ALASKA
THE GREAT COUNTRY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
Photo by E. W. Merrill, SitkaCourtesy of G. Kostrometinoff
Alexander Baranoff
ALASKA
THE GREAT COUNTRY
BY
ELLA HIGGINSON
AUTHOR OF "MARIELLA, OF OUT-WEST," "WHEN THE BIRDS GO NORTH AGAIN,""FROM THE LAND OF THE SNOW-PEARLS," ETC.
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1910
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1908,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1908. Reprinted
February, 1909; March, 1910.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
To
MR. AND MRS. HENRY ELLIOTT HOLMES
FOREWORD
When the Russians first came to the island of Unalaska, they were toldthat a vast country lay to the eastward and that its name wasAl-ay-ek-sa. Their own island the Aleuts called Nagun-Alayeksa, meaning"the land lying near Alayeksa."
The Russians in time came to call the country itself Alashka; thepeninsula, Aliaska; and the island, Unalashka. Alaska is an Englishcorruption of the original name.
A great Russian moved under inspiration when he sent Vitus Behring outto discover and explore the continent lying to the eastward; two greatAmericans—Seward and Sumner—were inspired when, nearly a century and ahalf later, they saved for us, in the face of the bitterest opposition,scorn, and ridicule, the country that Behring discovered and which isnow coming to be recognized as the most glorious possession of anypeople; but, first of all, were the gentle, dark-eyed Aleuts inspiredwhen they bestowed upon this same country—with the simplicity anddignified repression for which their character is noted—the beautifuland poetic name which means "the great country."
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Alexander Baranoff Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Alaska (colored map) 1
Copper Smelter in Southeastern Alaska 2
Kasa-an ...