58 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
“BERING SEA. 
Bristol Bay.—The great redfish producing section of the world is 
in the Bristol Bay portion of Bering Sea. This bay lies in the eastern 
section of Bering Sod. inside of a line drawn from Port Moller to Cape 
Newenham, and a number of important rivers debouch into it, in all 
of which the annual runs of salmon, especially reds, are important. 
Bristol Bay is considerably off the line of steamship travel, and as 
a result the companies operating here are compelled to have ships in 
which to bring up their employees and supplies in the spring and to 
take back the men and prepared products in the late summer or 
early fall when the season has ended. 
Cannery ships belonging to the Nushagak plants are taken into the 
bay and anchored as near the canneries as possible. Owing to shoals 
this can not be done on Kvichak Bay and the Naknek and Ugaguk 
Rivers. In the early days of the fisheries the ships running to the 
latter canneries were brought as close to the plants as possible, un- 
loaded by means of scows, and then taken to the Nushagak for shelter. 
When their numbers were too great to permit of this they were 
moored in the open about 5 miles off the point separating Kvichak 
Bay and Naknek River, where the anchorage is good and the vessels 
have very little trouble in riding out storms. Usually the captain 
and a boy are left aboard the ship. 
NUSHAGAK RIVER AND BAY. 
The Nushagak River, sometimes called the Tahlekuk, with its 
tributaries, and the Wood River, which enters the head of Nushagak 
Bay close by the mouth of the Nushagak, form a favorite resort of 
the red salmon, while all other species also ascend them. 
But little is known of the upper courses of the Nushagak River, 
except that they drain the region between Lakes Clark and Ihamna 
on the east and the Kuskokwim on the west. 
The river is said to be 200 miles long to the first lake, a large one. 
Beyond this lake there are three other smaller lakes, all connected 
by short stretches of river. The largest tributary of the river is the 
Malchatna, which enters it about 100 miles from the mouth. There 
are also several small tributaries, two of these being Tikchik River 
and Portage Creek. There are three or four Indian villages on the 
Nushagak, Kaknak being the largest. A launch drawing 3 to 34 feet 
of water can navigate about 120 miles from the mouth. It is neces- 
sary to use a “bidarka”’ to go into the upper reaches. There are four 
rapids, around which a portage must be made in each case. 
The river on its lower course is large, and flows a great quantity of 
water into the head of Nushagak Bay. 
Wood River is about 24 miles long from its mouth to the first lake. 
Shoals and bars are frequent in the river, the depth on these at low 
water being 24 feet and at high water 4 feet. 
Aleknagik Lake, the first of the chain of three, is about 24 miles 
long, and has an average width of about 2 miles. 
Wood River is noted especially for the interesting counting exper- 
iment the Bureau of Fisheries is carrying on here. This very im- 
portant work was first taken up in 1908, as an indirect result of the 
order closing Wood and Nushagak Rivers to the commercial fisher- 
