Russian Exploration in Southwest Alaska : The Travel Journals of Petr Korsakovskiy title: (1818) and Ivan Ya. Vasilev (1829) Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series ; V. 4 Korsakovskiy, Petr.; Vasilev, Ivan Ya.; author: VanStone, James W.; Kraus, David H. publisher: University of Alaska Press isbn10 | asin: 0912006277 print isbn13: 9780912006277 ebook isbn13: 9780585162973 language: English Alaska--Discovery and exploration, Russians--Alaska--History--19th century, Alaska--Description and travel, Alaska-- subject History--To 1867, Korsakovskiy, Petr-- Journeys--Alaska, Korsakovskiy, Petr-- Diaries, Vasilev, Ivan Ya.,--b. 1797-- Journeys--Alaska, Vasilev publication date: 1988 lcc: F907.R965 1988eb ddc: 917.9804/2 Alaska--Discovery and exploration, Russians--Alaska--History--19th century, Alaska--Description and travel, Alaska-- subject: History--To 1867, Korsakovskiy, Petr-- Journeys--Alaska, Korsakovskiy, Petr-- Diaries, Vasilev, Ivan Ya.,--b. 1797-- Journeys--Alaska, Vasilev Page i Russian Exploration in Southwest Alaska: The Travel Journals of Petr Korsakovskiy (1818) and Ivan Ya. Vasilev (1829) Page ii The Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series Volume IV Marvin W. Falk, Editor Additional titles published by the Elmer E. Rasmuson Translation Program: BERING'S VOYAGES: THE REPORTS FROM RUSSIA by Gerhard Friedrich Müller. Translated, with commentary by Carol Urness. The Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series, Volume III. Published by the University of Alaska Press: Fairbanks, Alaska, 1986. TLINGIT INDIANS OF ALASKA by Archimandite Anatolii Kamenskii. Translated, with an Introduction and Supplementary Material by Sergei Kan. The Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series, Volume II. Published by the University of Alaska Press: Fairbanks, Alaska, 1985. HOLMBERG'S ETHNOGRAPHIC SKETCHES by Heinrich Johan Holmberg. Edited by Marvin W. Falk. Translated from the original German of 1855-1863 by Fritz Jaensch. The Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series, Volume I. Published by the University of Alaska Press: Fairbanks, Alaska, 1985. NOTES ON THE ISLANDS OF THE UNALASHKA DISTRICT by Ivan Veniaminov. Translated from the original Russian edition of 1840 by Lydia T. Black and R.H. Geoghegan. Edited with an introduction by Richard A. Pierce. Published jointly by the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Translation Program and The Limestone Press, 1984. Available from the Limestone Press, P.O. Box 1604, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 5C8. Page iii Russian Exploration in Southwest Alaska: The Travel Journals of Petr Korsakovskiy (1818) and Ivan Ya. Vasilev (1829) Edited with an Introduction by James W. VanStone Curator, North American Archaeology and Ethnology Department of Anthropology Field Museum of Natural History Translated by David H. Kraus Slavic and East European Division Library of Congress The University of Alaska Press Fairbanks Page iv International Standard Series Number: 0890-7935 International Standard Book Number: 0-912006-27-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-051165 The University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, 99775-1580 English Translation © 1988 by The University of Alaska Press All rights reserved. Published 1988 Printed in the United States of America Page v Contents Preface 1 Introduction 5 Korsakovskiy's Travel Journal 17 Notes for Korsakovskiy's Journal 65 Chistyakov's Instructions to Vasilev 71 Notes for the Instructions 87 Vasilev's Travel Journal 89 Notes for Vasilev's Journal 101 References 111 Glossary 117 Index 119 Page vii List of Maps Southwest Alaska 16 Fig. 1. Northern Kodiak Island 17 Fig. 2. Lower Shelikof Strait and adjacent areas 19 Fig. 3. The Ugashik River drainage and Becharof Lake 26 Fig. 4. Kvichak Bay and the adjacent Alaska Peninsula 27 Fig. 5. Nushagak Bay and adjacent areas 33 Fig. 6. The Togiak River and adjacent areas 36 Fig. 7. Hagemeister Island and adjacent areas 37 Fig. 8. Iliamna Lake and adjacent areas 54 Fig. 9. Lake Clark and the upper Mulchatna River drainage 55 Map compiled by Ivan Ya. Vasilev during his explorations 76 in 1829 (redrawn from Fedorova 1979) Fig. 10. The northeastern Alaska Peninsula 89 Fig. 11. The middle Nushagak River drainage and Wood 92 River Lakes Fig. 12. The upper Nushagak River drainage and Tikchik 93 Lakes Page 1 Preface The present study is one of a series of publications dealing with the culture of the Yupik-speaking Eskimos living in the Nushagak River region of southwest Alaska during the early historic period. My interest in the area began in the early 1960's with an examination of historical materials, published and unpublished, relating to culture change during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This research resulted in the compilation of an ethnohistorical bibliography on the region (VanStone 1968a) primarily for my own use but also for the use of others who might be interested in this and adjacent areas. Field work, which took place between 1964 and 1970, included archaeological surveys and excavations as well as the collection of ethnographic data from residents in the present-day settlements along the river. Reports resulting from this work include a monograph on the ethnohistory of the region (VanStone 1967); ethnoarchaeological studies of the Eskimo villages of Tikchik (VanStone 1968b), Akulivikchuk (VanStone 1970), and the village and trading post at Nushagak (VanStone 1972); and a report on Nushagak region settlement patterns (VanStone 1971). During the years of research on the ethnohistory of the Nushagak region, it was obvious that among the most significant resources were those relating to the first Russian explorations of the region by Petr Korsakovskiy in 1818 and 1819 and Ivan Yakovlevich Vasilev in 1829 and 1830. Unfortunately, however, information concerning these important expeditions was available only through secondary sources, notably excellent research by the Soviet ethnographer Svetlana Fedorova (1973a,b). Recently copies of the travel journals of these two explorers have become available in this country and edited translations are presented in this study. They fill an important gap in