ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 543 



and erected a 2i-story building, 100 by 50 feet in size. This location 

 was donated to the Board of Home Missions by the Eev. John G. Brady. 



In 1869 Mr. Vincent Collier, secretary of the Board of Indian Com- 

 missioners, paid a visit to the native tribes along the southern coast of 

 Alaska, and upon his return to Washington made a report of his jour- 

 ney, among other things recommending an appropriation of $100,000 

 to provide schools of instruction in the primary branches of the Eng- 

 lish language for the natives of Alaska. The report was indorsed by 

 the Hon. J. 1). Cox, Secretary of the Interior, and on April 22, 1870, 

 transmitted to the Hon. James Harlan, chairman of the Committee on 

 Indian Aifairs, United States Senate. In the bill before Congress mak- 

 ing appropriation for the Indian Department, etc., for 1870-71, a pro- 

 viso was added for the support of industrial and other schools among 

 the Indian tribes not otherwise provided for, to be expended under the 

 direction of the Secretary of the Interior, $100,000. The Indian Peace 

 Commission had recommended a specific appropriation for the Indians 

 in Alaska, as also had the Secretary of the Interior. Congress j)re- 

 ferred to make the api^ropriation general, leaving it to the Secretary to 

 api)ly such part to the Alaskan Indians as in his discretion he might 

 think best. 



On the ICth of March, 1870, the Hon, John Eaton, Pb. D., LL. D., 

 was appointed United States Commissioner of Education. From the 

 very first he took a special and deep interest in trying to secure educa- 

 tion in Alaska; and in his first Annual Eeport (1870), pages 330, 337, 

 and 345, he makes a plea for the establishment of schools in Alaska. 

 Again in his Annual Eeport for 1871 (p. 404) he calls attention to the 

 appropriation of $100,000 previously mentioned, and states the fact 

 that nothing had been done with it so far as pertained to education in 

 Alaska, and closes with this paragraj)h : 



At the last session of the Forty-first Congress an appropriation of $100,000 was 

 made for ''industrial and other schools among the Indian tril)es not otherwise pro- 

 vided for.' This amount was recommended by the Board of Indian Commissioners, 

 with the expectation that a considerable proportion would be used in establishing 

 free schools among the Alaska and Aleutian Indians. It does not appear that any 

 steps have been taken for that puri)08e, the money being expended among other tribes. 

 No effort has so far been made to educate these Indians, estimated as numbering 

 more than 70,000 souls. The discovery of gold induces the migration of whites. 

 The few trading operations are also gathering a large force of employees. There is 

 great need of some practicable educational Avork in this Territory. 



In his Annual Eeport for 1872 (pp. 20, 21), he again calls attention 

 to the neglected condition of Alaska, saying: 



Alaska lies entirely outside of all organized efforts for education, and presents the 

 singular fact of being an integral part of the boasted most progressive nation in 

 the world, and yet without the least possible provision to save its children from 

 growing up in the grossest ignorance and barbarism. No report has been received 

 by the office from the two schools which the Fur-SJeal Company is bound by its con- 

 tract to support among the Aleutians. 



In his Eeport for 1873 (p. 424), he publishes a letter from Capt. Charles 

 Bryant, agent for the United States Treasury Department, giving infor- 

 mation of the two schools upon the Pribilof Islands, which the Alaska 

 Commercial Company, in virtue of its lease with the Treasury Depart- 

 ment, is under obligation to maintain during eight months in each year 

 of the lease, commencing with May 1, 1870. In the Annual Eeport for 

 1875 (p. 463), he publishes a long letter from William H. Dall with 

 regard to the need of educational privileges in Alaska. In the Annual 

 Eeport for 1877 (p. 3, xl), he publishes a long report from Sheldon 

 Jackson, suj)erintendent of Presbyterian missions in Alaska, giving an 

 account of the commencement of schools by the Home Missionary 



