ALASKA. 31 



way of that river. The regular mail steamer trom Portland touches 

 here both on the outward and return trips. There are 316 inhabi- 

 tants. 



Douglas City, on Douglas Island, near Juneau, has a popula- 

 tion of 402. This is the location of the Treadwell gold mine, 

 with, it is said, the largest quartz mill in the world. Yakutat 

 (population 308) is on Yakutat Bay. Nuchek is situated on 

 Hinchinbrook Island, 432 miles by sea from Sitka, and 50 miles 

 from the mouth of the Copper River. It was formerly an impor- 

 tant trading post, but much of the commerce has been transferred. 



In regard to the Kenai peninsula, Mr. Petrolf says: 



Two of the trading stations are located at English Bay and Seldovia. Three 

 more stations, consisting each of two rival stores, are located at Kenai (Redoute 

 St. Nicholas), on the river Kinik, and the village of Toyonok, or West Foreland. 



The central point of all this region is Kenai, once the site of the earliest 

 permanent settlement on the inlet, the remnants of which can still be seen. A 

 Russian missionary is located here, and a new church is nearly completed. At 

 the time of the transfer of the Territory, Kenai was still a fortified place, with a 

 high stockade and octagonal bastions at the salient points. Both stockade and 

 bastions, with their primitive armament of i^-pound falconets, have disappeared 

 since then, but a number of new buildings have sprung up, and a thrifty colony 

 of Creoles has taken to the cultivation of potatoes and turnips on a larger scale 

 than had ever been attempted before. Perhaps lo or 12 acres are planted here 

 now, and several of the families keep cattle. Some of the choicest salmon of 

 the Territory is salted here and is barreled and shipped to San Francisco. 

 The hunting grounds in the immediate vicinity do not yield their former abun- 

 dance of valuable furs, but the presence of the missionary establishment causes 

 a concentration of natives from all parts of the inlet at least once a year and 

 brings considerable trade to this old station. It was on the river Kaknu, or 

 Kenai, that the Russian mining engineer Doroshin reported the existence of sur- 

 face gold in paying quantities. After laboring with a numerous party in the 

 mountains for two seasons, at great expense to the Russian-American Company, 

 he returned with a few ounces of the precious metal, but he could present no 

 inducement to the corporation to proceed any further in this enterprise. Since 

 that time American prospectors have passed years in this region following up 

 the Russian's tracks, but not one of them has thus far found gold enough to 

 warrant him to work the find. In former years Kenai was also the site ot a 



