PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 461 



The river is said to be 200 mil(>s loiiji; to the first lake, a larg'e one. 

 Beyond this hike there are tliree other smaller lakes, all eonnected 

 by short stretches of river. The largest tributary of the river is the 

 Malchatna, which enters it about 100 miles from the mouth. There 

 are also several small tributaries, two of these being Tikchik River 

 and Portage Creek. There are three or four Indian villages on the 

 Nushagak, Kaknak being the largest. A launch drawing 3 to 3K feet 

 of water can navigate about 120 miles from the mouth. It is neces- 

 sary to use a ''bidarka" to go into the upper reaches. There are four 

 rapids, around which a portage must be made in each case. 



The river on its lower course is large, and flows a great quantity of 

 water into the head of Nushagak Bay. 



Wood River is about 24 miles long from its mouth to the first lake. 

 Shoals and bars are frequent in the river, the depth of these at low 

 water being 2^2 feet and at high water 4 feet. 



Aleknagik Lake, the first of the chain of three, is about 24 miles 

 long, and has an average width of about 2 miles. 



An interesting counting experiment was carried on by the Bureau 

 of Fisheries at Wood River. This very important work was first 

 taken up in 1908, as an indirect result of the order closing Wood and 

 Nushagak Rivers to the commercial fishermen, as noted below, and 

 was continued, with the exception of 1914, until the close of the 1919 

 season. This work was made possible in early years by the generosity 

 of the Alaskan Packers Association of San Francisco and the Alaska- 

 Portland Packers Association of Portland, Oreg., who furnished the 

 material and erected the barricade, also the labor needed throughout 

 the season, while the Bureau of Fisheries furnished the personnel 

 required to carry on the direct work of counting the fish and making 

 other observations. Later everything was furnished by the bureau. 



A rack or trap was constructed across the foot of Lake Aleknagik, at 

 a constriction in the lake contour something more than 200 yards 

 wide, for the purpose of intercepting all salmon entering the lake and 

 passing them through gates or tunnels at such a rate and in such a 

 manner that an accurate estimate of their numbers could be obtained. 

 The pot of the trap w^as located near the left bank, and this had three 

 gates by which the salmon could be passed from the pot into the lake. 

 Each gate was 2 feet in width, and its bottom rested on a wooden plat- 

 form covered with white oilcloth, so that the fish could readily be seen 

 as they passed over it when the gate was raised. When fish were 

 passing through a gate a small wooden frame with a glass center was 

 arranged so it would float on the water, and in order to hold it in 

 position it was fastened to the framew^ork of the gate. This was for 

 the purpose of making the water smooth so the fish could readily be 

 seen even though the surface were disturbed by ripples, etc. 



The following table shows for each year from 1908 to 1919, in- 

 clusive, the commercial catch of salmon made in Nushagak Bay, 

 the number of fish passing from Wood River into Lake Aleknagik, 

 the total of both, and the percentage of sahnon that escaped the 

 fishermen . 



