464 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



The mfliience of the tide is felt 30 miles from the month. The ciir- 

 ]'ent is very swift, rimning in places as much as 7 miles an hour. 

 The upper half of the river is filled with low, grassy islands, the 

 channels in many places being quite narrow. A launch drawing 3 

 feet of water can reach Lake Iliamna with very little difficulty. In 

 most sections there are over 2 fathoms of water in the channels. The 

 river drains Iliamna Lake, the largest lake in Alaska, which is about 

 90 miles long and about 30 miles wide, and Lake Clark. There are a 

 number of Indian villages along the shores of the river and lakes. 



Practically all of the fishing here is carried on in Kvichak Bay, 

 gill nets being the only form of apparatus in use. As it is not con- 

 venient for the fishermen to take the catch to the canneries, large 

 house lighters and scows are moored in convenient places and the 

 fishermen live aboard the former, while the fish are put aboard the 

 latter and taken to the canneries by the run boats. The numerous 

 shoals in the bay seriously impede both fishing and navigation. 



The first fishing operations on the Kvichak were in 1894, when the 

 Prosper Fishing & Trading Co. and the Alaska Packers Association 

 each established a saltcry and operated that year and in 1895; in 

 1896 the latter purchased the plant of the former and consolidated 

 the two. 



In 1895 the Point Roberts Packing Co., which was owned by the 

 Alaska Packers Association, built a cannery at Koggiung, the site of 

 the former saltery, and operated it the next year. 



In 1900 there was a considerable development in this region. The 

 Kvichak Packing Co., owned by the Alaska Packers Association, 

 built a cannery on the northern point of entrance to Bear Slough, 

 while the North Alaska Salmon Co. built two canneries about 1,000 

 feet apart on the left bank of the Kvichak, about 6 miles above 

 Koggiung. 



The latter company built a cannery at Hallerville on the Lockenuck 

 River, a tributary of the Kvichak, in 1904. In 1913 a large new can- 

 nery to take the place of the Hallerville plant was built on the lower 

 side of Pedersen Point, lower down on Kvichak Bay. In 1916 all 

 the plants of this company were purchased by Libby, McNeill & 

 Libby and have been operated by that company since. 



The second plant of the Alaska Packers Association, loiown as the 

 Coffee Creek plant, was burned down in 1906. It was rebuilt in 1908 

 and operated again in 1909 and has been operated continuously 

 ever since. 



In 1904 the Union Packing Co. established a cannery on the left 

 bank a little distance above the canneries of the North Alaska Salmon 

 Co., having moved this plant from its original location on Kell 

 Bay, in southeast Alaska. It was operated until 1907, when it was 

 abandoned. 



About 1905 the Northwestern Packing Co. built a saltery on the east 

 side of the bay. In 1908 it was sold to and operated by Nelson, 

 Olsen & Co., who in 1910 sold it to the Alaska Fishermen's Packing 

 Co., which the following j^ear turned it into a cannery. In 1913 

 Libby, McNeill & Libby bought this and the Nushagak plant and 

 continued to operate them under the old name. This cannery was 

 destroyed by fire in the spring of 1915. It was rebuilt and operated 

 in 1916. 



