he built. The Russians also sent missionaries to convert the Indians to
the Greek Church, which is the church of Russia. The Indians, however,
never learned to care for the Russians, and often were cruelly treated by
them. The Russians, however, tried to do something for their education,
and established several schools. One as early as 1775, on Kadiak Island,
had thirty pupils, who studied arithmetic, reading, navigation, and four
of the mechanical trades, and this is a better record than the American
purchasers can show, I am sorry to say.

"One of the recent travellers[6] in Alaska says that he met in the
country 'American citizens who never in their lives heard a prayer for
the President of the United States, nor of the Fourth of July, nor the
name of the capital of the nation, but who have been taught to pray for
the Emperor of Russia, to celebrate his birthday, and to commemorate the
victories of ancient Greece.' In March, 1867, the Russians sold Alaska to
the United States for $7,200,000 in gold. It was bought for a song
almost, when we consider the immense amount of money made for the
government by the seal fisheries, the cod and salmon industries, and the
opening of the gold fields. The resources of the country are not
half-known, and the government is beginning to see this. That is one of
the reasons they have sent me here, with the other men, to find out what
the earth holds for those who do not know how to look for its treasures.
Gold is not the best thing the earth produces. There is land in Alaska
little known full of coal and other useful minerals. Other land is
covered with magnificent timber which could be shipped to all parts of
the world. There are pasture-lands where stock will fatten like pigs
without any other feeding; there are fertile soils which will raise
almost any crops, and there are intelligent Indians who can be taught to
work and be useful members of society. I do not mean dragged off to the
United States to learn things they could never use in their home lives,