When our Secretary of State purchased the Emperor’s title to the western coast of America, there were various opinions respecting the sagacity of the transaction.  No one could say what was the intrinsic value of the country, either actual or prospective.  The Company never gave much attention to scientific matters.

The Russian government had made some explorations to ascertain the character and extent of the rivers, mountains, plains, and swamps that form the country.  In 1841 Lieutenant Zagoyskin commenced an examination of the country bordering the rivers, and continued it for two years.  He traced the course of the Kuskokvim and the lower portions of the Yukon, or Kvikpak.  His observations were chiefly confined to the rivers and the country immediately bordering them.  He made no discoveries of agricultural or mineral wealth.  Fish and deer-meat, with berries, formed the food of the natives, while furs were their only articles of trade.

[Illustration:  VIEW OF SITKA]

Russian America is of great extent, superficially.  It is agreeably diversified with mountains, hills, rolling country, and table land, with a liberal amount of pereval or undulating swamp.  In the northern portion there is timber scattered along the rivers and on the mountain slopes; but the trees and their quantity are alike small.  In the southern parts there are forests of large trees, that will be valuable when Oregon and Washington are exhausted.  Along the coast there are many bays and harbors, easy of access and well sheltered.  Sitka has a magnificent harbor, never frozen or obstructed with ice.

Gold is known to exist in several localities.  A few placer mines have been opened on the Stikeen river, but no one knows the extent of the auriferous beds, in the absence of all ‘prospecting’ data.  I do not believe gold mining will ever be found profitable in Russian America.  The winters are long and cold, and the snows are deep.  The working season is very short, and in many localities on the mainland ’ground ice’ is permanent at slight depths.  Veins of copper have been found near the Yukon, but so far none that would pay for developing.

Building stone is abundant, and so is ice.  Neither is of much value in commerce.

The fur trade was the chief source of the Company’s revenue.  The principal fur-bearing animals are the otter, seal, beaver, marten, mink, fox, and a few others.  There is a little trade in walrus teeth, mammoth tusks, whalebone, and oil.  The rivers abound in fish, of which large quantities are annually salted and sent to the Pacific markets.  The fisheries along the coast are valuable and of the same character as those on the banks of Newfoundland.

Agriculture is limited to a few garden vegetables.  There are no fruit trees, and no attempts have thus far been made to introduce them.  The number of native inhabitants is unknown, as no census has ever been taken.  I have heard it estimated all the way from twenty to sixty thousand.  The island and sea coast inhabitants are of the Esquimaux type, while those of the interior are allied to the North American Indians.  The explorers for the Western Union Telegraph Company found them friendly, but not inclined to labor.  Some of the natives left their hunting at its busiest season to assist an exploring party in distress.