Kodiak Was One Of Principal Fur Ports
Sea Otter Hunting A Thriving Business
By Bob De Armond
Kodiak was founded as a fur
center, with the pelt of the sea
otter as its staple commodity, and
it remained one of the principal
fur ports of the eastern Pacific for
more than 100 years. The fur bus
iness of Kodiak was finally killed
by the depletion, amounting al
most to extinction, of the sea otter.
Lt has been said, and written,
that the Russians stripped Alaska
otf its furs, then sold the country
to the United States because they
had no further use for it.
The facts don’t seem to bear
this out. It is true that during the
early years of Russian rule, when
the fur business was on a free-for
all basis, the resource was badly
used. Then the Russian-American
Company was granted an exclusive
franchise and after a few years
the company adopted conservation
measures that appear to have been
effective.
The sea otter hunting grounds,
for example, were laid out into
areas, and eauh area was hunted
only every third year. This tended
both to stabilize production and
to conserve the breeding stock.
The picture changed completely
after the American occupation.
The sea otter was hunted almost
without restraint. The herds built
up during Russian days provided
a good supply o«f pelts for a few
years, but were soon decimated
and the animal almost disappear
ed.
Production figures pretty well
tell the story. During the first 23
years of the Russian-American Co.
monopoly, the sea otter catch was
86,644, or ;tn average of 3,938
pelts per year.
That was over-hunting, and con
servation measures were started
aboust 1820. Between 1821 and
1842, the oateh averaged 1,210 pelts
a year, and it held to that average
until 1862. During the last years
of Russian ownership production
was stepped up to an average of
2,227 pelts a year.
Whether this was because it was
found that the previous harvest
had been lower than necessary for
a sustained yield, or whether it
was a last ditch effort to skim off
the cream of the resource is now
difficult to determine. If the lat
ter certainly the skimming was
done lightly; plenty of sea otters
were left, as was evidenced by
early American catches.
During the first four years un
der the American flag, the aver
age annual sea otter crop was 3,
052 pelts. In the decade 1871-80
it was up to an average of 4,476
per year, while in the decade 1881
90 it was 4,784 per year.
That was the maximum rate oi
yield and resulted from intensive
hunting, with hundreds of men
using rifles, shotguns and steam
launches as well as bidarkas and
spears in the pursuit of the animal,
After 1890, the annual harvest
dwindled rapidly.
In brief, during the last 25 years
of the Russian occupation, the
average Alaska sea otter catch was
1,481 a year. During the first 23
years under the American flag
the rate was 4,362 pelts a year.
There was some attempt to reg
ulate the fur harvest following the
American occupation, but it was
sadly inadequate. At first, the tak
ing of fur-bearing animals was pro
hibited entirely except by Natives
This applied, however, only within
territorial waters. Since there were
many sea otters outside the three
mile limit, white hunters soon be
came active. And with only a couple
of small revenue cutters to patrol
the entire coast, there was a good
deal of poaching inside the line.
Then, in 1879, the doors were
opened almost completely. Natives
were given the exclusive right to
ake fur-bearers as before, but
there was this added provision:
“White men lawfully married to
Natives and residing within the
Territory are considered Natives
within the meaning of this order.”
The marriage rate jumped tre
mendously, and a white man who
didn’t wish to bother with the de
itails could always claim he had a
wife off in some remote village.
There was nobody to check up on
him.
The Alaska Commercial Com
pany was the big fur operator at
Kodiak, as it was in the rest of
Alaska after the American occupa
tion, having purchased most of the
properties of the Russian-Ameri
can Co. Its wharves and warehouses
dominated the Kodiak waterfront
for years and were later taken over
by the Erskine company and still
later by Donnelley and Acheson.
Kodiak was headquarters for the
A. C. Company’s Kodiak District
which stretched from Yakutat
around to Ghignik. It was also the
home port for a number of the
company’s small sailing vessels,
used to carry the otter hunters to
and from the hunting grounds and
to supply the outlying sub-stations
which included Afognak, English
Bay, Kenai, Tyonik, Nutchek, Cape
Douglas, Kugak Bay, Kaguiak and
Iactalik.
