NOTES ON THE FUR INDUSTRY OF BERING SEA AND 

 THE ADJOINING REGIONS. 



From tlie discovery of the Aleutian Islands in 1741 until tlie year 

 1 783 the operations of the Russian fur hunters and traders were con- 

 fined exclusively to the islands, coasts, and waters of Bering Sea. It 

 was not until after the establishment of the first permanent settlement 

 oil the islands of Kadiak in 1783 that the initiatory steps were taken 

 toward extending the business to the mainland of North America. On 

 the extent and value of the operations on the Aleutian Islands and in 

 Bering Sea during these first forty years but few figures can now be 

 had. Eeliable data are, however, found in the work of Lieut. Vassili 

 Berg, of the Russian navy, who commanded several vessels belonging 

 to the Russian American Company in the course of the first two de- 

 cades of the present century. Berg had access to the (justom-house 

 records at Petropavloysk, Okhotsk, and other ports, at which incoming 

 furs were counted and a royalty paid to the Government. This system 

 was in vogue until the establishment of the Russian American Com- 

 pany in 1799. According to Berg the catch of sea-otters betAveen the 

 years 1745 and 1796 is placed at 58,618,^ and that of fur-seals from the 

 date of the discovery of the islands to the year 1790 at 417,758,^ which 

 latter figure represents probably not more than one- quarter of the num- 

 ber killed, as, owing to the crude processes of treating the skins, fully 

 three-quarters were spoiled before they could be brought to market. 



The following extract from Berg's Chronological History^ throws much 

 light upon the early state of the fur trade in and about Bering Sea : " In 

 regard to the furs imported by the various companies from 1745 to 1823 

 the reader should be informed that the valuation of the cargoes was not 

 always equal to the real value of thefars. This was due to the devices 

 resorted to by some shipowners to lessen the amount of royalty. 

 ******* 



"In looking over the list of furs imported by any vessel we can de- 

 termine how far its voyage extended. Blue foxes indicate that the 

 hunting was done on the Bering Islands; black foxes that the vessel 

 reached Unalaska, Umnak, and Unimak. Land- otters and beavers 

 were obtained from the Aliaska Peninsula. 



"A large shipment of fur-seals indicated that the shij) had. been to 

 the islands of St. Paul and St. George. These islands, discovered in 

 1785, yielded in a short time more than a million fur-seal skins, and they 

 still abound in the animals. There were cases, however, where during 

 heavy northerly gales as many as 50,000 fur-seals and 5,000 walrus were 

 driven to the nearest Aleutian islands. In 1776 a multitude of fur-seals 

 were driven to the islands of Atka and Amlia. The ship ProAopy, 

 which was hunting there, brought about 40,000 skins to Okhotsk. 



* * ^ ^ # # # 



^ See Table 1, Berg's appendix. 

 * Pages 165-167. 



125 



