Petr Pavlovich Doroshin in Russian America

Translated and Edited by Richard L. Bland

Abstract

In the early 1800s the Russian-American Company was in search of valuable minerals, especially gold, to bolster its waning economy based on furs. Geologist Petr P. Doroshin was sent to Alaska to find these minerals. While there he spent time in the community of Nuchek in the Gulf of Alaska, where he heard and recorded various accounts by the local natives. These accounts vary from traditional stories about sea monsters to the narrative of the recently annihilated exploration party of Ruf Serebrennikov.

  • Richard L. Bland, State Museum of Anthropology Museum of Natural and Cultural History 1224 University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403