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ALASKA
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ALASKA , formerly called See also:RUSSIAN See also:AMERICA, a See also:district of the See also:United States of America, occupying the extreme See also:north-western See also:part of North America and the adjacent islands. The name is a corruption of a native word possibly meaning " See also:main-See also:land " or " See also:peninsula." The district of Alaska comprises, first, all that part of the See also:continent W. of the 141st See also:meridian of W. See also:longitude from See also:Greenwich; secondly, the eastern Diomede See also:island in See also:Bering Strait, and all islands in Bering See also:Sea and the Aleutian See also:chain lying E. of a See also:line See also:drawn from the See also:Diomedes to pass midway between See also:Copper Island, off See also:Kamchatka, and Attu Island of the Aleutians; thirdly, a narrow See also:strip of See also:coast and adjacent islands N. of a line drawn from Cape Muzon, in See also:lat. 540 40' N., E. and N. up See also:Portland See also:Canal to its See also:head, and thence, as defined in the treaty of cession to the United States, quoting a boundary treaty of 1825 between See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:Russia, following " the See also:summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast " to the141st meridian, provided that when such line runs more than ten marine leagues from the ocean the limit " shall be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast and which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom." The See also:international disputes connected with this description are referred to below.
See also:Physical Features.—Alaska is bounded on the N. by the See also:Arctic Ocean, on the W. by the Arctic Ocean and Bering Strait, on the S. and S.W. by the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean, and on the E. by See also:Yukon Territory and See also:British See also:Columbia. It consists of a compact central See also:mass and two straggling appendages See also:running from its S.W. and S.E. corners, and sweeping in a vast arc over 16 degrees of See also:latitude and 58 degrees of longitude. These three parts will be referred to hereafter respectively, as See also:Continental Alaska, Aleutian Alaska and the " Panhandle." The range of latitude from Point See also:Barrow in the Arctic Ocean to Cape Muzon is almost 19 degrees—as great as from New See also: The western and See also:northern coasts are See also:regular in outline with See also:long straight beaches; and shallows are See also:common in the seas that See also:wash them. On the Arctic there is a broad coastal plain. Of the islands of Alaska the more important are: at the S.E. extremity and lying See also:close inland, the See also: The Pacific Mountain system includes four ranges. The Coast. Range of the Panhandle attains a width of too m., but has no well-defined See also:crest line. The range is characterized by the uniformity of summit levels between s000 and 6000 ft. Continuing the Coast Range, with which it is closely associated—the See also:Chilkat See also:river lies between them—is the St See also:Elias Range (a See also:term now used to include not only the mountains between See also:Cross See also:Sound and Mt. St Elias, but the Chugach, Kenai, Skolai and Nutzotin mountains); among its peaks are: Mt. Crillon (15,900 ft.), Mt. Fairweather (15,290 ft.), Mt. See also:Vancouver (r5,666 ft.), Mt. Wrangell (17,500 ft., an active See also:volcano) in the Nutzotin Mountains, Mt. St Elias (18,024 ft.) and, in See also:Canadian territory, Mt. See also:Logan (19,539 ft.). The Aleutian Range, of whose crest the Aleutian Islands are remnants, fills out the system near the coast. The Alaskan Range, connecting with the Nutzotin and Skolai branches of the St Elias Range, lies a little farther inland; it is splendidly marked by many snowy peaks, including Mt. See also:Foraker (17,000 ft.) and Mt. See also:McKinley. The latter, which on the W. rises abruptly out of a marshy See also:country, offers the obstacles of magnificent, inaccessible See also:granite cliffs and large glaciers to the mountaineer; it is the loftiest See also:peak in North America (ca. 20,300 ft.). In the Alaskan Range and the Aleutian Range there are more than a dozen live volcanoes, several of them remarkable; the latter range is composed largely of volcanic material. Evidences of very See also:recent volcanic activity are abundant about See also:Cook Inlet. The Rocky Mountain system extends from See also:Canada (the Yukon territory) into N.E. Alaska, which it crosses near the Arctic coast in a broad See also:belt composed of several ranges about 6000 ft. in See also:altitude. There is no well-defined crest line; the See also:axis of the system is roughly parallel to the Pacific Mountain system, but runs more nearly E. and W. in Alaska. Between the Pacific Mountain and the Rocky Mountain systems lies the vast Central Plateau region, or Yukon plateau, Finally, between the Rocky Mountains and the Arctic Ocean is the Arctic Slope region, a sloping plain corresponding to the interior plains of the United States. First Physiographic Region.