Kodiak Described As A Place
Where Animals Wear $1,000 Fur Coats
By BILL WORTH
(Ed. note: The author of this
short historical sketch of Kodiak
has been around Kodiak and Alas
ka for a good many years. Now on
the city council, he has served as
councilman in other years. Bill has
fished the open waters of Bristol
Bay, and has lived the rugged life
of a pioneer in Alaska. He is now
settled in the comparative quiet
life of being a landlord with a num
ber of rental homes on the hillside
aoove Cope Street.
Kodiak Island, rugged but beau
tiful, is the home of thousands of
sea otter, whose bodies are covered
with the most luxuriant, and res
plendently beautiful fur on the
North American Continent.
The history of Alaska, and es
pecially Kodiak, might very well
have been different had it not been
for these sleek, aquatic animals.
Gold is credited with bringing
Alaska fame, because it is a magic
word. But the truth is that Alaska
was in the hearts of many men 157
years before the Gold Rush of 1898.
Probably more wealth was taken
out of Alaska in the form of fur
seal and sea otter pelts than all the
gold that was ever found in this
great land of the North.
Let s turn back the pages of his
tory. It is an era of courage, deceit,
greed, suffering, and bloodshed.
In 1741, just 220 years ago, Vitus
Bering, in the Russian Service and
Alexi Chirikof, second in command
of the vessels St. Peter, and St.
Paul, respectively, sailed from
Kamchatka to explore the great,
unknown land to the East. The ves
sels became separated during a
storm and each traveled their in
dependant ways from then on.
Chirikof sighted and partly ex
plored the Prince of Wales Island.
Bering, in the meantime, sailed
into Prince William Sound but did
not stay long. He sailed westward
and discovered Kodiak Island.
What he saw here gladdened his
heart. Great herds of sea otter
frolicked about in the massive
stretches of kelp-beds that sur
rounded the island. Their beautiful
heavily-furred bodies glistened like
polished mahogany under the sum
mer sun. Here, indeed, was wealth
worth many a King’s ransom.
But Bering did not linger long
here. He and his crew were suffer
ing from scurvy and other diseases
and he decided to head for home.
One misfortune after another be
fell Bering and his crew until, fin
ally, the gallant ship was wrecked
on an island that, today, bears his
name. Here he died December 8,
1741.
Cherikof and his crew suffered
hardships and misfortunes also.
Two boatloads of his crew were
massacred by the savage inhabi
tants of the country. He and his
crew were also sick with scurvy
and other diseases.
Bering’s ship was finally re
paired and, after a voyage of ap
proximately five months, both
ships returned to Avatcha, Kam
chatka, their port of departure.
Not-with-standing the hardships
and suffering endured during the
voyage, the adventurers took back
glowing tales of the wealth in furs
that abounded in the great land to
the East.
It was principally on the voyages
of Bering and Shelikof that Russia
based her claim to the ownership
of northwestern America. For the
first twenty years after the dis
covery of Alaska, the fur hunters
treated the Native inhabitants with
extreme cruelty and (the period is
marked by one outrage after an
other. The treatment accorded the
Natives resulted in many reprisals
on their pant, and much Russian
and Indian blood was shed because
of them.
In 1783 the first permanent set
tlement of the Russians was estab
lished at Three Saints Bay, Kodiak
Island. This settlement was made
by Grigor Ivanovich Shelikof. He
established the first school in Alas
ka at this place in 1785.
Some four years later, Shelikof
moved the settlement, bag and bag
gage, to the site on which the City
of Kodiak now stands.
Here the Russians built large
warehouses, a store, a post office,
and a number of log houses for the
employees of the Russian Ameri
can Company which Shelikof
headed. A large mansion was also
built to house Shelikof and visit
ing dignitaries, especially Alexan
der Baranof who was head of all
the colonies and trading posts of
the Russian American Company.
He made his headquarters at Sitka.
Baranof exercised practically abso
lute dominion over Alaska for 67
years, or from the time of its crea
tion and charter in 1799 to 1866,
the year preceding the transfer of
Alaska to the United States.
A fort was also built at Kodiak
which overlooked the channel. This
was to discourage any uprising by
the Natives who thoroughly hated
and resented the cruelty and un
scrupulous business methods of the
Russians.
The years passed, and with their
passing, the violence and animosity
also decreased. The younger gen
erations of Russians began marry
ing the young native belles.