Early A. C. Co. vessels station
ed at Kodiak were the schooner
Eudora, 73 tons, skippered for a
number of years by Captain J. E.
Lennan, and the l2-ton Nicholas,
Captain P. Rodgers. In 1881 the
company built the 102-ton Kodiak
at San Francisco and followed her
with the 29-ton Lettie, built at
Kodiak in 1888, and the 48-ton St.
Paul, built at Benicia, California,
in 1890.
In june, 1892, both the Lettie,
Captain W. Rodie, and the Kodiak,
Captain J. E. Hansen, were seized
by the U.S. cruiser Mohican on the
charge that white members of the
crew were killing otter in territori
al waters; The vessels were taken
to Sitka and when the case went to
trial, District Judge Warren Truitt
found that the actual hunting had
been done exclusively by Aleuts
and the charges were dismissed.
The Kodiak was lost in the great
gale of April 13, 1895, which took
several other vessels as well, and
was replaced with a new 146-ton
schooner of the same name. The
St. Paul, after being operated by
the company for a couple of years,
was sold to William and Harold
Vanelius of Kodiak, who outfitted
her with four steam launches for
otter hunting. She carried a crew
of 15, most of them whites, and
also engaged in pelagic seal hunt
ing for a time each spring. After a
few years tne Dromers vanenus
either tired of the business or were
unable to make it pay and the St.
Paul returned to company owner
ship. She continued in the otter
trade until 1907 when she strand
ed and became a total loss.
An early competitor of the A.
C. Co. was the Western Fur and
Trading Co., which had depots at
Kodiak and Unalaska and operat
ed the 54-<ton schooner Ounalaska
and the 35-ton schooner O. S. Fow
ler. This company finally sold out
to the A. C. Co., but was followed
by a number of other indepen
dents.
Among the most successful of
these were the partners William A.
Colwell and H. F. Cope who enter
ed the field in 1887. A year or so
later they purchased the old
schooner Undaunted which had
been otter hunting around the
a. . .
(b
Aleutian and Kurile Islands at
least as early as 1880 and had also
engaged in both seal hunting and
codfishing. Colwell and cope used
her to carry supplies fom San
Francisco to Kodiak and, starting
in 1890, outfitted her for both fur
seal and sea otter hunting, carry
ing a crew of Aleuts.
Julius and Lary Chistensen be
gan otter hunting out of Kodiak in
the early 1880s with a pair of small
sloops. They were successful, saved
their money and in 1889 bought
the 46-ton Albert Walker, built at
San Francisco the previous year.
She carried six boats and a crew
of 21 and engaged in both seal and
otter hunting. At the end of the
1893 season, on September 23, the
vessel left Kodiak in charge of
Captain Charles Avery to go into
winter quarters at Long Island.
The wind died soon after she clear
ed the inner harbor, a thick fog
shut down and the tide carried her
on the rocks about three miles
from town. Before she could be
freed one of the fall gales came
up and she soon pounded to
pieces.
Another of the early Kodiak
hunters was Captain F. F. Feeney
who owned the 5-ton schooner
W. H. Woods and took up a home
stead near town where he raised
cabbages and Petrowski turnips
that would have won blue ribbons
had there been a fair in which to
enter them. In 1881 he built a new
9-ton schooner at Kodiak and
named her for himself, the F. F.
Feeney, and with her he continued
otter hunting with a little trading
on the side until sometime after
1897, when he retired to his farm.
The Fying Scud, 24 tons, was
owned by H. Anderson who used
her for otter hunting until 1886
when the A. C. Co. chartered her
for a station tender. She made the
usual rounds of the trading ports
and hunting camps during that
summer and on November 3 sailed
from Kodiak for the post at Cape
Douglas. Captain Nels Hansen was
in command with Vassili Grisenoff
and his son as crew. At Cape Doug
las the vessel picked up 14 sea
otter hunters and the wife and
five children of John W. Smith,
the company trader, and sailed on
'November 14 for Kodiak. Near the
end of the month some wreckage
from her was picked up on the
northern shore of Kodiak Island
and she was given up as lost with
all hands.
These were some of the other
vessels employed in otter hunting
out of the port of Kodiak:
The 39-ton Lydia, built at Beni
cia, Cal., in 1891, and brought north
the same year by Captain H. R.
