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Hundreds of boats of various kinds— dories, seine-boats, 

 Columbia River boats, besides scows, lio-liters, and steam 

 launches — are employed in the business. The seining is 

 done chiefly by white men, and the Avork inside the can- 

 neries by Chinese. It is estimated that 4,000 men are 

 engaged in the salmon fishery. The capital invested in 

 1889 was nearly four million dollars, and the value of the 

 pack, at an average price of live dollars per case, was about 

 $3,000,000. 



Is this tremendous drain of eight and one-half millions 

 of salmon in a year likely to endanger the food supply of 

 the natives ? At present many of the Alaskans work*^ for 

 the Ashing companies, and receive more than they could 

 earn if left to themselves. Again, the dog-salmon and the 

 humpback, which are the most abundant of the species 

 and the most valuable for the natives, are not yet impor- 

 tant commercially. Canneries have not extended their 

 operations north of the Nushagak ; and the territory be- 

 yond this river teems with all kinds of Paciflc salmon, 

 and especially with the two preferred by the natives. 



One great source of trouble for the Alaskan people is 

 caused by the illegal sale of intoxicants by some unprin- 

 cipled persons. By this means their usefulness is destroyed, 

 a naturally harmless disposition is incited to mischief, 

 and there is a steady increase of victims of pulmonary 

 diseases. Will this industry decline in value from year to 

 year, as it has on some of the more southern rivers ? Un- 

 doubtedly it will, if over-Hshing and injurious methods 

 are continued. Impassable barriers obstructing the ascent 

 of breeding-fish will unquestionably exterminate the spe- 

 cies in a few years. Continual seining across the mouths 

 of rivers will certainly hasten the same unfortunate result. 

 The necessity of protecting this valuable resource must be 

 apparent to every intelligent person. Alaska to-day fur- 

 nishes one-half of the American yield of salmon, and it 