On June 20, 1867, the formal ex
change of ratification of the Treaty
and the United States. For the sum
of $7,200,000 or about 2 cents an
acre, the United States became sole
owner of Alaska.
During the 126 years of Russian
occupation of Alaska, the number
of sea otter killed by hunters of all
nationalities totaled 800,000.
The first four years after its
purchase, the Americans took 12,
208 sea otter pelts, more than the
Russians had taken in the previous
10 years. By 1910, the vast herds of
sea otter began to thin out to an
alarming degree.
In 1911, by provision of the Fur
Seal Treaty, the sea otter were
given some degree of protection.
Kodiak was trying to forget its
grim history of cruelty and blood
shed when another kind of disaster
struck without warning. The year
1912 came in peaceful enough and
it was still young when Mt. Katmai,
on the Alaska Peninsula, 100 miles
away, erupted with a fiery, thunder
ing violence, spewing lava and vol
canic ash thousands of feet in the
clear blue sky. The village of Ko
diak was soon enveloped by the
smothering cloud which blotted ou
smothering cloud which blotted out
the sun and turned the village into
a pit of blackness. At mid-day, by
the light of lanterns, men, women,
and children groped their way to
the dock where the Coast Guard
Cutter Manning waited to carry
them to safety.
Three days later, the inhabitants
returned to find their homes buried
under a foot or more of volcanic
ash. All vegetation was dead, and
most of the animal life either dead
or dying. It was enough to discour
age most people, but not these
courageous and tenacious inhabi
tants. Immediately they began dig
ging their homes from under the
ashes, and still looking forward
with hope and confidence to a
brighter future.
The following year, 1913, in or
der to save the sea otter from total
extinction, and to protect the great
seal herds of the Pribilof Islands,
the Aleutian Islands National Wild
life Refuge was established, thus
guaranteeing these valuable ani
mals full protection.
As the years passed, the rains
washed away the volcanic ash and
the vegetation grew much more
profusely and luxuriantly than be
fore. Even the wildlife multiplied
and flourished.
At last peace had come to the
village. Herring and saflmoon fishing
were the main source of the econ
omy. It was a carefree life with
nothing much to do from Septem
ber until the spring when all hands
turned to repairing their boats and
nets, making ready for the salmon
runs which would again fill their
pockets with gold.
Late in 1939, another change
came to Kodiak that was to affect
every man, woman and child in the
village. Ship after ship began ar
riving, hringing material and con
struction workers for the new
Naval Base under construction at
Women’s Bay, about five miles
from Kodiak. This meant new pros
perity for Kodiak and year-around
employment to the male popula
tion willing and able to work.
The winding streets of Kodiak
were crowded day and night as ap
proximately seventeen hundred ci
vilian workers, along with their
women folks, sought recreation in
the taverns that, for a time, never
closed their doors. Money was
tossed about freely as if this new
found prosperity would last for
ever.
Cows and calves roamed the
streets at will, making their Way
through the crowds as best they
could. Often, around midnight, or
in the wee hours of the morning,
when sleep was at a premium, a
garbage can would go clattering
down a flight of steps after being
upset by a cow or two in search of
discarded tid-bits. Occasionally a
cow would be seen walking nonch
cow would be seen walking non
chalantly down the street gnawing
on one end of a hambone as if it
was a lollipop, while the other end
gyrated ludcrousily from her bulg
ing jowels. Perhaps the salt content
of the hambone made this a fav
ored delicacy.
In September 1940, Kodiak was
incorporated as a first class city.
Six counciilmen and a mayor were
elected. Immediately ordinances
were drawn up to improve the po
lice and fire departments and get
ting the affairs of the community
on a more orderly and sane basis.
By 1946, most of the Base work
ers had returned to the States,
many of them as moneyless as
when they arrived. But there were
quite a few of them who had fore
sight and ambition and decided to
remain and make their homes here.
These men had faith in the city and
its future. Others came later with
the faith and courage that builds
towns and cities and prosperous
communities. Their faith was well
founded, for today Kodiak keeps
growing, with new and modem
homes everywhere and more are
under construction. Even the older
homes, with few exceptions, have
been repaired and modernized and
gleam with a fresh coat of paint.
With justifiable pride, the citi
zens view their small boat harbor,
and the adjacent free parking fa
cilities, for a least 200 cars. This
fine project would not have been
possible but for the whole-hearted
cooperation of the electorate who
voted unanimously for a two per
cent sales tax to pay for it and for
the construction of new roads and
improvements.
