94 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



which is the eastern boundary of Alaska, north of Mount St. Elias. The main Alaskan 

 range bounds this division on the north and west. In this he embraces a part of the 

 Aliaska peninsula and the island of Kadiak already mentioned. We are now, how- 

 ever, speaking of the main-laud. 



Upon the main-land of this division the company has five substations, including 

 tlie peninsula of Aliaska — two on Cook's Inlet, one on English Bay, one on the penin- 

 sula, and one on Prince William's Sound. The latter is called Nuchek, and is the 

 '' establishment" referred to by Governor Swineford as being "300 miles to the west- 

 ward of Sitka," and the nearest station to it. At this place this company has one 

 white man as a subagent and a few Aleuts as employes. The population is all Indian, 

 and the ouly people with whom the company trades are Indians. The Indians are the 

 only banters and they bring to the company chiefly the akins of the marten and mink, 

 with a few others. The company has a small store of supplies for the Indian traders, 

 and its boats go there generally twice a year. The entire business is only between 

 1^3,000 and $4,000 a year. This station is not at all remunerative and its abandon- 

 ment has been contemplated for some time. There is no mining in the neighbor- 

 hood, no fish industry, no canneries, and no white population. 



The two stations of the company on Cook's Inlet are Toyonok and Kenai ; that on 

 English Bay is Alexandrovsk, and that on the peninsula is Katmai. At Toyonok 

 the company has one subagent, who is a white man, and also has a small store. 

 There are no white or Aleutian hunters there, only Indians and but few of them. 

 They bring in mink, martin, bear, and deer skins only. The trade is very small. 

 There is no town there, and but very little surrounding population. An occasional 

 ship comes in and the Indians freely avail themselves of the best oifer for their 

 peltries. 



Katmai, on the peninsula of Aliaska, is a substation of very small importance, and 

 one man only with a small store is kept there at occasional intervals. It is practi- 

 cally abandoned. The trade is insignificant. 



We have now presented the entire operations of the company on the mainland in 

 the Kodiak division. This division contains 70,884 square miles, and how much of 

 that large territory is affected by the Alaska Commercial Company's operations can 

 thus be seen at a glance. If so little business, at such few insignificant points, on 

 the mere margin of the couni:ry, has such a "pernicious influence " on that mainland 

 and is such a blight to its general prosperity, its whole vitality and inherent strength 

 must be very susceptible indeed. 



Kenai was once a staijnon of the old Russian- American Commercial Company. It 

 now has only one subagent and a small store. The hunters are likewise Indians, 

 there being no white hunters or Aleutians there. The trade with this company is 

 very small. At this place the Arctic Fishing Company does considerable business in 

 salmon-^to the extent probably of upwards of $6,000 per annum, and has its own 

 vessels and imports its own supplies for its employes and those with whom it trades. 

 The Indians also do the fishing. 



Alexandrovsk, situated in English Bay, contains about eighty- eight people. Of 

 these, one is a white man, twelve are Creoles or half-breeds, and the remainder are 

 Aleutians. The white man is the agent of the Alaska Commercial Company, who 

 alone and without any employ68 manages the business, including one small store of 

 supplies. The trade is quite small and is principally confined to the sea otter, hunted 

 exclusively by the Aleuts and Creoles. Occasionally vessels of others visit this point 

 and compete for pelts, which are readily obtained by the offer of contraband articles 

 by way of barter. 



Q. The next is the Arctic division : 



With this vast tract this company has nothing whatever to do. The interior is 

 virtually an unknown and unexplored region. As to the coast trade, we have no 

 knowledge or sources of information not possessed by the public at large. We be- 

 lieve that the facts, as stated by Mr. Petroff, are correct. 



The fourth is the Yukon division : 



This division lies immediately to the south of the Arctic division, contains 176,715 

 square miles, and comprises the valley of the Yukon River as far as it lies in Alaska, 

 and its tributaries north and south. . It extends east and west from Bering Sea to 

 the British Possessions, and is bounded south, in part, by the Kodiak division already 

 reviewed, and the Kriskovim division, shortly to be referred to. No State or Terri- 

 tory in the United States at all approaches in area this vast Yukon division, except- 

 ing only Texas. Yet, within its wide domain, the Alaska Commercial Company has 

 but one station or trading post, and that is at St. Michaels, orMichaelovski, situated 

 on Norton Sound, which its vessels visit once a year only, it this place the com- 

 pany has a store and an agent and assistant agent, a captain and engineer to each 

 of two small river steamers, a carpenter and a laborer. Its business is with the 



