FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1907. 55 



FERTILIZER AND OIL. 



The objection to the use of herring, salmon, and other food fishes 

 for fertilizer and oil, which was treated in detail in last 3^ear's report, 

 is still urged by many of the residents. As in 1906, there is but one 

 fertilizer plant — that of the Alaska Oil and Guano Company, at Kil- 

 lisnoo — engaged in the industry to any extent, and it is to the opera- 

 tions of tliis company that most of the objection is made. In 1906 

 this establishment handled 33,500 barrels of herring and 18,000 bar- 

 rels of salmon (principally dog and humpback salmon), while in 1907 

 there were utilized but 24,800 barrels of herring and 4,900 barrels of 

 salmon, a very considerable decrease. A very small part of these 

 were salted for food. Two steamers were used in fishing in 1906, 

 while but one was so employed in 1907. The fertilizer prepared this 

 year at Killisnoo amounted to 502 tons from herring, valued at 

 $17,020, and 88 tons from salmon, valued at $2,980; while the oil 

 extracted amounted to 80,877 gallons from herring, valued at $16,175, 

 and 14,123 gallons from salmon, valued at $2.,825. 



Late in 1906 a small fertilizer plant was established by the Hume 

 Fertilizer Company, at Scow Bay, on Wrangell Narrows, for the pur- 

 pose of utilizing herring. The plant was very crude, however, and for 

 fertilizer operations was soon abandoned. Its output amounted to 

 5 tons of fertilizer and about 805 gallons of oil. 



The fertilizer plant installed in the barge Enoch Talbot at Pleasant 

 Bay, in 1905, was removed from the vessel in 1906 and installed ashore, 

 but it has never been operated, nor has the small plant installed in 

 connection with the Tonka cannery. 



A small quantity of oil from shark livers was prepared in central 

 Alaska. 



AQUATIC FURS. 



BEAVER. 



The production of beaver is steadily declining. At one time the 

 animals were quite plentiful on the Alaska Peninsula, but in the last 

 few years have become practically extinct in tliis section. The 

 greater part of the present supply comes from the Yukon River and 

 its tributaries. A few are secured from the Kenai Peninsula. In 1905 

 the catch amounted to 1,935 sldns, valued at $8,271; in 1906 to 1,536 

 skins, valued at $8,620, while in 1907 it had decreased to 1,159 skins, 

 valued at $6,154. In 1907 22 pounds of beaver castors, valued at $33, 

 were also secured. 



MUSKRAT. 



Most of the muskrat skins obtained by the trappers are used by the 

 traders in barter with the natives for more valuable furs, hence but 

 few are exported, and as the last are the ones of which an accurate 



