240 llErOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH ANlJ FISHERIES. 



Fort HaUJen. — I'ort Ilaiden is said to b(; a }J!;ood liaibor, but we did 

 not examine it. Should a survey show it to be safe and easy of ap- 

 ])i'oa(h, it will i)i()ve a ,qreat convenience to vessels employed on the 

 noitheiii portion of the bank. 



Ugashilc River. — The Alaska Oommercial Company's schooner Pearl 

 enters the Ugashik liivcr, but there is a wide bar to cross having intri- 

 cate channels, strong currents, and usually a heavy swell. Once 

 inside, there is a good harbor, but it could hardly be considered avail- 

 able for the ordinary purposes of a tishermau. 



Head of Bristol Bay. — The head of the bay to the northward of a line 

 drawn from the Ugaguk Eiver to Cape Constantine has no value as a 

 cod-lishing ground. The water is not only too fresh, but the enormous 

 discharge from various streams in the vicinity, in conjunction with the 

 naturally strong tidal streams, induces a current which holds in sus- 

 pension sufticient sand and mud to account for the absence of codfish 

 without looking for other causes. We took scattering specimens, it is 

 true, but their emaciated condition was sufficient evidence of their 

 having strayed from their usual feeding-grounds. 



Nalcnek Eiver. — Salmon are fountl in the INaknek Eiver, and there 

 are one or more firms engaged in that industry. Vessels of any size 

 may reach an anchorage off the mouth of the river by keeping the eastern 

 shore aboard, notwithstanding the inaccuracy of the charts. Shoal 

 water will be found whenever the western side is approached. 



Nushagak Eiver. — The salmon fisheries of the Nushagak Eiver have 

 assumed important proportions, and will doubtless attract numbers of 

 people to that region. It will have little interest for the cod fishermen 

 except as a j)ossible port of refuge, where wood and water and such 

 supplies as they would be likely to need can be obtained. It has not 

 been considered a desirable place to visit, and the defective charts, 

 strong tides, numerous shoals, and liabOity to encounter thick weather 

 all militate against it; but Avith the surveys made by this vessel and 

 the assistance of native i)ilots, to be found at Protection Point, a fishing 

 schooner should be able to enter and leave the river with comparatively 

 little risk or delay. 



KuJul-aJc (fround. — Kulukak Bay occu]iies a large )>ortion of the 

 region between Capes Constantine andNewenham, including the Wal- 

 rus Group, llagemeister Island, andCape Peirce. As codfish are fouiul 

 in various isolated spots hardly deserving the appellation of banks, we 

 liave, for convenience, included the region under the single title of the 

 Kulukak Ground. There are extensive shoals outside of llagemeister 

 and the Walrus islands, (i fathoms being found about 18 miles to the 

 southward of the latter. The spots are outside of these shoals, as well 

 as to the eastward and westward of them, in from 12 to 1*5 fathoms, 

 where codfish may be taken at times quite plentifully, but they are 

 smaller than those on Baird Bank. 



