all those seas, and in the British possessions north and west of Canada, with powers of government, the whole constituting a colossal monopoly, which stretched from Labrador and Baffin’s Bay to an undefined West. At present this great corporation is known only as a fur company, to which all its powers are tributary. For some time its profits were so considerable that it was deemed advisable to hide them by nominal additions to the stock. With the extinction of the St. Petersburg corporation under the present treaty, the London corporation will remain the only existing fur company on the continent, but necessarily restricted in its operation to British territory. It remains to be seen into whose hands the commerce on the Pacific side will fall, now that this whole region will be open to the unchecked enterprise of our citizens.

This remarkable commerce began before the organization of the Russian Company. Its profits may be inferred from a voyage in 1772, described by Coxe, between Kamtchatka and the Aleutians. The tenth part of the skins being handed to the custom-house, the remainder were distributed in fifty-five shares, consisting each of twenty sea-otters, sixteen black and brown foxes, ten red foxes, and three sea-otter tails; and these shares were sold on the spot at from eight hundred to one thousand rubles each, so that the whole lading brought about fifty thousand rubles.[148] The cost of these may be inferred from the articles given in exchange. A Russian outfit, of which I find a contemporary record, was, among other things, “about five hundred weight of tobacco, one hundred weight of glass beads, perhaps a dozen spare hatchets and a few superfluous knives of very bad quality, an immense number of traps for foxes, a few hams, a little rancid butter.”[149] With such imports against such exports, the profits must have been considerable.

From Langsdorff we have a general inventory of furs at the beginning of the century in the principal magazine of the Russian Company on the island of Kadiak, drawn from the islands, the peninsula of Alaska, Cook’s Inlet, Prince William Sound, and the continent generally. Here were “a great variety of the rarest kinds of fox skins,” black, blackish, reddish, silver gray, and stone fox,—the last probably a species of the Arctic; “brown and red bears, the skins of which are of great value,” and also “the valuable black bear”; the zisel marmot, and the common marmot; the glutton; the lynx, chiefly of whitish gray; the reindeer; the beaver; the hairy hedgehog; “the wool of a wild American sheep, whitish, fine, and very long,” but he could never obtain sight of the animal that produced this wool; also sea-otters, once “the principal source of wealth to the Company, now nearly extirpated, a few hundreds only being annually collected.”[150] Many of the same furs were reported by Cook on this coast in his day. They all continue to be found,—except that I hear nothing of wild sheep, save at a Sitkan dinner.

There has been much exaggeration with regard to the profits of the Russian corporation. An English writer of authority calls the produce “immense,” and adds that “formerly it was much greater.” I refer to the paper of Mr. Petermann, read before the Royal Geographical Society of London, in 1852.[151] The number of skins at times is prodigious, although this fails to reveal precisely the profits. For instance, Pribyloff collected within two years, on the islands northwest of Alaska which bear his name, the skins of 2,000 sea-otters, 40,000 sea-bears or ursine seals, 6,000 dark ice-foxes, together with 1,000 poods of walrus ivory.[152] The pood is a Russian weight of thirty-six pounds. Lütke mentions that in 1803 no less than 800,000 skins of the ursine seal were accumulated in the factory at Oonalaska, of which 700,000 were thrown into the sea, partly because they were badly prepared, and partly to keep up the price,[153]—thus imitating the Dutch, who for the same reason burned spices. Another estimate masses the collection for a series of years. From 1787 to 1817, for only part of which time the Company existed, the Oonalaska district yielded upwards of 2,500,000 seal-skins; and from 1817 to 1838, during all which time the Company was in power, the same district yielded 879,000 seal-skins. Assuming, what is improbable, that these skins were sold at twenty-five rubles each, some calculating genius has ciphered out the sum-total of proceeds at more than 85,000,000 rubles,—or, calling the ruble seventy-five cents, a sum-total of more than $63,000,000. Clearly, the latter years can show no approximation to any such doubtful result.

Descending from these lofty figures, which, if not exaggerations, are at least generalities, and relate partly to earlier periods, before the existence of the Company, we shall have a better idea of the commerce, if we look at authentic reports for special periods. Admiral Von Wrangell, who was so long governor, must have been well informed. According to statements in his work, adopted also by Wappäus in his “Geographie,” the Company, from 1826 to 1833, a period of seven years, exported to Russia the skins of the following animals: 9,853 sea-otters, with 8,751 sea-otter tails, 39,981 river-beavers, 6,242 river or land otters, 5,243 black foxes, 7,759 black-bellied foxes, 16,336 red foxes, 24,189 polar foxes, 1,093 lynxes, 559 wolverenes, 2,976 sables, 4,335 swamp-otters, 69 wolves, 1,261 bears, 505 musk-rats, 132,160 seals; also 830 poods of whalebone, 1,490 poods of walrus-teeth, and 7,121 pairs of castoreum.[154] Their value does not appear. Sir George Simpson, the Governor-in-chief of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who was at Sitka in 1841, represents the returns of the Company for that year, 10,000 fur-seals, 1,000 sea-otters, 2,500 land-otters, 12,000 beavers, and 20,000 walrus-teeth, without including foxes and martens.[155] There is a report for the year 1852, as follows: 1,231 sea-otters, 129 young sea-otters, 2,948 common otters, 14,486 fur-seals, 107 bears, 13,300 beavers, 2 wolves, 458 sables, 243 lynxes, 163 mole-skins, 1,504 pairs of castoreum, 684 black foxes, 1,590 cross foxes, 5,174 red foxes, 2,359 blue Arctic foxes, 355 white Arctic foxes, and also 31 foxes called white, perhaps albinos.

Besides these reports for special years, I am enabled to present, from the Russian tables of Captain Golowin, another, covering the period from 1842 to 1860, inclusive,—being 25,602 sea-otters, 63,826 otters, probably river-otters, 161,042 beavers, 73,944 foxes, 55,540 Arctic foxes, 2,283 bears, 6,445 lynxes, 26,384 sables, 19,076 musk-rats, 2,536 ursine seals, 338,604 marsh-otters, 712 brace of hare, 451 martens, 104 wolves, 46,274 castoreums, 7,309 beavers’ tails. Here is an inexplicable absence of seal-skins. On the other hand are sables, which belong to Asia, and not to America. The list is Russian, and perhaps embraces furs from the Asiatic islands of the Company.

From a competent source I learn that the value of skins at Sitka during the last year was substantially as follows: Sea-otter, $50; marten, $4; beaver, $2.50; bear, $4.50; black fox, $50; silver fox, $40; cross fox, $25; red fox, $2. A recent price-current in New York gives the following prices there in currency: Silver fox, $10 to $50; cross fox, $3 to $5; red fox, $1 to $1.50; otter, $3 to $6; mink, $3 to $6; beaver, $1 to $4; musk-rat, $0.20 to $0.50; lynx, $2 to $4; black bear, $6 to $12; dark marten, $5 to $20. These New York prices vary from those of Sitka. The latter are the better guide to a comprehension of the proceeds at Sitka, subject to deduction for the expenses of the Company. Of the latter I say nothing now, as I have considered them in speaking of the existing Government.

