60 U. S. BUEEAU OF FISHERIES. 



DRY SALTING OF SALMON. 



The Kuskokwim Salmon Co., which was formed as a consolidation 

 of the interests of the Kuskokwim Fishing & Transportation Co. and 

 the Northern Fisheries (Inc.), on the Kuskokwim Kiver, was engaged 

 in the packing of dry-salted salmon in Alaska in 1920. The invest- 

 ment in miscellaneous supplies, small boats, fishing apparatus, and 

 wages amounted to $45,232. Employment was given to 28 whites 

 and 15 natives. The products were as follows : 



Products of the Dry-Salting Salmon Business in Alaska in 1920. 



Species. 



Coho, or silver 



Chum, or keta 



King, or spring 



Red, or sockej'e - 



Total 



There was an increase in production over 1919 of 12,590 pounds 

 of dry-salted salmon, and in value of $19,934. 



DRYING AND SMOKING OF SALMON. 



As a commercial undertaking the drying and smoking of salmon 

 in 1920 was unimportant ; the only reported products of that kind 

 were 15,000 pounds of kippered salmon, valued at $3,000, prepared 

 by the Juneau Cold Storage Co., at Juneau, and 5,000 pounds of 

 humpback salmon, valued at $250, dried at Uyak by Peter Petrovsky. 



Whites and natives living along the larger rivers of Alaska dry 

 or .smoke considerable cpiantities of salmon annually for local uses, 

 but reliable figures of the number so used Avere not obtainable. These 

 methods of preparing salmon were practiced chiefly in the 1 ukon 

 Valley, where the inhabitants depend largely on such products for 

 human needs and for dog food. In the coastal regions of Alaska, 

 j^articularly those localities where winter temperatures are com- 

 paratively moderate, very limited quantities of salmon are dried or 

 smoked. The possibility of taking cod and other sea foods at prac- 

 tically any time of the year obviates the necessity of preparing other 

 fishery products for winter use. 



SALMf)N BY-PRODUCTS. 



The utilization of offal and waste material at the salmon can- 

 neries in Alaska in the manufacture of oil and fertilizer as a branch 

 of the salmon industry revived somewhat in 1920, and was centered 

 wliolly in the southeastern district. Three companies were engaged 

 exclusively in this business, while four were primarily concerned in 

 the canning of salmon. In the first category are the Fish Canners' 

 By-Products Co., wdiich resumed operations at Ward Cove; the 

 Alaska Reduction Co., which established a plant at Hawk Inlet; 

 and the Petersburg By-Products Co., which operated at Scow Bay; 

 in the other class were the Alaska Herring & Sardine Co., at Port 



