202 TESTIMONY 



Deposition of Gnstave Nichaum, vice-prcfiident of Alasl-a Commercial 

 Company and employe and partner of lessees of Commander Islands. 



management. 



State of Caltfornia, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss: 

 Gustave Niebaum, having been duly sworn, deposes and says: I am 



a resident of San Francisco, 50 years of age, and an 

 iam"s^^'^° ^^^^ ^'^ American citizen, becoming so by reason of tlie cession 



of Alaska. I was formerly a resident of that Terri- 

 tory and shipmaster for the Enssian American Company prior to the 

 transfer of Alaska to the United States. I was from 1880 until 1891 

 Ex erience viceconsul of Eussia at the port of San Francisco, and 



• xpenence. ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ have been for several years past, vice- 



president and director of the Alaska Commercial Company and a part- 

 ner of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., the former lessees from Eussia of the 

 Commander and Eobben islands. 



I was instrumental in Eussia in obtaining the lease for the last-named 

 company and had familiarized myself with the sealeries upon these 

 islands in this connection. In 1871 I visited the islands and directed 

 the policy and practice to bepursued under the lease. In this pursuit I 

 of course became conversant with all the details of the business. Un- 

 der the Enssian regime upon the Commander Islands 

 pr?<fr*^oi8C8. ''^''"'^' prior to 1868 the number of seals taken annually did 



not exceed about 5,000, the skins of which were dried for 

 market. Following the surrender of occupancy of these islands by the 

 Eussian American Company in 1868, the sealeries were left open to all 



parties and various expeditions visited them unre- 

 ^^(^jiitciies iu 1808, to gtrictcd by any Governmental control. Their catclies 



amounted in 1868 to about 15,000, in 1869 to about 

 20,000, and in 1870 to about 30,000 skins. 



In 1871 the Eussian Government executed the lease to Hutchinson, 



Lease of isiaiuLs to ^^<*^^^ "^^ ^^-i ^"<^ ^^ ^^'^^ fouud ucccssary to restrict the 



Hutchinson, Kohl &. killing for this year to about 6,000 skins, because the 



stTicUon ofkimu...'^' rookeries had been largely depleted by the excessive 



killing, unwise methods, and heedless husbandry. The 

 result of improved methods showed themselves at once, and the rook- 

 eries steadily increased in size and number of occupants. We were 



thus enabled to j)rocure an almost constantly increas- 

 o/sZ\slVii\aMs!'''' i"8" iiumber of skins from year to year during the whole 



term of our lease. We were unrestricted as to the 

 numbers to be taken, and after the first two years of the lease were 

 urged by the Eussian authorities upon the islands to take more than 

 we wanted in view of the condition of the sealskin market. 



I revisited the islands on various occasions subsequentto 1871, and my 

 Manan^eni obscrvatious Confirmed the fact that we were moving in 



' '"^ ' the right direction to secure an increase of the rookeries. 



The experienceof the whole term of tlic lease jiroves conclusively that our 

 policy in coiuluctingthe business was a wise one and that our manner 

 of handling, managing, and killing the seals was in every respect what 

 it slionld have been. This policy was predicated upon the custom of 

 the Eussian American Company observed during many years and 

 strengthened by my own actual experience in conducting the business of 

 taking seals ujjou the I'ribilof Islands in 1807-'68 and 1869, and more 

 particularly during the season of 1868, when there was unrestricted 