The skins are obtained in three different ways: first, through the hunters employed by the Company; secondly, in payment of taxes imposed by the Company; and, thirdly, by barter or purchase from independent natives. But, with all these sources, it is certain that the Russian Company has enjoyed no success comparable to that of its British rival; and, still more, there is reason to believe that latterly its profits have not been large.

Amid all the concealment or obscurity which prevails with regard to revenues, it is easy to see that for some time to come there must be a large amount of valuable furs on this coast. The bountiful solitudes of the forest and of the adjoining waters have not yet been exhausted; nor will they be, until civilization has supplied substitutes. Such, indeed, is part of that humane law of compensation which contributes to the general harmony. For the present there will be trappers on the land, who will turn aside only a little from prizes there to obtain from the sea its otter, seal, and walrus. It cannot be irrelevant, and may not be without interest, if I call attention briefly to those fur-bearing animals which are about to be brought within the sphere of republican government. If we cannot find their exact census, we may at least learn something of their character and value.

The comparative poverty of vegetation in the more northern parts of the continent contrasts with the abundance of animal life, especially if we embrace those tenants of the sea who seek the land for rest. These northern parallels are hardly less productive than the tropics. The lion, the elephant, and the hippopotamus find their counterpart in the bear, the walrus, and the seal, without including the sables and the foxes. Here again Nature, by unerring law, adapts the animal to the climate, and in providing him with needful protection creates also a needful supply for the protection of man; and this is the secret of rich furs. Under the sun of the tropics such provision is as little needed by man as by beast; and therefore Nature, which does nothing inconsistent with wise economy, reserves it for other places.

Among the furs most abundant in this commerce are those of the fox, in its different species and under its different names. Its numbers were noticed early, and gave the name to the eastern group of the Aleutians, which were called Lyssie Ostrowa, or Fox Islands. Some of its furs are among the very precious. The most plentiful is the red, or, as sometimes called, American; but this is not highly prized. Then comes the Arctic, of little value, and of different colors, sometimes blue, and in full winter dress pure white, whose circumpolar home is indicated by its name. The cross fox is less known, but much more sought, from the fineness of its fur and its color. Its name is derived from dark cruciform stripes, extending from the head to the back and at right angles over the shoulders. It is now recognized to be a variety of the red, from which it differs more in commercial value than in general character. The black fox, which is sometimes entirely of shining black with silver white at the tip of the tail, is called also the silver fox, when the black hairs of the body are tipped with white. They are of the same name in science, sometimes called argentatus, although there seem to be two different names, if not different values, in commerce. This variety is more rare than the cross fox. Not more than four or five are taken during a season at any one post in the fur countries, although the hunters use every art for this purpose. The temptation is great, as we are told that “its fur fetches six times the price of any other fur produced in North America.”[156] Sir John Richardson, the authority for this statement, forgot the sea-otter, of which he seems to have known little. Without doubt, the black fox is admired for rarity and beauty. La Hontan, the French commander in Canada under Louis the Fourteenth, speaks of its fur in his time as worth its weight in gold.[157]

Among the animals whose furs are less regarded are the wolverene, known in science as Gulo, or glutton, and called by Buffon the “quadruped vulture,” with a dark brown fur, becoming black in winter, and resembling that of the bear, but not so long, nor of so much value. There is also the lynx, belonging to the feline race, living north of the Great Lakes and eastward of the Rocky Mountains, with a fur moderately prized in commerce. There is also the musk-rat, which is abundant in Russian America, as it is common on this continent, whose fur enters largely into the cheaper peltries of the United States in so many different ways, and with such various artificial colors that the animal would not know his own skin.

Among inferior furs I may include that very respectable animal, the black bear, reported by Cook “in great numbers,” and “of a shining black color.”[158] The grizzly bear is less frequent, and is inferior in quality of fur to all other varieties of the bear. The brown bear is supposed to be a variety of the black bear. The polar bear, which at times is a formidable animal, leaving a footprint in the snow nine inches long, was once said not to make an appearance west of the Mackenzie River; but he has been latterly found on Behring Strait, so that he, too, is included among our new population. The black bear, in himself a whole population, inhabits every wooded district from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Carolina to the ice of the Arctic, being more numerous inland than on the coast. Langsdorff early remarked that he did not appear on the Aleutians, but on the continent, about Cook’s Inlet and Prince William Sound, which are well wooded.[159] He has been found even on the Isthmus of Panama. Next to the dog, he is the most cosmopolitan and perhaps the most intelligent of animals, and among those of the forest he is the most known, even to the nursery. His showy fur once enjoyed great vogue in hammer-cloths and muffs, and it is still used in military caps and pistol-holsters; so that he is sometimes called the Army bear. Latterly the fur has fallen in value. Once it brought in London from twenty to forty guineas. It will now hardly bring more than the same number of shillings.

The beaver, amphibious and intelligent, has a considerable place in commerce, and also a notoriety of its own as the familiar synonym for the common covering of a man’s head; and here the animal becomes historic. By royal proclamation, in 1638, Charles the First of England commanded “that no beaver-makers whatsoever, from henceforth, shall make any hats or caps but of pure beaver.”[160] This proclamation was the death-warrant of beavers innumerable, sacrificed to the demands of the trade. Wherever they existed over a wide extent of country, in the shelter of forests or in lodges built by their extraordinary instinct, they were pursued and arrested in their busy work. The importation of their skins into Europe during the last century was enormous, and it continued until one year it is said to have reached the unaccountable number of 600,000. I give these figures as I find them. Latterly other materials have been obtained for hats, so that this fur has become less valuable. But the animal is still hunted. A medicine supplied by him, and known as the castoreum, has a fixed place in the Materia Medica.

The marten is perhaps the most popular of all the fur-bearing animals belonging to our new possessions. An inhabitant of the whole wooded region of the northern part of the continent, he finds a favorite home in the forests of the Yukon, where he needs his beautiful fur, which is not much inferior to that of his near relative, the far-famed Russian sable. In the trade of the Hudson’s Bay Company the marten occupies the largest place, his skins for a single district amounting to more than fifty thousand annually, and being sometimes sold as sable. The ermine, which is of the same weasel family, is of little value except for its captivating name, although its fur finds a way to the English market in enormous quantities. The mink, also of the same general family, was once little regarded, but now, by freak of fashion in our country, this animal has ascended in value above the beaver, and almost to the level of the marten. His fur is plentiful on the Yukon and along the coast. Specimens in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution attest its occurrence at Sitka.

