406 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



limit beyond which it is not safe to go, and tliat if we would reap an 

 annual golden harvest we must also guard the source of supply, and see 

 that nothing is done to either fish or stream that will changes the nat- 

 ural order under which the fish have grown to such numbers and by 

 which they may be perpetuated without abatement forever. Unfortu- 

 nately, the conditions existing at Karluk are not for the best interests 

 of the salmon industry, its growth or i)erpetuation ; and unless the 

 United States Government asserts its full rights in the premises by 

 enacting and rigidly enforcing laws for the adequate protection of the 

 salmon of Alaska, they, like the sea otter and fnr seal, will soon be things 

 of the past. 



Paradoxical though it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that none 

 are more anxious to save and perpetuate the salmon than the canners 

 themselves, and yet their methods are such as, if continued, will very 

 soon destroy them. 



Let it be borne in mind that all the canning factories in Alaska are 

 owned by three or four corporations in San Francisco, who have mil- 

 lions invested in the salmon-canning industry, but who have no inter- 

 est in the development of Alaska, and who, as a matter of fact, do not 

 add one dollar to the wealth of the young Territory from which they 

 take millions of dollars annually. 



These corporations are rivals in the salmon-canning business, and 

 their rivalry is carried to such extremes betimes that bloodshed at any 

 moment will not surprise those who know the real conditions existing 

 there. 



!Now, this bitter rivalry of great and rich corf)orations, if allowed to 

 continue, will eventually destroy the salmon, for, rather than allow A 

 to make a good haul of tish, B will dam the stream and prevent the 

 ascent of the salmon, or C will destroy the tish already on the spawn- 

 ing grounds and thus destroy the crop which would otherwise appear 

 off the mouth of the stream four years hence; or A and B will join 

 forces against C and actually destroy his nets and by force prevent 

 his iishing. 



We had barely cast anchor at Karluk before we were approached by 

 the superintendent of one of the great canneries with a long list of 

 wrongs perjietrated on his company during the peaceful and legitimate 

 pursuit of their business.' 



Landing, afterwards, we were met by a crowd of native fishermen 

 who had complaints to make to the Government about the way they 

 are treated by the Avhites, who take up all the streams and forbid the 

 natives to fish there any more. 



After the Indians came the superintendent of aupther of the canning 

 establishments with a complaint that his rival over the river had broken 

 the agreement mutually made by them some time before, by which a 

 "close time" of twenty-four hours per week sliould be observed for the 

 purpose of allowing the salmon to enter the stream and ascend to the 

 spawning grounds for the purpose of reproduction. 



This agreement was observed for awhile until a scarcity of fish in the 

 bay threatened a short output of canned goods, and then orders were 

 issued to not only ignore the ''close time" in future, but to go into the 

 river and take out all the fish that had reached the spawning beds, which 

 was done at once, and some 225,000 salmon Avere captured and canned, 

 and not a fish of that run was left to reproduce the species. 



When the representatives of these great corporations tell us of the 



1 See affidavit in Appendix. 



