and Sitka. For this service, they are paid the sum of $18,000 per year. When other trips are made and other places are visited by the steamers of the company, mails are also carried and delivered on those trips and at those other places. By this more uncertain service, several mails have been delivered at Metlakahtla, Mary Island, Chilkat, and Hoonah, and the mail has been carried weekly instead of semi-monthly to the first-named places during the months of June, July, and August. Another mail contract insures monthly mails served from Wrangel to Klawak and Howkan (or Jackson, which is the post-office name). A small steamer or steam launch plies between Wrangel and Howkan. Between Sitka and Unalaska, a distance of about 1,350 miles, a small steamer has made seven regular monthly trips, stopping at six places, from April to October." In Special Consular Reports, Highways of Commerce, 1895, page 29, it is stated that the fare from San Francisco to Wrangel, by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, is $50; to Juneau or Sitka, $70. There is also steamship service from St. Michael's, via Unalaska to Seattle and San Francisco. The report of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General of the United States for 1896 says that a post-office was authorized at Circle City March 19, 1896. The carrier for the first trip started from Juneau June 11 and reached Circle City July 14, carrying 1,474 letters. He returned by way of St. Michael, reaching Seattle August 19. On the second trip, the carrier left Juneau July 8, reaching Circle City August 6. Another trip was to be made in September, and four between November and May, 1897. PROPOSED RAILROAD. In 1886, in reply to an inquiry on the part of the United States Senate, the Director of the United States Geological Survey, Mr. J. W. Powell, presented a report on the feasibility of constructing a railroad between the United States, Asiatic Russia, and Japan. Mr. Powell said that from all available information, the proposed line appeared to present no greater obstacles than those already overcome in transcontinental railroad building. It was suggested that the line start from some point on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana, and run, via the head waters of the Peace River, to the head waters of the Yukon; and thence to some point on the shore of Bering Sea, the total distance covered being about 2,765 miles. A branch line of 375 miles from the head waters of the Peace River might run to the mouth of the Stikine River, so as to facilitate communication with Sitka. XI. Territorial Government. In 1884, a district government was created by Congress for Alaska, with a governor and a district court, which sits alternately at Sitka and Wrangel. The laws are those of Oregon. There is a land office at Sitka. Commissioner Hermann, of the United States General Land Office, on July 31, 1897, stated that the mineral-land laws of the United States, the town-site laws (providing for the incorporation of town sites and acquirement of title thereto from the Government to the trustee), and the law providing for trade and manufactures, giving each qualified person 160 acres of land in a square and compact form, are applicable in Alaska. The coal-land regulations and the public-land laws do not extend to Alaska, as the Territory is expressly excluded by the laws themselves from their operation. The following is a list of United States officers in Alaska, furnished by the Department of the Interior, August 7, 1897: John G. Brady, governor, Sitka. Albert D. Elliot, clerk of the court, and ex officio secretary of Alaska, Sitka. William L. Distin, surveyor-general, Sitka. John W. Dudley, register of the land office, Sitka. No. 86- -9 129 Philip Gallaher, commissioner at Kadiak. The following is a list of the judicial officers of the United States in Alaska, furnished by the Department of Justice, August 7, 1897: Charles S. Johnson, district judge, Sitka. Burton E. Bennett, United States attorney, Sitka. Alfred J. Daly, assistant United States attorney, Sitka. |