—The Panhandle is remarkably picturesque. The See also:maze of islands, hundreds in number, of the Alexander Archipelago (area about 13,000 sq. m.) are remnants of a submerged mountain system; the islands rise 3000 to 5000 ft. above the sea, with luxuriantly wooded tops and bald, sheer sides scarred with marks of glacial See also:action; the beachless coast is only a narrow ledge between the mountains and the sea, and unlike the coast of See also:Norway, to which in outline it is not dissimilar, is bold, steep and craggy. Through the inner channels, sheltered from the Pacific by the island rampart, runs the " inland passage," the tourist route northward from See also:Seattle, See also:Washington. The inter-insular straits are carried up into the See also:shore as fjords heading in rivers and glaciers. Thus the Stikine river continues See also:Sumner Strait and the Taku continues Cross Sound. The Stikine, Taku and Alsek rivers all cross the mountains in deep-cut canyons. Everywhere the evidences of glacial action abound. Most remarkable are the inlets known as Portland Canal and See also:Lynn Canal (continuing See also:Chatham Strait). The first is very deep, with precipitous shores and bordering mountains 5000 to 6000 ft. high; the second is a See also:noble See also:fjord Too m. long and on an See also:average 6 m. wide, with magnificent Alpine scenery. It is subject in See also:winter to storms of extraordinary violence, but is never closed by See also:ice. Both Portland Canal and Lynn Canal are of See also:historical importance, as the question of the true location of the first and the commercial importance to Canada or to the United States of the See also:possession of the second, were the See also:crucial contentions in the disputes over the Alaska-Canadian boundary. At the head of Lynn Canal, the only See also:place on the whole extent of the See also:south-eastern Alaskan coast where a clear-cut water-parting is exhibited between the sea-See also:board and interior drainage, the summits of the highest peaks in the Coast Range are 8000 to 9000 ft. above the sea. See also: Other glaciers are of the See also:Piedmont type. Greatest of these and of Alaskan glaciers is the Malaspina, a vast elevated plateau of wasting ice, 1500 sq. m. in area (nearly a tenth the area of all See also:Switzerland), touching the sea at only one point, though fronting it for 50 M. behind a fringing See also:foreland of glacial debris. It is fed by Alpine glaciers, among them one of the grandest in Alaska, the See also:Seward, which descends from Mt. Logan. It is more than 50 M. long, and more than 3 M. broad at its narrowest point, and several times in its course flows over cascades, falling hundreds of feet. Of tide-water glaciers the most remarkable is probably the See also:Muir. It has an area of 350 sq. m.; the main See also:trunk, which is 30 to 40 M. broad, is fed by 26 tributaries, 20 of which are each greater than the Mer de Glace, and pushes its bergs into the sea from ice cliffs almost 2 M. wide, See also:standing too to 200 ft. above the water, and extending probably 700 to r000 ft. beneath its See also:surface. It has been calculated that the average daily discharge of the Muir in summer is 30,000,000 cubic ft. Its course, which is only about 13 m., has a slope of too ft. per mile, and the main current moves 7 ft. daily. The See also:character of the Muir was greatly altered by an See also:earthquake in '899. There are some 30 tide-water glaciers—a considerable number of them very noteworthy. The Valdez is 30 M. long and 5000 ft. in altitude. Most of the Alaskan glaciers are re-ceding, but not all of them; and at times there is a general advance. The Muir receded 1•6 m. from 1879-1890, the See also:Childs about 600 yards in 17 years; others over 4, 7 or 10 M. in 20 years. The Aleutian Islands (q.v.), like the Alexander Archipelago, are remnants of a submerged mountain system. Their only remarkable features are the volcanoes on the easterly islands, already mentioned. Continental Alaska.—Continental Alaska in the interior is essentially a vast plateau. " The traveller between the main drainage areas of the interior is struck by the See also:uniform elevation of the interfluminal areas. Rounded hills, level meads and persistent See also:flat-topped ridges, composed of rocks of varying structure, rise to about the same level and give the impression that they are the remnants of a former continuous surface. Occasional limited areas of rugged mountains rise above this level, and innumerable stream valleys have been incised below it; but from the northern See also:base of the St Elias and Alaskan ranges to the southern foothills of the Rocky Mountain system, and throughout their length, the remnants of this See also:ancient level are to be seen. In height it varies from about 5000 ft. close to the bases of the mountain systems to less than 3000 ft. in the-vicinity of the main lines of drainage, and slopes gradually towards the north." The Seward Peninsula is particularly rugged. This great plateau drains westward through broad, gently flowing streams, the See also:net-See also:work of whose tributary waters penetrates every corner of the interior and offers easy means of communication. Both the main streams and the smaller tributaries often flow through deep canyons. The Yukon is one of the great drainage systems of the See also:world. The Yukon itself has a length of more than 2000 M. and bisects the country from E. to W. Behind the bluffs that See also:form in large part