PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 53 



The Kodiak Packing Co. in 1888 built a cannery on the eastern 

 side of the spit and operated it in 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891. and 1893. 

 It joined the Alaska Packers Association in 1893, but has not been 

 operated since that season. 



The Hume Packing Co. built a cannery on the spit about 400 yards 

 westward of Kodiak cannery in 1889. In 1892 it was consolidated 

 with the Aleutian Islands Fishing & Mining Co., which had built a 

 cannery about 100 yards westward of the Hume cannery in 1888. 

 In 1893 the consolidation became a member of the Alaska Packers 

 Association. This plant was not operated in 1900. 



In 1888 the Alaska Improvement Co. built a cannery on the left 

 bank of the outlet, opposite the point of the spit and facing the 

 Shelikof Strait. It was ready to pack in 1888. but was not operated 

 on account of the loss of its cannery ship, the Julia Ford. In the 

 spring of 1897 it was sold to the Alaska Packers Association and has 

 since oeen operated by that company. 



In 1893 the Hume Canning & Trading Co. built a cannery on the 

 beach under Karluk Head, about three-fourths of a mile northward 

 of the Alaska Improvement Co., in what is known locally as Tangle- 

 foot Bay. It was operated in 1893 and 1894, and in 1895 it was sold 

 to the Alaska Packers Association and operated by that company. 

 It has been closed since. 



Tlie great increase in the number of canneries in Alaska in 1888 

 and 1889 caused such an enlargement of the j)ack that the markets 

 became glutted, and it was soon apparent that steps would have to 

 be taken to reduce the output if tne operators were to avoid bank- 

 ruptcy. 



Capt. Moser in "Salmon and Salmon Fisheries of Alaska"" thus 

 describes the attempts of the canners to find a working solution of 

 this important problem and the final result of thoir endeavors: 



In 1890 the three canneries at Chignik combined under an operating agreement 

 known as the Chignik Bay Combination, under which the plant of the ( -hignik Hay Co. 

 was operated, the three canneries sharing the expense and dividing the output equally. 

 This arrangement remained in force during the Fcasons of 1890 and 1891. Its evident 

 success in 1890 probably led to the local combinations on Kodiak Island in 1891, and 

 then to the association which now exists. 



The large packs during this period and the glutted market caused the cannery inter- 

 ests to devise some scheme to meet the conditions. The combination at Chignik in 

 1890 permitted the pack to be made there at a lower rate and, as previously stated, 

 it was continued in 1891. The same year (1891) the canneries at Karluk, Uyak, and 

 Afognak entered a combination, under the name of the Karluk River Fisheries, under 

 which it was agreed that each cannery should have a quota of fish from the several 

 localities, based upon the average packs of each cannery in 1889 and 1890. The 

 estimated pack for the canneries interested was placed at 250,000 cases, and upon this 

 estimate tne apportionment of the work at each cannery was made. Under this 

 agreement four of the eight canneries were closed, their quota being packed in the other 

 four canneries as follows, viz, that of the Royal at the Karluk, of the Arctic at the 

 Kodiak, of the Aleutian Islands at the Hume, and of the Russian-American at the 

 Alaska Improvement. 



In the summer of 1891 the Kodiak Packing Co. and the Arctic Packing Co., both 

 at Alitak Bay, also had a mutual agreement under which only one cannery, the Arctic, 

 was operated, the quota of fish of the Kodiak being packed in the Arctic cannery. 

 By these combinations the full pack of the Karhik district was made in half 4,he number 

 of cannerie." and the expense of nacking very considerably reduced. 



In September, 1891, the Ala-ska Packers As.sociation wa.s formed to dispose of the 

 unsold salmon of that season's pack (some 363,000 caies) and five trustees were ap- 



"Thc Salmon and .'^nlmon Fisheries of Alaska. Urporl of the Operations of thetJ.S. Fish Cominis.sion 

 Steamer AllxUrots for the Year ended June :J0, 189.S. Uy Jeflerson F. Moser. Bulletin, U. B. Fish Com- 

 mission, 1808 Vol. XVUI. pp. 18-21. Washington, 18W. 



