for the building of the Buldakov:
Craftsmen Vasilii Grudinin
500 rubles
Chief Carpenter Aleksei Korenev 200
Vasilii Permitin
200
Gerasim Popov
125
Nikifor ZyriaNov
125
Aleksei Igumov
125
Carpenter Vasilii Vasil’ev
100
Iakov Okhlopkov
75
Ermil Medvedev
75
Fedor Kundiukov
100
Pavel StephaNov
75
Peter Popov
50
Blacksmith Stepan Titov
150
Dimitrii Samoilov
100
Coppersmith Nikifor Ulitovskii
100
Cooper Andrei Chechul’ka
150
Block-maker Mikhalio Rastorguev 100
TOTAL 2350 RUBLES
November 3rd, 1824... In keeping with the Chief Manager’s instructions, I ask the
Ross Office to pay the prikazchik Dorofeev an extraordinary recompense of 300 rubles for
having carried out his duties with zeal during the sea otter hunt. the sum is to be
credited to him and deducted from the commercial accounts. ... The Ross Office has
requested authorization to grant a wage increase to the locksmith Titov for his great
diligence and his agreement to live at Ross. It has also asked for permission to reward
the following Aleuts: the mason Timofei, the coal miner Ivan Tuchek, the hunter Ivan, and
the baidarshchik Klimsha....in addition to the 50 kopecks daily wages for the Aleuts,
reward the coal miner Ivan Tuchek 10 rubles for each large lump of coal, and add 25
kopecks daily to the future wages of the other Aleuts. I request that the Ross Office
carry out these instructions.
Letter to the Ross Office ‘In accordance with the instructions of
the chief manager, please submit to me all money collected by subscription for the
construction of a chapel in Ross, along with an excerpt from the office records indicating
who has donated how much. ....June 22nd, 1824, With regard to your inquiry of June 12th
about the building of a chapel, I hereby inform you that as there are No icons or other
objects at Ross that would be suitable for decorating a place of worship, the construction
of a chapel should Not begin unless the chief manager gives his permission. But given the
religious zeal of all the Ross settlers, it is essential to have a place where prayers can
be read on holidays. For that purpose, I think it would be appropriate, when rebuilding
the barracks this fall, to set aside a room where 30 to 40 persons could say their
prayers.
James R.
Gibson, “Russia in California, 1833. Report of GoverNor Wrangel;” Pacific
Northwest Quarterly, October, 1969. Volume 60, No. 4.
Even if the skillful hunter managed to bring in plenty of pelts, the following trade exchange list shows how advantageous the trade rate was for the company.
For the information of each employee, this price list must be posted in the store and canNot be changed by the clerk, but only by the Chief Manager.
1 sea otter 2 large blankets
1 sea otter 2 1/2 arshins heavy wool cloth
1 sea otter 1 case razors
1 sea otter 1 cast iron utensil
1 yearling sea otter 1 axe
1 yearling sea otter 1 medium blanket
1 yearling sea otter 3 arshins calico
1 river beaver 3 arshins cotton cloth
1 river beaver 1 axe
10 mink 1 mirror
8 mink 1 pound Virginia tobacco
2 black bear 1 cast iron kettle
1 large black bear 1 large blanket
1 medium black bear 5 arshins heavy linen
1 medium black bear 5 arshins wool
1 brown bear 1 large blanket
Inventory
of day-to-day necessities
The following report from a Russian-American Company official Not only points out the difficulties of the daily lives of Ross inhabitants, but also provides an excellent inventory of day-to-day necessities.
“Everyone
has confirmed that there are No ways to help them [the promyshlenniki] live and feed a
family on a single salary, with one ration of flour and one pound of meat (with bones) a
day. Consequently, there is indeed No way the office can reduce debts; on the contrary
they increase year by year. In order to give an idea of the expenses of a Russian
Promyshlennik at Ross, I add here the debts of one of them, Vasiliy Permitin, who has a
wife and five children. For 1832 he received on his salary’s account:
All these total 728 rubles, 17 kopecks at
existing prices, while Permitin’s annual salary is 350 rubles.”
Wheat 3 1/2 puds [126 2/5 lb.] (see glossary )
Wheat flour 42 puds 10 funts [1525 lb.]
Barley 2 puds [72 1/4 lb.]
Dried Meat 1 pud [36 1/10 lb.]
Fresh Beef 1 pud 35 funts [63 3/5 lb.]
Lard 24 funts [21 3/5 lb.]
Cow’s Butter 11 funts [9 9/10 lb.]
Tallow Candles 14 funts [12 3/5 lb.]
Salt 14 funts [12 3/5 lb.]
Copper Utensils 4 1/2 funts [4 lb.]
Millet 10 funts [9 lb.]
Circassian Tobacco 22 funts [19 4/5 lb.]
Soap 27 funts [24 1/3 lb.]
Tea 10 3/4 funts [9 2/3 lb.]
Sugar 1 pud 7 1/2 funts [42 7/8 lb.]
Treacle 10 1/2 funts [9 1/2 lb.]
