34 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1918. 
noted that nets were not maintained in one position throughout the season; on the 
contrary there was a constant shifting of gear corresponding with the increase or 
decrease in the run of salmon at any given point. Fishermen who were fortunate in 
securing good locations near the outlets of the streams held those positions practically 
to the end of theseason. Softuk Bar, which was reported as the scene of rather inten- 
sive fishing in 1917, figured but slightly in the operations of 1918. 
During the first half of June ice interfered with fishing in the sloughs. Some ob- 
servers thought this condition favored a larger escapement of salmon than would have 
been the case otherwise. Not all experienced fishermen accept this view as being 
correct for some maintain that a backward season invariably delays the movement of 
salmon into the streams. My conclusions are in accord with this view. Further 
proof of the correctness of this theory may be found in the fact that no appreciable 
number of salmon and made their appearance at Miles Lake and Abercrombie Canyon 
before June 10, as only a comparatively small catch was made at those localities during 
the first five days of the season, which was from June 5 to 10. Additional evidence 
that late seasons retard the movements of salmon may be gathered from the reports of 
conditions on Bristol Bay where the ice held later than ever before. 
Red salmon were first noticed at the up-river fishing grounds early in June, but 
merely as stragglers. By the middle of the month the run was on in earnest, and 
during the remainder of the month fishing in both lake and canyon was good. There 
is reason to believe, however, that the number of salmon passing above the scene of 
commercial fishing before June 5, when the season opened, was very small. This 
conclusion is based primarily on the fact that very few salmon were taken in the lake 
or canyon before June 10. 
R. L. Read operated approximately 150 fathoms of gill nets. His catch of salmon 
was hauled by wagon to the railroad at Mile 46 and shipped thence to the cannery of 
the Abercrombie Packing Co. at Abercrombie. The total number of salmon shipped 
from that point was in excess of 92,000. 
Tom Teets had four dipping places between the canyon and the lake, two on each 
side of the river, and two men at each station. The catch from the stations on the 
east side was transferred across the river on an aerial tram to a point just south of 
Mile 52 on the railroad from where it was shipped to Cordova or Abercrombie by 
train. The other stations were on the west side of the river between Chinaman Slough 
and the lake. The catch at those places was hauled by a horse and cart to the lake 
and loaded into boats or scows and then transferred to the cars at one of the spur 
tracks near Mile 51 or 49. Mr. Teets began operations under a contract with the 
Northwestern Fisheries Co. and the Canoe Pass Packing Co. to sell his catch to them, 
but on June 16 he severed his contractual relations with these companies because of 
their failure, as he stated, to furnish him with adequate shipping facilities, and there- 
after sold his fish to the Abercrombie Packing Co. 
The Abercrombie Packing Co. had undisputed possession of the canyon field where 
dip-net fishing exclusively was carried on. Seven men operated on the east side of 
the river opposite snowsheds No. 1 and No. 2, where steel cables span the canyon. 
Fifteen men were employed in like manner on the west side of the river in the can- 
yon. ‘This company also operated four-fifths of the gear set in Miles Lake, or 4,150 
fathoms of gill nets, in the handling of which 38 men were employed. 
The Northwestern Fisheries Co. and the Canoe Pass Packing Co., working under an 
arrangement to divide the catch, stationed 15 men at Miles Lake who engaged in 
gill-net fishing, operating a total of 1,120 fathoms of nets. 
3 ate total amount of gear in use above the delta was 5,420 fathoms of gill nets and 
0 dip nets. 
Toward the end of the season, after the Northwestern Fisheries Co. and the Canoe 
Pass Packing Co. had discontinued fishing in the lake, L. T. Robbins, formerly em- 
ployed by these companies, pickled 100 barrels of red salmon at the lake, using in 
this work part of the company gear. 
TotaL CatcH oF SALMON By SPECIES IN THE COPPER RIVER In 1918. 


Species. 
Locality. SS EEE lec 
Coho. King. Red. 
Deltaeai aa. caaetns ee SPS ot ok Rae ee aed 43,419 5,646 | 1,098,057 1, 147,122 
ADOVe Geltark: ats wckiase det cicewcic's ws onictp vp dere aaeee eee 6,770 15, 203 490,781 512,754 
"Lotalissencss- Sarees ches ese. tases cc (cece ce eee 50, 189 20,849 | 1,588,838 1, 659, 876 
