448 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



(5) Let every informer against offenders in liquor cases (if his evidence leads to a 

 conviction) be rewarded by receiving a part of the fine imposed on the offender. 



(6) Let every commissioner in Alaska be instructed to swear in a goodly numl)er 

 of special police, without salary, especially among the natives, and let these be 

 encouraged to assist in carrying out this law. 



Question 5. " Should absolute title to land in Alaska be given to cannery corpo- 

 rations?" 



Our answer to this is, we think that title to the land on which they have placed 

 canneries should be given, but not to lands used only as fishing stations. 



Question 6. "As to the granting of titles to land to whites in general." 



We think that just so long as the Government refuses to give titles to land in 

 Alaska the country will be overrun with an irresponsible floating population. 

 Owing to the characteristics of the country this will be true, to a large extent, in 

 any event; but the ownership of property would have a tendency to locate some 

 permanent residents. 



Question 7. "Should the exportation of lumber from Alaska be allowed?" 



We think that until the country is more settled up the law forbidding the expor- 

 tation of lumber, which now exists, should remain in force. 



Question 8. "Indian citizenship." 



We think that question had better be delayed. No doubt there are some natives 

 ripe for the position, but the mass are not so. Let the missionary and school teacher 

 continue their work till the goal be reached. 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



W. Duncan. 



Hon. Joseph Murray, 



Fort Collins, Colo. 



I respectfully ask particular attention of the Department to this letter 

 of Mr. Duncan, for I believe that the adoption of many of his sugges- 

 tions would be a full and satisfactory solution of the many knotty prob- 

 lems at present perplexing all who feel a worthy and laudable interest 

 in the present good and future welfare of Alaska. 



Another and an entirely different phase of the salmon question was 

 brought to my attention by Mr. John 0. Callbreath, of Fort Wrangell, 

 who has been endeavoring, single-handed, to introduce and propagate 

 salmon in streams where they did not exist, or from which they had 

 been driven before. I promised him in the spring that I would visit his 

 hatchery in the fail during my stay in the vicinity, but I did not get an 

 opportunity to return that way. 



The following letter was written afterwards by Mr. Callbreath and 

 deserves careful consideration. Particular attention is called to that 

 portion of it treating of special "property rights to the producer for all 

 fish in excess of the natural product of the stream." 



What Mr. Callbreath wants is assurance that after he has success- 

 fully stocked a stream with salmon, where none or but very few existed 

 before, he will be given rights in the fish as against all other claimants 

 who mi gilt desire to establish canneries on the stream. But here is his 



letter to speak for itself: 



Seattle, Wash., December 10, 1895. 



Dear Sir: I regret my inability to have forwarded you an account of salmon 

 hatchery at an earlier day. Business in the interior, from which point there was no 

 means of communication, detained me until late in the fall. I have, however, a trusted 

 superintendent trained under my own care, who has made a complete success up to 

 November 1. I shall return soon and give the business my personal attention until 

 the young fry are out and placed in their respective preserves. 



My process of hatching is the same as that followed by the Government hatcheries 

 at Clackamas, in the State of Oregon, and need not be described here. 



My hatchery is situated on the western side of Etholine Island, on a lake discharg- 

 ing through a small stream, a mere brook, into McHenry Inlet — and producing from 

 3,000 to 5,000 sukkesh (Oncorhynchus nerka) salmon, an amount too insignificant to 

 be fished by the canuers or salters — and known among the Indians and fishermen as 

 a " cuttus chuck," or worthless stream. The lake on which my hatchery is located is 

 about three-fourths of a mile from tide water and contains about 500 acres. 



I have built a dam-8 feet high across the creek a few yards above tide water, over 

 which no fish unaided can pass. When the sukkesh start to ascend the stream for 



