DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 21 



In 1829 Master Vassilaief, accompanied by Alexander Kolmakof, a 

 Creole, crossed the Aliaska peninsula from Sbelikof Straits via the 

 lakes to the Kuskokwim Eiver. During this expedition Kolmakof 

 selected the site of a trading post, which was built in 1831, and in 

 1811 a redoubt named after him was built near the junction of the 

 Kuskokwim and Kvigin rivers. 



In 1830 Midshipman Etholin was placed in command of the brig 

 Chicago/ and sent to explore Norton Bay, Sledge, King, and St. Law- 

 rence islands. Upon his return he advised the establishment of a 

 station on Stuart Island (St. Michael). 



In 1833 Lieutenant Tebenkof was sent in the sloop Ourupa to estab- 

 lish a trading post on Norton Sound and make explorations inland. 

 The new post was named Mikhaielovsk. The inland explorations were 

 committed to Andrei Glazanof, a Creole. The party, with three native 

 guides, and two sleds, each drawn by five dogs, set out on the 30th of 

 December, 1833, and after great hardships reached as far as Anvik on 

 the Yukon River, and Painagamute on the Kuskokwim River. 



In 1838 Alexander Kashevarof, a Kadiak creole, was sent to explore 

 the Arctic coast. Being landed from the brig Poly fern, he continued 

 northward in five three-holed bidarkas, reaching within 100 miles of 

 Cape Beech ey. The same year Vassili Malakhof explored the Yukon 

 as far north as Nulato, where he built a block house. In 1842 Lieu- 

 tenant Zagoskin, of the Imperial navy, explored the Kuskokwim and 

 Yukon rivers and their tributaries. 



The rapid extension of the Russian occupation of the American 

 coast from 1743 to 1800 attracted the attention and excited the jealousy 

 of other European nations, and especially of Spain, who looked upon 

 Russian encroachments in the north as imperiling her interest in Cali- 

 fornia. Consequently, in 1774, CapL Juan Perez, commanding the 

 ti<i»tiago, was ordered to cruise on the North Pacific coast and take 

 possession of new lands in the name of Spain. He reached as far 

 north as Dixon's Entrance. The next year he was followed by Lieut. 

 Juan Francisco de Bodega y Cuadra in the Senora, reaching the Cross 

 Sound. On the shores of Salisbury and Bucarelli sounds wooden 

 crosses were erected as notification of Spanish claims. 



In 1779 Lieut. Ignacio Artega, commanding the Princesa and Favo- 

 rita, under orders from Spain, sailed from San Bias February 11, and 

 went westward as far as Cook's Inlet, at Nuchek, taking formal posses- 

 sion of the country. 



In 1791 Alejandro Malaspina, commanding the corvettes Descubierta 

 and the Atrevida, sailed May 1 from Acapulco for Prince William 

 Sound in search of the Northwest Passage and new lands for the 

 Crown. In 1788 an expedition in command of Alferez Eslevan Jose 

 Martinez, consisting of the Fragata Princesa and the Paquebot San 

 Carlos, in command of Pilot Gonzalo Lopez, was sent along the coast 

 to the Aleutian Islands. And in 1790 Lieut. Salvador Fidalgo, in the 

 Paguebot Filipina, visited Prince William Sound and Cooks Inlet. 



