Sketches of an Excursion io Southern Alaska. 



A scIiodI and regular religious meetings were started at P'ort Wrangel, with 

 the expectation which Gen. Howard and the writer had fostered, that they 

 would be sustained by the American people. And when the time for the re- 

 moval of the troops from Alaska approached, the writer could no longer hesitate. 

 The emergency dictated immediate action, or the surrender of all that had been 

 attempted by us. 



The eftbris wiiich were l)cgun in the mother Presbytery of (Jregon, were con- 

 tinued when the Synod of the (.Columbia was organized. Under the authority 

 of the Synod, a memorial was forwarded to the General Assembly of 1877, 

 setting forth some of the facts, and praying for the Church's intervention for 

 that neglected Territory. No doubt could exist but that the Assembly would 

 take decisive action. But that memorial was kept back. It was in the Assem- 

 buy but was not laid before it. The writer had dispatched a member of his 

 church, J. C. Mallory, Jr., to assume the charge of the mission and the school, 

 to take a survey of the situation, esi)ecially at Sitka andFort Wrangel. Mr. 

 .Mallory had the support of the military and the promise of an appointment from 

 the Indian Bureau. The failure of the action in the Assembly left the entire 

 charge, including rents, salaries and outfits in individual hands. And Mrs. Mc- 

 I'arland another member of the w riter's church was added to the misssionary 

 force, and sent thither under the same urgency of the situation. The individual 

 responsibility of the writer did not cease until the following year 1878. 



Information respecting. the condition of the ^Vlaskans was very limited, and 

 lacked the defmiteness which was indispensable in the prosecution of the nii.-i- 

 sionary work. Mr. Mallory's reports we're useful, but he early left the field. 

 The letters of missionaries were necessaril)- confineel to a very limited area. 

 Rev. S. Jackson, D. IJ.,had, at the writer's request, accompanied Mrs. McFai- 

 land to Fort Wrangel, where he spent a few days and returned by the same 

 tri]) of the steamer to I'ortland. To obtain further information the Home 

 Board designated tlie writer to make a visit to Southern Alaska to survey the 

 ground and report. 



Some of the results of a very arduous and conscientious exploration are em- 

 bodied in the following pages. The sketches and reports were duly forwarded 

 to the Board of Home Missions, under whose commission the writer was act- 

 ing. The third report was made to l)oth the .Synod and Board, which will 

 account for some repetitions. 



The .Synod of the Columbia has requested the publication of these docu 

 ments in view of their permanent value as belonging to the history of the in- 

 troduction of christian civilization into Alaska, and for the information of the- 

 public. The third report was printed in the Synod's minutes, 1879. The sub- 

 istance of the fifth report addressed in the form of a Letter to the President of 

 the United States, was published at the Executive Mansion under the Pres- 

 dent's auspices. The other reports have been multiplied by copying anil 

 and sent to influential persons. But the circulation has been quite limited. 

 In preparing thcin for the present publication they have been considerably 

 abridged. 



