60 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Snake River, a tributary of Nushagak Bay, is about 30 miles in 

 length, very crooked, and has its rise in a single lake close by Alekna- 

 gik Lake. There is an Indian village on the river just below the lake. 

 Red salmon are abundant in this stream. 



Igusliik River is about 50 miles in length and enters Nushagak Bay 

 about 4 miles above Nichols Hills. So far as known it has its source 

 in two lakes — Amanka and Ualik. A short distance below the first 

 lake there are rapids and a small falls. The qiiite large Indian village 

 of Yacherk is located here, and the natives do most of their fishing m 

 the rapids. Peter M. Nelson established a saltery about 10 or 12 

 miles above its mouth in 1902, and operated it until he sold it to the 

 Alaska Fishermen's Packing Co., who have operated it since. There 

 is a small Indian village close by the saltery. 



Nushagak Bay, in which practically all the fishing is carried on, 

 is about 35 miles long and from 5 to 15 miles in width. Sand bars 

 and mud fiats, which are \4sible at low water, occupy the greater 

 part of its area. 



The drift gill net is the favorite apparatus in this bay, although a 

 few traps are also used. The fish begin to run very early here. 

 Kings usually appear about June 5, reds about June 5 to 8, cohos 

 either late in June or early in July, do^ salmon about the middle of 

 June, and humpbacks about the same time. The reds do not run in 

 large numbers until late in June. 



Considerable fishing was carried on in both the Nushagak and 

 Wood Rivers until in 1908, when, as a result of a hearmg held by 

 the Secretary of Commerce and Labor on December 16 and 17, 1907, 

 it was decreed that beginning January 1, 190S, "it is hereby ordered 

 that until further notice Wood River, a tributary of Nushagak Bay, 

 in the district of Alaska, and the region within 500 yards of the 

 mouth of said Wood River be closed to all commercial fishing, and 

 that all commercial fishing be prohibited in Nushagak River proper." 



The earliest fishing by whites in the Bristol Bay section was for 

 salting purposes by the trading companies, more particularly the 

 Alaska Commercial Co., which had an important station at Fort 

 Alexander on Nushagak Bay. Petroff, in the census report of 1880, 

 refers to exports from this section of "from 800 to 1,200 barrels of 

 salted salmon per annum from the Nushagak River." 



In 1883 the schooner Neptune visited the Nushagak on a salting 

 trip. The next year the Arctic Packing Co. erected a cannery here 

 and made a trial pack of 400 cases. This was the first cannery to 

 operate in Bering Sea. It was located close to the Moravian mission. 

 This cannery eventually became a member of the Alaska Packers 

 Association, and has not been operated for several years. 



The second cannery to bo built was by an Astoria company, the 

 Alaska Packing Co., and it was erected on the western side near the 

 head of the bay and about 1^ miles below the junction of the Wood* 

 and Nushagak Rivers. It has been operated every year to date, 

 being since 1893 a member of the Alaska Packers Association. It is 

 popularly known as the "Scandinavian" cannery. 



In 1886 the Bristol Bay Canning Co. was organized by San Fran- 

 cisco parties, and built a cannery on the western shore of Nushagak 

 Bay in a bend about 2 miles below tlie cannery of the Alaska Packmg 

 Co., at a place called Dillingham. It became a member of the Alaska 

 Packers Association in 1893 and was operated each year until 1907. 