its immediate border its See also:basin is a See also:rolling country, at times sinking into great dead levels like the Yukon flats between Circle See also:City and the See also:Lower Ramparts, some 30,000 sq. m. in area. Of the two great affluents of the Yukon, the Tanana is for the most part unnavigable, while the Koyukuk is navigable for more than 450 m. by river steamers, and for more than 500 M. above is mouth shows no appreciable diminution in See also:volume. A See also:low water-parting divides the Yukon valley from the Kuskokwim, the second river of Alaska in size, navigable by steamers for 600 m. Torrential near its source, it is already a broad, sluggish stream at its confluence with the See also:East Kuskokwim. The tides rise 50 ft. near its mouth and the tide-head is roo m. above the mouth. Rocky Mountains.—The Rocky Mountain system in Alaska is higher and more complex than in Canada. About roo m. wide at the international boundary, where the peaks of the British Mountains on the N. and of the See also:Davidson Mountains on the S. are 7000 to 8000 ft. high, the system runs W.S.W. as the Endicott Mountains, two contiguous ranges of about 5000 to 6000 ft., and as these ranges See also:separate, the northern becomes the De Long, the southern the See also:Baird Mountains, whose elevation rapidly decreases toward the coast-line. The system is sharply defined on the north and less so on the south. Arctic Slope Region.—The Arctic Slope region is divided into the Anuktuvuk Plateau about 8o m. wide, with a maximum altitude to the S. of 2500 ft., and between the plateau and the Arctic Ocean the Coastal Plain. Very little is known of either part of the region. See also:Climate.—From the foregoing description of the country it is evident that the range of climate must be considerable. That of the coast and that of the Yukon plateau are quite distinct. The Panhandle, along with the lisiere (foreland), westward to Cook Inlet might be called temperate Alaska, its climate being similar to that of the N.W. coast of the United States; while to the westward and northward the winters become longer and more severe. The cause of the mild climate of the Panhandle, formerly supposed to be the See also:Japanese current, or Kuro Shiwo, is now held to be-the general eastward See also:drift of the waters of the North Pacific in the direction of the prevalent winds. To the warmth and moisture brought by this means the coastal region owes its high equable temperature, its heavy rainfall (8o-110 in.) and its superb vegetation. The mean See also:annual temperature is from 54° to 6o° F. Winter sets in about the sst of See also:December and the See also:snow is gone See also:save in the mountains by the 1st of May. The thermometer rarely registers below zero F. or above 75° F.; the difference between the midwinter and midsummer averages is seldom more than 250. The summer is relatively dry, the autumn and winter wet. The vapour-laden sea See also:air blowing landward against the See also:girdle of snow and glaciers on the mountain barriers a few miles inland drains its moisture in excessive See also:rain and snow upon the lisiere, shrouding it in well-nigh unbroken See also:fog and See also:cloud-See also:bank. Only some 6o to roo days in the See also:year are clear. In passing from the Sitkan district westward toward Kodiak and the Aleutians (q.v.) the climate becomes even more equable, the temperature a little lower and the rainfall somewhat less;1 the fogs at first less dense, especially near Cook Inlet, where the climate is extremely See also:local, but more and more persistent along the Aleutians. The clear days of a year at Unalaska can be counted on the fingers; five days in seven it actually rains or snows. Bering Sea is covered with almost eternal fog. Along
1 At Kodiak, the monthly means range from 28° to 55° with a total range from -to° to 82° F., as against -3° to 87° F. at See also:Sitka; the average temperature is 4o•6° F., rainfall 59 in.the coast N. of Alaska Peninsula the rainfall diminishes to so in. or less within the Arctic circle; the summer temperature is quite endurable but the winters are exceedingly rigorous? East of the mountains in south-eastern Alaska the See also:atmosphere is dry and bracing, the temperature ranging from -14° to 92° F. In the farther interior, in the valleys of the Yukon, the Tanana, the Copper and the Sushitna the summers are much the same in character, the winters much more severe. On the Yukon at the international boundary the mean of the warmest See also:month is higher than that of the warmest month at Sitka, 500 M. southward. At some points in the Upper Yukon valley the range of extreme temperatures is as great as from -75° to 9o° F.3 The mean See also:heat of summer in the upper valley is about 6o° to 7o° F., and at some points in the middle and lower valley even higher.' By the middle of See also:September snow flurries have announced the imminence of winter, the smaller streams congeal, the See also:earth freezes, the miner perforce abandons his diggings, and See also:navigation ceases even on the Yukon in See also:October. All winter snows fall heavily. The air is dry and quiet, and the See also:cold relatively uniform. In midwinter in the upper valley the See also:sun rises only a few degrees above the See also:horizon for from four to six See also:hours a See also:day, though very often