378 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



great natural resources " luring tbeui on, has been turned aside from'its course hy 

 any conjpany, however great. Tiie masses of immigrants that peopled, in turn, Illi- 

 nois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, California, and Oregon, would have run over and 

 crushed out any impediment that stood in their way. In ne>v territory west of the 

 Mississippi we have but recently seen the United States Army called out to keep 

 immigrants from settling upon lands in advance of the Government's wishes, even 

 where the country only possessed "natural resources" quite " comj)arable" with 

 those of other States and Territories. It therefore becomes a matter of great histor- 

 ical interest, as well as of vast importance in the science of government to ascertain 

 how asiulge corporation, with acapital of $2,000,000, had acquired such " undisputed 

 sway " over the greater x>art of a territory of 541,409 square miles, made it a •' principal- 

 ity of its own," and turned aside and overcame the vast mass of "industrious and en- 

 terprising people," who, with their millions, have tried in vain to reach its shores, rich 

 in the promise of a great future, and who have unsuccessfully sought to invest in 

 her "incomparably great natural resources." 



The inquirer will learn with astonishment that the only natural resources of the 

 country in which the Alaska Commercial Company deals are furs and the pelts of ani- 

 mals, with the exception of fish to a very limited degree beyond its supply to the na- 

 tives under the terms of lease. It has nothing to do with mines, either of coal or pre- 

 cious metals, forests, quarries, grain, fruits, or vegetables, and make no investment in 

 the "incomparably great resources " referred to, save only in furs and the skins of 

 wild animals. It in no wise competes with the cod and salmon fisheries or any of the 

 canneries. Its vessels are intended primarily for its own use, in its own business, but 

 it freely carries the mails and offers to all who desire it the full acconuuodation which 

 any can obtain from^ common carrier. Yet it competes with no lines of steamers or 

 other vessels for the carrying trade and leaves the field open to any who seek it. 



First. Southeastern Alasln. 



The coujpany does no business at all of any kind with southeastern Alaska ; that >8, 

 the portion lying south and east of Mount St. Elias, called the Southeastern division. 

 It is here that Sitka, the seat of government, is situated, and where the greater part 

 of the white population of Alaska resides. It extends from Mount St. Elias to Port- 

 land Canal and contains '28,980 square miles, being larger in area than either Con- 

 necticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, or West Vir- 

 ginia, and is nearly as large as Indiana. Compared with this large district the Fri- 

 bylov Islands leased to this company are very insignificant in area. St. Paul is 13 

 miles long and less than 6 miles in point of greatest width, and contains about 33 

 square miles, a large part being rocky, rugged cones of volcanic rock, whilst a great 

 deal of the remainder is drifting sand dunes. St. George Island is about 10 miles in 

 extreme length and about 4^ miles in greatest width, and contains about 27 square 

 miles. Its greatest elevation is 920 feet above the sea. 



None of the vessels of this company touch at any ]iort in southeastern Alaska, and 

 as Governor Swineford says, in his first report (that of 1885): "The seal islands are 

 distant from the Territorial seat of government not less than 1,500 miles, and the 

 nearest point at which that company maintains an establishment is some 300 miles 

 to the westward of Sitka." The goA^ernor also shows that the only communication 

 between Sitka and " the scenes of the company's operations" is by "a trip of many 

 thousands of miles by way of San Francisco." So far as southeastern Alaska is cou- 

 eerned, the "pernicious influence" of the Alaska Commercial Company must be a 

 myth, and the mera creature of an excited imagiuatiou. 



As to southeastern Alaska, its great natural resources and general merits, we have 

 no personal knowledge. We do not in the least desire to underrate it, or say any- 

 thing that may reflect upon it as a country worthy of everything good that has been 

 or may be said of it. This comj)any only says that it has not had any business inter- 

 course with southeastern Alaska, or its people ; that it has no })Ossible motive to in- 

 terfere with it, or any projects for its benefit, and that the business enterprises and 

 operations of this company are too remote to have the slightest effect upon this part 

 of Alaska for good or ill. As well might the Sandwich Islands or Oregon complain of 

 this company as southeastern Alaska. 



Second. KodiaJc division. — Main-land. 



If we go northward and westward from southeastern Alaska we pass beyond Mount 

 St. Elias, and into what Mr. Petrott' calls the Kodiak division, the eastern limit of whic-li 

 is the eastern boundary of Alaska, north of Mount St. Elins. The main Ahiskau range 

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

 Peninsula and the island of Kodiak already mentioned. We are now, however, speak- 

 ing of the main-land. 



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

 the peninsula of Aliaska, two on Cook's Inlet, one on English Bay, one on the peninsula, 



