ALASKA AND ITS FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY. 



canneries have been established near Sitka, at 

 Klawak, and at Kasaan Bay. The southeastern 

 section of the Territory is densely covered with 

 forests of yellow-cedar, white-spruce, and bal- 

 sam-fir. Coal has been found at different places 

 along the coast; petroleum near the Bay of 

 Katmai and on Copper River; copper abun- 

 dantly on Copper River and at Kasaan Bay ; 

 lead on Whale Bay and in Kadiak Island; iron 

 and graphite in many places ; marble and sul- 

 phur in large quantities ; bismuth on Vostovia 

 Mountain ; and kaolin, fire-clay, gypsum, ame- 

 thysts, zeolites, garnets, agates, carneliaiis, and 

 fossil -ivory are also found. Gold-mines, both 

 placer and quartz, were opened during 1881 on 

 Gastineaux Channel, opposite Douglas Island, 



when the Board of Home Missions of the Pres- 

 byterian Church in the United States of Amer- 

 ica began to establish schools. That board has 

 now five schools in the Alexandria Archipelago 

 (including Sitka and Port Wrangell), in all of 

 which the English language is taught. These 

 schools, with two which are supported by the 

 Alaska Commercial Company on the Seal Isl- 

 ands, and the two Russian schools already 

 mentioned, represent all the facilities for edu- 

 cation existing in this vast Territory. 



An exploring expedition left San Francisco for 

 Alaska during the summer, under the direction 

 of Mr. Edward Schieffelin, who purposed to 

 ascend the Yukon River as far as possible. He 

 took with him a stern-wheel steamer and three 



Commander Ids. 

 8 .Attoo 



Copper Id. O o 



St. Lawrence Id. 

 St. Matthews Id. 



2?univak Id. 

 S JZ JL 



St.George 



Oonolaska 



SKETCH MAP of ALASKA 

 Showing- the relative position of the 



SEAL ISLANDS. 



"Vancouver 



and yielded more than $30,000 during the first 

 summer. Gold is supposed to exist in many 

 other places; and the Cassiar mines of British 

 Columbia, which are near the Territory, prob- 

 ably extend into it. 



Sitka, the capital of the Territory, is the port 

 of Alaska most familiarly known to Americans 

 of the States, but is really, according to Mr. 

 Henry W. Elliot, of the United States Com- 

 mission of Fish and Fisheries, inferior in im- 

 portance to several other places. " Kadiak, 

 Oonga, Belkovsky, and Oonalaska," says this 

 author, in his " Monograph of the Seal Islands 

 of Alaska," " each has a greater population 

 than has Sitka to-day, and each has a hundred- 

 fold more importance as a trade-center." 



A considerable number of schools were es- 

 tablished by the Russians while they held Alas- 

 ka, both on the main-land and on the islands. 

 When the Territory passed under the control 

 of the United States they were all discontinued, 

 except one at Oonalaska and one at Belkov- 

 sky ; and education was neglected until 1877, 



companions, and expected to spend a year in 

 his cruise. 



FUR- SEALS. One of the most important 

 business industries of Alaska is connected with 

 the capture of the fur-seal ( Callorhinus ursimts) 

 at the Pribylov Islands, and the trade in its furs, 

 which are under the exclusive control of the 

 Alaska Commercial Company. The fur-seals, 

 particularly as represented by the southern spe- 

 cies (ArctocepJialus Australia), were formerly 

 numerous and widely distributed, frequenting 

 the islands of the coast of South America and 

 of the Southern and Antarctic Oceans ; but they 

 have been nearly exterminated by reckless 

 hunting, and now only a comparatively insig- 

 nificant part of the world's supply is drawn 

 from these sources. In the northern hemi- 

 sphere they are not represented in the Atlantic 

 Ocean at all, and in the Pacific Ocean only at 

 two localities, the Pribylov Islands St. Paul and 

 St. George, Alaska, and Behring and Copper Isl- 

 ands, of the Commander Group, which are un- 

 der Russian jurisdiction. The world's supply 



