Indian River Park, although more than a
century has since elapsed.

Then began the restoration of the post,
on the present site of Sitka, and with energy
and despatch the building of a new Russian
settlement proceeded. Around the kekoor
the native houses were removed, and along
with them more than a hundred burial houses
with the ashes of the bodies which had been
burned. The great tribal houses, or barabaras,
as they are called in the Russian accounts,
were spacious, some measuring 50 feet in
width and 80 feet in length.[25-1] In their place
rose the town of New Archangel (Novo
Arkangelsk) and on the kekoor was built a
redoubt. This was the official name and
generally recognized by the Russians, but the
name Sitka was early used by them. Baranof
frequently used the term Sitka in his letters,
and in the letter of the Minister of Finance
to the Minister of Marine, from St. Peters-
burg, April 9, 1820, Sitka is used in several
places. The name Sitka, or Sheetkah, in the
Thlingit language, means, in this place, that
this is the place, or the best place, implying
superiority over all other places.

[25-1] In Wrangell, and at a few other places in Alaska may yet be
seen some of these old tribal houses, built as in primitive days in
most ways. The beams and planks were fashioned with an adze, and
the evenness of the workmanship in hewing them is marvelous.

[[25]]