The Story of Sitka / The Historic Outpost of the Northwest Coast; The Chief Factory of the Russian American Company

by Clarence Leroy Andrews

Sitka–East on Lincoln Street–the Governor’s Walk of the Russians.

On Japonski Island is the U. S. Naval Coaling Station and the U. S. wireless telegraph. The magnetic observatory of the Russians was situated there. The name means Japan Island and is given because Resanof designated it as the place to keep captive Japanese whom he expected to capture through his expedition against the lower Kuril Islands in 1806.

The dock at which the ship lands is in the same location as the one used by the Russians, but it has been extended to deeper water. The timbers of the old hulk once used by the Russians as a landing stage may still be seen in the water at low tide. On the dock was the landing warehouse of the Russians, a log structure with a passage through the center. It was burned in 1916. Leaving the wharf and going eastward along Lincoln Street, at the side are the booths or tents of the native merchants, kept by the women from the village, a veritable arcade of little markets, and each of the vendors is as interested as though she occupied a seat on the famous Rialto Bridge to sell the wares of ancient Venice. The picturesque, dark-skinned Thlingit women sit at the doors of their little tents hour after hour, offering the strangely carved totems, the beautiful baskets of spruce roots woven in mystic designs, the beaded moccasins, etc., products of their industry during the long winter when the tourist boats do not call at the Sitka wharves. Passing up the street to the east from the landing–at the right is the U. S. cable office, occupying the site of the old Russian fur warehouse. Next is the three-story building used for courthouse and jail, formerly the Russian Barracks where the Siberian Battalion was quartered. This is one of the most prominent of the old buildings which remain. In front of this is the stairway leading to the top of the hill on which is situated the building of the Agricultural Department, on the site of the former residence of the chief manager of the Russian American Company. Around this hill were the batteries of the Russians, commanding the Kolosh village and the harbor. The former building was often called the Governor’s Mansion, or the Baranof Castle, was built about 1837 and was destroyed by fire in 1894. The hill commands a fine view of the harbor and the surrounding islands. The present structure is the headquarters of the Alaska division of the Agricultural Department. Opposite the stairway to the hill is the way leading to the “Ranche;” the open square was the former parade ground of the Army, and later of the U. S. Marines from the Man-of-War which was stationed here. East of the old barracks building is the former counting house of the Company, now occupied as the U. S. Postoffice, and during the time when Sitka was the Capital of the Territory it was used by the United States for a Customs office, and by the Governor as an office. Going east on Lincoln Street, the next large building at the right was the old bakery and shops of the Company, later commonly known as the Sitka Trading Company Building, having been occupied by that company for many years. Beyond this on the same side of the street at a short distance is a small building, standing back from the walk, surmounted by a Greek cross, which marks the site of the first church built in Sitka, in 1817. Next to this lot is the one formerly occupied by the Lutheran Church, built in the time of Etolin, and in which the first church service was held by Chaplain Rainier of the U. S. Army, after the American occupation.

Interior of Cathedral of St. Michael

Across the street is the Cathedral of St. Michael, the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Church in Alaska. In the Territory are claimed to be ten thousand communicants of that faith and from Sitka the management of affairs is conducted. The church is in the form of a cross and is surmounted by the Greek cross. The interior is richly decorated after the usual custom of the Russian churches. Candlesticks of massive design stand at either side of the doors of the inner sanctuary. The building, with its dome, is distinctive, and is a good example of Russian church architecture.[^[30]]

Continuing east along Lincoln Street a short distance beyond the Cathedral a vacant space on the right marks the spot formerly occupied by the clubhouse, built by Etolin for a home for the clerks, navigators, and other employes of the Company–opposite it was situated the foundry and machine shops, while a little farther to the east stood the sawmills, at the mouth of the outlet to Swan Lake. Along this stream was the eastern boundary of the stockade of the Russian fort, with a blockhouse near the point of the lower end of the lake. East of this stockade were the kitchen gardens, but all traces of them have long since vanished. Continuing along the street following the shore, the Bishop’s house is passed on the left, where the Russian school is taught, and a short distance beyond is the house of the Episcopal Bishop of the diocese, Rev. Bishop P. T. Rowe. Still farther to the east is the Sheldon Jackson School, the Presbyterian Mission School, consisting of a group of buildings, the first of which was completed in 1880, under the superintendence of Rev. Alonzo Austin, and others have been added from time to time until the present fine establishment has resulted. An octagonal structure shelters the Sheldon Jackson Museum, a fine collection of native work of many kinds, gathered from all parts of Alaska by the first superintendent of native schools for the Territory. A small paper is published by the mission, the Verstovian, and is printed by the native students of the institution.

Opposite the mission, at the edge of the curving beach, a large, flat-topped rock lies at the side of the way, called the Blarney Stone. On this it is said that Baranof often sat, during the last year of his residence here, and looked out through the vistas between the islands to the broad Pacific. What were the thoughts of the brave, strong, strange, old man as he sat here will never be known, but it is sure that there was much of sadness for him in those days.

Beyond the Mission is the famous Indian River Road, a continuation of the Governor’s Walk of the Russians, and often called the Lover’s Lane. It winds along the shore of the sea, through the Park, with here and there an opening in the forest where there are splendid examples of Hydah carvings in the tall totems placed in well chosen spots. These totem poles were taken to the St. Louis Fair in 1904, as a part of the Alaska Exhibit, and afterward returned to this park. One of the most interesting is the house totem of Chief Son-i-hat, of Kasaan, accompanied by the four supporting columns of the ancient tribal house.