166 ALASKA. 



business — that of canning the fish— is being engaged in exten- 

 sively on the Columbia Eiver ; and, it would seem, with a fair 

 profit, capital might be advantageously employed in the prose- 

 cution of salmon-canning at the months of all the principal 

 streams in this country, as there is enough of the raw material 

 to employ a large number of men several months in the year in 

 its preservation and profitable disposition ; and I see no reason 

 why this industry should not become one of great importance 

 in the Territory. 



The demand for canned salmon will grow in proportion as it 

 becomes known, for it is a superior article of food, either plain 

 as it comes in»the can, or pickled quickly after opening. 



2. Cod. — This fish is the most widely distributed of any belong- 

 ing to the waters of Alaska or the ]^sorth Pacific and Bering Sea. 

 It will be found on soundings, wherever a hook may be dropped 

 in Bering Sea, south of the latitude of Saint Lawrence Island, 

 all around the Aleutian Islands, the Alaskan Peninsular, Ko- 

 diak, and becomes scarce and fails to the eastward as far as 

 Kenai and Copper Eiver, and then from Sitka and Prince of 

 Wales Island to Fort Simpson, where it is only caught for a few 

 weeks in the year, when runniug in schools, passing usually up 

 toward the north. 



The immense area frequented by this fish will be at once 

 appreciated by glancing at the map and noting the soundings, 

 which show that nearly the whole of Bering Sea bounded or 

 staked out by our islands is a single great bank, aud that 

 large areas south of the Aleutian Islands, the Peninsular, aud 

 Kodiak, are shoaled off in a similar manner. ^Nevertheless, the 

 catch and quality of Alaskan cod is much inferior to our east- 

 ern fisheries. 



There is cod enough, however, of fair quality, to supply the 

 immediate home-consumption of a large population, should 

 there ever be such in the history of the Territory, but the fish- 

 ing-grounds are not valuable enough to induce capitalists to 

 engage in taking and curing fish for exportation. This matter 

 has been honestly tested by experienced fishermen, who have 

 been trained on the eastern banks, and is therefore beyond 

 doubt. At present, however, in securing the small supply re- 

 quired by local demand, the characteristic impatience of the 

 people of this coast is strikingly shown; for, even could they 

 sell their fish caught in the north at as good a rate as that of 

 the imported stock, they, as a class, would be dissatisfied with 

 the small profits. 



