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250 ; PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 
western shore. This hatchery has been operated continuously ever 
since. In 1909 the North Alaska Salmon Co. acquired a half interest 
in it, which it relinquished to the original owners a few years later. 
The Pacific Steam Whaling Co., in 1898 erected a small hatch- 
ery on Hetta Lake, on the west side of Prince of Wales Island, which 
was operated until the close of the hatching season of 1903-4, when 
the Pacific Packing & Navigation Co., successor to the original 
owner, went into the hands of a receiver. In 1907 it was reopened by 
the Northwestern Fisheries Co., which had acquired the interests 
of the old company, and has been operated each season since. 
Up to 1900 the work of hatching salmon was entirely voluntary 
on the part of the packers. On May 2 of that year the following 
regulation was promulgated at the Treasury Department, which at 
that time had control of the Alaska salmon-inspection service: 
7. Each person, company, or corporation taking salmon in Alaskan waters shall 
establish and conduct, at or near the fisheries operated by him or them, a suitable 
artificial propagating plant or hatchery; and shall produce yearly and place in the 
natural spawning waters of each fishery so operated red-salmon fry in such numbers 
as shall be equal to at least four times the number of mature fish taken from the said 
fisheries, by or for him or them, during the preceding fishing season. The manage- 
ment and operation of such hatcheries shall be subject to such rules and regulations 
as may hereafter be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. They shall be open 
for inspection by the authorized official of this department; annual reports shall be 
made, giving full particulars of the number of male and female salmon stripped, the 
number of eggs treated, the number and percentage of fish hatched, and all other con- 
ditions of interest; and there shall be made a sworn yearly statement of the number of 
fry planted and the exact location where said planting was done. 
On January 24, 1902, this regulation was amended so as to require 
the planting of ‘‘red-salmon fry in such numbers as shall be equal 
to at least ten times the number of salmon of all varieties taken from 
the said fisheries.” 
Although the regulation was mandatory, but few of the packers 
obeyed it, some because no suitable place was to be found within a 
reasonable distance of their plants, others because the establishment 
and operation of such a hatchery would cost more than their returns 
from the industry justified, and others because of lack of knowledge 
required in hatchery work. The greater number of them absolutely 
ignored it, and as a result those who conformed to the regulation 
were placed under a heavy financial handicap. The injustice of this 
arrangement was patent on its face, and in 1906, when a compre- 
hensive revision of the law was made by Congress, provision was 
made for reimbursing in the future those cannery men who operated 
salmon hatcheries. The section covering this point reads as follows: 
Src, 2, That the catch and pack of salmon made in Alaska by the owners of pri- 
vate salmon hatcheries operated in Alaska shall be exempt from all license fees and 
taxation of every nature at the rate of ten cases of canned salmon to every one thousand 
red or king salmon fry liberated, upon the following conditions. 
