| Summary: | So far as is known the Russians were the first people of the Caucasian race to settle in Alaska. They early recognized the possibilities of Alaska for stock-breeding purposes and imported cattle from Siberia in the belief that the animals could be made to sustain themselves on the lush pastures abounding here and there in the new country. Cattle raising was in progress at each of the principal Russian settlements, including Kodiak, Kenai, Ninilchik, and Sitka, when the United States purchased the Territory from Russia in 1867. Some cattle were introduced from the States after the American occupation, but representatives of the original Russian stock were still in evidence when the first agricultural experiment station was established at Sitka in 1898. All the cattle at Kenai and at Ninilchik, on Cook Inlet, were descendants of those that had been introduced from Russia, and their progeny are still to be found at Ninilchick. The animals were small, slim in all proportions, and had a narrow head with thin, upright horns. The average weight of the mature cow was about 500 pounds. In color the stock was brown, or dark red, and occasionally the body Avas mottled. The milk yield was low and had a fat content of about 3 per cent. The cattle had deteriorated not only in general conformation, but also in milking qualities and in suitability for beef production. In 1906 when the Galloway breed was established by the stations as a foundation stock at Kalsin Bay, 15 miles from Kodiak, it was learned that cattle in considerable numbers had at some time in the past been maintained there by the Russians. The most convincing evidence supporting this fact was the discovery in the region of a large pile of thoroughly decayed cattle manure. The Russians, realizing that about 5,000 or 6,000 acres of land at the head of Kalsin Bay were adapted to cattle raising, had probably used the place as a breeding center whence they distributed stock to the settlements throughout the coast region. A few head of cattle of the dairy type were ...
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