History of Beekeeping in Alaska

Introduction

Probably the first thing I learned while delving into beekeeping history was go to the source not only can you read accounts firsthand, but often a more complete picture emerges and snippets of information can be gleaned, if anything perhaps more questions will be raised. Another aspect is to be leery of oft-quoted sources (especially the Internet) their intentions may be honorable, but they may not be
substantiated – go to the source! Rule number three stay focused! 

While perusing issues of old bee journals it is easy to get side tracked; e.g. while thumbing through a 1968 issue of American Bee 

Journal I ran across an article about a Peace Corp volunteer from Texas in Afghanistan; now the Kentucky National Guard is currently involved in a beekeeping development program over there under much different conditions. Then there was the you get the idea.

First Introductions 1900, Sitka; Father Methodius – Alaska’s first beekeeper

The first documented introduction of honey bees to Alaska appears in Appendix I
of the1900 Annual Reports of the US Department of the Interior written by Father
Methodius to then Governor of the Territory of Alaska, John G. Brady (Methodius 1900).

APPENDIX I.

PARSONAGE OF THE GRECO-RUSSIAN CHURCH,
Sitka, Alaska, September 1, 1900.

Sir: In compliance with your request I have the honor to submit herewith the result of my first year’s experiment in apiculture in Sitka, Alaska. 

On May 31, 1900, received from Seattle, Wash., two hives with two swarms
of bees at the cost of $25. These hives I placed in the yard adjoining the parsonage, and up to June 20, 1900, the bees increased to two or more swarms, and on the 28th of same month two more swarms were added with a satisfactory result.

My experience during the summer showed that apiculture in Sitka is not
only possible, but also profitable, as there are an abundance of nectariferous
wildflowers and plants, also some vegetable gardens, and the experimental
grounds of the agriculture department where buckwheat, clover, and various plants are raised, which furnish sufficient food for the bees. I noticed that during the hot, bright summer days a swarm of bees brings more honey than in Russia near St.
Petersburg where apiculture is highly developed.

The season was not favorable for the apiculture industry, as the bees worked not more than 15 days from June 1 to September 1. The old swarm of bees produced about 15 pounds of honey for profit, besides 25 pounds left for their wants.

In connection herewith I would also state that the nectar here is in great quantity on account of the abundant morning dews.
Very respectfully,

FATHER METHODIUS,

Priest of the Greco-Russian Church, 

Sitka, Alaska

Hon. John G. Brady,
Governor of Alaska, Sitka, Alaska

A Russian priest in Sitka with some bee hives; this is most likely Father Methodius, Alaska’s first beekeeper, with his six hives in the fall of 1900. Photo courtesy of Alaska State Library – Historical Collections, Sheldon Jackson College, Merrill Photograph Collection, SJC 29-8611.

February 20, 1901

Father Methodius is not clear in his terminology, especially in his use of the term
swarm. Perhaps a bit of apicultural speculation is in order here. Contemporary beekeepers may say that his colonies swarmed, he retrieved them and thus made his increases. I think Father Methodius is using the term swarm for ìa colony of bees or in later references a split. Note on May 31st he received his initial shipment of two hives with two swarms of bees he then reports that on June 20th the bees increased to two more swarms, and on June 28th two more swarms were added with a satisfactory result. If we examine the evidence in an article (quoted below) from the newspaper Sitka Alaskan dated September 15, 1900, it is more likely that he
made what we would call splits. He paints a pretty rosy picture of the apicultural potential until he mentions the rain according to both Kashevaroff (MS 149-4-3, 1927) and Georgeson (1906) Father Methodius was unsuccessful in his attempts at beekeeping.

Here is the full text from the September 15, 1900 issue of the Sitka Alaskan (De Armond 2009a):

APICULTURE

A Practical Demonstration of that Industry at Sitka.

Another industry has been proven to be possible and profitable in Sitka by Father
Methodius of the Sitka Russian Mission.

Father Methodius whose previous residence was St. Petersburg, has, during his
leisure moments, made a study of bee culture, and had quite an extensive apiary at
his suburban home there. After a careful study of the environments at Sitka he became convinced that bee culture could be made a pleasing and profitable odd moment occupation.

By an expenditure of $25 he imported two hives of bees from Seattle the latter part of May. On June 20 he divided these swarms and instead of two, had four armies at work among the daisies and clover blossoms. October 15 he again broke into the arrangements of his laborers households and added two more hives to his apiary.

