repairing place for many a vessel in the days of the gold seekers in the valleys of California. Two sawmills, one near the site of the present mill, the other on Kirenski River, now called Sawmill Creek,[18] cut the lumber for the settlement and for export. Two flouring mills, one in Sitka, the other at the Ozerskoe Redoubt on Globokoe[19] (Deep) Lake, ground the breadstuffs. A tannery furnished the leather for shoes, made from California hides, and also prepared the _lavtaks_ for the bidarkas for the seal and sea-otter hunters. The burrs for the Sitka mill were of the finest French stone but those at the Redoubt were cut from the granite found on the lake shore.[20] A hospital of forty beds provided for the comfort of the sick, of which Governor Simpson said: "The institution in question would do no disgrace to England." Brickyards were maintained, ice was cut on the lakes and at times shipped to California. The ice-houses were near the outlet of Swan Lake and were of a capacity of 3,000 tons. One day in the spring of 1852 the American ship "Bacchus" came into Sitka to purchase a cargo of ice. All the ice for San Francisco had to this time been brought in the hold of sailing ships around Cape Horn from Boston and the idea of getting the supply from Sitka was conceived. From the Company's icehouses was laden on the ship 250 tons, and this was the beginning of a trade during the year of not less than 1800 tons at an average price of about $25.00 per ton. A Company was organized in San Francisco for carrying on the trade and it was known as "the Ice Company." The ice on the lake was not of sufficient thickness owing to the fact that four degrees below zero is the coldest record ever made in Sitka during a hundred years, consequently the Ice Company later transferred their chief place of operation to Wood Island, near Kodiak. Cows were kept for milk, and the hay for their provender was cut on the Katleanski Plains on Squashanski Bay.