74 CESSION OF ALASKA 



Value of furs Pi.;)3Ji(^,f Inlands, on account of tlie great wealth 



tnkfMi prior to ces- ' ~ 



^^'^"* derived from their annual harvest of furs, speaks 



of them as the "g"olden islands."^ The tables 

 which will be found in the Appendix^ set forth 

 the vast quantities of fur skins which were ex- 

 ported from the Colonies during the period of the 

 Russian occuj:)ancy and how greatly they ex- 

 ceeded all other sources of revenue of the 

 Russian American Company. 

 Their value well Their valuc was well known to the American 



known to Ameri- . n -t r>n iim- 



can negotiators, negotiators 01 tiie treaty oi 1867, and while it 



and the chief in- n • n i t • i 



dnceniei^t for pur- must bo admitted that political considerations 



ch/ise of Alaska. 



entered into the negotiations to a certain extent, 

 yet so far as revenue to the Government and 

 immediate profit to its people were concerned, it 

 will appear from a careful study of the incidents 

 attending the transfer of sovereignty that it was 

 the fur industry more than all other considera- 

 tions which decided the United States to pay the 

 sum of seven million two hundred thousand dol- 

 lars required by Russiafor the cession and transfer 

 of her sovereign rights and property. 



1 Veniaminof, vol. I, p. 277: "These islands might be called 

 golden on account of the high value of fur-seal and sea-otter 

 skins shipped from there from their discovery up to the present 

 time and of their promise for the future. • • • What an im- 

 mense capital is represented by all the skins obtained from these 

 islands, and what sums they Avill bring in the future, even with 

 the present limited scope of the industry. There are not many 

 such places in the world affording such wealth in so small a space 

 and in return for so little exertion on the part of man." 



2 Vol. I, p. 125 et seq. 