He now has six hives of the busy little insects and is confident that they will all be
able to supply themselves with a winter’s stock of food after he has taken about 40
pounds of honey from each of the two original swarms.

At St. Petersburg Father Methodius started with seven swarms and in four years
had increased his stock to 150 swarms, without the importation of a single bee. Besides thus increasing his hives he had an income of a thousand dollars a year from the sale of honey and wax.

This opens to the door to an industry whose field is as broad as are the mountains
and valleys of Alaska, and a great feature of this industry is that it requires no great expenditure of either money, brains or physical strength, but only a watchful attention.

From a modern management perspective (albeit not knowing the strength of the
original 2 colonies) making four splits from two colonies in less than one month, then
expecting good queen mating in an area where Father Methodius himself wrote, ìas
the bees worked not more than 15 days from June 1 to September 1, would seem to me not the best management technique. As there is no mention of any queens being imported we’d have to assume the splits were left to raise their own queens. However, please remember this is apicultural speculation on the part of this author.

The next documented source I could find was in the Annual Report of the Agricultural
Research Station in Sitka (Georgeson 1906). Georgeson mentions that the Experimental Station brought two stands of bees to Sitka in June of 1905 supplied through the Bureau of Entomology from a beekeeper in southern Washington State. In his report C.C. Georgeson also describes a Russian priest importing bees prior to 1905 (undoubtedly Father Methodius), but they failed to thrive.
This earlier attempt is substantiated by correspondence between a Professor Essig
(University of California, Department of Entomology) and A.P. Kashevaroff of the
Territory of Alaska Library and Museum in 1927. Kashevaroffís reply to Essigís query
about bees in Alaska states that a missionary named Father Methodius attempted to keep bees in Sitka in 1900 but without success (MS 149-4-3, 1927). Kashevaroff also discounts rumors that bees were brought to Alaska in the early 1800ís (Ibid). Essig reports on his correspondence with Kashevaroff discounting earlier Russian
introductions in his classic work, ìA History of Entomology (Essig 1931).

S.S. West, a Fairbanks beekeeper in the late 1940ís, writing in a University of
Alaska publication (West 1947) mentions. In 1900, Father Methodius of the Sitka
Russian Church, who had formerly had an apiary of 150 colonies in St. Petersburg, imported two colonies of bees from Seattle at a cost of $25.00. The bees arrived near the end of May, and on June 20 he divided both colonies to obtain a total of four. On October 15, he divided again, so that he wintered six colonies. Apparently all died during their first winter or shortly thereafter. West does not give his sources, but his article does not tally exactly with Father Methodiusí official
report. Frank Pellett’s book, American Honey Plants (Pellett 1920) is often cited in articles both in print and on the Internet giving 1809 as the first introduction of honey bees to Alaska. He does not give his sources, but it appears that it was based on earlier reports by Parks (1917). Unfortunately this date
(1809) cannot be substantiated; letís look at Pellett’s full quoteBy the accounts given in Bancroft’s History of Alaska and in translations made for me by Rev. George Kostrometinoff (DeArmond 2009b) from the records of the Orthodox Russo-Greek Church at Sitka, the honeybee was first introduced into Alaska in1809 by a monk named Cherepenin. These bees came from the Department of Kazan, in Siberia, and were brought that honey might be added to the scanty food supply of the pioneer teachers of the Faith as well as to supply the candles for the church services. 

As early as 1819 apiculture was taught in the church school and was continued
up to 1894. It would appear that the bees never flourished and seldom swarmed.
There are a number of records of new importations to take the place of dead colonies. Very early a white clover was introduced to help out the honey supply. About 1830 bees were taken from Sitka to Fort Ross in California. As late as 1905 there were about 30 colonies at the Russian school at Sitka. These bees were in straw skeps and were kept on shelves under the eaves of the house. In winter they were kept within the same projecting eaves. In 1906 the Experiment Farm at Sitka made an unsuccessful attempt to keep bees in Langstroth hives. It is not probable that beekeeping will ever be a commercial project in Alaska. References to beekeeping at Sitka by Dr. Sheldon Jackson are to be found in the Report on Education in Alaska, Bureau of Education. Prof. C. C. Georgeson, in the reports
on work done at the Experiment Station in Alaska also mentions beekeeping.
Bees were observed collecting nectar andpollen from plants given below during the
years 1905 to 1912Ö.î (Pellett 1920).