The seal, amphibious, polygamous, and intelligent as the beaver, has always supplied the largest multitude of furs to the Russian Company. The early navigators describe its appearance and numbers. Cook encountered them constantly. Excellent swimmers, ready divers, they seek rocks and recesses for repose, where, though watchful and never sleeping long without moving, they become the prey of the hunter. Early in the century there was a wasteful destruction of them. Young and old, male and female, were indiscriminately knocked on the head for the sake of their skins. Sir George Simpson, who saw this improvidence with an experienced eye, says that it was hurtful in two ways: first, the race was almost exterminated; and, secondly, the market was glutted sometimes with as many as two hundred thousand a year, so that prices did not pay the expense of carriage.[161] The Russians were led to adopt the plan of the Hudson’s Bay Company, killing only a limited number of males who had attained their full growth, which can be done easily, from the known and systematic habits of the animal. Under this economy seals have multiplied again, vastly increasing the supply.

Besides the common seal, there are various species, differing in appearance, so as to justify different names, and yet all with a family character,—including the sea-leopard, so named from his spots, the elephant seal, from his tusks and proboscis, and the sea-lion, with teeth, mane, and a thick cylindrical body. These are of little value, although their skins are occasionally employed. The skin of the elephant seal is strong, so as to justify its use in the harness of horses. There is also the sea-bear, or ursine seal, very numerous in these waters, whose skin, especially if young, is prized for clothing. Steller speaks with grateful remembrance of a garment he made from one, while on the desert island after the shipwreck of Behring.

Associated with the seal, and belonging to the same family, is the walrus, called by the British the sea-horse, the morse, or the sea-cow, and by the French bête à la grande dent. His two tusks, rather than his skin, are the prize of the hunter. Unlike the rest of the seal family, he is monogamous, and not polygamous. Cook vividly describes immense herds asleep on the ice, with some of their number on guard, and, when aroused, roaring or braying very loud, while they huddled and tumbled together like swine.[162] At times their multitude is so great, that, before being aroused, several hundreds are slaughtered, as game in a park. Their hide is excellent for carriage-braces, and is useful about ship. But it is principally for their ivory that these hecatombs are sacrificed. A single tooth sometimes weighs several pounds. Twenty thousand teeth, reported as an annual harvest of the Russian Company, must cost the lives of ten thousand walruses. The ivory compares with that of the elephant, and is for some purposes superior. Long ago, in the days of Saxon history, a Norwegian at the court of Alfred exhibited to the king “teeth of great price and excellencie,” from what he called a “horsewhale.”[163] Unquestionably, they were teeth of walrus.

I mention the sea-otter last; but in beauty and value it is the first. In these respects it far surpasses the river or land otter, which, though beautiful and valuable, must yield the palm. It has also more the manners of the seal, with the same fondness for sea-washed rocks, and a maternal affection almost human. The sea-otter seems to belong exclusively to the North Pacific. Its haunts once extended as far south as the Bay of San Francisco, but long ago it ceased to appear in that region. Cook saw it at Nootka Sound.[164] Vancouver reports in Chatham Strait an “immense number about the shores in all directions,” so that “it was easily in the power of the natives to procure as many as they chose to be at the trouble of taking.”[165] D’Wolf, while at Sitka, projected an expedition to California “for the purpose of catching sea-otter, those animals being very numerous on that coast.”[166] But these navigators, could they revisit this coast, would not find it in these places now. Its present zone is between the parallels of 50° and 60° north latitude, on the American and Asiatic coasts, so that its range is comparatively limited. Evidently it was Cook who first revealed the sea-otter to Englishmen. In the table of contents of his second volume are the words, “Description of a Sea-Otter,” and in the text is a minute account of this animal, and especially of its incomparable fur, “certainly softer and finer than that of any others we know of.” Not content with description, the famous navigator adds, in remarkable words, “Therefore the discovery of this part of the continent of North America, where so valuable an article of commerce may be met with, cannot be a matter of indifference.”[167] This account stimulated the commercial enterprise of that day. Other witnesses followed. Meares, describing his voyage, placed this fur high above all other furs,—“the finest in the world, and of exceeding beauty”;[168] and La Pérouse made it known in France as “the most precious and the most common peltry” of those regions.[169] Shortly afterwards all existing information with regard to it was elaborately set forth in the Historical Introduction to the Voyage of Marchand, published at Paris under the auspices of the Institute.[170]

The sea-otter was known originally to the Russians in Kamtchatka, where it was called the sea-beaver; but the discoveries of Behring constitute an epoch in the commerce. His shipwrecked crew, compelled to winter on the desert island now bearing his name, found this animal in flocks, ignorant of men and innocent as sheep, so that they were slaughtered without resistance, to the number of “near nine hundred.”[171] Their value became known. Fabulous prices were paid by the Chinese, sometimes, according to Coxe, as high as one hundred and forty rubles.[172] At such a price a single sea-otter was more than five ounces of gold, and a flock was a gold mine. The pursuit of gold was renewed. It was the sea-otter that tempted the navigator, and subsequent enterprise was under the incentive of obtaining the precious fur. Müller, calling him a beaver, says, in his history of Russian Discovery, “The catching of beavers in those parts enticed many people to go to them, and they never returned without great quantities, which always produced large profits.”[173] All that could be obtained were sent to China, which was the objective point commercially for this whole coast. The trade became a fury. The animal, with exquisite purple-black fur, appeared only to be killed,—not always without effort, for he had learned something of his huntsman, and was now coy and watchful, so that the pursuit was often an effort; but his capture was always a triumph. The natives, accustomed to his furs as clothing, now surrendered them. Sometimes a few beads were the only pay. All the navigators speak of the unequal barter,—“any sort of beads,” according to Cook.[174] The story is best told by Meares: “Such as were dressed in furs instantly stripped themselves, and in return for a moderate quantity of large spike-nails we received sixty fine sea-otter skins.”[175] Vancouver describes the “humble fashion” of the natives in poor skins as a substitute for the beautiful furs appropriated by “their Russian friends.”[176] The picture is completed by the Russian navigator, when he confesses, that, after the Russians had any intercourse with them, the natives ceased to wear sea-otter skins.[177] In the growing rage the sea-otter nearly disappeared. Langsdorff reports the race “nearly extirpated,” since “the high price given for the skins induces the Russians, for the sake of a momentary advantage, to kill all they meet with, both old and young; nor can they see that by such a procedure they must soon be deprived of the trade entirely.”[178] This was in 1805. Since then the indiscriminate massacre has been arrested.

Meanwhile our countrymen entered into this commerce, so that Russians, Englishmen, and Americans were all engaged in slaughtering sea-otters, and selling their furs to the Chinese, until the market of Canton was glutted. Lisiansky, who was there in 1806, speaks of “immense quantities imported by American ships,—during the present season no less than twenty thousand.”[179] By-and-by the commerce was engrossed by the Russians and English. At length it passes into the hands of the United States, with all the other prerogatives belonging to this territory.

7. Fisheries.—I come now to the Fisheries, the last head of this inquiry, and not inferior to any other in importance,—perhaps the most important of all. What even are sea-otter skins, by the side of that product of the sea, incalculable in amount, which contributes to the sustenance of the human family?

