“I thought when Alaska was purchased, in 1867,” says that keen observer and clever writer, Captain John Codman, “that it might answer for a great skating park; but now I know, from merely coasting along its southeastern shores and landing at a few of its outposts, that the seven million two hundred thousand dollars paid for it is less than the interest of the sum that it is worth. A great part of it is yet unexplored, for its whole area is three times greater than the republic of France; but what has been discovered is invaluable, and what has not been discovered may be valuable beyond calculation.” So little did we, as a people, appreciate the new acquisition that it was almost entirely neglected for seventeen years. Not until 1884 was it granted a territorial government, Hon. John H. Kinkead, ex-governor of Nevada, being the first governor appointed for Alaska. “Twenty years ago,” says Governor Swineford of Alaska, “I made political capital out of Seward’s purchase. I called it the refrigerator of the United States. I heaped obloquy on William H. Seward. I shall spend the rest of my life in making reparation to what I have so foully wronged.” Such has been the general testimony of all who speak from personal observation, and uninfluenced by sinister motives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER X. Territorial Acquisitions.—Population of Alaska.—Steady Commercial Growth.—Primeval Forests.—The Country teems with Animal Life.—A Mighty Reserve of Codfish.—Native Food.—Fur-Bearing Animals.—Islands of St. George and St. Paul.—Interesting Habits of the Fur-Seal.—The Breeding Season.—Their Natural Food.—Mammoth Size of the Bull Seals. The subject of the addition of Alaska to the United States suggests the fact that our territorial acquisitions from time to time form certain decided and interesting landmarks in the history of the country. Thus, in 1803 we acquired Louisiana from France by the payment of fifteen million dollars. In 1845 Texas was annexed and her debt assumed, amounting to the sum of seven million five hundred thousand dollars. In 1848 California, New Mexico, and Utah were acquired from Mexico, partly through war, and by the payment of fifteen million dollars. In 1854 Arizona was purchased from Mexico for ten million dollars. And last, but by no means least, Alaska, as has been stated, was obtained from Russia in 1867 for seven million two hundred thousand dollars. “By this purchase,” said Charles Summer in his able speech before Congress, “we dismiss one more monarch from this continent. One by one they have retired; first France; then Spain; then France again; and now Russia; all give way to the absorbing Unity which is declared in the national motto, _E Pluribus Unum_.”