92 



FISHIXG-GEOU>fDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



seventy-fivo feet loug ; tbe weirs or hearts are fifteen feet square, and are made of stakes and 

 brush; they are kept down four mouths, beginning in June; "king" (0. chouiclia), "silver" 

 (0. Idsutch), and "red salmon" (0. ncrVa) are taken in them. Captain Bowen says he is putting 

 up the "king salmon" in full barrels with Liverpool salt. The first lot sent down brought ten 

 dollars per barrel; the second lot, seveu dollars. The Hcsh is very red when they first come; 

 after they have been some time in the river the skin becomes red and the flesh light-colored. 

 The "redfiah" or "red salmon" sell for seven dollars in two half barrels or six dollars in full 

 barrels. The " silver salmon " accompanies the red, is larger and every way superior, but is not 

 nearly so plentiful. Captain Bowen put up fifty barrels of them last fall (1879) and says he could 

 easily salt eight hundred barrels. These fish are sent to San Francisco by two schooners in August 

 and October. Captain Bowen salts salmon bellies, also, in small packages. Bellies are worth 

 twelve dollars by the barrel. Barrels, half-bai-rels, quarters, and kits are sent in shooks from San 

 Francisco. They are made of Portland spruce. The half-barrel complete costs one dollar and 

 seven cents, the barrel one dollar and thirty nine cents for the stock alone. Barrel hoops cost 

 twenty-four dollars per thousand. 



Products of the Kassilov Salmon fishery, 1880. 



KENAI SALMON FISHERY. 



The Alaska Commercial Company has established on Kenai River a fishery, which is 

 managed by Capt. James AViLsou, one of the company's traders. For tbe information concerning 

 this fishery I am indebted to Jlr. B. G. Mclutyre, an agent of tbe Alaska Commercial Company. 

 Salmon were first salted by this company in 1878, and bellies were first salted by them in 

 1879. The "Saint George," a trading schooner of one hundred and twenty tons, takes the barrels 

 of salmon only incidentally, her regular business being that of a trader. Salmon in Cook's 

 Inlet are very uncertain — some years the natives cannot get enough for their own use, and other 

 years they are very abundant; this does not seem to depend on the severity of the winters. 

 "King salmon" are taken in gill-nets, dip-nets, and weirs. Two weirs, similar to those in use 

 at Kassilov, are in operation here. "Red salmon" are taken successfully only in seines. Tbe 

 iiati\os here receive ten cents apiece for salmon. Only the bellies are salted; they are generally 

 worth twelve dollars per barrel, sometimes fourteen dollars. At Kenai sixty pounds of salt 

 are used to a barrel of fish. The fish are washed in pure spring water after they have been 

 dressed, and then they are " struck" in the barrels in brine made of the same water. When the 

 barrels are filled up after heading the brine added is made of spring water, but it must be 

 brought to the boiling point and then put in after cooling. The brine does not seem to get strong 

 enough unless it is boiled. The usual jdan is to strike the fish and then repack, which takes 

 eighty to cue hundred pounds of s.alt. To put up a barrel of salt "king salmon" costs about 

 three dollars and fifty cents at Kenai; one dollar for the fish, one dollar and seventy-five cents 

 for the barrel and cooperage, forty cents for the salt, and thirty-five cents for the labor. The 

 "red salmon" will not cost much less. Captain Wilson told Mr. Mclntyre that in eleven years 

 lie lias not seen a "king salmon" that weighed over one hundred i)i)unds. The Alaska 

 Commercial Coniiiany sells its salmon wlit'rcvor a marker offers. The amount suited in 1880 