Problems with Pellett

Although Pellett (1920) sounds very convincing with his date of an 1809 importation,
I was unable to verify any of his sources. I have read H.H. Bancroftís History
of Alaska (Bancroft 1886) several times expressly looking for bees or beekeeping references not even the word honey shows up.

I was unable to verify Pellett’s claim that, as early as 1819 apiculture was taught inthe church school and was continued up to 1894 but, during the restoration of the
Bishop’s House by the National Park Service (a project begun in 1973 and lasting for
16 years), a book (in Russian) Lectures on the benefits of Raising Honeybees’ published in 1902 in St. Petersburg was discovered (Thorsen 2009) and has been on
display at the museum. The Russian Bishop’s House in Sitka is one of four remaining
Russian built structures left in North America; others include – one at Fort
Ross California, another building in Sitka, and a decrepit building in Kodiak, Alaska.

Much of Pellett’s information appears to be gleaned from an earlier account by H.B.
Parks writing in the American Bee Journal in June of 1917 (Parks 1917; also cited in
Watkins 1968a). The account by Parks describes how a double walled skep and its horde of toilers were brought from Kazan and today in Sitka and other old Russian
towns in Alaska are the sturdy descendants of this hive. Further on in the article he
makes the claim that, Fort Ross was established by the Russians about 200 miles

American Bee Journal

north of San Francisco. Here bees were
brought from Sitka, so that in California
today may be found the descendants of bees
from Russia, Mexico, and Spain, togetherwith modern importationsî (Parks 1917).

H.B. Parks was the instructor and superintendent
of mechanical work at the Sheldon
Jackson Indian School in Sitka from mid
1907-1911, contemporaneous with C. C.
Georgeson of the USDAAgriculture Experimental
Station. Parks, who was very interested
in beekeeping, later (1918) became the
apiarist for the division of entomology,
Texas Agricultural Experimental Station in
College Station and in 1923 moved to San
Antonio to establish the nearby Apicultural
Laboratory. He spent the rest of his life in
Texas involved with beekeeping and research
projects. There is no doubt he was
not just a layman writing about bees, but he
is also no stranger to ìhistorical controversyî.
I found a biographical sketch of
Parks on the Internet where he is credited
for having ìdiscoveredî a popular folk song
ìFollow the Drinking Gourdî. In a discussion
of the historical roots of the song and
Parksí credulity, researcher Joel Bresler
mentions ìA clever fabrication?î and ìhe
wouldnít be the first folklorist of the late 19th
and early 20th century to embellish an accountî
(Bresler 2008). Parks gives no references
for his information in his 1917
American Bee Journal article ìSome Bee
Historyî, allowing no further investigation.
Lee Watkins, writing in the April 1968
American Bee Journal, takes Pellett and
Parks both to task in an article ìThe Myth of
Russian Bees in Californiaî (Watkins
1968a). We must also consider the historical
setting of Russian America (as Alaska was
called at the time), New Archangel (present
day Sitka), the time and travel distances, the
rigors of colonial life, and the climate; none
of these factors are conducive to beekeeping.

Russian America was ìdiscoveredî (it
was there all along ñ Asiatic peoples had migrated
across from Asia thousands of years
before) by a Dane, Vitus Bering, under the
employ of the Russian Czar and a Russian,
Aleksei Chirikov (captains of separate
ships) in 1741. The present city of Sitka was
established in 1799 by Alexander Andreevitch
Barnof (also spelled Barnov), then
Chief Manager of the Russian America
Company (RAC). Barnof arrived under the
auspices of the Russian-American Company,
a ìsemi-officialî colonial trading company
chartered by the Tsar. In 1802 a group
of Tlingit (the local indigenous people) destroyed
the original establishment known as
Redoubt Saint Michael (an area today called
the ìOld Sitkaî) and killed most of the
Russian inhabitants. Barnof returned to
Sitka in 1804 with a large contingent of Russians
and Aleuts aboard three small but
armed RAC vessels and the Russian warship
Neva commanded by a Lieutenant Lisianski,
who was diverted from a Russian round-theworld
expedition. The ships bombarding the
Tlingit fort were not able to cause significant
damage to the earth works, but shells

lobed over the walls caused loss of life. The
Russians then launched an attack on the fort
and were repelled by Tlingit fighters and
marksmenóBaranof was slightly wounded.
However, the Tlingit gunpowder reserves
had been lost before the Russian assault and
the Tlingit were forced to leave the fort. Following
their victory at the Battle of Sitka
the Russians established a permanent settlement
in the form of a fort, named
Novoarkhangelsk (New Archangel).