Bowen, who sold her to Captain
Andrew Anderson of Kodiak. She
continued hunting each season with
10 bidarkas and Aleut hunters. In
1908 she was bound for Seattle
when she was run down in Puget
Sound by the steamer Chippewa
and two of the 10 people aboard
her were drowned.
The 21-ton schooner Olga, built
at Kodiak in 1883 and owned, for
a time at least, by Captain William
Anderson.
The “little” St. Paul, 14 tons,
owned and operated by the
brothers Paul and Peter Pavloff.
She was built at Wood Island in
1879 and lost somewhere north of
Kodiak Island on April 28, 1884.
The 5-ton Barbara, built at Kodi
ak about 1872 by Captain William
Smith. She was driven ashore
about 21 miles from Kodiak in
1875 and was a total loss.
The Maggie Caton, built at Kodi
ak in 1880 by Captain John Caton.
She was used mostly around the
Shumagin Islands ’ in her later
years.
The Mary, 11 tons, built at Kodi
ak in 1880 and owned for many
years by Frank Lowell, who home
steaded on Resurrection Bay,
where the city of Seward now
stands. He used her for hunting
and trading until she was lost in
1894.
*
The Two Brothers, 10 tons, own
ed at various times by Captain
John Gardner, Captain William
Foster and Captain James H. Hen
derson. The latter was drowned
near Seminoff Island in Decem
ber, 1893, and the vessel lost on
Unalaska Island the following year.
The Three Brothers, 19 tons,
owned by Captain William Carlson,
who built her at Kodiak in 1882.
In addition, there were many
very small schooners and sloops,
including the Annie, the Rose and
the Peter Anderson, too small to
require customs registry.
Next to the Alaska Commercial
Co., the biggest fur company in
the Kodiak area was the North
American Commercial Company
which opened a station on Wood
Island in the spring of 1891 and
later the same year established
trading posts at Afognak and Sel
dovia. Two rather ancient schoon
er, the Mary E. Anderson and the
Seventy-Six, were brought in to
supply the outposts, trade among
the villages and carry hunting
parties to the sea otter grounds.
The 40-ton Mary E. Anderson,
built at San Francisco in 1860, is
not known to have previously en
gaged in any part of the fur bus
iness. While in the NAC Co. ser
vice she was commanded by Cap
tain A. Green but she became leaky
and unseaworthy after a few years
and was abandoned.
The Seventy-Six, 38 tons and
built at Mayhews Landing in Cali
fornia in 1876, spent most of her
career hunting or trading for furs.
In 1880 she reportedly raided the
Copper Island seal rookeries while
in command of Capt. E. Potts, and
he employed her in seal hunting
on the coast for several seasons
after that. She was around Kodiak
Island, probably otter hunting, in
the summer of 1888 when her
skipper, Captain Peter Olsen, was
drowned while trying to go ashore
at the mouth of Karluk River.
Her service under the flag of
the NAC Co. continued until 1895,
when she was in command of Cap
tain C. Whittier. After her usual
spring round of the villages and
trading posts that year she made
a hunting trip along the north side
of the Aleutian chain, returning to
Wood Island on July 26 with 31
otter skins. Continuing her trad
ing voyages through the fall, she
sailed on December 10, bound east
ward for Prince William Sound
with a crew of five and two passen
gers. A violent northwest gale came
up that night and the old vessel
was never seen or heard of again.
Kodiak’s biggest year in the sea
otter trade was 1885, when 1,508
pelts were delivered there. By 1890
the number had dropped to 666,
and by 1896 it was down to 322
and still falling. Just when the
last pelt was delivered there is
not known, but it all came official
ly to an end on July 7, 1911, when
an international treaty was adopt
ed, prohibiting the killing of the
sea otter.
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KNUDSEN’S
Kodiak has progressed a long ways
in the past 20 years.
We like to think we have in some
measure contributed to this healthy
growth and look forward to the years
ahead feeling that the future has
prosperity in store for all of us who
plan for and are willing to risk time
and capital in this growing commun
ity.
KNUDSEN’S — Where All Kodiak Shop.
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