Here, as elsewhere, in the endeavor to estimate the resources of this region, there is vagueness and uncertainty. Information is wanting; and yet we are not entirely ignorant. Nothing is clearer than that fish in great abundance are taken everywhere on the coast, around the islands, in the bays, and throughout the adjacent seas. The evidence is constant and complete. Here are oysters, clams, crabs, and a dainty little fish of the herring tribe, called the oolachan, contributing to the luxury of the table, and so rich in its oily nature that the natives are said to use it sometimes as a “candle.” In addition to these, which I name only to put aside, are those great staples of commerce and main-stays of daily subsistence, the salmon, the herring, the halibut, the cod, and, behind all, the whale. This short list is enough, for it offers a constant feast, with the whale at hand for light. Here is the best that the sea affords, for poor or rich,—for daily use, or the fast-days of the Church. Here also is a sure support, at least, to the inhabitants of the coast.

To determine the value of this supply, we must go further, and ascertain if these various tribes of fish, reputed to be in such numbers, are found under such conditions and in such places as to constitute a permanent and profitable fishery. This is the practical question, which is still undecided. It is not enough to show that the whole coast may be subsisted by its fish. It should be shown further that the fish of this coast can be made to subsist other places, so as to become a valuable article of commerce. And here uncertainty begins. The proper conditions of an extensive fishery are not yet understood. It is known that certain fisheries exist in certain waters and on certain soundings, but the spaces of ocean are obscure, even to the penetrating eye of science. Fishing-banks known for ages are still in many respects a mystery, which is increased where the fishery is recent or only coastwise. There are other banks which fail from local incidents. Thus, very lately a cod-fishery was commenced on Rockall Bank, one hundred and sixty-five miles northwest of the Hebrides, but the deep rolling of the Atlantic and the intolerable weather compelled its abandonment.

Before considering the capacity of this region for an extensive fishery, it is important to know such evidence as exists with regard to the supply; and here again we must resort to the early navigators and visitors. Their evidence, reinforced by modern reports, is an essential element, even if it does not entirely determine the question.

Down to the arrival of Europeans, the natives lived on fish. This had been their constant food, with small additions from the wild vegetation. In summer it was fish freshly caught; in winter it was fish dried or preserved. At the first landing, on the discovery, Steller found in the deserted cellar “store of red salmon,” and the sailors brought away “smoked fishes that appeared like large carp and tasted very well.”[180] This is the earliest notice of fish on this coast, which are thus directly associated with its discovery. The next of interest is the account of a Russian navigator, in 1768-9, who reports at the Fox Islands, and especially Oonalaska, “cod, perch, pilchards, smelts, roach.”[181] Thus early the cod appears.

Repairing to Cook’s Voyage, we find the accustomed instruction; and here I shall quote with all possible brevity. At Nootka Sound he finds fish “more plentiful than birds,” of which the principal sorts, in great numbers, are “the common herring, but scarcely exceeding seven inches in length, and a smaller sort, the same with the anchovy or sardine,” and now and then “a small brownish cod spotted with white.”[182] Then again he reports at the same place “herrings and sardines, and small cod,”—the former “not only eaten fresh, but likewise dried and smoked.”[183] In Prince William Sound “the only fish got were some torsk and halibut, chiefly brought by the natives to sell.”[184] Near Kadiak he records, that, “having three hours’ calm, our people caught upward of a hundred halibuts, some of which weighed a hundred pounds, and none less than twenty pounds,”—and he adds, naturally enough, “a very seasonable refreshment to us.”[185] In Bristol Bay, on the northern side of the promontory of Alaska, he reports “tolerable success in fishing, catching cod, and now and then a few flat-fish.”[186] In Norton Sound, still further north, he tells us, that, in exchange for four knives made from an old iron hoop, he obtained of the natives “near four hundred pounds weight of fish, which they had caught on this or the preceding day,—some trout, and the rest in size and taste somewhat between a mullet and a herring.”[187] On returning southward, stopping at Oonalaska, he finds “plenty of fish, at first mostly salmon, both fresh and dried,—some of the fresh salmon in high perfection”; also “salmon trout, and once a halibut that weighed two hundred and fifty-four pounds”; and in describing the habits of the islanders, he reports that “they dry large quantities of fish in summer, which they lay up in small huts for winter use.”[188] Such is the testimony of Captain Cook.

No experience on the coast is more instructive than that of Portlock, and from his report I compile a succinct diary. July 20, 1786, at Graham’s Harbor, Cook’s Inlet, “The Russian chief brought me as a present a quantity of fine salmon, sufficient to serve both ships for one day.” July 21, “In several hauls caught about thirty salmon and a few flat-fish”; also, further, “The Russian settlement had on one side a small lake of fresh water, in which they catch plenty of fine salmon.” July 22, “The boat returned deeply loaded with fine salmon.” July 28, latitude 60° 9´, “Two small canoes came off from the shore; they had nothing to barter except a few dried salmon.” July 30, “Plenty of excellent fresh salmon, which we obtained for beads and buttons.” August 5, “Plenty of fine salmon.” August 9, “The greatest abundance of fine salmon.” August 13, off the entrance of Cook’s Inlet, “Hereabouts would be a most desirable situation for carrying on a whale fishery, the whales being on the coast and close in shore in vast numbers, and there being convenient and excellent harbors quite handy for the business.”[189] Soon after these entries the English navigator left the coast for the Sandwich Islands.

Returning during the next year, Portlock continued to record his observations, which I abstract in brief. May 21, 1787, Port Etches, latitude 60° 21´, “The harbor affords very fine crabs and muscles.” June 4, “A few Indians came alongside, bringing some halibut and cod.” June 20, “Plenty of flounders; crabs now very fine; some of the people, in fishing alongside for flounders, caught several cod and halibut.” June 22, “Sent the canoe out some distance into the bay, and it soon returned with a load of fine halibut and cod; this success induced me to send her out frequently with a fishing party, and they caught considerably more than what was sufficient for daily consumption.” June 30, “In hauling the seine, we caught a large quantity of herrings and some salmon; the herrings, though small, were very good, and two hogsheads of them were salted for sea-store.” July 7, “We daily caught large quantities of salmon, but, the unsettled state of the weather not permitting us to cure them on board, I sent the boatswain with a party on shore to build a kind of house to smoke them in.” July 11, “The seine was frequently hauled, and not less than two thousand salmon were caught at each haul; the weather, however, preventing us from curing them so well as could have been wished, we kept only a sufficient quantity for present use, and let the rest escape. The salmon were now in such numbers along the shores that any quantity whatever might be caught with the greatest ease.”[190] All this testimony of the English navigator is singularly explicit, while it is in complete harmony with that of the Russian visitors, and of Cook, who preceded Portlock.