There was significant animosity between
the locals and the colonialistsóthe Russians
spent lots of time huddled in their stockade,
food was short (starvation was common)
and supply ships seldom visited. It was also
a long way home to Mother Russia – two
Naval Lieutenants on an ìexpress missionî
from St. Petersburg to Okhost (a port on
East coast of Russia) spent from April to
August of 1802 just crossing Siberia
(Davidoff 1810).

Sitka is also notorious for its precipitation

ñ an average of 87 inches of rain and 40
inches of snow per year are recorded over
the last 30 years. The temperatures are mild,
with an average of 55∫F in July and just 34∫F
in January; not a climate conducive to beekeeping
as the average July temperature is
right near the threshold for bee foraging
flights.
C.C. Georgeson, after failing in his attempts
to keep bees in Sitka, wrote in his
1906 USDA Agriculture Experimental Station
Report ìBeekeeping cannot be made asuccess in Southeast Alaskaî (Georgeson
1906).
I find it difficult to believe that bees in
skeps could have been transported from
Kazan (west of the Ural Mountains in central
European Russia) to the east coast of
Russia, a distance of more than 6000 kms
(3600 miles) in the early 1800ís. Eva Crane
reports that bees were first brought to the
Khabarovsk (Primorye) region in 1887
(Crane 1999) and Dorothy Galton mentions
bees in the early 1800ís being introduced to
Tomsk in SW Siberia – still thousands of
miles from Russiaís Pacific Coast (Galton
1971). It does not seem logical that the Russians
would bypass the rich bee pastures of
the Primorye region in favor of rainy Sitka.
The Trans-Siberian Railroad was not completed
until 1913.

I could not corroborate Pellettís claim that
ìReferences to beekeeping at Sitka by Dr.
Sheldon Jackson are to be found in the Report
on Education in Alaska, Bureau of Educationî
after searching archives in Sitka
and historical collections at the University
of Alaska, Fairbanks. As H.B. Parks was Assistant
Superintendent of the Sitka Training
School from 1905 to 1911, concurrent with
the residency of C. C. Georgeson at the Ag
Research Station, and Sheldon Jackson left
Alaska in 1907 (he died in1909); the three
of them must have crossed paths in a small
town like Sitka. It is strange that Georgeson,
after his attempts at apiculture, would not
have mentioned other bees kept in Sitka ì(
As late as 1905 there were about 30
colonies at the Russian school at Sitka.

These bees were in straw skeps and were
kept on shelves under the eaves of the house.
In winter they were kept within the same
projecting eaves)î (Pellett 1920); or Parks
would have not given better references. In
addition to the accompanying photo of Father
Methodius with his bees in back of the
Russian Bishopís House, I have seen other
photographs and never seen ìprojecting
eavesî.

The claim by Parks and Pellett that honey
bees were brought by the Russians to California
in 1830 has been historically debunked
(Watkins 1968a) and from a
practical standpoint does not seem likely.
The coastal zone shelf where the Russian
settlement of Fort Ross was established is
currently described as ìnot suitable for honeybeesî,
however a species of bumblebee
(Bombus vosnesenskii) thrives in the area
(Fort Ross 1998); named after Russian naturalist
I. G. Vosnesenskii who, as a naturalist
and curator of the Zoological Museum of
Natural Sciences in St. Petersburg, was sent
to collect insects (Essig 1991).

Alexander Barnoff gave orders to Ivan
Alexsandrovich Kuskoff (commander at
Fort Ross from 1812-1821) in 1813 instructing,
ìÖit is also necessary to investigate
whether in the peninsula of the lesserBodega, in the valleys and in the fields there
are not those beneficial insects i.e. bees,
which produce honey and wax essential to
the prosperity and social life of mankindî
(MS 149-4-7, 1927). It seems as though the
Russians were hoping there might be honey
bees in the area ñ but none of the entomological
researchers/collectors mention them.

