The Alaska Commercial Company the Formative Years
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h'3 The Alaska Commercial Company The Formative years MOLLY LEE he demise of the Alaska Com_ tions from Kodiak to St. Michael and mercial War. The origin of his intercst in Company headquarters on the masts the of fleet of ships that Alaska is uncertain, but it may be that in San Francisco,s disastrous plied the northern waters was the re- he was alreadr. ai.vare o[ the impend- earthquake and fire of 1906 left a ma_ sult of months oF neeotiations. ln the ing iiquidation jor lacuna in the 19th-century of Russian-American history absence of so many vital documents, Company assets \.vhen he boarded a of the Norrh. When the ledgeis, co.re_ however, any reconstruction must be San spondence, memos, Francisco-bound ship in Nerv and files_the pieced together from a rvide array grist of York in September 1867. The Dresence of the historian,s mill_-*,ent up sources. Incomplete records also rnean of General Loveii Rousseau in smoke, so did the possibiliry anci Cap- of re- that some imporrarrt questions may tain Alexei constructing precise Peshchurov, the U.S. antl a and detailed never be. answered. Founded history in 1g6g, Russian representatives en route frorn of an institution that touched the Naska Commercial Cotnpany was Baltimore to Sitka for the transfer of the daily lives of most Aiaskans for al- an ourgrowth of Hurchinson, Kohl Naska into American most half a century.l During hands, suggesrs the first and Company. a consortium of West two decades this possibiliti,. Hutchinson might after the United States Coast businessmen formed purchased in Febru- have known Rousseau through his Alaska, the Alaska Com_ ary or March of that same year. Thus dealings with the U.S. Armv and, mercial Companv, in the if so, absence of ail the history of the trvo tirms is inextri- but the couid have learned of the Russian- most minimal of federal gover_ cabiy intertwined. nance, American Companv's liquidation served northern residents'as de from him.6 \\4rether bv design or coin- facto banker, postmaster, doctor, law_ Hutchinson, Kohi irsetl represenred a cidence, yer, and, occasionaily, jailer, Abraham Hirsch was also in addi- merger of, two conrper ine, uroups of aboard. tron ro carrying out its own trading businessmen whose sense ot survival and sealing enterprises. forced them sacriilce to in-rmediate Sailing into San Francisco Bay on Sep- seif-interest for longer-range benefits, tember Focusing on the formation 22, 1867, Hutchinson ser abour of Alaska to set aside cutthroat tactics in favor of Con'rmercial and finding financial backing for his the procurement and pooling economic resolirces and loss oI the pro_ scheme to acquire the Russian-Anleri- Pribilof sealing lease, this fessional know-how. Headed essav. differs from bl, can Compan.v's trade. Somehow, per- previousiv pub- Hayward Hutchinson and William lished .rccounts haps through his acquainrance u,iti-r in three ways. First, it Kohl, the two conglomcrrtes \\ ere dis_ Hirsch, he managed to get the ear suggests that two standard sources of on parate in nationalitv ar-rd background tr,vo the founding cf the of San Francisco's most prorli- company are inac_ but possessed oI a rvide curate range of skills nent businessmen, Louis Sloss and his in many important details.: that were to prove invaluable in the brother- in-lau, Lewis Gerstle. Like Second, it discusses events leading up years ahead. To understand the cir- Hirsch, Sloss and to the ibunding in greater Cerstle rvere part oi detail ihan cumstances of the .\CC's fotrnding the only. historically we the ciose-knit nationrvide network oi sound published must first examine the accourrt.' coalescence of German-iewish emigres. Lifelong And third, it makes use of the separate Hutchinson unpubiished and Kohl business partners, the two had been material either unknown gro ups. investors in an earlier take-over at- to previous researchers or not con_ suited tempt on the Hudson's Bay Companv's by them for this purpose. Hutchinson's associates, Louis Sloss, e.rpiring lease on the Alaska mainland. Lewis Gerstle,{ and Abraham Hirsch,-- How the Alaska Thus they were well aware of the lucra- Commercial Company were ali San Franciscans, originated was although tive potential olthe northern fur trade. neither d.irect nor Hutchinson himseli came ironr simple. The hoisting Balti_ It is even possible that they, roo, a[- of the red_and- more, where he had been white AC a wholesaier read,v had heard about the Russian- banner over company sta- to the Union Army during the Civii American Company's sale and had Spring 1998 59 been looking for a way in. in Victoria, Leopold Boscowitz, a 1867, he not only filled the C...