The report of Meares is similar, although less minute. Speaking of the natives generally, he says, “They live entirely upon fish, but of all others they prefer the whale.”[191] Then again, going into more detail, he says, “Vast quantities of fish are to be found, both on the coast and in the sounds or harbors. Among these are the halibut, herring, sardine, silver-bream, salmon, trout, cod, … all of which we have seen in the possession of the natives, or have been caught by ourselves.” The sardines he describes as taken in such numbers “that a whole village has not been able to cleanse them.” At Nootka the salmon was “of a very delicate flavor,” and “the cod taken by the natives were of the best quality.”[192]

Spanish and French testimony is not wanting, although less precise. Maurelle, who was on the coast in 1779, remarks that “the fish most abundant was the salmon and a species of sole or turbot.”[193] La Pérouse, who was there in 1786, mentions a large fish weighing sometimes more than a hundred pounds, and several other fish; but he preferred “the salmon and trout, which the Indians sold in larger numbers than could be consumed.”[194] A similar report was made in 1791 by Marchand, who finds the sea and rivers abounding in “excellent fish,” particularly salmon and trout.[195]

Meanwhile came the Russian navigator Billings, in 1790; and here we have a similar report, only different in form. Describing the natives of Oonalaska, the book in which this visit is recorded says, “They dry salmon, cod, and halibut, for a winter’s supply.”[196] At Kadiak it says, “Whales are in amazing numbers about the straits of the islands and in the vicinity of Kadiak.” Then the reporter, who was the naturalist Sauer, says, “I observed the same species of salmon here as at Okhotsk, and saw crabs.” Again, “The halibuts in these seas are extremely large, some weighing seventeen poods, or six hundred and twelve pounds avoirdupois.… The liver of this fish, as also of cod, the natives esteem unhealthy and never eat, but extract the oil from them.”[197] Then, returning to Oonalaska the next year, the naturalist says, “The other fish are halibut, cod, two or three species of salmon, and sometimes a species of salmon very common in Kamtchatka, between four and five feet long.”[198]

From Lisiansky, the Russian navigator, who was on the coast in 1804, and again in 1805, I take two passages. The first relates to the fish of Sitka. “For some time,” he says, “we had been able to catch no fish but the halibut. Those of this species, however, which we caught were fine, some of them weighing eighteen stone, and were of an excellent flavor. This fish abounds here from March to November, when it retires from the coast till the winter is at an end.”[199] The other passage relates to the subsistence of the inhabitants during the winter. “They live,” he says, “on dried salmon, train oil, and the spawn of fish, especially that of herrings, of which they always lay in a good stock.”[200]

Langsdorff, who was there in 1805-6, is more full and explicit. Of Oonalaska he says: “The principal food consists of fish, sea-dogs, and the flesh of whales. Among the fish, the most common and most abundant are several sorts of salmon, cod, herrings, and holybutt. The holybutts, which are the sort held in the highest esteem, are sometimes of an enormous size, weighing even several hundred pounds.”[201] Of Kadiak he says: “The most common fish, those which, fresh and dry, constitute a principal article of food, are herrings, cod, holybutt, and several sorts of salmon; the latter come up into the bays and rivers at stated seasons and months, and are then taken in prodigious numbers by means of nets or dams.”[202] Of Sitka he says: “We have several sorts of salmon, holybutt, whitings, cod, and herrings.”[203] A goodly variety. The testimony of Langsdorff is confirmed in general terms by his contemporary, D’Wolf, who reports: “The waters of the neighborhood abounded with numerous and choice varieties of the finny tribe, which could be taken at all seasons of the year.”[204]

Lütke, also a Russian, tells us that he found fish the standing dish at Sitka, from the humblest servant to the governor; and he mentions salmon, herring, cod, and turbot. Of salmon there were no less than four kinds, which were eaten fresh when possible, but after June they were sent to the fortress salted. The herring appeared in February and March. The cod and turbot were caught in the straits during winter.[205] Lütke also reports “fresh cod” at Kadiak.[206]

I close this abstract of foreign testimony with two English authorities often quoted. Sir Edward Belcher, while on the coast in 1837, records that “fish, halibut, and salmon of two kinds, were abundant and moderate, of which the crews purchased and cured great quantities.”[207] Sir George Simpson, who was at Sitka in 1841, says: “Halibut, cod, herrings, flounders, and many other sorts of fish, are always to be had for the taking, in unlimited quantities.… Salmon have been known literally to embarrass the movements of a canoe. About 100,000 of the last-mentioned fish, equivalent to 1,500 barrels, are annually salted for the use of the establishment.”[208] Nothing could be stronger as statement, and, when we consider the character of its author, nothing stronger as authority.

Cumulative upon all this accumulation of testimony is that of recent visitors. Nobody visits here without testifying. The fish are so demonstrative in abundance that all remark it. Officers of the United States navy report the same fish substantially which Cook reported, as far north as the Frozen Ocean. Scientific explorers, prompted by the Smithsonian Institution, report cod in Behring Strait, on the limits of the Arctic Circle. One of these reports, that, while anchored near Oonimak, in 1865, the ship, with a couple of lines, caught “a great many fine cod, most of them between two and three feet in length.” He supposes that there is no place on the coast where they are not numerous. A citizen of Massachusetts, who has recently returned from prolonged residence on this coast, writes me from Boston, under date of March 8, 1867, that “the whale and cod fisheries of the North Pacific are destined to form a very important element in the wealth of California and Washington Territory, and that already numbers of fishermen are engaged there, and more are intending to leave.” From all this testimony there can be but one conclusion, with regard at least to certain kinds of fish.

Salmon exists in unequalled numbers, so that this fish, so aristocratic elsewhere, becomes common. Not merely the prize of epicures, it is the food of all. Not merely the pastime of gentle natures, like Izaak Walton or Sir Humphry Davy, who employ in its pursuit an elegant leisure, its capture is the daily reward of the humblest. On Vancouver’s Island it is the constant ration given out by the Hudson’s Bay Company to the men in service. At Sitka ships are gratuitously supplied with it by the natives. By the side of the incalculable multitudes swarming out of the Arctic waters, haunting this extended coast, and peopling its rivers, so that at a single haul Portlock took not less than two thousand, how small an allowance are the two hundred thousand which the salmon fisheries of England annually supply!

Herring seem not less multitudinous than the salmon. Their name, derived from the German Heer, signifying an army, is amply verified, as on the coast of Norway they move in such hosts that a boat at times makes its way with difficulty through the compact mass. I do not speak at a venture, for I have received this incident from a scientific gentleman who witnessed it on the coast. This fish, less aristocratic than the salmon, is a universal food, but here it would seem enough for all.

The halibut, so often mentioned for size and abundance, is less generally known than the others. It is common in the fisheries of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. In our country its reputation is local. Even at the seaport of Norfolk, in Virginia, it does not appear to have been known before 1843, when its arrival was announced as that of a distinguished stranger: “Our market yesterday morning was enriched with a delicacy from the Northern waters, the halibut, a strange fish in these parts, known only to epicures and naturalists.” The larger fish are sometimes coarse and far from delicate, but they furnish a substantial meal, while the smaller halibut is much liked.

