River in table 2, a considerable chum produc- 

 tion is indicated by the number utilized at 

 Chevak (table 3), which is located on this 

 stream. Reliable information on the streams 

 was very limited, and many could not be rated 

 for presence of salmon. 



Raleigh rated only two of the seven villages 

 as medium or high in dependency upon salmon 

 (table 3). The two villages, Kipnuk and 

 Chefornak, take most of the salmon for their 

 use from the Kuskokwim River. Note that these 

 villages are listed twice in table 3 since they 

 derive a considerable amount of salmon from 

 the Kuskokwim River. The estimated annual 

 chum salmon catch for the region was approxi- 

 mately 47,500. 



YUKON RIVER 



The Yukon River district is the most im- 

 portant economically for chum salmon of the 

 areas under investigation. The Yukon is one 

 of the largest rivers on the North American 

 continent and has a drainage area of approxi- 

 mately 330,000 square miles. The sources of 

 the system lie in a series of lakes located in 

 southwestern Yukon Territory and northwest- 

 ern British Columbia in Canada. The river 

 flows in a northwesterly direction from these 

 lakes to Fort Yukon in Alaska and then in a 

 generally southwesterly direction to its mouth, 

 which is on the Bering Sea south of Norton 

 Sound (fig. 1). 



In this river system are found all five North 

 American species of Pacific salmon. Chum 

 salmon are the most abundant, followed by 

 king and coho. Sockeye and pink (Oncorhynchus 

 gorbuschaj salmon are limited in numbers and 

 are found only in the lower reaches of the 

 river. A limited commercial fishery is allowed 

 principally on king salmon, but all species 

 are used in an extensive subsistence fishery. 



The native subsistence fishery extends from 

 the mouth of the Yukon River well up into the 

 Yukon Territory of Canada. Chum salmon are 

 known to ascend the main river as far as the 

 mouth of the Teslin River and then up this 

 tributary to Teslin Crossing (fig. 1). 



Chum salmon are extensively utilized for 

 dog food, perhaps even more than for human 



consumption. The term "dog salmon" may 

 include coho and sockeye salmon, as any 

 salmon (except king and pink) fed to dogs is 

 called by this term. 



First commercial utilization of salmon of 

 the Yukon River was reported in 1918 by 

 Bower (1919) as follows: "The development 

 of the Yukon salmon fisheries bagan in 1918 

 with the establishment of a floating cannery at 

 Andreafski. The season's operations resulted 

 in a pack of 13,463 cases of salmon, divided 

 as follows: Cohos 2,661, chums 6,471, hump- 

 backs [pinkl 107, and kings 4,224 cases. In 

 addition to this, 10,400 pounds of cohos and 

 chums were dry-salted. The total catch of 

 salmon for the cannery was 115,531, of which 

 26,144 were cohos, 73,921 chums, 3, 227 hump- 

 backs, and 12,239 kings. Fishing was carried 

 on from the mouth of the Yukon to a point 

 above the junction of Clear River, chiefly in 

 that part of the Yukon delta known as Kwikluak 

 Pass. The fishing seasons were as follows: 

 Kings, June 26 to August 17; chums, June 28 

 to September 8; humpbacks, July 7 to July 29; 

 and cohos, August 3 to September 8." The 

 Carlisle Packing Co. of Seattle conducted 

 these operations. 



In 1919 and 1920 the same company operated 

 a cannery in the Kwiguk Slough. The 1919 op- 

 erations were quite successful, 101,107 king 

 and 357,081 salmon of smaller species, mainly 

 chum, being processed. However, this was 

 a year in which the salmon runs were well 

 below normal, and fishing conditions, except 

 near the mouth of the river, were extremely 

 poor. As a result, the native subsistence 

 fisheries suffered severely from lack of ade- 

 quate supplies of salmon. Gilbert and O'Malley 

 (1921) reported the following: "In 1919 the 

 company reported capture of 101,107 king sal- 

 mon and 357,081 small salmon, largely chums. 

 If these had been captured upriver and dried, 

 the king salmon would then have averaged 

 about five pounds each and the chums 1 1/4 to 

 11/3 pounds. Adopting the lower figure, the 

 cannery pack, dried, would have amounted to 

 252 tons of king salmon and 223 tons of the 

 smaller varieties, or 475 tons altogether. 

 This is held to be more than twice any possible 

 estimate of the amount of dried salmon actually 

 put up during that season on the entire river." 



15 



