ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 583 



nel. A huge otter attempted to swim tnrough aud was caught fast; in 

 liis struggles he widened the strait and x>nshed the island out to its 

 present position. 



On the afternoon of May 8 we lay-to off the village of Karluk. There 

 is no harbor here; vessels anchor in the open roadstead and landings 

 are made in boats. The breeze had freshened, a high sea was running, 

 and it was too rough for us to land. A Government school was main- 

 tained here for a few years, but a reduction of the Congressional appro- 

 priation for education in Alaska rendered necessary a curtailing of 

 expenses and the school was closed in 1892. A teacher has been 

 appointed who will reopen it in the fall of 1895. 



. The Karluk Eiver, 16 miles long and about 6 feet deep, is one of the 

 most remarkable salmon streams in the world. Beside its shallow 

 waters are located several large canneries where, according to the 

 census report of 1890, about 300,000 cases of sahnon were packed. 

 Tbe employees number over 2,000, and in the summer months the 

 Chinese, Italians, Greeks, Portuguese, and Americans constitute one 

 of the most heterogeneous communities under the American flag. The 

 United States commissioner at Uualaska, 700 miles away, is the nearest 

 representative of the authority of the United States. On May 9, as 

 the gale had increased, the captain very considerately ran into a small 

 bay near Cape Providence and remained there until the gale had spent 

 its force. 



Unga was reached at 4 a. m. on the 11th. Here I had an oy)portunity 

 of going ashore and meeting the teacher, Mr. McKinney, and of inspect- 

 ing the school buildings. Near the village of Unga is the mining 

 property of the Apollo Consolidated Mining Company. By skillful 

 management aud wise expenditure of money the mine is being operated 

 with large profit. Two thousand five hundred feet of tunnels have 

 been comj)leted; waterworks, steam compressor, ofi&ces, and dwelling 

 houses have been built. The forty-stamp mill is producing monthly 

 130,000 worth of gold. 



Just south of the Shumagin Islands, ujion which Unga is located, are 

 immense cod banks whose value is just beginning to be appreciated. 

 They were first reported by Professor Davidson in 18G7. Since that 

 time the United States Fish Commission steamer Albatross has done a 

 great deal of sounding and mapping of the banks. The value of the 

 Shumagin catch of cod in 1890 was 8500,000. As the fur seal decrease 

 it is asserted that the cod-fishing industry will greatly increase, as it is 

 said that one seal will in a season consume cod equal in value to the 

 price of a raw seal skin. 



At 9 a. m. we were under way, and at 10.30 came to anchor at Sand 

 Point. Under the wharf aud forming its foundation is the wreck of the 

 John Hancock. She was built at the Charlestown ITavy-Yard in 1812, 

 and was in Commodore Perry's Japan expedition in 1853-54. Shortly 

 afterwards she was condemned and sold into the merchant service. 