The cod is perhaps the most generally diffused and abundant of all, for it swims in all the waters of the coast, from the Frozen Ocean to the southern limit, sometimes in immense numbers. It is a popular fish, and, when cured or salted, is an excellent food in all parts of the world. Palatable, digestible, and nutritious, the cod, as compared with other fish, is as beef compared with other meats; so that its incalculable multitudes seem to be according to a wise economy of Nature. A female cod is estimated to contain from three to nine million eggs.[209] Talk of multiplication a hundred fold,—here it is to infinity. Imagine these millions of eggs grown into fish, and then the process of reproduction repeated, and you have numbers which, like astronomical distances, are beyond human conception. But here the ravenous powers of other fish are more destructive than any efforts of the fisherman.

Behind all these is the whale, whose corporal dimensions fitly represent the space he occupies in the fisheries of the world, hardly diminished by petroleum or gas. On this extended coast and in all these seas he is at home. Here is his retreat and play-ground. This is especially the case with the right-whale, or, according to whalers, “the right whale to catch,” with bountiful supply of oil and bone, who is everywhere throughout this region, appearing at all points and swarming its waters. D’Wolf says, “We were frequently surrounded by them.”[210] Meares says, “Abundant as the whales may be in the vicinity of Nootka, they bear no comparison to the numbers seen on the northern part of the coast.”[211] At times they are very large. Kotzebue reports them at Oonalaska of fabulous proportions, called by the natives Aliamak, and so long “that the people engaged at the opposite ends of the fish must halloo very loud to be able to understand each other.”[212] Another whale, known as the bow-head, is so much about Kadiak that it is sometimes called the Kadiak whale. The valuable sperm-whale, whose head and hunch are so productive in spermaceti, belongs to a milder sea, but he sometimes strays to the Aleutians. The narwhal, with his long tusk of ivory, out of which was made the famous throne of the early Danish kings, belongs to the Frozen Ocean; but he, too, strays into the straits below. As no sea is now mare clausum, all these may be pursued by a ship under any flag, except directly on the coast and within its territorial limit. And yet the possession of this coast as a commercial base must necessarily give to its people peculiar advantages in the pursuit. What is done now under difficulties will be done then with facilities, such at least as neighborhood supplied to the natives even with their small craft.

In our country the whale fishery has been a great and prosperous commerce, counted by millions. It has yielded considerable gains, and sometimes large fortunes. The town of New Bedford, one of the most beautiful in the world, has been enriched by this fishery. And yet you cannot fail to remark the impediments which the business has been compelled to overcome. The ship was fitted on the Atlantic coast for a voyage of two or three years, and all the crew entered into partnership with regard to the oil. Traversing two oceans, separated by a stormy cape, it reaches at last its distant destination in these northern seas, and commences its tardy work, interrupted by occasional rest and opportunity to refit at the Sandwich Islands. This now will be changed, as the ship sallies forth from friendly harbors near the game which is its mighty chase.

From the whale fishery I turn to another branch of inquiry. Undoubtedly there are infinite numbers of fish on the coast; but to determine whether they can constitute a permanent and profitable fishery, there are at least three different considerations which must not be disregarded: (1.) The existence of banks or soundings; (2.) Proper climatic conditions for catching and curing fish; (3.) A market.

(1.) The necessity of banks or soundings is according to reason. Fish are not caught in the deep ocean. It is their nature to seek the bottom, where they are found in some way by the fisherman, armed with trawl, seine, or hook. As among the ancient Romans private luxury provided tanks and ponds for the preservation of fish, so Nature provides banks, which are immense fish-preserves. Soundings attest their existence in a margin along the coast; but it becomes important to know if they actually exist to much extent away from the coast. On this point our information is already considerable, if not decisive.

The Sea and Strait of Behring, as far as the Frozen Ocean, have been surveyed by a naval expedition of the United States under Commander John Rodgers. From one of his charts, now before me, it appears, that, beginning at the Frozen Ocean and descending through Behring Strait and Behring Sea, embracing Kotzebue Sound, Norton Bay, and Bristol Bay, to the peninsula of Alaska, a distance of more than twelve degrees, there are constant uninterrupted soundings from twenty to fifty fathoms,—thus presenting an immense extent proper for fishery. South of the peninsula of Alaska another chart shows soundings along the coast, with a considerable extent of bank in the neighborhood of the Shumagins and Kadiak, being precisely where other evidence points to the existence of cod. These banks, north and south of Alaska, taken together, according to indications of the two charts, have an extent unsurpassed by any in the world.

There is another illustration full of instruction. It is a map of the world, in the new work of Murray on “The Geographical Distribution of Mammals,” “showing approximately the one hundred fathom line of soundings,” prepared from information furnished by the Hydrographic Department of the British Admiralty. Here are all the soundings of the world. At a glance you discern the remarkable line on the Pacific coast, beginning at 40° of north latitude, and constantly receding from the shore in a northwesterly direction; then, with a gentle sweep, stretching from Sitka to the Aleutians, which it envelops with a wide margin; and, finally, embracing and covering Behring Strait to the Frozen Ocean: the whole space, as indicated on the map, seeming like an immense unbroken sea-meadow adjoining the land, and constituting plainly the largest extent of soundings in length and breadth in the known world,—larger even than those of Newfoundland added to those of Great Britain. This map, prepared by scientific authority, in the interest of science, is an unimpeachable and disinterested witness.

Actual experience is better authority still. I learn that the people of California have already found cod-banks in these seas, and have begun to gather a harvest. Distance was no impediment; for they were already accustomed to the Sea of Okhotsk, on the Asiatic coast. In 1866 no less than seventeen vessels left San Francisco for cod-fishery in the latter region. This was a long voyage, requiring eighty days in going and returning. On the way better grounds were discovered among the Aleutians, with better fish; and then again, other fishing-grounds, better in every way, were discovered south of Alaska, in the neighborhood of the Shumagins, with an excellent harbor at hand. Here one vessel began its work on the 14th of May, and, notwithstanding stormy weather, finished it on the 24th of July, having taken 52,000 fish. The largest catch in a single day was 2,300. The average weight of the fish dried was three pounds. Old fishermen compared the fish in quality and method of taking with those of Newfoundland. Large profits are anticipated. While fish from the Atlantic side bring at San Francisco not less than twelve cents a pound, it is supposed that Shumagin fish at only eight cents a pound will yield a better return than the coasting-trade. These flattering reports have arrested the attention of Petermann, the indefatigable geographical observer, who recounts them in his journal.[213]

From an opposite quarter is other confirmation. Here is a letter, which I have just received from Charles Bryant, Esq., at present a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, but for eighteen years acquainted with these seas, where he was engaged in the whale fishery. After mentioning the timber at certain places as a reason for the acquisition of these possessions, he says:—

“But the chiefest value—and this alone is worth more than the pittance asked for it—consists in its extensive cod and halibut fish-grounds. To the eastward of Kadiak, or the Aleutian Islands, are extensive banks, or shoals, nearly, if not quite, equal in extent to those of Newfoundland, and as well stocked with fish. Also west of the Aleutian Islands, which extend from Alaska southwest half-way to Kamtchatka, and inclosing that part of land laid down as Bristol Bay, and west of it, is an extensive area of sea, varying from forty fathoms in depth to twenty, where I have found the supply of codfish and halibut unfailing. These islands furnish good harbors for curing and preparing fish, as well as shelter in storm.”

