ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 405 



■wliere tliey remaiii until maturity, after uhicli tlicy return to their 

 native stream and dept>sit their ejii;s. 



Karluk liiver, on Kadiak Island, is about 20 miles long, and flows 

 between high hills and over many falls or rapids from the time it leaves 

 the lakes above, at times widening- out to a breadth of several hundred 

 feet and again narrowing- down to less than 100 feet at its mouth. 



Notwithstanding its diminutive size, however, there are six canning 

 plants erected there, which in the aggregate represent an outlay of 

 $500,000, and in four of which was canned during the season of 1894 

 230.000 cases of 48 pounds per case, or 11,040,000 pounds of lish, or in 

 round numbers about 3,2'i0,000 salmon. 



Appended will be found Exhibit A, in which is given the number of 

 cases of salmon packed in Alaska from 1889 to 1803, both inclusive, each 

 case containing 48 cans of 1 pound each. 



Exhibits B and C give an itemized statement of the work done at the 

 canneries in 1803 and 1894, the name and location of each cannery, 

 the number of men employed by each (white, Indian, and Chinese), the 

 apparatus used in lishing, the number of salmon taken and canned, the 

 number salted and barreled, number of steamers, lighters, and boats 

 used, the necessary sea-going vessels and their tonnage, and the value 

 of each plant. 



Exhibits B and contain the names of the canneries which were run- 

 ning in 1893-94 only. Exhibit I) gives the name of every known can- 

 ning plant and saltery in Alaska — 27 canneries, 14 salteries, and 1 

 herring fishery. 



Exhibit E shows the distances a vessel would have to sail from Cape 

 Fox, in southeastern Alaska, to Nushigak, Bering Sea, it she called at 

 all the canneries en route, a total distance of nearly 5,000 miles. 



Exhibit E shows the amoniit of tin consumed in the canneries in 1894, 

 and also its price and the amount of import duty paid to the Government. 



It is not claimed at all that any of the exhibits are absolutely fnll and 

 comi)lete; on the contrary, I found it very difficult to find the offices or 

 headquarters of many of the canneries, and, when found, it was impos- 

 sible to get my questions answered by many of them. 



For most of the information received I am indebted to the Alaska 

 Packers' Association, the E. I). Hume Canning Comjjany, and to Mr. 

 Barling, of the Alaska Improvement Comininy, all of San Francisco. 



A comparison of the annual output from 1889 to 1894 shows that in 

 1891 the salmon-packing industry of Alaska reached its highest point, 

 with an output of 807,999 cases of 48 pounds each, or in round numbers 

 about 20,000 tons of fish. 



The output fell ofC about one-half in 1892, since which time a gradual 

 increase is perceptible, until in 1894 we have an out()ut of 009,041 cases 

 of 48 pounds each. 



From the best information obtained in Alaska — and an earnest effort 

 was made to gather it impartially — the salmon-packing industry within 

 the section embraced between Cape Fox and the Nushigak liiver has 

 attained the limit beyond which it is dangerous to pass; and that, if 

 we would perpetuate the salmon industry and keep it up to its present 

 grand proportions, measures of protection must be taken by which the 

 streams and spawning grounds shall be kept open and undisturbed at 

 all times, so that the fish may freely ascend and deposit their eggs in 

 season. 



With good care and a due regard for'the future of the salmon indus- 

 try, millions of fish maybe taken from the Karluk Biver annually for all 

 time without injury; but it should never be forgotten that there is a 



