54 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



pointed to manage the business. This association was not incorporated and expired 

 after the salmon were sold. 



The successful operation of these arrangements led, in 1892, to an arrangement in 

 which nearly all (31) of the canneries joined, entering under the name of the Alaska 

 Packing (not Packers) Association, for the purpose of leasing and operating and 

 therefore controlling the canneries and reducing the Alaska pack for that year, it 

 being found too great for the market's demanas. All the canneries in operating 

 condition in 1892 were members of this association except the following: Metlakahtla 

 Industrial Co., at Metlakahtla; Boston Fishin» & Trading Co., at Yes Bay; Baranoff 

 Packing Co., at Redfish Bay; Chilkat Canning Co., at Pyramid Harbor; Alaska 

 Improvement Co., at Karluk; and the Bering Sea Packing Co., at Ugasnik. 



The association was regularly incorporated on January 13, 1892, and shares were 

 distributed on the basis of 1 for each 2,000 cases packed in 1891, and the profits were 

 divided equally on all shares, regardless of the amount of profits derived at the differ- 

 ent points. Of the 31 canneries, 9 were operated by the association, while the others 

 were closed, the Alaska pack being reduced one-half. 



The year 1893 found the Alaska Packers Association organized and incorporated 

 February 9. This association was formed from the canneries that had joined the 

 Alaska Packing Association of 1892, except the Pacific Steam Whaling Co., at Prince 

 William Sound, and the Peninsula Trading & Fishing Co., the latter's cannery 

 having been moved from Little Kayak Island to the Copper River delta in 1891. 



The agreement of 1893 was similar to that of 1892, except that the amount of profit 

 was taken into consideration in addition to the probable average quantity which 

 could be packed at the different points. This was subject to adjustment for each 

 district, and no arbitrary rule was followed. Each cannery entering the association 

 was obliged to purchase an additional amount of stock, equaling two-thirds of the 

 number of shares received by it for its plant; that is, a company which received 1,500 

 shares for its plant was required to purchase 1,000 shares additional. The money 

 received from this sale of extra stock was used as working capital. No shares were 

 sold to the general public, the owners of canneries subscribing for the full amount. 



This association was then and is now (1920) the largest operator 

 in Alaska, and, with its three canneries on Puget Sound, is also a 

 factor in that region. 



At a number of its canneries the association has always main- 

 tained physicians, whose services and supplies have been free to its 

 own employees and to all natives applymg for medical advice and 

 medicines. This service has been of incalculable benefit to the latter, 

 a large proportion of whom suffer from disease in some form or other. 



No cannmg has been done at Karluk since 1911, when a new can- 

 nery was built at Larsen Bay, a branch of Uyak Bay, and the equip- 

 ment remaining in the plants on the spit removed to it. This was 

 done because frequent storms had caused havoc to vessels anchored 

 in the open straits opposite the mouth of the lagoon. Since then 

 fishing has been carried on as usual, the fish being carried to the 

 canneries on Uyak Bay. The Alaska Packers Association and 

 Northwestern Fisheries Co., the only operators now, have an agree- 

 ment to divide the fish on the basis of seven to the former for every 

 three given to the latter. 



Alitak Bay. — Aiitak Bay, or the "South End," as it is termed 

 locally, is a deep indentation, with several arms, on the south- 

 western end of Kodiak Island, about 65 miles from Karluk, The 

 seine is the principal apparatus used here. 



In 1889 the Arctic Packing Co. built a cannery in the southwest 

 bight of Qlga Bay, which is a branch of Alitak Bay and is connected 

 with it by a lon^, narrow passage. In 1893 it entered the Alaska 

 Packers Association. 



In 1889 the Kodiak Packing Co. built a cannery at Snug Harbor, 

 a cove in the passage coimecting Olga Bay with Alitak Bay, and op- 

 erated it in 1889 and 1890. Its quota of fish was packed by the 