quite obscured. In December, See also:January, See also:February and See also: Summer is quickly in full ascendancy. In May and June the sun shines from eighteen to twenty hours and diffused See also:twilight fills the rest of the day. The rainfall is See also:light, from to to 25 in. according to the year or the locality. Dull See also:weather is unknown. All nature responds in See also:rich and rapid growth to the garish light and intense heat of the long, splendid days. But the Alaska summer is the uncertain See also:season; at times the nights are cold into See also:July, at times snow falls and there are frosts in See also:mid-August; sometimes rain is heavy, or again there is a veritable drought. In the great river valleys S. of the Yukon basin See also:climatic conditions are much less uniform. See also:Fauna and See also:Flora.—The fauna of Alaska is very rich and surprisingly varied. The lists of See also:insects, birds and mammals are especially noteworthy? Of these three classes, and of other than purely zoological interest, are mosquitoes, which swarm in summer in the interior in vast See also:numbers; sea See also:fowl, which are remarkably abundant near the Aleutians; See also:moose, and especially caribou, which in the past were very numerous in the interior and of extreme economic importance to the natives. The destruction of the See also:wild caribou has threatened to expose the See also:Indians to wholesale See also:starvation, hence the effort which the United States government has made to stock the country with domestic See also:reindeer from See also:Siberia. This effort made under the direction of the See also:Bureau of See also:Education has been eminently successful, and in the future the reindeer seems certain to contribute very greatly to the See also:food, clothing, means of shelter and See also:miscellaneous See also:industries of the natives; and not less to the See also:solution of the problems of communication and transportation throughout the interior. It is, however, the See also:fish and the See also:fur-bearing animals of its rivers and surrounding seas that are economically most distinctive of and important to Alaska. The fishing grounds extend along the coast from the extreme south-east past the Aleutians into See also:Bristol See also:Bay. See also:Herring are abundant, and See also:cod especially so. There are probably more than roo,000 sq. m. of cod-See also:banks from 22 to go 2 At St See also:Michael the mean annual temperature is about 26°, the monthly means run from about -2° to 54°, and the extreme recorded temperatures from about -55° to 77° F.; at See also:Port See also:Clarence the annual mean is 22°, monthly means -7° to 51° F.; extreme range of temperature, -38° to 770 F.; at Point Barrow the annual mean is 7.7° F., monthly means -18.6° to 38.1 °F., extreme range of temperature -55° to 65° F. 3 The mean annual temperature on the Yukon at the international line is about 21° F., the monthly means run from -17° to 6o° F:, the range of extreme temperatures from -8o° to 9o° F. 4 At Fort Yukon five years' records showed mean seasonal temperatures of 14°, 600, 17°, and -23.8° F. for See also:spring, summer, autumn and winter respectively; at See also:Holy Cross See also:Mission 20°, 59°, 36° and 0.95°, at Nulato 290, 6o°, 36° and -14°. !The See also:Harriman expedition collected in two months loon See also:species of insects, of which 344 species (and 6 genera) were new to See also:science. fathoms deep in Bering Sea and E. of the Alaska Peninsula. See also:Salmon are to be found in almost incredible numbers. Of marine mammals, whales are hunted far to the N. in Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, but are much less common than formerly, as are also the See also:walrus, the sea See also:otter and the fur See also:seal. All these are disappearing before commercial greed. The walrus is now found mainly far N.; the sea otter, once fairly common throughout the Aleutian district, is now rarely found even on the remoter islands; the fur seal, whose See also:habitat is the Pribilof Islands in Bering Sea, has been considerably reduced in numbers by pelagic See also:hunting. There are half-a-dozen species of See also:hair See also:seals and sea-lions. The number of fur-bearing land animals is equally large. Sables, See also:ermine, wolverines, minks, land otters, beavers and See also:musk-rats have always been important items in the fur See also:trade. There are See also:black, grizzly and polar bears, and also two exclusively Alaskan species, the Kodiak and the See also:glacier See also:bear. The See also:grey See also:wolf is common; it is the basal stock of the Alaskan sledge-See also:dog. The red See also:fox is widely distributed, and the white or Arctic fox is very common along the eastern coast of Bering Sea; a See also:blue fox, once wild, is now domesticated on Kodiak and the Aleutians, and on the southern continental coast, and a black fox, very rare, occurs in south-eastern Alaska; the See also:silver fox is very rare. The Alaskan flora is less varied than the fauna. The forests of the coastal region eastward from Cook Inlet, and particularly in south-eastern Alaska, are of See also:fair variety, and of great richness and value. The.. See also:balsam See also:fir and in the south the red See also:cedar occur in scant quantities; more widely distributed, but growing only under marked local conditions, is the yellow or Alaska cedar, a very hard and durable See also:wood of See also:fine See also:grain and pleasant odour. The See also:Oregon See also:alder is fairly common. Far the most abundant are coast and Alpine hemlocks and the tide-land or Sitka spruce. The last is not confined to this part of Alaska, but is the characteristic and universal See also:tree. It is of See also:primary economic importance to the natives, who use it for the most various purposes. On the islands of the Alexander Archipelago and on Prince See also: Most distinctive is the ubiquitous carpeting of mosses, varying in See also:colours from the pure white and cream of the reindeer moss to the deep See also:green and See also: Induslry.