PACIFIC SALMON FISHERJES. 49 
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND AND COPPER RIVER. 
The great indentation known as Prince William Sound, and the 
Copper River delta, a short distance south of the sound, were not 
exploited as much as many other portions of Alaska until about 1915, 
due largely to the limited means of transportation and the consequent 
heavy expense of operation. 
The principal source of salmon supply is the Copper River, a glacial 
stream about 300 miles long, which empties into the Gulf of Alaska 
through a delta nearly 40 miles in width and extending upstream 
about 25 miles. 
Owing to the constantly shifting shoals in the delta, special knowl- 
edge is needed in navigating them, while special flat-bottomed vessels 
are required as run boats. The gill net and dip net are the only 
important apparatus in use in the river. In Prince William Sound 
traps and purse seines catch most of the salmon. 
n 1889 a company known as the Central Alaska Co. built a can- 
nery on Wingham, or Little Kayak Island, about 15 miles west from 
Cape Suckling. It made a pack that year, and the following spring 
was moved to Thin Point, on the southern side of the Alaska Penin- 
sula. 
The Peninsula Trading & Fishing Co. built a cannery on the same 
island in 1889. In 1891 it was moved to one of the sloughs of the 
Copper River delta, known as Coquenhena, and operated in 1891. It 
was closed in 1892 and 1893. The Pacific Steam Whaling Co. oper- 
ated it until 1897, when it was abandoned. 
In 1916 the Hoonah Packing Co. built and operated a cannery on 
Bering River. 
Louis Sloss & Co., of San Francisco, built a cannery under the title 
of Pacific Packing Co. in 1889 at the extreme eastern end of the 
sound, close by the present site of Cordova, and called it Odiak. The 
cannery was closed in 1892. In 1893 it joined the Alaska Packers 
Association and was operated each season until 1905. In 1906 the 
buildings and site were sold to the Copper River & Northwestern 
Railroad Co., which was preparing to bhi a railroad from Odiak to 
the headwaters of the Copper River. 
In 1889 the Pacific Steam Whaling Co. built a cannery close by 
the Odiak plant, but in the spring of 1895 it was moved to the spot 
now known as Orca, about 3 miles north of Cordova. It was closed 
in 1892, and has been operated ever since except in 1919 and 1920. 
In 1901 it was taken into the Pacific Packing & Navigation Co. com- 
bination. When the latter’s assets were sold. in 1904, this cannery 
was not included in the sale, as at the time the plant was under lease 
to Capt. Omar J. Humphrey. In 1905 it was sold to the Northwestern 
Fisheries Co., which had purchased most of the Alaska plants of the 
defunct company, and they have operated it since. 
In 1915 the Copper River Packing Co. built a cannery on the Cop- 
per River at Mile 55, and made a pack the same year. The cannery 
uses no run boats, but has an arrangement with the Copper River & 
Northwestern: Railroad Co. to haul the fish from the fishing stations 
to the cannery, and bring the finished product to Cordova for ship- 
ment by steamer. In 1918 the name was changed to the Abercrom- 
bie Packing Co. 
11312°—21—_4 
