Downtown Sitka

Leslie Tuesday, June 17, 2008

We’re in Sitka on a Chamber of Commerce Day. Tuesday was bright and sunny with an air temperature of the mid-60s. We took off to visit the town of Sitka. Sitka is not actually in the inside passage; Sitka is located on the western coast. We’re staying about 5 miles north of the town. Sitka seems more prosperous than anything we’ve seen since Ketchikan. There are pretty houses along the western coast. Because Sitka is a stop for most cruise ships, there is more tourist-oriented commerce than in either Wrangell or Petersburg.

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Near the harbor, there is an area of tourist gifts shops of about four blocks by three blocks. This is a historic area with the site of the former Russian capital and the site of the transfer of Alaska to the United States. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the new world was located in Sitka. The bishop’s house remains. It is now owned by the National Park Service. Because the Russian Orthodox Church used the house until the late 1960s, when the National Park Service purchased it, the house contained original furniture and religious icons.
The original people in Sitka were the Tlingits. The Tlingits are a matrilineal tribe divided into two branches, the eagle and the raven. Near the harbor there is a reproduction of a Tlingit canoe painted with the raven and eagle totems.

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The Russians arrived in Sitka in 1799 in pursuit of the sea otter furs. The Tlingits were driven out by the Russians. The Russia-American Company became the most profitable fur traders in the world. By the mid-1800's the Russians had over hunted the sea otters and the profitability of the Russian-American Company plummeted. The cost of defending Russian Alaska was no longer worth the diminished profits from the fur trade. That’s why in 1867 the Russians sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million (something like 18 cents an acre).

On our second climb up castle hill I looked out to the harbor and saw two seals playing and fishing. We were fairly far away so the picture is small.

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Our last stop for the day was a stop at the fishmonger on the dock. They had fresh King Salmon so we were treated to grilled fresh King Salmon for dinner.