—The fur and fish resources of Alaska have until recently held first place in her industries. See also:Herrings furnish oil and See also:guano, and the See also:young fish are packed as "sardines" at See also:Juneau. Cod can be taken with comparatively little danger or hardship. During the Russian occupation a small amount was shipped to See also:California and the See also:Sandwich Islands. The take since 1879 has been practically See also:constant. The take of See also:halibut is increasing steadily. The salmon See also:industry See also:dates from 1878. The total output (in 1901, 100,000,000 lb; in' 1906, about 72,000,000 lb), which since 1900 has been more than half the total salmon product of the United States, is more than ten times the product of all other fish.3 On the Karluk river, Kodiak Island, is the greatest salmon See also:fishery in the world. More than 3,000,000 salmon have been canned here in one season. The second salmon stream is the Nushagak, flowing into Bristol Bay; this bay is the richest fishing field of Alaska, furnishing in 1901, 35 % of the total See also:production. The recklessly wasteful manner in which these See also:fisheries are conducted, and the inadequate See also:measures taken by the United States government for their See also:protection, threaten the entire industry with destruction. From 1867 to 1902 the value of the total fishery product was estimated at $6o,000,000. The fur-seal industry has been better protected but still unavailingly. (See SEAL FISHERIES and BERING SEA See also:ARBITRATION.) The value of the fur seals taken from 1868 to 1902 was estimated at $35,000,000 and that of other furs at $17,000,000. The walrus, hunted for its See also:ivory tusks, and the sea otter, rarest and most valuable of Alaskan fur animals, are near extermination; the blue fox is now bred for its pelt on the Aleutians and the southern continental coast; the skins of the black and silver fox are extremely rare, and in general the whole fur industry is discouragingly decadent. The See also:whale fishery also has greatly fallen off; there is no profit on the oil and the whales are sought for the baleen alone; they are much less numerous too than they once were, and have to be sought farther and farther north.
Minerals.—The timber resources of Alaska are untouched
2 280 species of mosses proper, of which 46 were new to science, and 16 varieties of peat moss (Sphagnum) were listed by the Harriman expedition; and 94 species or varieties of ferns.
3 The value of the total_ product of Alaska's fish canneries was in 1905 $7,735,782, or 29.3 % of the total for the United States; in 1900 it was 17.4 % of the country's total.
and the serious exploitation of her minerals is very recent. As See also:early as 1861 gold discoveries were made on the Stikine river; repeated discoveries, culminating in the Cassiar district "See also:boom," were made in British Columbia from 1857 to 1874; colourings along the Yukon were reported in 1866-1867 and systematic prospecting of the upper river began about 1873. Juneau was founded in 188o; the same year the opposition of the Indians was withdrawn that had prevented the See also:crossing of the mountain passes to the interior, and after 188o repeated and scattered discoveries were made on the See also:Lewes, Pelly, See also: See also:Nome (q.v.) was the See also:scene of a great gold mining stampede in 19oo. The See also:quartz mines near Juneau are among the greatest See also:stamp See also:mills of the world (SEE JUNEAU). The product of gold and silver (of the latter some 1.3 % of the total) from 1895 to 1901 was more than $32,000,000 from Alaska proper (not including that from the Canadian Yukon See also:fields) as against a production of $5,000,000 in 188o-1896. The gold product of the Canadian Yukon territory from 1896-1903 was about $96,000,000, as estimated by the Canadian Geological Survey. In 1905 the product of gold from Alaska was valued at $15,630,000 (mines See also:report); and from ,88o to 1906 the production of gold, according to the estimate of A. H. See also:Brooks, was more than $1oo,000,000. The gravest problem of mining in the interior country, even graver than that presented by the climate, is transportation; in 1900 the Tanana fields, for example, were provisioned from Circle City, about 125 M. distant, at the See also:rate of a cent per lb mile (i.e. $2000 for moving a ton too m.). Even higher rates prevailed in the copper country in 1902. Various other minerals in addition to gold have been discovered, and several of them, notably copper and silver (the latter appearing with the gold deposits), may probably