82 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
not well defined and has proved rather confusing to strangers. 
Some acquire the shore line by mineral location or by the use of scrip, 
while still others have merely a squatter’s right. 
Under the existing fish-trap laws applicable to Alaska, a fish trap 
may be operated anywhere along the coast of Alaska, 3(0 yards 
from the mouth of any salmon stream, and along the shore. of all 
rivers—excepting those emptying into Cook Inlet, the streams on 
Afognak Island, and in Wood River—where the same are at least 500 
feet wide. 
A clear water distance of 600 yards laterally and 100 yards end- 
wise must be maintained between all traps. At the present time 
there is no law regulating the length of leads, the maximum depth 
of water in which the pot may be driven, or the use or occupancy of 
the trap sites. 
It has been decided by the highest courts within the past year that 
title to the upland conveys no title to the trap owner who may be in 
front. The tidelands of Alaska are not Ay sufficient commercial 
importance as yet to enter into this controversy. At the present 
time there is no tideland law applicable to Alaska affecting the 
upland owners or the trap-site locators. 
At the present time the canner who is on the ground first with 
piles and a driver can assert his right to any unoccupied trap site 
regardless of who fished it the previous season. This, however, is the 
exception rather than the rule. As a general proposition the can- 
ners respect the rights of rivals in the same fishing region, and a 
trap location once recognized as that of a certain individual or com- 
pany is rarely jumped so long as the original locator cares to main- 
tain a trap on it. 
Within the bounds of the forest reserve no land can be acquired 
except by lease, which may be secured from the United States for- 
estry agent, Ketchikan, Alaska. 
INDIAN TRAPS. 
The natives, especially in Alaska, have various ingenious methods 
of catching salmon. In the Bering Sea rivers they catch them by 
means of wickerwork traps, made somewhat after the general style 
of a fyke net. These are composed of a series of cylindrical and 
conan baskets, fitting into each other, with a small opening in the 
end connecting one with the other and the series termimating in a 
tube with a removable bottom, through which the captive fish are 
extracted. Some of the baskets are from 15 to 25 feet in length 
and are secured with stakes driven into the river bottom, while the 
leader, composed of square sections of wickerwork, is held in place 
by stakes. 
During the summer of 1910 the author found and destroyed an 
ingenious native trap set in Tamgas stream, Annette Island, south- 
east Alaska. This stream is a short and narrow one, draining a 
lake, about midway of which are a succession of cascades. In the 
narrowest part of the latter, and in the part up which the fish swim, 
a rack had been constructed of poles driven into the bottom and cov- 
ered with wire netting, so as almost wholly to prevent salmon from 
passing up. Just below, and running parallel to the rack and at 
right angles to the shore, was placed a box flume with a flaring 
mouth at the outer end. At the shore end the flume turned sharply 
