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4.1.12.wavIn the first decades after Alaska's purchase, the harvesting of animals continued to flourish as the most valuable industry in Alaska. At sea, sea otters and fur seals were hunted for their valuable furs, as they were during the Russian Era. Hunting of whales and walruses for oil, baleen, and ivory expanded. On land, the trapping of fur-bearing animals, such as foxes, river otters, mink, and beavers, continued to be an important part of the economy. Between 1867 and 1900, over three million pelts were harvested from Alaska's waters and lands, the majority of these fur seals on the Pribilof Islands.
As was during the Russian Era, Alaskan Natives continued to be the principal laborers in hunting and trapping industries, often dramatically changing their lifestyle. Transplanted Aleuts on the Pribilof Islands worked for the Alaska Commercial Company to harvest seals in exchange for food and housing. They found that the American-style frame houses were not as well insulated as the traditional Aleut barabaras in the cold, windy climate of the Pribilofs.
In the Interior, Athabaskans began focusing on hunting furs for trading rather than the traditional animals they hunted for food and clothing. Trade items, once considered luxuries, became necessities. These included things such as cotton fabric, gunpowder, shot, tea and sugar, combs, soap, flour, tobacco, butcher knives, and pocket knives.
Village of St. Paul on Pribilof Islands, 1940s
A similar trend was seen in the Arctic, where whaling companies established stations along the Arctic coast and brought change to Inupiaq communities. The stations competed for Native crews, offering trade goods in exchange for employment. Whale companies offered a year's supply of flour and perhaps a rifle, bullets, and other food in return for two months of work during the whaling season. Thus, Inupiaq began to take whales for pay rather than for their own use. Many inland Inupiaq moved near shore stations so they could work on the whaling crews.
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