28 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



was also located at Zapadnie, and a succession of barrabaras planted 

 at Garden Cove. Then, during the following season, more men were 

 brought up from Atkha and taken over to St. Paul, where five or six 

 rival traders posted themselves on the north shore, near and at Maroon- 

 itch, and at the head of the Big Lake, among the sand dunes there. 

 They were then, as thej' are now, somewhat given to riotous living, if 

 they only had the chance, and the ruins of the Big Lake settlement 

 are pleasantly remembered bj^ the descendants of those pioneers to-day 

 on St. Paul, who take off their hats as they pass ])y to affectionately 

 salute and call the place "Vesolia Mista," or "Jolly Spot," the old 

 men telling me, in a low whisper, that "in those good old days they 

 had plenty of rum." But when the pressure of competitfon became 

 great another village was located at Polavina, and still another at 

 Zapadnie, until the activity and unscrupulous energy of all these rival 

 settlements well nigli drove out and eliminated the seals in 1796, 

 Three years later the whole territory of Alaska passed into the hands 

 of the absolute power vested in the Russian-American Company. 

 These islands were in the bill of sale, and early in 1799 the compe- 

 ting traders were turned off neck and heels from them, and the Pribi- 

 lof group passed under the control of a single man — the iron-willed 

 Baranov. The people on St. Paul were then all drawn together, for 

 economy and warmth, into a single settlement at Polavina. Their 

 life in those days must have been miserable. They were mere slaves, 

 without the slightest redress from any insolence or injury which their 

 masters might see fit, in petulance or brutal orgies, to inflict upon 

 them. Here they lived and died, unnoticed and uncared for, in large 

 barracoons half under ground and dirt roofed, cold, and filthy. Along 

 toward the beginning or end of 1825, in order that they might reap the 

 advantage of being located best to load and unload ships, the Polavina 

 settlement was removed to the present village site, as indicated on the 

 maj), and the natives have lived there ever since. ' 



On St. George the several scattered villages were abandoned, and 

 consolidated at the existing location some years later, but for a differ- 

 ent reason. The labor of Ijringing the seal skins over to Garden Cove, 

 which is the best and surest landing, was so great, and that of carry- 

 ing them from the north shore to Zapadnie still greater, that it was 

 decided to place the consolidated settlement at such a point between 

 them, on the north shore, that the least trouble and exertion of con- 

 vej^ance would be necessary. A better place, geographically^, for the 

 business of gathering the skins and salting them down at St. George 

 can not be found on the island, but a poorer place for a landing it is 

 difficult to i^ick out, though in this respect there is not much choice 

 outside of Gai-den Cove. 



Contrast in thp: condition of the inhabitants under Russian 

 AND American rule. — L^p to the time of the transfer of the territory 

 and leasing of the islands to the Alaska Commercial Coini^any, in 

 August, 1870, these native inhabitants all lived in huts or sod-walled 

 and dirt- roofed houses, called "barrabkies," i)artly under ground. 

 Most of these huts were damp, dark, and exceedingly filthy. It seemed 

 to be the policy of the short-sighted Russian management to keep 

 them so, and to treat the natives not near so well as they treated the 

 few hogs and dogs which they brought up here for food and for com- 

 pany. The use of seal fat for fuel caused the deposit upon everything 

 within doors of a thick coat of greasy, black soot, stronglj^ impreg- 

 nated with a damp, moldy, and indescribablj' offensive odor. They 

 found along the north shore of St. Paul and at Northeast Point occa- 