In another letter Mr. Bryant says that the shoals east of the entrance to Cook’s Inlet widen as they extend southward to latitude 50°; and that there are also large shoals south of Prince William Sound, and again off Cross Sound and Sitka. The retired ship-master adds, that he never examined these shoals to ascertain their exact limit, but only incidentally, in the course of his regular business, that he might know when and where to obtain fish, if he wished them. His report goes beyond any chart of soundings I have seen, although, as far as they go, the charts are coincident. Cook particularly notices soundings in Bristol Bay, and in various places along the coast. Other navigators have done the same. Careful surveys have accomplished so much that at this time the bottom of Behring Sea and of Behring Strait, as far as the Frozen Ocean, constituting one immense bank, is completely known in depth and character.

Add to all this the official report of Mr. Giddings, acting surveyor-general of Washington Territory, made to the Secretary of the Interior in 1865, where he says:—

“Along the coast, between Cape Flattery and Sitka, in the Russian possessions, both cod and halibut are very plenty, and of a much larger size than those taken at the Cape, or further up the Straits and Sound. No one, who knows these facts, for a moment doubts but that, if vessels similar to those used by the Bank fishermen that sail from Massachusetts and Maine were fitted out here, and were to fish on the various banks along this coast, it would even now be a most lucrative business.… The cod and halibut on this coast, up near Sitka, are fully equal to the largest taken in the Eastern waters.”[214]

From this concurring evidence, including charts and personal experience, it is easy to see that the first condition of a considerable fishery is not wanting.

(2.) Climatic conditions must exist also. The proverbial hardihood of fishermen has limits. Elsewhere weather and storm have compelled the abandonment of banks which promised to be profitable. On a portion of this coast there can be no such rigors. South of Alaska and the Aleutians, and also in Bristol Bay, immediately to the north of the peninsula of Alaska, the fishing-grounds will compare in temperature with those of Newfoundland or Norway. It is more important to know if the fish, when taken, can be properly cured. This is one of the privileges of northern skies. Within the tropics fish may be taken in abundance, but the constant sun does not allow their preservation. The constant rains of Sitka, with only a few bright days in the year, must prevent the work of curing on any considerable scale. But the navigators make frequent mention of dry or preserved fish on the coast, and it is understood that fish are now cured at Kadiak. “Dried fish” from this island is described by D’Wolf.[215] For a long time it was customary there to dry seal flesh in the air, which could not be done on the main-land. Thus the opportunity of curing the fish seems to exist near the very banks where they are taken, or Fuca Straits may be a “half-way house” for this purpose. The California fishermen carry their fish home to be cured, in which they imitate the fishermen of Gloucester. As the yearly fishing product of this port is larger than that of any other in North America, perhaps in the world, this example cannot be without weight.

(3.) The market also is of prime necessity. Fish are not caught and cured except for a market. Besides the extended coast, where an immediate demand must always prevail in proportion to increasing population, there is an existing market in California, amply attested by long voyages to Kamtchatka for fish, and by recent attempts to find fishing-grounds. San Francisco at one time took from Okhotsk nine hundred tons of fish, being about one eighth of the yearly fishing product of Gloucester. Her fishing-vessels last year brought home from all quarters fifteen hundred tons of dried fish and ten thousand gallons of cod-liver oil. There is also a growing market in Washington and Oregon. But beyond the domestic market, spreading from the coast into the interior, there will be a foreign market of no limited amount. Mexico, Central America, and the States of South America, all Catholic in religion, will require this subsistence, and, being southern in climate, they must look northward for a supply. The two best customers of our Atlantic fisheries are Hayti and Cuba, Catholic countries under a southern sun. The fishermen of Massachusetts began at an early day to send cod to Portugal, Spain, and Italy, all Catholic countries under a southern sun. Our “salt fish” became popular. The Portuguese minister at London in 1785, in a conference with Mr. Adams on a commercial treaty with the United States, mentioned “salt fish” among the objects most needed in his country, and added, that “the consumption of this article in Portugal was immense, and he would avow that the American salt fish was preferred to any other, on account of its quality.”[216] Such facts are more than curious.

But more important than the Pacific States of the American continent are the great empires of Japan and China, with uncounted populations depending much on fish. In China one tenth subsist on fish. Notwithstanding the considerable supplies at home, it does not seem impossible for an energetic and commercial people to find a market here of inconceivable magnitude, dwarfing the original fur-trade with China, once so tempting.

From this survey you can all judge the question of the fisheries, which I only state, without assuming to determine. You can judge if well-stocked fishing-banks have been found under such conditions of climate and market as to supply a new and important fishery. Already the people of California have anticipated the answer, and their enterprise has arrested attention in Europe. The journal of Petermann, the “Geographische Mittheilungen,” for the present year, which is the authentic German record of geographical science, borrows from a San Francisco paper to announce these successful voyages as the beginning of a new commerce. If this be so, as there is reason to believe, these coasts and seas will have unprecedented value. The future only can disclose the form they may take. They may be a Newfoundland, a Norway, a Scotland, or perhaps a New England, with another Gloucester and another New Bedford.

INFLUENCE OF FISHERIES.

An eminent French writer, an enthusiast on fishes, Lacepède, has depicted the influence of fisheries, which he illustrates by the herring, calling it “one of those natural products whose use decides the destiny of empires.”[217] Without adopting these strong words, it is easy to see that such fisheries as seem about to be opened on the Pacific must exercise a wonderful influence over the population there, while they give a new spring to commerce, and enlarge the national resources. In these aspects it is impossible to exaggerate. Fishermen are not as other men. They have a character of their own, taking complexion from their life. In ancient Rome they had a peculiar holiday, with games, known as Piscatorii Ludi. The first among us in this pursuit were the Pilgrims, who, even before they left Leyden, looked to fishing for support in their new home, giving occasion to the remark of King James: “So God have my soul, ’tis an honest trade; ’twas the Apostles’ own calling.”[218] As soon as they reached Plymouth they began to fish, and afterwards appropriated the profits of the fisheries at Cape Cod to found a free school. From this Pilgrim origin are derived those fisheries which for a while were our chief commerce, and still continue an important element of national wealth. The cod fisheries of the United States are now valued at more than two million dollars annually. Such an interest must be felt far and near, commercially and financially, while it contributes to the comfort of all. How soon it may prevail on the Pacific who can say? But this treaty is the beginning.

It is difficult to estimate what is so uncertain, or at least is prospective only. Our own fisheries, now so considerable, were small in the beginning; they were small, even when they inspired the eloquence of Burke, in that most splendid page never equalled even by himself.[219] But the Continental Congress, in its original instructions to its commissioners for the negotiation of treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain, required, as a fundamental condition, next to independence, that these fisheries should be preserved unimpaired. While the proposition was under discussion, Elbridge Gerry, who had grown up among the fishermen of Massachusetts, repelled the attack upon their pursuit in words which are not out of place here. “It is not so much fishing,” he said, “as enterprise, industry, and employment. It is not fish merely; it is gold, the produce of that avocation. It is the employment of those who would otherwise be idle, the food of those who would otherwise be hungry, the wealth of those who would otherwise be poor.”[220] After debate, it was resolved by Congress that “the common right of fishing should in no case be given up.”[221] For this principle the eldest Adams contended with ability and constancy until it was fixed in the treaty of peace, where it stands side by side with the acknowledgment of independence.

