TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



723 



Included in the census are 70 Indians. The 

 total taxation includes the sum of $541,897 

 not distributed among counties. The true 

 value of property was $498,237,724. The 

 public debt, county, city, town, etc., amounted 

 to $10,287,389. The aggregate value of farm- 

 products, including betterments and additions 

 to^stock, was $86,472,947; 1,389,762 pounds 

 of * wool were raised; 178,727 whites, and 

 185,941 colored persons, ten years old and 

 over, cannot write, of whom 163,195 are males, 

 and 201,473 are females. Of those twenty-one 

 years old and over, who cannot write, 37,713 

 are white males. 



A bill was introduced into the House of Rep- 

 resentatives creating the office of a Chief Com- 

 missioner of Immigration for the State, to be 

 appointed by the Governor for the term of 

 five years. The commissioner is empowered 

 and enjoined to collate, compile, publish, and 

 circulate, in such manner, and by such agen- 

 cies, and at such places, as he may deem proper 

 and advisable, in the United States and in for- 

 eign countries, pamphlets and other publica- 

 tions descriptive of the resources and advan- 

 tages of the State, and other facts and informa- 

 tion having a tendency to attract and promote 

 immigration ; and to stipulate with such agents 

 as it may be necessary to employ in foreign 

 countries, or in the seaports of the United 

 States, for the direction and protection of im- 

 migrants from false information and pecula- 

 tion, and otherwise to use his discretion in 

 furtherance of immigration. He is also en- 

 joined to appoint one assistant-commissioner for 

 each of the three grand divisions of the State, 

 and located respectively at Nashville, Knox- 

 ville, and Memphis, and whose duties shall be 

 to aid him in all the details of the work, under 

 his control and direction. To keep, in his own 

 and assistant-commissioners' offices, a record 

 of lands for sale, lease, or colonization, agricul- 

 tural, mechanical, or other requirements of la- 

 bor, and, to facilitate the accommodation of all 

 such demands, this bureau and all property so 

 contributed are to be exempt from taxation. 



TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED 

 STATES. There has been little change in 

 the condition of the Territories during the past 

 year, beyond a gradual progress in the settle- 

 ment of the older ones and in the development 

 of their resources. Alaska and the Indian 

 Territory remain unorganized, and the District 

 of Columbia has received a regular Territorial 

 government. Colorado and Utah have been 

 urging their claims for admission as States, but 

 as yet with no avail. Arizona has been har- 

 assed by hostile Indians, and Utah has been 

 the scene of some excitement in the ranks of 

 the Mormons of Salt Lake City. 



ALASKA. Very little that is new has come 

 to light during the year concerning the condi- 

 tion and resources of the vast unorganized 

 Territory known as Alaska. The authority of 

 the United States is maintained there mainly 

 by a military station at Sitka. The cost of 



occupation is $9,388 per month as follows: 

 for the army, $3,900; navy, $3,588; revenue- 

 cutter, $2,200 ; custom-house, $700. There are 

 3,940 Americans and Europeans at Sitka, and 

 these are believed to be more than half that 

 class of ^inhabitants in the entire Territory. 

 The Indian population numbers about 8,300, 

 according to the latest estimates. The prin- 

 cipal productions, thus far, are furs, fish, and 

 lumber. Little has been done to utilize the 

 forests, but there are said to be almost unlim- 

 ited supplies of spruce and cedar timber. The 

 fisheries, too, are practically inexhaustible, and 

 furnish salmon, halibut, cod, and other valu- 

 able fish. The most important are the salmon, 

 of which 1,100 barrels were taken last year 

 about Sitka, and 700 around Prince of Wales 

 Island. It is worth about $8 per barrel at 

 Sitka. The fur-trade has decreased since 

 the United States took possession, and last 

 year it amounted to less than $20,000, in- 

 dependent of the seal-fisheries. These latter 

 are leased for twenty years to the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company at $65,000 per annum. The 

 number of seals to be taken per year is limit- 

 ed^o 100,000, and on each of these $2.62 is 

 paid to the Government, and 55 cents per gal- 

 lon on the oil. Thus considerable revenue is 

 derived from these possessions. The agricul- 

 tural products are very meagre where any at- 

 tempt has been made at cultivating the soil, 

 and the mines have scarcely been probed, al- 

 though it is reported that rich deposits of coal 

 and iron might be opened. Population, as re- 

 turned in the census of 1870, 461 whites, and 

 70,000 Indians. 



AEIZONA. This Territory has continued to 

 suffer greatly throughout the year from the 

 depredations and outrages of the Apache and 

 other hostile tribes of Indians. (With regard 

 to the action of the Federal Government and 

 officers of the army in this matter, see ARMY, 

 U. S.). The Territorial Legislature, at its last 

 session, drew up a memorial to Congress, pray- 

 ing for protection. Affidavits of 97 persons 

 were given, declaring that, within the knowl- 

 edge of these persons, in two years preceding 

 166 persons had been killed, and 801 horses and 

 mules, and 2,437 cattle, killed or stolen. Not- 

 withstanding the operations of the military and 

 of volunteer companies of citizens, and the 

 conciliatory measures of the Peace Commission- 

 ers, little was done toward securing a cessation 

 of these irregular hostilities. In November, 

 Governor A. P. K. Safford wrote : 



With, natural resources unsurpassed ? with gold 

 and silver mines that ought to be yielding annually 

 $20,000,000, the people are in poverty, and have un- 

 dergone for years scenes of death and torture un- 

 paralleled in the settlement of any of our new coun- 

 tries ; and, instead of receiving sympathy and encour- 

 agement from our countrymen on the outside, we are 

 denounced as border ruffians, though in fact the laws, 

 are not more faithfully obeyed or executed anywhere 

 than in Arizona. The people have in but one in- 

 stance taken the law into their own hands since the 

 organization of the Territory, and that the facts will 

 show was done under the most aggravating circum- 



