408 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



i liavo ever Lean consisteut in my advocacy of no fishing in tlie Karluk River, and 

 in 181^8 I started out to stop it. 



One of my rivals, Mr. , came to me lately and said, ''You're a fool not to enter 



into some ayreemont with ns; bring- — ■ in along with yon. Discard all those 



expenses, boats and steamers, and save coal. It's money we'i'c after in this Territory. 

 We do not come np here to this God-forsaken place for fun. Form one grand big 

 fishing ])ool, even though you do not wish to can together, and work as I do for my 

 company at Chignik." I said, " How do yon do it at Cliignik? What economical 

 device have you got down there?" He replied, " I've got a fence in the river; I've 

 got a pound net on this side, and a pound net on tliat side, and one day I use one, and 

 one day I use the other. It iishes day and night, and it is the slickest thing you ever 

 saw, and it's a dead oiien and shut game. All I say is, ' Jimmie, go up to the trai> and 

 bring me down 15,(00 fish;' all they've got to do is to take a gang of men on the 

 lighter and she comes down with the next tide with 15,000. The next day I say, 

 ' Well, boys, go np and bring me down 18,000 fish,' and they go and get them out of 

 the other trap, for while they are working one side the other side is fishing." I 

 said, "Why, Billy, that is against the law of 1889." " I know that," he replied,^" but 

 we are not up here for our health." I continued, " Then I am to infer from this con- 

 versation that you would have me enter a pool along with you and , decide on 



the number of fish to be taken, divide the catch pro rata, lessen our expenses, hire 

 fewer men, use less seine, fewer boats, and double our profits by simply building a 

 wire fence across the river? " " That's the whole thing," said he, " in a nutshell." 



The story told by my friend from Karluk is only a repetition of sev- 

 eral others, to the same effect, told by tlie leading citizens of every set- 

 tlement where we called, and so well did all of thom agree in the main, 

 I have no doubt whatever of their absolute truth. 



Were it necessary 1 could mention the names of all who furnished 

 the information, but for obvious reasons 1 will only mention the names 

 of men who are in the service of the Government. 



While we were at Sitka Captain liurwell, commanding the U. S. gun- 

 boat Finta, called on Mr. Hamlin, and during the conversation said: 



It is a common occurrence when attempting to ascend a river or stream in a steam 

 launch to find traps, dams, and wire screens obstructing them in many places to the 

 utter destruction of the salmon. 



I should have been happy to destroy them if I only had orders from anyone in 

 authority to do so, but no one ever asked me to meddle with them in any manner. 



Speaking of the illicit distilleries and liquor smuggling iu Alaska, 

 and of the impossibility to find a jury to convict for such crimes, a 

 prominent official of Sitka said : 



The same thing is true of the fisheries law, the land law, or any other law that 

 •would control white men ; a jury of white men can not be found here who will convict 

 a criminal of that class. 



Traps are set, streams are dammed, salmon are prevented from ascending the rivers 

 to the spawning grounds, and are destroyed by men who have no interest whatever 

 iu the development of the Territory, and yet is impossible to find a jury to convict 

 the guilty ones, for the salmon men will stand by the liquor men, and the liquor men will 

 stand by the salmon men. 



I could fill a volume with testimony like this; testimony given vol- 

 untarily by disinterested men and reputable citizens; but enough has 

 been said, I think, to show the necessity of the Government taking steps 

 to control the streams and save the salmon from extinction. 



During our stay at Karluk we landed and visited the establishments 

 of the Alaska Packers' Association and also that of the Alaska Improve- 

 ment Company, Owing to bad weather we were unable to reach the 

 R. D. Hume Cannery. 



We conversed with all sorts of men, from the superintendents dowu 

 to the native Kadiak fishermen, and they were all agreed that sal- 

 mon were decreasing in the Karluk Eiver, and that unless the United 

 States Government interfered to prevent it they would continue to 

 decrease. 



Some of the men went so far as to say that in order to keep up the 