be profitably exploited. In 1905 the product of copper was valued at $759,634, that of silver at $8o,165 (mines report). See also:Coal, and in much larger quantities See also:lignite, have been found in many parts of Alaska. Most important, because of their location, are deposits along the Alaska Peninsula and between Circle City and See also:Dawson. The latter furnishes See also:fuel to the river See also:steam-boats, and it is hoped may eventually See also:supply the surrounding mining region. There are valuable deposits of See also:gypsum on Chicagof Island, and See also:marble quarries are being See also:developed on Prince of Wales Island. As against $7,200,000 paid for Alaska in 1867, the revenues returned to the United States in the years 1867-1903 totalled $9,555,909 (namely, rental for the Fox and Pribilof Islands, $999,200; See also:special See also:revenue tax on seal-skins, $7,597,351; Alaskan customs, $528,558; public lands, $28,928; other sources $401,872). It has been estimated that in the same See also:period the United States See also:drew from Alaska fish, furs and gold to the value of about $150,000,000; that up to 1903 the imports from the states aggregated $1oo,000,000; and that $25,000,000 of United States See also:capital was invested in Alaska. Since 1896 communication with the See also:outer world has been greatly increased. Alaskan mails leave the states daily, many See also:post-offices are maintained, See also:mail is regularly delivered beyond the Arctic circle, all the more important towns have telegraphic communication with the states.,' there is one railway in the interior through Canadian territory from Skagway, and other See also:railways are planned. The total mileage in 1906 was 136 m. In that year the Alaskan Central Railroad (from Seward to See also:Fairbanks, 463 m.) was chartered; 45 M. of this road were in ' Seattle, Sitka and Valdez are connected by See also:cable; See also:telegraph lines run from the Panhandle inland to the Yukon and down its valley to Fort St Michael.operation in 1905. One long military road as an "All American" route from Valdez has long been built. See also:Population.—The population in 1867 at the time of the cession from Russia is estimated at 30,000, of which two-thirds were See also:Eskimo and other Indians. Population returned in 188o, 33,426; in 189o, 32,052; in 1900, 63,592, of whom approximately 48 % were whites, 46 % natives and 6 %Japanese and See also:Chinese; (1910 See also:census) 64,356. The Asiatics are employed in the salmon canneries. The natives of Alaska fall under four ethnologic races: the Eskimo or Innuit—of these the Aleuts are an off-shoot; the Haidas or Kaigani, found principally on Prince of Wales Island and thereabouts; the Thlinkits, rather widely distributed in the Panhandle "; and the Tinnehs or Athapascans, the stock' See also:race of the great interior country. In 1890 the pure-blooded natives numbered 23,531, of whom 6000 were Haidas, Thlinkits or other natives of the coastal region, l000 Aleuts, 3400 Athapascans and 13,too Eskimo. The natives have adopted many customs of white See also:civilization, and on the Aleutians, and in coastal Alaska, and in scattered regions in the interior acknowledge See also:Christianity under the forms of the Orthodox See also:Greek or other churches. The rapid exhaustion in See also:late years of the caribou, seals and other animals, once the food or stockin-trade of the Aleuts and other races, threatens more and more the swift. depletion of the natives. They have also See also:felt the fatal See also:influence of the liquor See also:traffic. From 1893 to 1895 the United States expended $55,000 to support the natives of the Fur Seal Islands. This policy threatens to become a continued See also:necessity throughout much of Alaska. There is a small government See also:Indian reservation on Afognak Island, near Kodiak. The white population is extremely See also:mobile, and few towns have an assured or definite future. The prosperity of the mining towns of the interior is dependent on the fickle See also:fortune of the gold-fields, for which they are the distributing points. Sitka, Juneau (the capital) and See also:Douglas, both centres of a rich mining district, Skagway, See also:shipping point for See also:freight for the Klondike country (see these titles), and St Michael, the ocean port for freighting up the Yukon, are the only towns 'apparently assured of a prosperous future. Wrangell (formerly Fort St See also:Dionysius, Fort Stikine and Fort Wrangell), founded in 1833, is a dilapidated and torpid little See also:village, of some interest in Alaskan See also:history, and of temporary importance from 1874 to 1877 as the gateway to the Cassiar mines in British Columbia. Its inhabitants are chiefly Thlinkit Indians. Government.