ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1920. 143 



raous quantities of drift, which clogged the nets and rendered them 

 inefficient. Also, during July the weather was unusually stormy, in- 

 terfering with the fishing and endangering both fishing gear and the 

 lives of the fishermen exposed on the flats beyond the river's mouth. 

 From the cannery standpoint, the season was a failure, redeemed from 

 actual loss — if such indeed was the case — by the extremely high price 

 quoted this year for king salmon. Yet the cannery pack of 28,758 

 cases fell short only 1,242 cases of the maximimi number of salmon 

 which had been designated by the Secretary of Commerce as safely 

 to be spared for commercial purposes from the Yukon River run. 



Xo fish intended for export from Alaska were salted on the Yukon 

 Eiver in 1920. 



SUPPLY OF DRIED SALMON PREPARED ON YUKON RIVER IN 1920. 



On tlie voyage down the Yukon from Lower Lebarge to the delta, 

 following close behind the running ice. May 24 to June D^, few indi- 

 cations could be observed of preparation for the fisliing season. Here 

 and there a white fisherman was engaged in constructing his fish 

 wheel in time for the short king salmon run, but the native fish camps 

 were unoccupied. Later it was evident that in comparatively few 

 instances did the natives have wlieels in the water in time to obtain 

 any considerable number of king salmon. 



On the lower river, below Holy Cross or Paimiut, the natives be- 

 long to tlie Innuit stock, and fish much less extensively with wheels 

 than do the Indians of the upper river. They employ for the most 

 part short lengths of liomemade gill nets, which they set in eddies 

 behind projecting points of the shore. As favorable localities are 

 found almost exclusively along the high right (north) bank of the 

 lower river, the fishing villages are confined to that side. 



Above Holy Cross the use of nets becomes less and less an im- 

 portant factor, and wheels are relied on almost exclusively for the 

 capture of salmon. Rarely was the primitive fish trap or basket or 

 the dip net seen in use. The small fish wheels, which seem to have 

 'heen introduced on the Tanana River in 1004, have been generally 

 adopted on the upper river by whites and natives alike. They cost 

 about $50 eaclL in addition to the labor of building them, and are 

 wonderfully effective when skillfully placed. 



In the section of the river between Holy Cross and Rampart little 

 dependence is placed by the natives on the king salmon. There is 

 an early short run, and the natives are traditionally dilatory in mak- 

 ing preparations. By the time their wheels are in the water the 

 king salmon run is largely over. It is also true that the king salmon 

 are more difficult to preserve, being larger in size and richer in oil. 

 Those that are put up bv the natives are kept largely for their own 

 consumption and for this purpose are most highly prized. Taking 

 the river as a whole, a (li.stinct hardship is imi)ose(l on whites and 

 natives alike when the king salmon run is below normal. 



Fuquestionably, however, the chum furnishes by far the larger 

 share of the dried salmon. Along some stretches of the river almost 

 romplete dependence is placed on this species, locally known as the 

 do^ salmon and the " silvers." The higher grade of chums, known as 

 " silvers," form the staple dog food throughout the Yukon country. 



