In Bleak Alaska
The Dallas Weekly Herald - April 16, 1887
Transcribed and Contributed by: Frances Cooley

When Secretary Seward bought Alaska from Russia he added to the United States a territory of much larger area than the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri together, and nearly nine times larger than England and Wales. The territory stretches out so far to the westward that Sitka, its capital, is only half way from New York City to the most western Alaskan island. Many of the details of the formation of Alaska read like quotations from fairy tales. It has a volcano eight thousand feet high. The Yukon River is at some points from fifteen to twenty miles wide, its entire length is two thousand miles and it empties with such a volume into the sea that the ocean is said to be fresh water for ten miles out. The temperature does at times fall as low as 58 degrees below zero, but as a rule it is mild, on account of a sort of gulf stream known as the Japanese current. It was Peter the Great who set on foot the expedition which finally discovered Alaska. It was in 1725 that the explorers set out to cross Siberia toward the east, and one of their leaders was Behring, a Dane, who had been long in the Russian service. He did not land in Alaska till seventeen years later, and died on one of the islands off the shore, which bears his name and where his body now lies. Spain, England and France also sent out exploring expeditions, and Russia established a trading company, which sold the furs of the region. But in 1867 Secretary Seward affected a purchase of Alaska for the United States, which paid Russia $7,200,000; and a little more than two years ago it was organized as a civil and judicial district. At present the chief industries are carried on by the fishery and seal fur companies. In 1880 the catch of salmon was eight thousand cases; in 1883 thirty-six thousand cases, and in 1885 sixty-five thousand cases, at about $5 a case. The magnitude of the fur operations maybe seen from the fact that between 1871 and 1883 about $5,000,000 was paid by the company to the United States government as rent and tax. There are also mines of coal, lead, copper, silver, and gold, and a vast growth of fine spruce and cedar, which will some day prove of great value to the people of the United States. Lieut. Schwatka has twice been on expeditions to the great Northwest Territory, and is now sending home reports of his discoveries, which are full of interest. It appears to be clear now that Secretary Seward acted wisely when he negotia-ted the purchase from Russia. - San Francisco Examiner.