Other Russian authors, acting as agents
for the Russian America Company (RAC),

e.g. Ivan A. Kuskoff and Kiril Khlebnikov,
give extremely detailed lists and records of
RAC activities. Along with requests for
three nautical calendars and four-dozen pencils
I was able to find on the list of necessities
for 1820 ì25 pud of honey for
pharmacies and officials and 610 pud of
sugarî (1 pud = 36.11 pounds, so about 900
lbs of honey and a metric ton of sugar);
these were supplies brought from Russia to
New Archangel – Sitka (Khlebnikov 1994).
Khlebnikov, who even by todayís standards
could be considered a globe trotter,
made several trips back and forth across
Siberia spending an average of seven
months each way in transit. He recounts a
sea voyage departing Kronstad (near
Leningrad on the Gulf of Finland) on September
7, 1816 and arriving in Sitka November
20, 1817 via Cape Horn
(Khlebnikov 1990). A one-way voyage from
Sitka to Fort Ross averaged one month. To
transport ìa double walled skep and itís
horde of toilersî for seven months across
Siberia (winter or summer) or transport
them by sea for more than 15 months strains
the imagination; they werenít even on the
manifest!

Bees to Alaskaís Interior- 1913

Itís a chore researching microfiche
records ñ youíre dizzy from the microfiche

February 2010 173

strip flying by and itís easy to get distracted
by war stories as reported nearly 100 years
ago. I wouldnít have had the patience, so I
fudged a bit and asked local agricultural historian
Jo Papp about her sources for the first
bees in Fairbanks (Papp & Phillips 2007). A
few days later I was hunched over the microfiche
reader at the UAF Rasmussen Library
reading a short paragraph in the
August 27, 1913 Fairbanks Daily News
Miner.

ìVining Brings in Two Hives of Bees As
part of the cargo brought to Fairbanks
by the steamer Alaska which arrived in port
last night, were two hives of bees. The little
honey gathers were brought North by R.L.
Vining, being the first ever brought into theInterior. They are for Mrs. Ed Wickersham
and Mrs. Truxtonî (1913 News-Miner).

One would have to speculate that the bees
(Iím going to assume they were some sort
of nuc or even a full hive) would have had a
tough time arriving in August which is the
end of our honey season after a long voyage.
Their route is open to speculation – the news
item Öìbrought to Fairbanks by the
steamer Alaska which arrived in port last
nightî leads me to conclude they were
landed right here in Fairbanks; but the
ìsteamer Alaskaî was an ocean-going vessel
and could never make it up the YukonTanana-
Chena River route to Fairbanks.
They would have most probably been transferred
from an ocean going vessel at St.
Michaels (at the mouth of the Yukon River)
and then come by paddle-wheeled riverboat
from there; a voyage of perhaps six to eight
weeks from Seattle to Fairbanks. The most
probable answer, according to local historian
Dermot Cole, is that they arrived by a
riverboat also named the ìAlaskaî (Cole
2009).

Two years later (August 4, 1915) another
bee item appears in the News Miner that
demonstrates even then reporters got things
wrong! Here it is in full-

BUSY BEES ARE THRIVING HERE

Twenty-four Pounds of Honey are Taken
from One Hive of Bees

THEY WONíT SWARM

Movement Is Now On Foot to Ship Queen
Bees from Outside

That the raising of bees and the production
of honey may one day be a thriving industry
of the North has now been fullydemonstrated as it is now an assured fact
that the little sweet manufacturing insects
will withstand the rigors of this climate with
a little bit of care. There is only one hive of
bees here at the present time, but they have
demonstrated their ability to make enough
honey to live on with some to spare.

This hive of bees is down at the Arctic
Greenhouse. Twenty-four pounds of honey
were taken from the hive yesterday and are
now on sale at a local grocery store at $1
per pound.

These bees were shipped into the countrytwo years ago by Mrs. L. Truxton and Mrs.
Ed Wickersham. Those owned by Mrs. Wick

ersham failed to live through the winter, but
Mrs. Truxtonís hive lived very nicely off the
flowers in her greenhouse.

When Ms. Truxton went Outside last summer
she sold her bees to Charles Blaser of
the Arctic Green house. He made a place forthem at one end of his hot house and fixed
the hive so that they could go into the hot
house or out into the open air. Mr. Blaser did
not attempt to take any honey from them,
stating he did not know how to handle them.

Mr. Blaserís successor at the greenhouse,
Peter Mortenson, is well versed in the science
of handling bees. Accordingly, he made
preparation to extract the honey from the
hive and the operation was performed yesterday
with success.

While he was extracting the honey yesterday
Mr. Mortenson made a mental note ofthe fact that there are a large number of
young bees in the hive. They have never
swarmed which fact is believed to be due to
the shortness of the summer season.

