32 ALASKA. 



large brickyard, the only establishment of the kind in the colony, from which all 

 stations and settlements were supplied with the material for the old-fashioned 

 Russian ovens or heaters. 



About 30 miles down the coast from Kenai, there is another settlement deserv- 

 ing at least a passing notice. A number of "colonial citizens," or superan- 

 nuated employees of the old Russian company, were ordered to settle some fifty 

 or sixty years ago at Ninilchik, and their descendants live there still. Each 

 family has quite a large garden patch of turnips and potatoes, yielding enough to 

 allow the owners to dispose of a large surplus to traders and fishermen. They 

 have quite a herd of cattle, and the women actually make butter; but they are 

 not sufficiently advanced in farming lore to construct or use a churn, and the 

 butter is made in a very laborious manner by shaking the cream in bottles. 

 They also raise pigs and keep poultry, but on account of the hogs running on 

 the seashore, digging clams and feeding upon kelp, and the chickens scratching 

 among fish bones and other offal, both their poultry and their pork are fishy to 

 such an extent as to be made unpalatable. 



In the vicinity of Anchor Point, on Kuchekmak Gulf, and on Graham's or 

 English Harbor, extensive coal veins appear along the bluffs and come to the 

 surface. The Russian-American Company, jointly with a San Francisco firm, 

 worked here for years to develop the mines and obtain a product good enough 

 for the use of steamers and engines, but after sinking a large capital the enter- 

 prise was abandoned before the transfer of the Territory took place. A few 

 remnants of the extensive buildings erected in connection with these mining 

 operations still remain on the north shore of English Bay. 



St. Paul, on the northern part of Kadiak Island, does a large 

 fur trade. There are a number of salmon canneries on the is- 

 land, employing in 1890, according to Longman's Gazetteer (p. 

 764), 1,100 hands, Karluk (population, 1,123) is said to have 

 the largest cannery in the world. Kadiak (495), Alitak (420), 

 and Afognak (409) are other villages on the island. 



On the Aleutian Islands, there are many settlements. The one 

 on Ounga Island has a population of about 200, according to Mr. 

 Petroff. Belkowsky, on the southern end of the Aliaska Penin- 

 sula, has 300 inhabitants. Near Protassof (100 inhabitants) there 

 are warm sulphur springs and ponds. Iliuliuk, on Unalaska 

 Island, is a point of considerable commercial importance, having 

 a church, custom-house, trading establishments, wharves, etc. Ni- 



