454 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



In accordance with an act of Congress approved Marcli 3, 1891, the 

 President, by proclamation of December 24, 1892, set aside the whole 

 island and witliin 1 mile from the shores thereof as a fish-cultural 

 reserve for the use of the United States Commission of Fish and Fish- 

 eries. As a result of tliis action both canneries were forced to move 

 from the island entirely. 



From this time on salmon fishing was restricted to natives, who 

 were permitted to dispose of their catch to canneries and salteries 

 located outside of the reserve. 



KODIAK ISLAND 



Tliis island has been the scene of some of the best fisliing in Alaska. 

 The Russians early settled here, one of the most fertile spots in the 

 usually sterile soil of Alaska, and undoubtedly they must have 

 prosecuted the fisheries from an early date, although but little data 

 are extant showing their operations in this line. 



Kariuk River and Lagoon. — One of the greatest salmon streams in 

 the world is the Kariuk River, and although its importance is much 

 diminished now through long-continued and heavy fishing, it still 

 produces annually a large pack of canned salmon, and has the dis- 

 tinction of having produced more salmon than any other river in 

 Alaska. 



It will doubtless surprise most readers to hear that the river 

 wliich has yielded so many countless thousands of salmon is only 

 16K' miles in length. It has its source in two lakes, the larger of 

 w^hich is about 8, the smaller, 3 miles long. The mouth of the river 

 is about 2 miles above the canneries, and spreads out here into a 

 lagoon. This lagoon has at the head a width of about 300 yards, and 

 gradually widens until it is nearly half a mile across as it approaches 

 the spit. The lagoon has a general east and west direction, is about 

 2 miles in length, and, except for the shingle spit which is thrown 

 across its mouth by the action of the sea, its shores are bluff, rising 

 from about 50 to 100 feet. The spit is three-fourths of a mile long 

 with an average width of about 200 feet. The outlet of the lagoon 

 is only 90 feet ^\dde at its mouth. The western side of the mouth of 

 the lagoon is Kariuk Head, a precipitous mountain mass about 1,600 

 feet high. 



The outer side of the spit is where the fishing is carried on. Haul 

 seines are used exclusively. As bowlders used to be common here 

 it was necessary to remove a number of them in the early days when 

 a seine shore was to be prepared. The red salmon run here is an 

 exceptionally long one, the season extending from about the middle 

 of Jime to about the middle of September. The other species of 

 salmon also run here; sometimes humpbacks appear in largo numbers. 

 As the beach is open to Shelikof Strait, in which storms are frequent, 

 seining is often interrupted. 



As early as 1867 the salting of salmon was carried on at Kariuk. 

 In 1870 the Alaska Fur Trading Co. and the Alaska Commercial 

 Co. began to salt salmon and continued this on a gradually expanding 

 scale. 



In 1882 Smith & Hirsch, who had been engaged in salting on 

 Kariuk Spit, built the first cannery on Kodiak Island. After opera- 

 ting it until 1884 it was organized under the title of the Kariuk 

 Packing Co., and packed under that name every year until 1911, 