Since it has been demonstrated that the
bees will not swarm in this climate, it has
been suggested that some of the ìhoneyî
enthusiasts send Outside for queen bees as
it is believed that if a queen bee could be introduced
into the hive, she would soon be
able to gather a crowd of followers together.
By careful handling she and her followers
could then be transferred to another hive
and so the propogation (sic) of the bees
would continue.

As you may realize, the reporter just
didnít quite grasp the concept of making a
split. As for swarms- we should be so lucky!
Our package bees seem to break the rule by
building up fast enough so that, if proper
space (at least two deep brood chambers) is
not maintained, they will swarm 6-8 weeks
after hiving.

The honey harvest and prices paid were
of interest to me; twenty-four pounds would
be a less-than-average year by current standards
here in Fairbanks (50-60 is the norm).
How to relate the $1 per pound price to
todayís value of the dollar? The price of

gold was $20 an ounce ñ now itís over
$1000; using that as a gauge then we should
be getting 1/20th the price of gold for a
pound of our honey; but even in Alaska people
would balk at $50/pound! To refine the
price I took a look at some of the ads on the
same page of the newspaper article.
Prospectors and miners were urged to ìGet
their waterproof wall tents, weight ten
pounds, get one now before they are all sold.
You might want it to go stampeding (the old
term for folks going out prospecting) or on
your hunting trip.î The price was $6.50. Or,
you could drop by the Shaw House Grill for
breakfast (50 cents), lunch (75 cents), or
dinner ($1.00) with your dance hall gal after
youíve bought her a dozen roses for $6.00.
Nowadays a gold miner breakfast runs about
$7-$9 and a meat & potatoes dinner at least
$25. Being either a beekeeper or a gold
miner in Fairbanks is a big gamble. I am further
impressed by the fact that both the hives
shipped to Fairbanks originally went to
women.

A short item in the Editorial section of
Gleanings in Bee Culture sent into the magazine
by a Mr. A. T. Cook mentions an article
in the New York World of October 20,
1913 confirming the shipment of two
colonies to the Fairbanks ladies ñ it also
mentions there were two Alaskan subscribers
to Gleanings in Bee Culture regularly
receiving copies (Root 1914).

To be continued next month (1920ís topresent day).

Acknowledgements

I am indebted primarily to Jo Papp whose
notation of early beekeeping in Fairbanks
(Papp 2007) inspired me to collect my notes
that had accumulated for over 20 years and
write; to the staff at the various Alaskan Historical
Archives locations, to my nephew,
Micah Todd, who personally accessed the
Hewitt Apicultural Collection at Yukon College
in Connecticut to make some copies for
me, and especially to Hal Livingston, a beekeeper
of some 50 years experience here in

A map of Alaska showing documented locations of honey bee in-
troductions (see text this month and next)

American Bee Journal

Fairbanks for great stories, access to past issues
of bee journals and for sharing some of
his personal archives. Thanks to Ashley
Kircher of the Sitka Historical Museum for
her efforts in tracking down historical photographs;
Deirdre Helfferich of the School
of Natural Resources and Sciences for the
photo of John Bohme; Rosemary Carleton
of the Sheldon Jackson Museum for information
on Rev. Sheldon Jackson; William
DeArmond of Sitka for accessing and transcribing
a bee news item from the Sitka
Alaskan and comments on my manuscript;
and to the very helpful Sandy Johnston and
the staff at the Alaska State Library Historical
Collections department.

Photo Credits (Part 1 of 2)

(1) ìRussian Priest with beehives at Sitkaî,
Photo courtesy of Alaska State Library-Historical
Collections, Sheldon Jackson College,
Merrill Photograph Collection, SJC
29-861
References (Part 1 of 2)

Alberts, H.W.; (1930) Beekeeping in
Alaska. Gleanings in Bee Culture 58(12):
pp. 759-760.

Bancroft, H.H.; (1886), History of Alaska
1730 – 1885, A.L. Bancroft & Company
Publishers, San Francisco.

Bresler, J.; (2008), Biographical Sketch of

H.B. Parks (1879-1958), appendix on
website for ìFollow the Drinking Gourd:
a Cultural Historyî, http://www.follow
the drinkinggourd.org/, accessed 10/25/2009
Cole, Dermott; (2009); personal conversation
Oct 7, 2009 with author.

Crane, Eva; (1999), The World History of
Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, Gerald
Duckworth & Co. Ltd., London.

