The ALASKA
SOV'RDOVGH
Vol. I. No. 10
Douglas, Alaska, Tuesday, November 7, 1911
10c a Copy
BARANOFF—THE FIRST RULER
By ROBERT D. JONES
“The evil that men do lives after
them.
The good is oft' interred with their
bones. ’ ’
As a rule it is,—and we often find it
repeated in history—that the man
whose memory we laud and honor does
not “come into his own” until the
earth ha sclaimed his dust. The excep
tion to this historis adage, however, is
forcibly brought to us in the example
of Alexander Andrevich Baranoff, the
first governor of Alaska.
In life he was proudly portaryed be
fore the world to a state of prominence
far in excess of that enjoyed by others
who, probably, might have earned and
deserved as much or more. Yet when
the sea rolled over the body of this
man, it seemed as though the waves,
in whose everlastoing embrace he sank,
sounded in a dirge the last plaudit to
his jiame; while the memory of others,
who have accomplished far less and
■who have died in obscurity, has been
resurrected to glory and fame by the
historian and the biographer.
iWe might say, and truthfully, too,
that'had BaranefF'nof; lived, there 'must
‘needs have been some other man to
have done jetat he did.,. But .of ’ him we
will not say as Mark Antony said of
, ^ . • it . ,•>: ■. *tHfi - ! 4, l
' Caesar.
Alexander Baranoff was of obscure
parentage, born at Karapel, Southeast
ern Russia, in 1746; and for many years
served as a clerk to a merchant in Mos
cow. The desire for adventure in Mos
him when he-Was a young man; and
with his saved earnings he established
himself in the trading business in East
ern Siberia, where he prospered. It
was at this juncture that Shelikoff
made the acquaintance of Baranoff as
lie was on his way to St. Petersburg
from America, where he had made him
self master of Kodiak, and had receiV
ed the acknowledgment of the natives
oo the sovereignity of Russia.
Like many other men, Baranoff’s
fame can be attributed to his fortunate
association with others; and it was this
meeting with Shelikoff which proved
to be the initial point oi his great
success.
Shelikoff, with maps of the country
which he had explored, with tales of
the wealth of Alaska and with proofs
of his faithful work for Russia, went
to Irutsk, the capital of eastern Siber
ia, to communicate through the gov
ernor general with the government at
tales of discord between natives of Al
St. Petersburg, requesting that he be
shown recognition for his services.
It happened about that time that
aska and the traders had reached the
imperial ear; ai;d it was believed at
St. Petersburg, that Shelikoff, alone,
had preserved peace and equity with the
Indians. He was invited to St. Peters
burg, and in audieiice with the empress,
Catherine II, he was decorated with a
gold medal and was given a sword of
honor.
To further harmony and concord
with the natives and to advance Rus
sian’ authority in Alaska, it was thought
advisable* to ^jive control of the entire
trade of this section of country to a
single responsible company, to which
end, by imperial decree on September
28, l'fsS, fife"‘Russian-American com
pany was given the exclusive privilege
of trading and hunting in the terri
tory discovered and explored by Sheli
koff. A subsidy of 200,000 roubles was
advanced to be returned to the govern
ment in twenty equal'payments with
out interest," ,,
Two years aft^r the granting of the
charter Shelikoff secured the services
of Baranoff to carry out his plans. The
year before, however, Baranoff had de
clined the same offer, preferring to
conduct his own affairs in Eastern Si
beria; but owing to the loss of a cara
van which represented his entire capit
al and stock, he was glad to come to
Shelikoff, particularly as as his plans
offered new fields for adventure.
Baranoff was recognized as a man
perfectly fitted for such work. He was
energetic, adventurous, and possessed
of wonderful executive ability, and,
strange to say, the particular trait
which recommended him to his em
ployers was the grace with which he
allowed his scruples to cause him no
inconvenience.
In August of the same year Baran
off sailed with his expedition, but was
shipwrecked at Unalaska. Taking ad
vantage of his position, however, he re
mained where fate had driven him;
and in two years he had established
trading posts at Cook’s Inlet and
Prince of Wales.. It seemed to have
been Baranoff’s arch purpose to instill
into the natives the desire to call
themselves Russian subjects. The
emperor was supposed to be a “Great
Chief’’ some where; and, too, he was
supposed to have been a very rich one
to have so much at his command. In
the recent testimony taken from the
Chilkat and other tribes, in the Cana
dian boundary question, each native
began: “Our fathers have told us that
they were Russian subject.”
In 1796 Baranoff founded a colony
on Bering Straits, but he did not pros
per there owing to his lack of ships,
lack of men to navigate properly the
few ships he did have, and to the hos
tile attitude of the natives. The neces
sity became apparent for having a
fleet of cessels; and acccordingly a
ship yard was established at Sunday
Bay, Prince William Sound, where ex
cellent spruce afforded ample building
timber. Iron ore was found and at
tempts were made to smelt it; but it
is supposed that in that a failure is
credited. At all events, the iron from
the several wrecks on the coast was
gathered to gether and used to advan
tage in the construction of three ships,
the Phoenix, Dolphin and the Olga.
These vessels were about eighty feet
in length, twenty-three feet beam, and
fourteen feet deep, having a capacity
of about one hundred tons. The ships
were strong and well built; but they
were sent to Okhotsk, Siberia, where
they were fitted with cabins and other
conveniences, and then put into opera
tion, where they performed a valuable
and much needed setviee. It was then
that Baranoff began to receive addi
tions to his colony; and in August,
1794, he received at St. Paul two hun
dred men, fifty of whom were carpen
ters, blacksmiths and craftsmen; al
though many of them, unfortunately,
were convicts. The altter were a con
tinual source of menace to^his work
and to the advancement of Russian col
onization.
Ever looking toward the south for a
field for colonization and development,
Baranoff located at a more central sta
tion, when, in 1800, he founded the post
of Archanged Gabriel, a place about
six miles north of the present site of
Sitka. There he began the establish
ment of a permanent colony, fortifying
and protecting the post against the pro
bability of attack by the natives who
•had manifested a hostile attitude tow
ard the settlers.
During Baranoff’s absence from
Archangel in August, 1802, selecting a
time when the garrison was weak, the
Indians made an attack on the post,
looting the storehouses, burning the
buildings, massacreing the defenders of
the post and taking the women and chil
dren—those who were not killed—as
prisoners,
While at Kodiak Baranoff received
the news from St. Petersburg of his
decoration at the hand of Alexander I,
and while rejoicing over his fortune, he
learned of the catastrophe at Archan
gel, the first actual defeat that had
come to any of his posts.
mountain climbers on their way to summit of mount rob erts