—Alaska, by an See also:act of See also:Congress approved the 7th of May 1906, received the See also:power to elect a delegate to Congress. Before this act and the elections of August 1906 Alaska was a governmental district of the United States without a delegate in Congress. Its See also:administration rests in the hands of the various executive departments, and is partly exercised by a See also:governor and other See also:resident officials appointed by the See also:president. It is a military district, a customs district (since 1868), is organized into a land district, and constitutes three judicial divisions. In 1867-1897 the government was in the hands of the department of war, although the customs were from the beginning collected by the department of the See also:treasury, with which the effective See also:control rested from 1877 until the passage of the so-called Organic Act of 17th May 1884. This act extended over Alaska the See also:laws of the See also:state of Oregon so far as they should be applicable, created the judicial district and a land district, put in force the mining laws of the United States, and in general gave the administrative system the organization it retained up to the reforms of 1899-19co. The history of government and See also:political agitation has centred since then in the demand for general land legislation and for an adequate See also:civil and criminal See also:law, in protests against the enforcement of a liquor See also:prohibition law, and in agitation for an efficiently centralized administration. As the general land laws of the United States were not extended to Alaska in 1884, there was no means, generally speaking, of gaining See also:title to any land other than a mining claim, and so far as any method did exist its cost was, absolutely prohibitive. After partial and inadequate legislation in 1891 and 1898, the regular system of land surveys was made applicable to Alaska in 1899, and a generous See also:homestead law was provided in 1903. An adequate See also:code of civil and criminal law and provisions for civil government under improved conditions were provided by Congress in 1899 and 1900. The agitation over prohibition dates from 1868; the act of that year organizing a customs district forbade the importation and See also:sale of firearms, See also:ammunition and distilled See also:spirits; the Organic Act of 1884 extended this prohibition to all intoxicating liquors. The coast of Alaska offers exceptional facilities for See also:smuggling, and liquor has always been very plentiful; juries have steadily refused to convict offenders, and treasury officials have regularly collected revenue from saloons existing in See also:defiance of law. The prohibition law is still upon the See also:statute-books. The See also:chief weaknesses in the colonial administration of the territory, particularly prior to 19oa—but only to a slightly less extent since—have been decentralization and a lax civil service. The concomitants of these have been irresponsibility and inefficiency. The governor has represented the president without possessing much power; the department of war has had See also:ill-defined duties; the department of See also:justice has, in theory, had See also:charge of the general law; the department of the interior has administered the land law; the agents of the bureau of education have superintended the See also:stocking of Alaska with reindeer; the United States Fish See also:Commission has investigated the condition of marine See also:life without having See also:powers,to protect it. The treasury department has charted the coasts, sought to enforce the prohibition law, controlled and protected the fur seals and fisheries, and incidentally collected the customs. Since the creation of the department of See also:commerce and labour (1903), it has taken over from other departments some of these scattered functions. All in all, the government has proved itself without power to protect the most valuable industries of the district, and for many years there has been talk of a regular territorial government. The paucity of permanent residents and the poverty of the local treasury seem to make such a solution an impossible one. History.—The region now known as Alaska was first explored by the Russian See also:officers See also:Captain See also:Vitus Bering and Chirikov in 1741. They visited parts of the coast between See also:Dixon Entrance and Cape St Elias, and returned along the line of the Aleutians. Their expedition was followed by many private vessels manned, by traders and trappers. Kodiak was discovered in 1763 and a See also:settlement effected in 1784. See also:Spanish expeditions in 1774 and 1775 visited the south-eastern coast and laid a See also:foundation for subsequent territorial claims, one incident of which were the See also:Nootka Sound seizures of 1789. Captain See also: The last See also:charter of the Russian-American Company expired on the 31st of December 1861, and Prince Maksutov, an imperial governor, was appointed to administer the affairs of the territory. In 1864 authority wasgranted to an American company to make explorations for a proposed Russo-American company's telegraph line overland from the See also:Amur river in Siberia to Bering Strait, and through Alaska to British Columbia. Work was begun on this See also:scheme in 1865 and continued for nearly three years, when the success of the See also:Atlantic cable rendered the construction of the line unnecessary and it was given up, but not until important explorations had been made. In 1854.a Californian company began importing ice from Alaska. Very soon thereafter the first official overtures by the United States for the See also:purchase of Russian America were made during the See also:presidency of James See also:Buchanan. In 1867, by a treaty signed on the 3oth of March, the purchase was consummated for the sum of $7,200,000, and on the 18th of October 1867 the