REPORT OF JOSEPH MURRAY, SPECIAL TREASURY AGENT, 



FOR THE YEAR 1894. 



Office of Special Agent, 



Treasury Department, 

 Washington, B. C, December 30, 1894. 



Sir: I Lave the honor to report that, in compliance with Department 

 instructions dated June 12, 1894, I went to the seal islands of Alaska 

 and inspected the fur-seal rookeries, noting particularly the numbers 

 and present condition of the seals in comparison with what they were 

 every year since I first saw them in 1889. 



I afterwards sailed along the American coast from Unalaska to San 

 Francisco, calling at every important settlement on the way; inspecting 

 every salmon stream and cannery on the route; making diligent inquiry 

 into the condition of the native inhabitants of Alaska; the wants and 

 desires of the white settlers who are busy developing the natural re- 

 sources of the Territory, and noting the views of the people generally 

 on all that appertains to the present and future prosperity of the new 

 country. 



On July 10, 1 left San Francisco on board the U. S. revenue cutter 

 Bush, Capt. 0. L. Hooper commanding, and arrived on the 15th at Port 

 Townsend, where we were afterwards joined by Hon. C. S. Hamlin, 

 Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, who accompanied us to the seal 

 islands and back as far as Vancouver City, British Columbia. 



We sailed on board the Hush from Port Townsend July 23 and 

 arrived at the seal islands August 3, first touching at St. George as id 

 sailing along the coast, inspecting all the rookeries on that island 

 except Zapadnie, and then sailed over to St. Paul Island, where we 

 landed in a dense fog at 6 o'clock p. m. 



The seal islands, commonly called the Pribilof group, consist of four 

 distinct islands in Bering Sea, situated between 55° and 57° north 

 latitude, and about 170° west longitude irom Greenwich. They are 

 about 200 miles west from the nearest point on the mainland of Alaska, 

 200 miles north of the Aleutian chain, and 200 miles south of St. Mat- 

 thews Island, or, in other words, they are about 200 miles away from 

 any other land. 



The seal islands are nearly 2,300 miles from San Francisco, and about 

 1,600 miles, as the ship sails, directly west from Sitka. 



They are known, respectively, as St. Paul, St. George, Otter, and 

 Walrus islands. 



Otter and Walrus are small and of no importance, and as the seals 

 do not haul out at x>resent on either of them regularly, and as tliey are 

 not included in the lease, it will not be necessary to refer to them again. ' 



St. Paul, the larger of the two principal islands, is long, low, and 

 narrow, its extreme length and breadth being 12 and 6 miles, respec- 

 tively, and its total area being about 36 square miles. Around the 

 greater part of the island runs a long, low, sandy beach, easy of access, 

 where the seals haul out without difficulty, and where they were to be 



1 In 1894 about 1,000 seals hauled out on Otter Island. 