Wool Felt 2 bundles
Cotton Stockings 1 pair
Flannel Blankets 2 bundles
Cotton Dress 1
Soles 21 pair
Uppers 10
Cotton Ends 5 pieces
Medium Sheepskins 2
Flemish Linen 21 arshins [49 feet]
Calico 32 arshins [74 2/3 feet]
Ticking 17 arshins [39 2/3 feet]
Trouser Burlap 15 arshins [49 feet]
Gingham 7 arshins [46 1/3 feet]
Soldier’s Broadcloth 2 arshins [4 2/3 feet]
Pud=
0.9 lbs funt=
36.11 lbs
arshin= 28 inches
Kopeck=
1/2 cent (in early 19th century)
ruble= 50 cents
...On their days off, those who were industrious could work their land
themselves...Everyone received seed on loan. The advantage is that the private
land is worked at No expense to the company, and many of the men harvest eNough
to last them for the whole year and thus receive No ration from the company.
In
the past employees were hired under an overall contract.
On December 14, 1820, the Board of Directors issued this directive
outlining the terms on which workers are to be accepted for hunting and other
company duties in the American colonies. The
terms for this directive are as follows:
Upon
entering the service this statement is to be read to the employee and by signing
it, he obligates himself to fulfill it. The Company will secure for him a passport valid for seven
years, and will give him the necessary money to cover the cost of his
transportation.
When
they arrive in the colonies, they are under the jurisdiction of the Chief
Manager or the various office administrators, and they must carry out their
professional duties or other work, according to their training; they pledge to
obey the administration at all times.
An
employee must promise Not to engage in any trading with the savages or with
foreigners, under threat of loss of his contract and his profit.
Every
new arrival must pledge to avoid the following vices: drunkenness, extravagance, quarreling and other offenses, and
Not to accumulate large unpaid debts.
The
terms of service is seven years; at the end of this period, if the employee has
No debts and decides to return home, the Company shall Not hinder this decision,
and the employee shall be sent by the first available transport to Okhotsk, or
around the world, at Company expense. At the time of his departure he shall receive an accurate
accounting and within a month after the journey via either Okhotsk of ST
Petersburg he is completely discharged from service. Those who have debts must pay them through service, and must
neither ask or petition to be released from their contracts.
For
its part, the Company promises the following to those who enter its service:
To
issue salaries of 350 rubles per year from the day of boarding ship to the
return to their homeland. According
to the rules established by the Chief Manager the salary has been raised as
follows: Master craftsmen such as
smiths and metalworkers, coppersmiths, carpenters, shipbuilders and others, from
400 to 450 rubles; boatswain first class, 450, boatswain second class, 400
rubles.
The
Company pledges Not to deduct debts from pay before reaching the colony.
In the colonies, salaries will be paid monthly, with up to one-third
being deducted for payment of debts.
From
The Khlebnikov Archive, Travel Notes, 1824
by RAC Commercial Counselor Kirill Khlebnikov.
1.
I wrote to the Ross Office to point out that the fortifications must be
improved.
2.
The private dwellings situated outside the fort should Not be torn down without
the Chief Manager’s approval, but do Not allow any new dwellings to be built.
Almost half the men Now live outside the fort’s walls, and in the event of
enemy attack, they would immediately be taken prisoner. If an attack appears to
be imminent, everyone living outside the fort should be brought in without
delay. I will inform the Chief Manager of this.
3.
During the dark autumn and winter nights, post two sentries on the towers and
appoint a prickazchik or one of his
assistants to supervise the sentries in turn. Those sentries who sleep on watch
are disobeying orders and are to be whipped with a ship’s line as punishment.
4.
An enemy attack may come Éby land or sea. You should devote all your energies
to repulsing them and, like a true son of the native land, spare neither your
efforts Nor your blood to defend the fort, whose safety has been placed in your
hands. Your subordinates should be instilled with these same sentiments. From
the sea, ships canNot approach the fort to fire their canNon, and a landing must
therefore be prevented. It is impossible to move up artillery over the
mountains, and with your canNon, you would have an advantage over an enemy armed
only with light weapons. In any event, may the almighty prevent such an event
from occurring during your management.
Khlebnikov
also had a few words to say about the use of gunpowder at Ross...
“I
Noticed that there had been an excessive use of gunpowder, and I decided to
write the office to point out the importance of ecoNomizing in all areas.”
“ The warehouse accounts of the office records for the period ending on
May 1 of this year contain an entry for the following expenses:
345 charges of gunpowder between September 1, 1823 and May 1, 1824, for
special celebrations, for arriving and departing ships, for signaling, and for
firing the canNon at dawn.’ Comparing that figure with earlier periods, I
Noted that it was more than twice as large. It must be remembered that any
unnecessary waste of the company’s supplies is, to a certain extent,
negligence with company capital, regardless of the capital’s form, and such
negligence is in violation of one’s obligation to the company. In order to
avoid such expenses in the future, I ask the Ross Manager to bear in mind the
exact state of affairs and to refrain from using the Company’s capital without
reason. The value of any goods wasted without a valid reason will be debited to
the account of the person responsible.”