406 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



States. Your memorialists finally pray your Excellency to employ such ships 

 as may be spared from the Pacific naval fleet in surveying the fishing banks 

 known to navigators to exist from the Cortez Bank to Bering Strait." 



This memorial, written by a fisherman in behalf of the fishing industry on 

 the northeast [west] coast, passed both branches of our Territorial legislature 

 with commendable unanimity and dispatch. In forwarding a copy of the above- 

 named memorial to the Secretary of State we imparted such information touch- 

 ing the fisheries around the Russian possessions, and the impulse which the 

 opening of those resources to our fishermen would impart to the commercial 

 development on the northwest coast. In acknowledging our humble services 

 the illustrious Secretary assured us that " in consummating the recent pur- 

 chase, I was strongly fortified by the letters which you wrote to me touching 

 the valuable fisheries in those waters." The New York Times of April 1, 1867 

 (the acknowledged organ of Secretary Seward), said "that a memorial from 

 the Territorial legislature of Washington Territory, dated January, 1866. 

 asking the President to obtain certain rights for the fishermen, was the founda- 

 tion of the present treaty." 



On the 18th of October, 1867, the transfer of this vast territory from Russia 

 to the United States was officially consummated by the respective commis- 

 sioners of the two Governments at Sitka, in the presence of the Russians popu- 

 lation, who cheerfully welcomed the few Americans there also present. The 

 union has been very cheerfully accepted by the people of the Territory. Our 

 Government, on assuming possession, found numerous adventurers from the 

 Pacific States domiciled in various parts of the Territory engaged in trade 

 and in developing the resources in those regions ; vessels laden with ware 

 entered every harbor ; stores were opened as by magic in every acceptable 

 roadstead along the southern and western coasts; an active competition for 

 furs, oil, ivory, old copper, iron, and junk was earnestly inaugurated ; com- 

 merce revived, the sails of our vessels whitened every creek, bay, and sound, 

 and the staid Russians very soon obtained an insight into Yankee progress on 

 tbe go-ahead principle. 



The acquisition of Alaska by the United States in 1867 proved an 

 especial boon to our cod fishermen, as it secured them from any in- 

 terference on the part of the Russians, who had not welcomed them 

 very heartily in previous years. This is well shown by the fact that 

 while the fleet in 1867 numbered 3 vessels, the fleet of 1868 comprised 

 14 vessels. 



The first vessel to attempt to make two trips in one season was the 

 schooner Porpoise, Captain Caton, in 1868, but she got only half a 

 fare on the second. 



The first Alaska vessel in the fishery was one owned by Captain 

 Haley, of Wrangell, who in 1879 visited the Hoocheno Bank, in 

 Chatham Strait, southeast Alaska, and purchased his fare from 

 natives who claimed the exclusive right to engage in the fishery. 

 These fishermen used bark lines, with wooden iron-pointed hooks, 

 and, as they considered a catch of 30 or 40 fish a good day's work. 

 Captain Haley had to wait quite a while before he could accumulate 

 a cargo. In later years several vessels engaged in the business along 

 the same lines as Captain Haley. 



An odd feature of the Pacific cod fisheries is that neither Port- 

 land nor Astoria have ever had vessels engaged in it. In 1877 Capt. 

 Joshua Slocum, with the schooner Pato (about 45 tons register), 

 was at the Philippine Islands, when he conceived the idea of mak- 

 ing a cod-fishing voyage to the Okhotsk Sea and marketing his catch 

 at the islands. Leaving the islands in March, he proceeded to the 

 Okhotsk via Yokohama. Salt and fishing gear were obtained from 

 vessels met at sea, and a cargo of 23,000 fish was soon taken. When 

 the time for sailing arrived the captain decided not to return to the 

 islands, but took his fare to Portland instead, where he sold it at a 



