148 FUK-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



Q. Are tbere any other traders in there besides the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company? — A. Yes, sir: miners tramping about ; and traders have 

 little vessels plying in and out all the time. With reference to any other 

 interests of our people in the waters of Bering Sea outside of the seal- 

 ing industry as embodied in the Pribylov Islands of Alaska, I know of 

 nothing ; no whaling to day ; indeed, there has been none here since 

 1857. The whales have all tied up to the Arctic, through the straits of 

 Bering, where they are preserved from utter extermination by the shel- 

 tering ice-floes of a frozen ocean. There are no cod or halibut fishing 

 banks now known of the least imjDortance in the confines of Bering Sea, 

 and no vessels are engaged there. There are no white settlements on 

 the shores or up the valleys of the rivers that empty into this sea on our 

 side, and a mere beginning only made by our people at salmon canning 

 on the Nooshagak liiver that debouches into Bristol Bay. I have rea- 

 son to believe that this canning of salmon in Bristol Bay will eventu- 

 ally, as the demand increases for this food, be a very considerable busi- 

 ness. But at the present hour nothing is being done by our people in 

 the line of fishing in Bering Sea. 



I myself do not think that the shoal bottom of this sea on our side — a 

 broad, shallow bed, sandy, silty, and muddy — is one upon which any 

 extensive schools of food fish have ever resorted for feeding or spawn- 

 ing, and I do not think that they do to-day. Codfish and halibut are 

 found most everywhere in Bering Sea south of St. Lawrence Island, 

 but not in any number at any one place, being widely yet sparsely dis- 

 tributed. I do not believe that the open waters of Bering Sea will ever 

 be resorted to by fishing vessels. That vast area of much superior fishing 

 ground south of the Aleutian Islands and eastward from the peninsula 

 of Alaska will engross fully the time and eflbrts of fishermen for an 

 indefinite future. 



Q. Does the company's transactions in that Territory amount to op- 

 pression upon the natives ?— A. My dear sir, any trader who oppresses 

 the natives at once loses their trade, and pays a heavy price for it ; 

 therefore the natives are not oppressed by any resident fur trader. 

 Nobody would think of such a thing. The minute the natives are out- 

 witted, the word goes round among them, and profitable intercourse 

 with that trader ends for them as well as himself. 



Q. Would you say that any further legislation is necessary for the 

 better protection of the fur-seal fisheries, or what additional measures 

 would you suggest for the better i^rotection of seal life and the interest 

 of the 'Government in Bering Sea ?— A. There is in my opinion (with- 

 out being a lawyer) enough law to-day on the statute-books to protect 

 them. There may be a doubt in the mind of some lawyers as to whether 

 we can exercise this power in Bering Sea, which I think we ought to. 

 I think the case is very clear. Historically our title has been asserted 

 for eighteen years in the face of the whole civilized world, without the 

 right being questioned. 



Q. Where is that found ?— A. I will sketch briefly a statement of the 

 Russian title to the waters of Bering Sea. Let me begin by saying that 

 the discovery of Aliaska by the Russians, and its occupation by them 

 between 1741 and 1799 is well known, and their claim of discovery, 

 control, and ownership acknowledged freely in all history ; but the 

 formal i^roclamation to the world of absolute dominion over all Aliaska 

 and its " seas and bays" was not made by the Russians until September, 

 1821. Why and how this declaration of supreme control was brought 

 about should be well fixed in the mind of the committee in order that 

 it may fully grasp the Russian's motive and aim ; for it will be noticed 

 that their supreme object of control in Alaska when the ukase of 1821 



