Church review . Tl lished and the Czars supremacy main-tained. But it was a tedious and un-satisfactory enterprise. Russia grewtired of her task. There seemed to benot much honor, or reason either, insupporting a branch of the governmentat great expense on a distant shore, inan inhospitable climate, with nothingfor the officials to do but lord it over afew barbarous natives, protect a fewadventurers while they, trapped theseal, sea-otter and beaver, watch thesnow melt from the mountains and runciown into the sea. Accordingly, whenthe lease of the Russo-American FurCompany—to which the territor
Church review . Tl lished and the Czars supremacy main-tained. But it was a tedious and un-satisfactory enterprise. Russia grewtired of her task. There seemed to benot much honor, or reason either, insupporting a branch of the governmentat great expense on a distant shore, inan inhospitable climate, with nothingfor the officials to do but lord it over afew barbarous natives, protect a fewadventurers while they, trapped theseal, sea-otter and beaver, watch thesnow melt from the mountains and runciown into the sea. Accordingly, whenthe lease of the Russo-American FurCompany—to which the territory hadbeen chartered for a term of years fortrading purposes—expired, Russia wasquite ready to dispose of her Americanholdings. This she did in the year 1867when she ceded ail her possessions,rights and privileges in Alaska to the United States for the sum of $7,201 The purchase, negotiated by \Y. , Secretary of State at the time,was almost universally decried as aba i deal. Most Americans thought the. INDIAN MERCHANTS, SITKA. with 4! i probationers, a total of entire history of this society hasbeen full of inspiration. ALASKA,THE LAND OF THE KLONDIKE. Alaska is a new country in everysense of the word. One hundred andsixty years ago it was as completelyunknown to the civilized world as ifit had belonged to another planet. Itsdiscovery is credited to Vitus German navigator then in the serviceof Russia, who made a successful ex-pedition across the northern Pacificamid snow, ice, haze and fog. in theyear 17-11. and established right of pos-session through discovery in the nameof the Czar. Settlements were slowand precarious owing to the severityof the climate, the ferocity of thenatives and the barrenness of theshores. But fur was plentiful and furmeant money—so the people came. Aseat of government was located at Sit-ka, on Baranoff island, in the extremesouth-western part of the territory:block-houses were built, a governorsresidence erected, the Ru
Size: 2022px × 1236px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidchurchrevi01, bookyear1901
