Please read my post again where I speak of "Russian America". This is/was basically Alaska. This is fur trade history, 99% of which I will not go into. But it is a fascinating history.
In the 19th century there were still posts and settlements there, but the whole infrastructure was on its last legs by the mid 1800's. I think this picture was shot as representing this area and endeavor, maybe as a kind of homage to it . The posters who brought attention to the Eastern European flavor of the clothing were spot on. The men look like promyshlenniki, the independent hunters and fur traders. They were the men who ventured deep into the interior to get the furs, sometimes by their own efforts, sometimes by stealing them from indigenous people.
Also, I tried to bring attention to the animals (pelts, as someone correctly pointed out) because they looked like those that were trade items. True, there aren't any sea otters, but perhaps one of them is a sable.(these were the top 2 furs as trade items)It's very hard to make out various animals in the photograph. But I think thee was a market for marmots, martens, fox and the like as well. Or maybe those pelts were just what the photographer had on hand!
Humpty-Dumpty, you might be the guy who can straighten all this out. I see you live in Russia, but I don't know if you are native Russian or of some other ethnicity. I've only got my grandmother's Russian blood, the rest is Polish, but then again, at one time just about all Slavic people were living in what was called Poland, so who can possibly break down which part is which.
