are pleasant recollections of those who have lived there. Jovial
Edward Degroff and his stories at the Roastology Club; the Mills, whose
hospitable home is known to every resident of the town; Wm. Gouverneur
Morris, whose name recalls a leader of Revolutionary days; genial George
Barron, who upheld every good tradition of the Navy; the gallant old
soldier, Matthew P. Berry; dignified Judge Delaney, Alaska's staunchest
advocate through all vicissitudes; Governor Brady, with his neverfailing
faith in Alaska's greatness; Captain Francis, without whom the early
naval commanders thought the warships could not thread the intricate
passages; Nicholas Haley, with his optimistic dreams of El Doradoes;
Pauline Archangelsky, for whom the "Old Timers" have pleasant
recollections; Alonzo Austin and his mission; Captain Kilgore of the
"Rush"; Merrill, who caught on the photograph plate the elusive spirit
of the varying surroundings as only a true artist could; Katherine
Delaney Abrams, whose touch in watercolor delineated the glory of the
sunsets as none else could; Professor Richardson, who for a quarter of a
century returned year after year thousands of miles to perpetuate in
paintings the exquisite tintings of glaciers and mountain; George
Kostromitinoff (Father Sergius); Father Metropolski, and many others who
have made a part of the quaint old town.

There is a saying that whosoever comes to love the waters of the Indian
River will ever after yearn for them, and it seems true, for always is
that harking back to its banks with an unsatisfied longing.

From prehistoric time this has been the home of the Sitka Kwan of the
Thlingit people. For sixty-three years it was the scene of the chief
activities of the Russian American Company, who represented the rule of
the Muscovites, who, when Chicago was but a blockhouse in a sedgy swamp
on the banks of a sluggish, reedy river, and when San Francisco was but
a mission and a Presidio of sun-burned bricks, maintained in Sitka a
community of busy people who were casting cannon and bells, and who were
building ships for commerce.

In the establishment of this outpost the foundation was laid for the
title of the United States to the southeastern part of Alaska, a land
rich in fur and forest, in gold and copper, in marble and fish, the
potential possibilities of which are not even approximately forecasted
today. Enough to say of it, that in its limits are two mines, one of
which has yielded