THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 379 



11. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN FUR COMPANY. 



PRIBYLOV ISLANDS PASS INTO ITS CONTROL. The mention made by Veuiaminov, of that 

 occupation of the Pribylov Islands immediately after their discovery by a score or so of rival 

 traders and their butchering suites, is authentic ; it is not necessary to paint the selfish details of 

 the mercenary crews, as I find them drawn in several Russian chronicles. In 1799 the whole ter- 

 ritory of Alaska went into the control of the Russian-American Company, and a picture of this 

 organization which managed affairs on the seal-islands for sixty-seven long years, may be inter- 

 esting in this connection. 



CAUSES OF EARLY RUSSIAN FUR-TRADE. The accidental circumstances connected with 

 Bering's ill-fated voyage in 1741 were the first direct means of impetus given to Russian explora- 

 tion and trade in the waters of the North Pacific and Bering Sea ; the skins of the sea-otter and 

 the blue foxes, in especial, which the survivors took from Bering Island back to Kamtchatka and 

 Russia, sold for such high prices that it stimulated a large number of hardy, reckless men to scour 

 those seas in search of fur-bearing lands. This trade, thus commenced, was for many years carried 

 on by individual adventurers, each of whom acted alternately as a seaman, as a hunter, and as a 

 trader, solely for his individual profit. 



INCEPTION OF THE RUSSIAN -AMERICAN COMPANY. At length, however, an association was 

 formed in 1785 among a number of Siberian merchants to carry on the fur trade of the North 

 Pacific. It received the protection and encouragement of the Empress Catherine, who bestowed 

 upon it many valuable privileges. G. Shellikov was the ruling spirit of the corporation. Cath- 

 erine's son and successor, Paul, was, at the outset of his reign, disposed to abolish these imperial 

 advantages extended to this company by his mother on account of the heartless conduct of 

 affairs in Alaska. Reasons of state, however, caused him to abandon this resolution, and he 

 issued a " ukase," dated July 8, 1799, which granted to these united merchants aforesaid a charter, 

 under the title of the Russian-American Company, that gave them exclusive use and control, for a 

 period of twenty years, of all the coasts of America on the Pacific and the islands in that ocean, 

 from Bering Strait to the 55th degree of south latitude, together with the right of occupying any 

 other territories not previously possessed by civilized nations. The residence of the directors of 

 ill is company was first fixed at Irkutsk, Siberia, which was the great depository or bonded ware- 

 house for the Chinese trade with all the Russias, a short distance only from Kiachta, on the fron- 

 tier, where the Mongols and Muscovites alone could meet for barter. It was afterward transferred 

 ii> St. Petersburg, and these directors were personally made known to and placed uuder the sur- 

 veillance of the imperial department of commerce. 



Those privileges thus accorded by Paul were confirmed and extended, even, by Alexander, 

 and under these favorable auspices the power and influence of the Russian-American Company 

 rapidly advanced. In 1803 its establishments extended from Attoo to Sitka; during 1806 prep- 

 arations were made to occupy the north of the Columbia River, but that plan was soon abandoned. 



AUTOCRATIC POWER OF THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN COMPANY. The government of Alaska 

 by this company was arranged and directed in simple despotism ; each trading post was super- 

 intended by a Russian overseer or "precashcheek," wlio, with the aid of a small number of Rus- 

 sians, maintained absolute control over all the natives in his district; he compelled them to labor 

 incesantly, in and out of season, for the benefit of the company. These overseers were in turn 

 under subserviency to a chief agent, one of which resided in the limits of four natural divisions 

 of the country ; these men were again directly responsible to the authority of the governor-general, 

 who resided at Sitka, and who was appointed really by the Imperial Government, though iiorni- 



