Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Sitka

SITKA, or NEW ARCHANGEL, a port of entry and former seat of administration of Alaska Territory; on the W. coast of the island of Sitka or Baranof; about 1,300 miles N. of San Francisco.

It is located amid beautiful scenery, and has a wide and deep harbor, somewhat difficult of entrance. The town contains a hospital, museum, an industrial and public school, the Greek Church of St. Michael, built in 1816, and in which the Russians still maintain the national religion, and a Presbyterian mission, where boys and girls receive an industrial training in connection with the ordinary branches of an English education. The principal business establishment, that of the Russian-American Fur Company, organized in 1799, was located here till 1863. When Alaska was transferred to the United States in 1867, Sitka contained only about 100 log huts. Since then it has made considerable progress and a number of substantial and permanent buildings have been erected. Pop. (1920) 1,175.