formal See also:transfer of the territory was made at Sitka. Since its acquisition by the United States the history of Alaska has been mainly that of the See also:evolution of its administrative system described above, and the varying fortunes of its fisheries and sealing industries. Since the gold discoveries a wonderful advance has been made in the exploration of the country. A military reservation has been created with Fort Michael as a centre. The two events of greatest general interest have been the Fur Seal Arbitration of 1893 (see BERING SEA ARBITRATION), and the Alaska-Canadian boundary dispute, settled by an international tribunal of British and American jurists in See also:London in 1903. The boundary dispute involved the See also:interpretation of the words, quoted above, in the See also:treaties of 1825 and 1867 defining the boundary of the Russian (later American) possessions, and also the determining of the location of Portland Canal, and the question whether the coastal girdle should cross or pass around the heads of the fjords of the coast. The tribunal was an See also:adjudication board and not an actual See also:court of arbitration, since its See also:function was not to decide the boundary but to See also:settle the meaning of the Anglo-Russian treaty, which provided for an ideal (and not a physical) boundary. This boundary did not See also:fit in with See also:geographical facts; hence the adjudication was based upon the See also:motive of the treaty and not upon the literal interpretation of such elastic terms as " ocean," " shore " and " coast-line." The See also:award of the tribunal made in October 1903 was arrived at by the favourable See also:vote of. the three commissioners of the United States and of See also:Lord See also:Alverstone, whose action was bitterly resented by the two Canadian commissioners; it sustained in the main the claims of the United States. General.—United States Monthly See also:Summary of Commerce and See also:Finance, July 1903, "Commercial Alaska, 1867–1903. Area, Population, Productions, Commerce . . . "; W. H. Dall, Alaska and its Resources (See also:Boston, 1870) ; C. Sumner, Speech on "Cession of Russian-America to the United States," in See also:Works, vol. xi. (Boston, J875); C. H. Merriam, editor, Harriman Alaska Expedition (New York, 1901-1904, 3 vols.). Physiography and Climate.—United States Department of War, Explorations in Alaska, 1869-1900 (Washington, 1901); United States Geological Survey, Annual Reports since 1897—" The See also:Geography and See also:Geology of Alaska: A Summary of Existing Know-ledge," by See also:Alfred H. Brooks (Washington, 1906; Professional See also:Paper, No. 45), with various maps (see See also:National Geographic .11/lag., May 1904, for a See also:map embodying all knowledge then known) ; " Altitudes in Alaska " (Bulletin 169, by H. Gannett) ; " Geographic See also:Dictionary of Alaksa " (Bulletin 299, Washington, 1906), by M. See also:Baker; United States Post See also:Office, " Map of Alaska " (1901); United States Coast and See also:Geodetic Survey, Bulletins and maps; Bulletin American Geographical Society, February 1902, F. S. See also:Schrader, " Work of the United States Geological Survey in Alaska "; See also:Journal of See also:Franklin See also:Institute, October and See also:November 1904, W. R. Abercrombie—" The Copper River Country of Alaska "; I. C. See also:Russell, Glaciers of North America. Industries.—United States Census, 1880, See also:Ivan Petroff, Report on the Population, Industries and Resources of Alaska; United States Census, 1€90 and 1900; on reindeer, Fifteenth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, by See also:Sheldon See also:Jackson (Washington, 1906); on agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, Experiment Stations, Bulletin Nos. 48, 62, 82 . . (1898-1900) ; Seal and Salmon Fisheries and General Industries of Alaska, 1868-1895 (Washington, 1898) (United States Treasury, also 55 Congress, 1 Session, See also:House Document 92, vols. vi.-x.), 4 vols. ; D. S. See also:Jordan et al., The Fur Seals and Fur Seal Islands (or Report of the Fur Seal Investigation, 1896-1897 (Washington, 1898), 4 vols. ; also many special reports on the seals published by the United States Treasury; for Report of British seal experts, Great Britain, See also:Foreign Office See also:Correspondence, United States, No. 3 (1897), No. I (1898). History and Government.—H. H. See also:Bancroft, Alaska, 1730-1885 (San Francisco, 1886) ; W. H. Dail, " Alaska as it was and is, 1865-1895," in Bulletin of the See also:Philadelphia Society of Washington, xiii.; Governor of Alaska, Annual Report to the Secretary of ,the Interior; Fur Seal Arbitration, Proceedings (Washington, 1895, 16 vols.) ; also Great Britain, Foreign Office Correspondence, United States, Nos. 6, 7, 8 (1893), No. 1 (1895) ; Alaskan Boundary Tribunal, Cases, See also:Counter-cases, Arguments, Atlases of United States and Great Britain (Washington, 1903 seq.) ; and a rich periodical literature. Population, Natives.—United States National Museum, See also:Ann. Report (1896) ; W. Hough, " See also:Lamp of the Eskimo " (long, and of general interest) ; F. Knapp and R. L. Childe, The Thlinkeets of South-Eastern Alaska (See also:Chicago, 1896). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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