while the miners have been a law unto themselves, the instinct for good and for order has been in the ascendency, and remarkably few excesses have been perpetrated.
Education. In 1900 the United States Bureau of Education maintained twenty-five public schools in the Territory on an inadequate annual appropriation of $30,000; but incorporated towns may provide for themselves by their privilege of using one-half of the money collected from license fees for educational purposes.
Religion. The Russian Greek Church was the first in the field, and continues to support churches and schools at different points. The Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and other religious denominations carry on extensive missionary and educational work in the Territory. The Presbyterians maintain, moreover, an industrial training school at Sitka. Almost the whole native population has been brought under the influence of Christian teaching.
History. In July, 1740, the Danish navigator Bering, who was in the Russian service, discovered a number of islands, among them that bearing his name. Russian explorers and traders gradually pushed further eastward and came into conflict with the natives, whom they cruelly maltreated. The coast of Alaska was visited by Captain Cook in 1778, and by the Spaniards at about the same time. In 1778 a Russian company was organized to exploit the new country. In 1784 the first permanent settlement was made at Three Saints, on Kadiak Island, and in 1790. Alexander Baranov was made manager of the trading company. In 1799 the Russian-American Company was chartered, and was granted control of all Russian interests in North America for twenty years. Trading posts, including Sitka (1799), and missions of the Greek Church were established at many new points. The charter of the Russian-American Company was renewed in 1820 and 1844. In 1864-67 parts of the country were explored by the Western Union Telegraph Company, with the object of connecting Europe with America by telegraph at Bering Strait, but the project was abandoned when the Atlantic cable became successful. In March, 1867, the Territory was ceded to the United States for $7,200,000 in gold, and on October 18 a military force of the United States at Sitka took formal possession. In 1868 the laws of the United States relating to customs, commerce, and navigation were extended over the mainland, islands, and waters. A military post was maintained at Sitka for ten years, and other garrisons were established, but in 1877 all troops were withdrawn. In maintenance of its claim to joint possession with Russia of Bering Sea (q.v.) as an inland water, the United States several times seized British vessels engaged in taking fur seals, and the complications resulting therefrom were made the subject of prolonged negotiation between the United States and Great Britain. The whale and seal fisheries of Alaska were rapidly approaching exhaustion, when the discovery of gold along the Yukon in 1896-97, and at Cape Nome on the west coast in 1898-99, completely changed economic conditions there, and caused a sudden inroad of population. The vast importance of the Canadian Klondike region brought the long-standing boundary dispute between the United States and Canada to a crisis. Canada demanded such a rectification of the line in the region of the Lynn Canal as would have placed in her possession Skagway, Pyramid Harbor, and Dyea, the principal entrances to her gold-fields. In 1901 nothing more than a modus vivendi between the two countries had been arrived at. By a congressional act of June 6, 1900, Alaska was made a civil and judicial district.
Bibliography. Abercrombie, Copper River Exploring Expedition (Washington, 1900); Schwatka, Along Alaska's Great River (New York, 1885); Swineford, Alaska: Its History, Climate, and Natural Resources (Chicago, 1898); Bruce, Alaska: Its History and Resources (Seattle, 1895); Bancroft, Alaska (San Francisco, 1886); Elliott, Our Arctic Province (New York, 1886); John Burroughs et al., Harriman Alaska Expedition (New York, 1891); Emmons, “Alaska and Its Mineral Resources,” National Geographical Magazine (Washington, 1898); Ingersoll, Golden Alaska: A Complete Account of the Yukon Valley (Chicago, 1897); Heistand, The Territory of Alaska (Kansas City, 1898); Dall, “Report on Coal and Lignite of Alaska,” United States Geological Survey, Seventeenth Annual Report, Part I. (Washington, 1896); Reports and Bulletins of the United States Geological Survey for 1899 (Washington, 1899); United States Geological Survey, Explorations in Alaska (Washington, 1900); Reports of the United States Board of Education, of the Treasury, and War Departments (Washington, 1899-1901); Reports of the Governor of Alaska to the Secretary of the Interior; United States Military Affairs Committee; Narratives of Explorations in Alaska (Washington, 1900); bibliography in Appleton's Guide to Alaska (New York, 1896); Ray and Murdock, Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska (Washington, 1885); Nelson, Report on Natural History Collections Made in Alaska, 1877 to 1881 (Washington, 1887); Turner, Contributions to the Natural History of Alaska (Washington, 1886).
ALASKA SA′BLE. See Skunk.
ALASSIO, ȧ-läs′syṓ. A seaport of Italy on the Gulf of Genoa, 57 miles southwest of the city of Genoa (Map: Italy, C 3). In winter it is frequented by foreigners, particularly by English-speaking people, and in summer the excellent bathing attracts Italians. The natives are mostly fishermen and boat builders. Pop., 1901, 5630. Consult Scheer's Alassio und seine Umgebung (Weisbaden, 1886).
ALAS′TOR (Gk. Ἀλάστωρ). (1) An avenging, haunting spirit. Among the Greeks the name was sometimes applied to Zeus as an avenging deity; also to the Furies. In the Middle Ages it was given to one of Satan's chief ministers, a demon supposed to execute his purposes.
(2) A poem by Shelley published in 1816, entitled in full, Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude.
ALATAU, ä′lȧ-tou′ (Turk., Mottled Mountain Range). A name given to a range of lofty mountains forming the boundary between Turkestan and Mongolia and the northern limit of the great tableland of Central Asia (Map: Asia, G 4). It is made up of three sierra-like subranges, the Dzungarian, the Trans-Ili, and the Kuznets Alatau. These are all grouped around Lake Issik-Kul as a central point. The peaks of the Alatau, which are principally of granitic formation, attain an elevation of over 15,000 feet.