__ Victoria furrier, August Wa.ssermann, stantine's l-rold with skins but, in ar.:- p{ut.hinron's movements for the a San Francisco furrier,8 and Custave ticipation oI next summer,s I Inext two months have not been Niebaum. Of the [our, sealing, Niebaum, a built a makeshift house on the traced, but in early December, he and tbrmer employee oI the islariJ Hirsch traveled Russian_ and left behind an agent to watch to Sitka to bid on Rus_ America Company, over sian-American's brought the most his inrerests. remaining assets. critical experience Charming to the table. Born in and diplomatic, Hutch_ Finland (then a part of Imperial Rus_ Niebaum's inson made good use of his introduction to Kohi and connec- sia, a situation giving Finns automatic tions with peshchurov, Boscowitz took place eariier, either Rousseau and Russian crtizenship), in Niebaum had Victoria in 1866 who were still in Sitka. Through them, or in Sitka in the au_ gone to sea as a boy and to work for the tumn he quickly estabiished u .o.iiri of 1867, where the three at_ Russian-American Company at age profitable relationship prince".rj 16. tended the liquidation of Russian_ with By the time of the Alaska purchaie, Dmitrii Maksutov, the he American Company assets. Sometime last Russian was a highiy rrained navigator with governor of probablv l0 that fali, Niebaum asked Kohl and Aiaska- aided by vears' experience in the treacherous Boscowitz to recommend these connections, Hutchinson rro, a San Fran- northern waters. He also brought to able to outmaneuver cisco furrier to contact about his car_9o a flock of deter- the Kohl group -of firsrhand knowiedge ot of sealskins. Recognizing mined competitors in purchasing the the value the Alaska fur trade, the pribiioi Is_ F,ussian firm's assets. the skins and the potentiai ol a busi_ lands, and Alaska's native peoples.o ness relationship rvith Niebaum, rhe F{utchinson's booty tra,,o offered to put him in touch with included parrial Niebaum had spent the winter contents of Russian_American of August Wassermann. As a iurther in_ Com- 1866-67 in Victoria, where pany warehouses, the im- ducement they offered to a fleet of merchant pending go ro San sale of Alaska was big news in Francisco vessels, and a handful of trading immediatelv on Niebaum's posts the papers. Returning to Sitka scattered aiong the in the behaifto arrange the sale in advance.:0 coast of .tlaska spring oi 1867, he rook from St. prince the first step in Iv{ichael to. William a long Sound. and successfirl business .^.... In late November In an even bigger coup, by 1867, the three making several purchases of Rus_ shook though, he managed to ,rolk1rr"i, hands. Kohl and Boscor^,,itz left *ith sian-American Company property. the company's coveted pribilof He Sitka tbr San Francisco, and \ielaum island and four other former company sealing operations.T pribilofs, em_ for the Pribilois. Thev joined up aqain The a ployees pooled their resources and in Sirka pair of desolare, seemingll. insignifi_ on lanuarv 18, lg6g, iusr as bought the brig Constantine fronr c.ant outcroppings 300 Hutchinson was concludins hrs busi- miles north of Maksutov with the intention the Aleutians, of engag_ ness there. On |anuarr, l"l Hutchinson, in fact were Russia,s ing in sealing most and fur trading in-tlie Kohl, Boscowitz, valuable North American asset. and \laksutovri area of Kodiak Island, the A_leutians, Everv year they piaved tbund themseives bound ibr San Fran_ host to hun_ and the Bering Sea, dreds known as the cisco aboard the vessel. of thousands of fur seais, which, same Wesnvard. At the same time, Niebaum since the drastic depletion of sea ot- bought a load of sealskins from ters, possessed the most the -l-h. Hutchinson-Kohl rnereer prob_ sought_after company ior resale. The skins iur in the world. were I ably took shape durinq lhe r,ovage stored in the pribilott, and as part o[ south. The ship arrived in San Fran_ the sale, Maksutov gave in Niebaurn per_ cisco on February 5; b),fuiarch ianuary 186g, Hutchinson began mission to paul l, ivhen shipping land at St. to retrleve Niebaum sailed in rvith goods south to San FrIn_ them. his load of sealskins, cisco. The success of his negotiations discussions had proceeded rvith Sloss and Gerstle the far enough ibr the orhers to oftlr him pre*vious au_ It is likelv that taking delivery tumn can be inferred of the an equal share in the fledelirrs tlrm.r: from the bills of seaiskins ivas only part laciing of his agenda. On Vlarch 18, the for these shipments, which were Permission to land first shipping mani- addressed there aliow.d fests bearing the name Hutchinson. to Louis Sloss and Com_ Niebaum, who pany. was well aware of the Kohl appeared Clearly, a protitable alliance had on merchandise bound economic importance of the pribilofs, r3 been cemented.