Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/214

 206 DOCUMENT rear is crowned by a range of hills 1500 feet in height, cov- ered with pines, firs, cedar, and laurel, rendering the position of the fort highly picturesque. The fort is an enclosure 100 yards square, picketed with timber 8 inches thick by 18 feet high, mounts four 12-lb. carronades on each angle, and four 6-lb. brass howitzers fronting the principal gate; has two octangular block-houses, with loop holes for musketry, and eight buildings within the enclosure and 48 outside, beside a large boathouse at the landing place, blacksmith's shop, car- penters' and coopers' shop, and a large stable for 200 cows, the number usually milked. The Russians first settled at "Bodega," about 18 miles south of Ross, in 1813. It was thought to afford facilities for ship-building, and a good point for seal fishing and "sea otter" hunting. Two vessels of .up- wards of two hundred tons have been built here, and several smaller vessels of 25 to 40 tons. The oak, however, of which these vessels have been built, is not good, although it is an evergreen, and resembles in grain the "post oak;" it is of far inferior quality. This establishment of the Russians seems now to be kept up principally as a "point d'appui;" and hereafter it may be urged in furtherance of the claims of the "Imperial Autocrat" to this country, having now been in possession of Ross and "Bodega" for 24 years, without molestation. Two ships annually come down for wheat from (Sitka). Their cargoes are purchased in California ; likewise, tallow and jerked beef, for bills on the Russian American Fur Company, St. Petersburg. These bills fall into the hands of the American traders from Boston and the Sandwich Islands, who receive these bills from the Californians as money in payment of goods. Ross contains about 400 souls ; 60 of whom are Russians and "Fins," 80 "Kodiacks," the remainder Indians of the neighbor- hood, who work well with the plough and sickle. All the Russians and Finlanders are artisans. Wages $35 to $40 per annum. They export butter and cheese to Sitka. But few skins (seals) are now taken no sea otters. This year the farm is much increased. Two hundred and forty fanegas, equal to 600 bushels, of wheat is sown. It generally yields 12