Davidova, (1810); Dvukratnoe Puteshestvie
v Ameriku Morskikh Offitzerov Khvostova
i Davidova (Two Voyages to America by
the Naval Officers Khvostof and
Davidof), 2 volumes, 1810 & 1812, Naval
Printing Office, St. Petersburg (cited in
Bancroft 1886).

DeArmond, Wm. (2009a), APICULTURE,
A Practical Demonstration of that Industry
at Sitka, transcribed from microfiche
Oct 30, 2009 from the periodical Sitka
Alaskan, September 15, 1900.

DeArmond, Wm. (2009b), personal communication
with the author.
Essig, E. O. (1931); A History of Entomology,
New York, McMillan 1931, pp 266

267. Albert R. Mann Library 2008 Core
Historical Literature of Agriculture
(CHLA). Ithaca NY: Albert R. Mann Library,
Cornell University http://chla.
library.cornell.edu
Essig, E.O. (1991); Fort Ross: California
Out post of Russian Alaska, 1812-1841,
Limestone Press, Fairbanks, Alaska

Fairbanks Daily News Miner, August 27th,
1913; Vining Brings in Two Hives of Bees.
Fairbanks Daily News Miner, August 4th,
1915; Busy Bees are Thriving Here.

Ferguson, Judy; (2002) Parallel Destinies,
an Alaskan Odyssey, Glas Publishing
Company, Big Delta, Alaska.

Fort Ross, (1998); Jenner, Calif.: Fort Ross
Interpretive Association, 1998.

Galton, Dorothy; (1971), A Survey of a
Thousand Years of Beekeeping in Russia,
International Bee Research Association,
England.

Georgeson, C. C.; (1906), USDA Annual
report of Alaska Agriculture Experimental
Stations for 1906, pp. 14-15. Accessed
at University of Alaska Rasmuson Library,
(Government Publications), Fairbanks,
AK.

Khlebnikov, Kiril, (1990); The Khlebnikov
Archive: unpublished journal (18001837)
and travel notes (1820, 1822, and
1824), University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks,
Alaska, (historical reprint and
translation).

Khlebnikov, Kiril, (1994); Notes on Russian
America, Part 1 Novo-Arkhangelísk,
Limestone Press, Fairbanks, Alaska (historical
reprint and translation).

Methodius, Father, (1900) Appendix I in
Annual Reports of the US Department of
the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended June
30, 1900, Miscellaneous Reports Part II,
Governors of Territories, Etc, Washington:
Government Printing Office 1900.

MS 149-4-3, MS 149-4-6 & 149-4-7 (1927)
Folder 4; Correspondence between E.O.
Essig, Professor of Entomology, Berkeley,
CA, and A.P. Kashevaroff of the Territorial
Library and Museum 1927-29, &
1933; beekeeping in Alaska, history of
Fort Ross, CA, and other Russian settlements.
Alaska State Library Historical
Collections. Accessed through phone
calls and via the Internet at http://www.
library.state.ak.us/hist/hist_docs/find
ing_aids/MS149.doc.

Papp, Josephine & Phillips, Josie; (2007),
Like a Tree to the Soil, A History of Farming
in Alaskaís Tanana Valley, 1903 to
1940. Alaska Agricultural and Forestry
Experiment Station, School of Natural
Resources and Agricultural Sciences,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Parks, H.B. (1917); Some Bee History,
American Bee Journal, 57(6): pp. 201202,
June 1917.

Pellett, Frank, C. (1920); American Honey
Plants, Dadant & Sons, Inc. 5th Edition,
Hamilton, Illinois ©1976.

Thorsen, Sue, (2009); personal correspondence
between author and National Park
Service, Sitka, Alaska.

Root, E. R. (Editor) 1914, Beekeeping in
Alaska, Gleanings in Bee Culture Volume
42 (9) pp. masthead.

Watkins, L.H.; (1968a), The Myth of the
Russian Bees in California, American
Bee Journal, Vol. 108(4), April 1968,
pp.145-146

Watkins, L.H.; (1968b), Some Commentís
on Pellettís History, American Bee Journal,
Vol. 108(9), September 1968, pp.
362-363.

West, S. S. (1947); Beekeeping in Alaska,
Farthest North Collegian, August 1, 1947,
pp. 4 & 6. Accessed at University of
Alaska Rasmuson Library, Fairbanks,
Alaska.

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