88 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
ing to its irregularities and separated from it and from each other 
by deep straits and channels. These islands, about 1,100 in number, 
extend from the coast an average distance of about 75 miles and along 
the general contour for about 250 miles. Some of these islands are 
very large, indented with deep bays and sounds, and they in turn 
fringed with smaller islands. 
The largest streams in this region are the Unuk, Stikine, Taku, and 
Chilleat, all of which take their source in the interior and drain con- 
siderable areas. The other rivers are usually streams, and the greater 
number are simply outlets to a lake or system of lakes. 
All species of salmon are to be found in this region, but the hump- 
back is by far the most abundant. 
This region has been the favorite fishing ground for the smaller 
operators, although a few of the largest canneries in Alaska are 
located here. Of recent years transportation facilities have been 
exceedingly good and fairly cheap, while the nearness to the States 
and the considerable resident population which could be drawn upon 
for labor have been big factors in its development. 
The Russians did considerable salting of salmon. Petroff, in his 
report in the Tenth Census on the “ Population, industries, and re- 
sources of Alaska,’’ writes as follows of the Redoubt near Sitka: 
“The once famous Redoubt or deep-lake salmon fishery on Baranof 
Island, which at one time during the Russian rule supplied this 
whole region, and whence 2,000 barrels of salmon were shipped in 
1868, now lies idle.” 
Bancroft? in speaking of the king salmon of Alaska says: ‘‘So 
choice is its flavor, that during the régime of the Russian American 
Co. several barrels of the salted fish were shipped each season to St. 
Petersburg for the use of the friends of the company’s officials.” 
One of the earliest operators in southeast Alaska was a Greek, or 
Slav, named Baronovich, who married the daughter of Skowl, one 
of the old-time chiefs of the Kasaans, and received from him the 
fishery on Karta Bay, a part of Kasaan Bay, and one of the best red 
salmon streams south of Wrangell Narrows. Baronovich built a 
saltery here, kept a store and traded with the Indians. He died some 
years ago, and for some time after his death his sons operated it. 
It finally collapsed a couple of years ago. 
For a number of years a saltery was operated at Klawak, on the 
west coast of Prince of Wales Island. In 1878 the North Pacific 
Trading & Packing Co. purchased the saltery and erected the first 
cannery in Alaska here. A pack was made the same year, and the 
plant has operated every year since. In 1899 the cannery burned 
down, but it was immediately rebuilt on the opposite side of the bay. 
For some years this plant was operated almost exclusively with 
native labor, and at present the majority employed are natives. 
The same year that the above cannery was established the Cutting 
Packing Co. built a cannery at old Sitka, and operated it in 1878 and 
1879, then it was closed down. In 1882 the machinery was taken 
by another company to Cook Inlet. 
In 1882 M. J. Kinney, of Astoria, under the name of the Chilkat 
Packing Co., built a cannery on the eastern shore of Chilkat inlet and 
made a pack the same year. The cannery changed hands several times 
@ History of Alaska, Vol. XX XIII, p. 661. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. San Francisco, 1886, 
