INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 23 



inlet. We had ou board 14 horses, which were to be used iu carrying- 

 supplies over the mountain pass. These animals were now brought 

 up from below. As the water shoals very rapidly toward the head of 

 the bay, the TopeJca had anchored a couple of miles from shore, and the 

 horses had a long distance to swim. By this time it was dark and the 

 struggles of the animals churned the chilly waters into displays of 

 phosphorescent light. 



On May 3 we touched at Killisnoo. A public school was maintained 

 here for a number of years. Ju February, 1893, the schoolhouse was 

 destroyed by fire, and the Bureau of Education has not been able to 

 rebuild it, owing to heavy reductions iu the Congressional appropriation 

 for education in Alaska. Most of the children in the village attend 

 the school of the Kusso-Greek Church. 



The Alaskan Oil and Guano Company, which is engaged in i)acking 

 herring and manufacturing oil and fertilizer, has its works at this place. 

 The annual product of their factory is 1,000 barrels of salted herring, 

 about 400,000 gallons of herring oil, and 1,000 tons of fertilizer (com- 

 posed of the refuse of the lish dried and jiulverized, for which a market 

 is found in California and in the Sandwich Islands, where it enriches 

 the soil of the sugar plantations). In making- the barrels Alaskan 

 timber is used exclusively. 



On May 1 the Topela threaded its way into the beautifnl island- 

 studded harbor of Sitka, the seat of government of the Territory. 

 Shielded on the one side by a majestic range of snow-capped mountains, 

 and on the other protected from the swell of the Pacific by numerous 

 thickly wooded islands, the town lies clustered along the curving sweep 

 of the beach. As we face the town, a prominent feature in the fore- 

 ground is the hill upon which Baranof Castle stood before the flames 

 destroyed it in 189-1. Extending along the beach to the right of Castle 

 Hill is the section of the town inhabited by the white peopl-e. Above 

 the dark roofs appear the green dome and Byzantine spire of the Greek 

 Church. On the extreme right, near Indian River, is the group of 

 buildings of the Presbyterian Industrial School. To the left of Castle 

 Hill is the native village, consisting of neat frame houses, some of them 

 with liretentious bay windows. 



In 1890 Sitka had a population of 1,188, composed of 289 whites, 859 

 natives, and 31 Chinese. It has two public schools, a school and 

 orphanage maintained by the Russian Government, and the large and 

 successfu'l Presbyterian Industrial School, with its boarding houses, 

 hospitals, blacksmith shop, carpenter shop, shoemaking shop, paint 

 shop, bakery, and steam laundry. 



The few hours iu Sitka were busily spent in inspecting the public 

 schools (Miss Patton and Mrs. Knapp, teachers) and in visiting the 

 schoolroom and industrial shops at the Presbyterian mission. 



On May 1 I took passage on the mail steamer Dora for Unalaska, 

 1,250 miles west of Sitka, on one of the Aleutian Islands of the same 



