John Nevin King letter to his mother describing his life in Kodiak and a trip to Afognac, July 5, 1875

• Main Author: King, John Nevin
• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: xyz; Canada; Kodiak; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/pioneerlife/id/25895

In his letter, Nevin discusses Kodiak's Fourth of July activities, which include a description of a dance held at the local priest's house. He then describes a trip to a village twenty-eight miles away called Afognac, and talks about the natives, Creoles, and Aleuts living separately, but burying their dead in common graves. He visits a cemetery that is adjacent to a Greek church, and writes about the different materials that the grave markers were built out of. He subsequently visits a market where he "purchases several pounds of butter @ 30 cents and several dozen eggs @ 25 for doz." John Nevin King (1827-1915) was a member of the Northwest Boundary Survey (1857-1861) John Nevin King (1827-1915) was a member of the Northwest Boundary Survey (1857-1861) whose assignment was to define the boundary between the United States and British Canada. . He lived in Sitka and Kodiak, Alaska for most of his time working on the survey, a territory that had recently been purchased from Russia. His letters to his family are of particular interest because they describe Alaska after the purchase from Russia and prior to the great gold rushes. Subjects include descriptions of the social dynamics between the Russian and Native American residents, as well as commentary on the land and lifestyle in Alaska at this time.