Other far-sighted and progres
sive men have invested heavily in
plants and equipment to process
the giant King Crab and shrimp
and other seafood products, giving
employment to many Kodiak citi
zens, both men and women.
A fine, modern concrete cold
storage plant, with a 2,000,000
pound capacity to start with, is un
der construction and may be in op
eration by the time the halibut
season opens in the spring. All
these tine men who have invested
heavily in plants and equipment
are to be commended for their
courage and faith in Kodiak, and
for contributing to the economy of
this progressive city.
Several buildings constructed by
the early Russias settlers, tired
looking perhaps, after a long, turn
ultuous and Woody past, are still
standing within a few feet of a
modern concrete building, housing
the post office, the court room, and
various other activities. Other fine
concrete structures on sites where
the earliest Russian homes once
stood can be seen also.
Once again thousands of sea ot
ter frolic about the kelp-beds sur
rounding the island, their thousand
dollar fur coats glistening.
All is well in Kodiak.
Prospect Of A War Built The Base Road;
Early Road Was Not For The Squeamish
People who drive over the Base
Town road today may grumble be
cause of a few holes or bad turns,
or maybe a rock that has fallen
down.
But think of the motorist in the
late ’40s and early ’41 who had to
inch his way over a boulder type
surface, with sheer cliffs on one
side and a hundred-foot drop on
the other. Many are the stories of
wives who wouldn’t go to town
from the Naval Station and vice
versa, under any circumstances.
“That goosey feeling” as the ex
pression oft used in those days in
describing the feeling as man or
woman travelled the road, which
was just wide enough for one car
adding to the discomfort of falling
rock.
Go back even a little further
when there was no road, just a
trail. Workmen from Kodiak in the
early beginnings of construction on
the Naval Base had to hike the 5
or 6 miles or more to work 8 or 10
hours, and then hike back.
First mention of a road being
constructed appears in the Kodiak
Mirror, issue of July 5, 1940. $182,
000 had been procured for the pro
ject estimated at five and half
miles in length, from the town limit
to the base. The article said the
road would be a full 20-ft wide, and
construction was supposed to start
July 1.
Something happened or didn’t
happen, because in the August 8 is
sue a front page story had this to
say:
“Word was received today that
the road appropriation had been
granted by Congress. It is under
stood that construction will begin
immediately.”
The work duly began, for it was
reported in the August 22 issue
that survey crews were laying out
the grades and line of the highway.
A crew of ten men were working
drilling and shooting the many
rock points.
The article goes on to say: “Wid
ening of the road along the route of
the steep rocky hillside near Ko
diak will be the slowest part of the
work, but the most important, as
the present narrow lane is ex
tremely dangerous to vehicular
travel, and will become more so
when the freezing weather arrives
and small glaciers form across the
road.”
The following week the paper
reported 25 men engaged in drill
ing operations with the expecta
tion of the largest blast ever heard
in the area when about lVz tons of
dynamite will be exploded.
There still remained, however,
the mile stretch of road to be con
structed from the Base boundary
to town. The October issue quoted
Gov. Gruening as wiring that
money will be forthcoming from
the Territory to construct this por
tion of the road.
The road was duly constructed,
but this by no means solved all the
difficulties of travel between the
town and the base. Nature had
something to say about it. Rain,
freezing weather, thaws, brought
on a succession of landslides. There
were many instances when cars and
people narrowly escaped being hit
by falling rocks. There were others
who were less fortunate.
Called the “slide area”, this por
tion of the road was anathema to
the timid. Recurrences of rock
slides became so frequent that in
the middle ’50s, agitation started
for construction of some type of
safety barrier. All kinds of sugges
tions were offered from blasting
and widening the road, to tunnel
ing, and to an underpass.
None seemed feasible without
great cost, and engineers were du
bious as to whether this would
solve the problem. Rerouting of the
road seemed the only way, and in
1956 work was started by the Alas
ka Road Commission. Completion
of this stretch has resulted in com
parative safety.
No more does the motorist have
to travel in fear of his path being
blocked with mounds of rock. Nor
does he have to look to the cliffs
with the fear of being inundated or
hit by falling rock.
THE ABOVE PEOPLE MADE HISTORY. They are charter mem*
hers of the Kodiak and Aleutian Islands Historical Society when it was
formed in 1955. Dr. A. Holmes Johnson was its first president.
The group recently held a meeting, electing Doug Preston
president.