In the discussions which ended thus triumphantly, the argument for the fisheries was stated most compactly by Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, in a letter to John Adams, dated at Paris, 24th September, 1778; and this early voice from South Carolina may be repeated now.

“Since the advantages of commerce have been well understood, the fisheries have been looked upon by the naval powers of Europe as an object of the greatest importance. The French have been increasing their fishery ever since the Treaty of Utrecht, which has enabled them to rival Great Britain at sea. The fisheries of Holland were not only the first rise of the Republic, but have been the constant support of all her commerce and navigation. This branch of trade is of such concern to the Dutch that in their public prayers they are said to request the Supreme Being ‘that it would please Him to bless the Government, the Lords, the States, and also their fisheries.’ The fishery of Newfoundland appears to me to be a mine of infinitely greater value than Mexico and Peru. It enriches the proprietors, is worked at less expense, and is the source of naval strength and protection.”[222]

Captain Smith, the adventurous founder and deliverer of the colony of Virginia, when appealing to Englishmen at home in behalf of the feeble New England settlements, especially dwells upon the fisheries. “Therefore,” he concludes, “honourable and worthy Country men, let not the meannesse of the word fish distaste you, for it will afford as good gold as the Mines of Guiana or Potassie, with lesse hazard and charge, and more certainty and facility.”[223] Doubtless for a long time the neighboring fish-banks were the gold-mines of New England.

I have grouped these allusions that you may see how the fisheries of that day, though comparatively small, enlisted the energies of our fathers. Tradition confirms the record. The sculptured image of a cod pendent from the ceiling in the hall of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where it was placed during the last century, constantly recalls this industrial and commercial staple, with the great part it performed. And now it is my duty to remind you that these fisheries, guarded so watchfully and vindicated with such conquering zeal, had a value prospective rather than present, or at least small compared with what it is now. Exact figures, covering the ten years between 1765 and 1775, show that during this period Massachusetts employed annually in the fisheries 665 vessels, measuring 25,630 tons, with only 4,405 men.[224] In contrast with this interest, which seems so small, although at the time considerable, are the present fisheries of our country; and here again we have exact figures. The number of vessels in the cod fishery alone, in 1861, just before the blight of war reached this business, was 2,753, measuring 137,665 tons, with 19,271 men,—being more than four times as many vessels and men, and more than five times as much tonnage, as for ten years preceding the Revolution were employed annually by Massachusetts, representing at that time the fishing interest of the country.

Small beginnings, therefore, are no discouragement; I turn with confidence to the future. Already the local fisheries on this coast have developed among the generations of natives a singular gift in building and managing their small craft so as to excite the frequent admiration of voyagers. The larger fisheries there will naturally exercise a corresponding influence on the population destined to build and manage the larger craft. The beautiful baidar will give way to the fishing-smack, the clipper, and the steamer. All things will be changed in form and proportion; but the original aptitude for the sea will remain. A practical race of intrepid navigators will swarm the coast, ready for any enterprise of business or patriotism. Commerce will find new arms, the country new defenders, the national flag new hands to bear it aloft.

SUMMARY.

Mr. President,—I now conclude this examination. From a review of the origin of the treaty, and the general considerations with regard to it, we have passed to an examination of these possessions under different heads, in order to arrive at a knowledge of their character and value. And here we have noticed the existing government, which was found to be nothing but a fur company, whose only object is trade; then the population, where a very few Russians and Creoles are a scanty fringe to the aboriginal races; then the climate, a ruling influence, with its thermal current of ocean and its eccentric isothermal line, by which the rigors of the coast are tempered to a mildness unknown in the same latitude on the Atlantic side; then the vegetable products, so far as observed, chief among which are forests of pine and fir waiting for the axe; then the mineral products, among which are coal and copper, if not iron, silver, lead, and gold, besides the two great products of New England, “granite and ice”; then the furs, including precious skins of the black fox and sea-otter, which originally tempted the settlement, and remain to this day the exclusive object of pursuit; and, lastly, the fisheries, which, in waters superabundant with animal life beyond any of the globe, seem to promise a new commerce. All these I have presented plainly and impartially, exhibiting my authorities as I proceeded. I have done little more than hold the scales. If these incline on either side, it is because reason or testimony on that side is the weightier.

WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE.

As these extensive possessions, constituting a corner of the continent, pass from the imperial government of Russia, they will naturally receive a new name. They will be no longer Russian America. How shall they be called? Clearly, any name borrowed from classical antiquity or from individual invention will be little better than misnomer or nickname unworthy of the historic occasion. Even if taken from our own annals, it will be of doubtful taste. The name should come from the country itself. It should be indigenous, aboriginal, one of the autochthons of the soil. Happily such a name exists, as proper in sound as in origin. It appears from the report of Cook, the illustrious navigator, to whom I have so often referred, that the euphonious designation now applied to the peninsula which is the continental link of the Aleutian chain was the sole word used originally by the native islanders, “when speaking of the American continent in general, which they knew perfectly well to be a great land.”[225] It only remains, that, following these natives, whose places are now ours, we, too, should call this “great land” Alaska.[226]

Another change should be made. As the settlements of this coast came eastward from Russia, bringing with the Russian flag Western time, the day is earlier by twenty-four hours with them than with us, so that their Sunday is our Saturday, and the other days of the week are in corresponding discord. This must be rectified according to the national meridian, so that there shall be the same Sunday for all, and the other days of the week shall be in corresponding harmony. Important changes must follow, of which this is typical. All else must be rectified according to the national meridian, so that within the sphere of our common country there shall be everywhere the same generous rule and one prevailing harmony. Of course, the unreformed Julian calendar, received from Russia, will give place to ours,—Old Style yielding to New Style.

An object of immediate practical interest will be the survey of the extended and indented coast by our own officers, bringing it all within the domain of science, and assuring to navigation much-needed assistance, while the Republic is honored by a continuation of national charts, where execution vies with science, and the art of engraving is the beautiful handmaid. Associated with this survey, and scarcely inferior in value, will be the examination of the country by scientific explorers, so that its geological structure may become known, with its various products, vegetable and mineral. But your best work and most important endowment will be the Republican Government, which, looking to a long future, you will organize, with schools free to all, and with equal laws, before which every citizen will stand erect in the consciousness of manhood. Here will be a motive power without which coal itself is insufficient. Here will be a source of wealth more inexhaustible than any fisheries. Bestow such a government, and you will give what is better than all you can receive, whether quintals of fish, sands of gold, choicest fur, or most beautiful ivory.