FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1907. 



35 



the other grades but few remained in the hands of the canners at the 

 end of the year, and these will undoubtedly be sold long before the 

 season of 1908 opens. 



The pack of red salmon this year was the smallest for several years, 

 but the pack of humpbacks increased very materially. The con- 

 sumption of the latter lias increased enormously in recent years. 

 For a time the pack was nearly all sold in this country, but the 

 export demand is rapidly increasing, and it is very probable that 

 humpback salmon will soon become an important feature in the 

 market. 



Employees. — The fishermen engaged this year numbered 3,325, of 

 whom more than two-thirds were white. The cannery employees 

 numbered 6,809, among whom the Chinese were the most numerous, 

 followed by the Japanese, whites, and Indians in the order named. 

 The transporters numbered 515, of whom 482 were whites and 33 

 Indians. In all, 10,649 persons (4,110 whites, 2,466 Indians, 1,863 

 Japanese, and 2,205 Chinese) were employed in the salmon-canning 

 industry. 



Employees in the Salmon-Canning Industry in 1907. 



Investment. — There were 120 steamers and launches and 36 sailing 

 vessels engaged in transporting. Of these, one power vessel, the 

 gasoline schooner Rita Newman, was wrecked on Simeonof Island 

 May 25 ; the sailing ship John Currier was wrecked at Nelson Lagoon, 

 in Bering Sea, on August 9, and the sailing ship Servia, while at Kar- 

 luk, broke loose from her moorings and was driven ashore and totally 

 wrecked on November 6. Most of tlie sailing vessels are utilized in 

 western Alaska for the purpose of bringing up the outfit and em- 

 ployees in the spring and carrying home the employees and pack 

 after the season closes, as no established steamship lines plying to 



