FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 1908. 31 



quite small and apparently immature eggs. He also opened upon 

 the same date a very poor-looking female weighing about 12 to 15 

 pounds and found two quite small strips of roe with very small eggs. 

 The latter fish had nothing in its stomach. Both fish were said to 

 have been caught in Taku inlet, where kings are never found except 

 when on their way to the spawning beds on the upper reaches of 

 the river. A fish dealer who has been in the business in Juneau 

 for a number of years states that he has met with several cases 

 of small and immature roe in large kings, also of large roe in kings 

 weigliing from 10 to 15 pounds. One of the dealers at Wrangell 

 tliis year reports running across kings with spawn in various stages 

 of growth during the spring months. Large ones with small eggs 

 seemed to be most numerous. While at Ideal Cove on May 25 a 

 7-pound king with milt was seen. At that time it was learned 

 that several days before a female king of about the same size with 

 fairly well developed roe had been handled, also a 20-pound king 

 with eggs of about one-fourth the size of eggs in other fish taken at 

 the same time. 



It is very probable that the fish when on their way to the spawning 

 beds continue feeding until they reach the river itself. On May 26 

 kings caught in Dry Strait and the lower reaches of the Stikine River 

 were found to have eulachons, smelt, and needlefish (probably sand- 

 launce) in their stomachs. 



In Dry Strait on May 26 a fisherman caught a red-meated king 

 salmon which was a rusty-brown in color exteriorly. Fishermen 

 who saw it seemed to regard it as of a most unusual color and claimed 

 never to have seen such before. 



"white water." 



In 1907, during August and September, a white turbidity, or so- 

 called "milkiness," was observed throughout large areas of sea water 

 along the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. No one was able to 

 account satisfactorily for the unusual phenomenon, a few, however, 

 ascribing it to volcanic action. The fishermen claimed that it drove 

 the red sahnon away. In August of this year the white water again 

 appeared on the same coast in the neighborhood of Hunter Bay, 

 but did not last so long nor spread over so large an area as in 1907. 



FISH WHEELS 



This year the first fish wheel to be erected and operated in the 

 coastal waters of Alaska was put in the Taku River, about 10 miles 

 above its mouth. The wheel was located between two 4-foot scows, 

 set parallel to each other, and each 40 feet in length. The wheel had 

 two dips, each 22 feet in width and hung with netting. It was 



