148 THE FISHERIES QF THE UNITED STATES. 



there were taken "more than two and a half millions of seal-skins"; then, in the next twenty-one years, up to 1838, 

 they took 578,924. During this last taking, from 1817 to 1838, the skins were worth on an average "no more than 

 30 rubles each" ($6 apiece).* 



A great many sea-otters (Enhydra marina) were found on St. Paul island at first, and as many as 50,000 

 were taken from the island, but years have passed since one has been seen in the vicinity, even, of the islands. 



32. HISTOEY OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN FUR COMPANY. 



PRIBYLOV ISLANDS PASS INTO ITS CONTROL. The mention made by Veniaminov, of the occupation of the 

 Pribylov islands immediately after their discovery by a score or so of rival traders and their butchering suites, 

 is authentic ; it is not necessary to paint the selfish details of the mercenary crews, as I find them drawn by several 

 Slavic chroniclers. In 1799 the whole territory of Alaska went into the control of the Russian-American Company, 

 and a picture of this organization, which managed affairs on the seal-islands for sixty-seven long years, may be 

 interesting in this connection. 



CAUSES OP EARLY RUSSIAN FUR-TRADE. The accidental circumstances connected with Bering's ill-fated 

 voyage in 1741, were the first direct means of impetus given to Russian exploration and trade in the waters of the 

 North Pacific and Bering sea; the skins of the sea-otter and the Jblue foxes, in especial, which the survivors took 

 from Bering island back to Kamtchatka and Russia, sold for such high prices that it stimulated a large number of 

 hardy, reckless men to scour those seas in search of fur-bearing lauds. This trade, thus commenced, was for many 

 years carried on by individual adventurers, each of whom acted alternately as a seaman, as a hunter, and as a 

 trader, solely for his individual profit. 



INCEPTION OP THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN COMPANY. At length, however, an association was formed in 1785, 

 among a number of Siberian merchants, to carry on the fur-trade of the North Pacific. It received the protection 

 and encouragement of the Empress Catherine, who bestowed upon it many valuable privileges. G. Shellikov was 

 the ruling spirit of the corporation. Catherine's son and successor, Paul, was at the outset of his reign, disposed 

 to abolish these imperial advantages extended to this company, by his mother, on account of the heartless conduct 

 of affairs in Alaska. Reasons of state, however, caused him to abandon this resolution ; and he issued a " ukase " 

 dated July 8, 1799, which granted to those united merchants, aforesaid, a charter, under the title of the Russian- 

 American Company, that gave them exclusive use and control, for a period of twenty years, of all the coasts of 

 America on the Pacific and the islands in that ocean, from Bering straits to the 55th degree of south latitude, 

 together with the right of occupying any other territories not previously possessed by civilized nations. The residence 

 of the directors of this company was first fixed at Irkutsk, Siberia, which was the great depository or bonded 

 warehouse for the Chinese trade with all the Russias, a short distance only from Kiachta, on the frontier, where the 

 Mongols and Muscovites alone could meet for barter; it was, afterward, transferred to St. Petersburg, and these 

 directors were personally made known to and placed under the surveillance of the Imperial Department of Commerce. 



Those privileges, thus accorded by Paul, were confirmed and extended, even, by Alexander; and under these 

 favorable auspices the power and influence of the Russian -American Company rapidly advanced. In 1803 its 

 establishments extended from Attoo to Sitka ; during 1806 preparations were made to occupy the littoral regions 

 north of the Columbia river, but that plan was soon abandoned. 



AUTOCRATIC POWER OF THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN COMPANY. The government of Alaska by this company 

 was arranged and directed in simple despotism ; each trading post was superintended by a Russian overseer or 

 "precashcheek", who, with the aid of a small number of Russians, maintained absolute control over all the natives 

 in his district; he compelled them to labor incessantly, in and out of season, for the benefit of the company; these 

 overseers were in turn under abject subserviency to a chief agent, one of which resided in the limits of four natural 

 divisions of the country ; those men were again directly responsible to the authority of the governor-general who 

 resided at Sitka, and who was appointed really by the imperial government, though nominally by the directors; 

 his powers were supposed to be limited and defined by regulations drawn up and signed by him in St. Petersburg; 

 but, in fact, they were absolute, and irresponsible to any court on earth. 



THE IRON-WILLED BARANOV. The person who filled the oflice of governor-general soon after the organization 

 of the Russian-American Company and for many years ai'terward, was Alexander Baranov ; he was a man of iron 

 will, of dauntless courage, shrewd and wholly devoid of tender feeling ; under his autocratic management the 

 affairs of this company prospered pecuniarily, and its stock rose accordingly in value; hence his proceedings were 

 always approved at St. Petersburg, although the truth in regard to his cruelty was often made known there. 



BAD REPUTATION OF PROMYSHLENiKS. In addition to the natives themselves, the company transported 

 to Alaska some four or five hundred Russians, who were termed " promyshleniks", or "hunters". They were 

 employed as trappers, fishermen, seamen, soldiers or mechanics, just as their superiors might command, and they 



*Tbese quotations are in the Alaskan currency of that period, and refer to paper or parchment "rubles", each worth about 20 cents 

 specie. See table of Russian weights, values, etc., in the Glossary. H. W. E. 



