96 ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 



the mainland of Kamchatka to the Behring and Copper Islands in vessels of his own 

 construction. In 1745 a sailor named Nevidchinof, who had served under Hehring, 

 crossed the channel which connects the North Pacific Ocean with the Behring Sea 

 and discovered the islands of Attn, and Agatoo, the former of which now marks the 

 western limit of our laud dominion. lu 1744 a small Russian merchant vessel reached 

 the island of Atka and some of the smaller islands surrounding it. 



Ten years later Glottoff, in a ship belonging to an Okotsk merchant, advanced as 

 far as the island of Ouuak, and subsequently discovered Ounalaska and the whole 

 of that group of the Aleutian Chain known as the Fox Islands. He made a map of 

 his explorations, which includes eight islands east of Ounalaska, In 1760 a Russian 

 merchant, Adreian Tolstyk, lauded on the island of Adak, explored it and some of 

 the surrounding islands, and made a report of his discoveries to the Russian Crown. 

 This group was named after him, the Adreian Islands. The next year a ship belong- 

 ing lo a Russian merchant named Bechevin made the coast of the Alaska. Peninsula, 

 and in the autumn of 1762 Glottoflf, who discovered Ounalaska and the Fox group, 

 reached the islaud of Kodiak. In 1768 two captains of the Imperial Navy, Krenitzen 

 and Leveshoff. sailed from Kamchatka in two Government vessels, and the former 



passed the succeeding winter at Kodiak, and the latter at Ounalaska. 

 835 Twcnty-tive years succeeding the death of Behring the spirit of discovery 



had planted the Russian eusigu along the entire Aleutian Chain fromBehring's 

 Island to the mainland of the North American Continent. 



After the Seals. 



Possession and occupation followed the foot-steps of discovery, and settlements 

 and trading posts were established at the more favorable points along the line. 

 Expedition stimulated by the large remunerations of the fur traffic, were constantly 

 titted out at the ports along the shores of the Sea of Okotsk and the mouth of the 

 Amoor river for voyages of trade and exploration in the new country. Lieut. Elli- 

 ott, in his report on the seal islands, published with the 10th Census of the United 

 States, estimates that no fewer than 25 companies with quite a deet of small ves- 

 sels were thus employed as early as 1772. Under the auspices of one of these com- 

 panies, Shelekoff, a merchant of Rylsk, founded the first permanent settlement on 

 the island of Kodiak in 1784. From this point exploring expeditious were sent out, 

 one of which crossed the Strait between Kodiak and the mainland which bears 

 Shelekoff's name, and explored the coast of the mainland as far as Cook's Inlet, upon 

 the shores of which in 1786 a settlement was established. 



Another pushed along the coast to Prince William Sound and Cape St. Elias, the 

 latter of which was located by Behring in 1741. In 1788 another of Shelekoff's ships 

 visited Prince William's Sounil, discovered Yakutat Bay, and made a thorough 

 exploration of Cook's Inlet. In the meantime, in 1786, Gehrman Pribilof, a Mus- 

 covite ship's mate, sailed from Ounalaska in a small sloop called the '"St. George" 

 discovered the islands which boar his name, located in the heart of the Behring 

 Sea, and now far famed as the only seal rookeries in the known world. 



Baranoff'a Mission. 



In 1790 the Shelekoff company placed at the head of all enterprises in the new 

 country that restless spirit whose energy clinched Russia's dominion to her posses- 

 sions in North America, Alexander Baranoff. Arriving at Kodiak, he changed the 

 headquarters of the company to the harbor of St. Paul, where the village of that 

 name now stands, and the next year one of his skippers passed round the extremity 

 of the Alaska Peninsula and along the Northwestern coast to Bristol Bay, discover- 

 ing Kvichak river and the Lake Llamua, and crossed the portage to the mouth of 

 Cook's Inlet, thus finding the safest and quickest means of communication between 

 Shelekoff's Straits and the Behring Sea. 



In 1794 Baranoff establisiied a ship yard at Resurrection Bay on Prince William 

 Sound. About this time the first missionaries of the Greek church arrived, and 

 IMissions were established at Kodiak, Ounalaska and Spruce Island. The next year 

 Baranoff extended his operations and trading posts to Yakutat Bay. Following this 

 was the consolidation of all Russian interests in North America, giving rise to the 

 Russian-American Company, w^hich was chartered the year that Baranoff' founded 

 Sitkix. 1799. The ])ossessions and suprenuicy Russia gained under this Corporation 

 have been so universally acknowledged and widely understood as to scarcely need 

 ccmiment. Under this Company, chartered by the Crown, patronized by nobility, 

 sustained by the sinews of conscdi dated capital, and led by the tireless energy of 

 Baranoff, new explorations and settlements inevitably followe<l. 



As early as 1806, aside from trading posts and Settlements along the Aleutian 

 Islands, we find the Russian- American Company had established fourteen fortified 



