Alexander Baranof [pp. 9-22]

OVERLAND MONTHLY
Accordingly, Baranof gathered men suitable
for an agricultural settlement, skilled in
raising stock and tilling fields, and sent them
in 1810 to New Albion with orders to make
further explorations. On the way the crew
was attacked by the Queen Charlotte island ers, and returned to New Archangel. Next
year they started out again, and on this
voyage Kuskof selected a spot eighteen
miles north of Bodega bay, where he bought
some land from the natives. In 1812 the
colony was founded and named Ross. But
as a place for agriculture and ship-building
it was a failure, and the hunting-grounds
near it were soon exhausted. The story of
Fort Ross has been fully told by Mr. Charles
S. Greene in the OVERLAND for July, 1893.
Quiet and dull as Sitka now looks under
the government of the United States, it was
in Baranofs day a very busy place. Bricks
for the huge fireplaces in the Russian houses
were made there: boats and sailing-vessels
were built in a well-equipped shipyard: there
were wood-turneries and woolen manufac tories; and agricultural implements from
the foundries were sold all down the Pacific
Coast as far as Mexico. Axes and knives
were made for bartering with the natives at
the trading posts, and almost all the Mission churches from the north of Alaska to
Mexico were supplied with bells from the
brass-foundries of Sitka. From six hundred to eight hundred whites lived in the
town in those days; and more than a dozen
sailing vessels were constantly employed in
trading.
In 1809 a serious plot was formed by some
Siberian ex-convicts against Baranof, but it
was betrayed to him and promptly crushed.
Baranof had for some time been growing
anxious to be relieved from his onerous
labors as Chief Manager, and the discovery
of this plot increased his desire. He repeatedly requested the directors of the
company to appoint a successor, but twice
the man selected to relieve him died before
reaching his post.
In 1815 the imperial government, in conjunction with the Russian American company, sent out two vessels, the Kutuzof and
the Suvarof, under command of Hagemeister, who was authorized to assume control
of the affairs of the company in place of
Baranof, if upon investigation he thought it
necessary to do so. Hagemeister did not
inform Baranof of the extent of his powers,
but quietly examined the condition of the
company. Baranof was still working ear nestly in its service, but the intrepid pio neer's fierce energy was beginning to flicker
out. He had always been careless of reli gion, but now he suddenly conceived a liking
for the church, and constantly kept a priest
near him. Yanovsky, the first lieutenant of
the Suvarof, fell in love with Baranof's
daughter, and obtained her father's consent
to their marriage. But Hagemeister's con sent was also necessary. and was only
granted on the condition that Lieutenant
Yanovsky should stay for two years at New
Archangel, and act as representative of the
Chief Manager.
On January 11, 1818, Hagemeister told
Baranof of his instructions, which so sur prised and prostrated the old man that he
never quite recovered from the shock. But
it was the work of months to render full
accounts, and to turn the affairs of the
company over to the company's commis sioner, Klebnikof. The commissioner esti mated the value of the property at New
Archangel, to say nothing of that at the
many other stations of the company, at two
and one half millions of rubles; and besides
this, the Suvarof took furs to the value of
two hundred thousand rubles to Europe, and
left behind in the storehouses furs worth
nine hundred thousand rubles more. The
buildings and vessels of the company were
in excellent condition, and the accounts in
perfect order. In September, 1818, the
work was done and the complete statement
handed over to Yanovsky. It was now
nearly thirty years since Baranof had landed
on Kadiak island; he was already seventytwo years old, and had spent himself in the
service of the company. Thrown unceremoniously aside in his old age by the company whose leading spirit he had been, and
whose interests he had enormously extended
and firmly consolidated, he could not tear
himself away at once from the scenes of his
labors, dangers, privations, and achievements. He resolved to pay farewell visits
to Kadiak and the various settlements he
had founded, and then go to live with a
brother in Kamchatka. But he was urged
to return to Russia, where his advice would
be of the highest value to the directors of
the company. He decided to do this, and
late in November set sail in the Kutusof,
which, on her way home, stopped for more
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