74 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
pleted, a concrete native dwelling was built, and two frame houses 
for natives were completed. Some of this work had been started the 
previous year. A garage to house the four tractors on St. Paul 
Island was built. A concrete extension to the wharf was completed. 
There is more work to be done along this line as soon as time and 
funds permit. Various repairs to native dwellings, improvements 
at the by-products plant, the construction of outhouses, and minor - 
matters were given attention. A road grader was sent to St. Paul 
Tsland and some work in improving roads was undertaken. 
On St. George Island an extension to the wharf was completed 
and the landing slip was enlarged, thus facilitating the discharge 
of small boats lightering cargo ashore. Also some blasting was 
done at East Landing, thus making possible the construction of a 
short roadway for handling boats. Preliminary work, including 
completion of excavation, was done toward the construction of a 
combined shop and warehouse urgently necessary to provide storage 
and handling space for the increased take of fox skins. The kenches 
in the old salt house were transferred to the new salt house, thus 
bringing sealskin work into a single building. Alterations were 
made at the fox house to allow trapping, regardless of the direction 
of the wind. 
USE OF TRACTORS. 
The four tractors which were forwarded to St. Paul Island on 
the supply vessel late in 1919 were used during the season of 1920 
with satisfactory results. They were employed, with trailers, for 
general hauling in and about the village, hauling sealskins from 
the killing fields to the salt houses and moving carcasses to the 
by-products plant. Also they were found to be of great value in 
handling the large quantities of lumber, coal, and general cargo 
landed from the supply ship, and which, owing to the uncertainty 
of weather conditions in Bering Sea, must be landed and stored 
as rapidly as possible. In conjunction with a road grader and 
trailers the tractors rendered good service in the construction of 
roads. 
BY-PRODUCTS PLANT. 
The by-products plant on St. Paul Island was operated during a 
part of the summer of 1920. A shortage of coal made it necessary 
to close the plant much earlier than had been originally intended. 
During the period the plant was in operation it produced approxi- 
mately 19,000 pounds of fertilizer meal and 1,853 gallons of oil, of 
which 361 gallons were No. 1, 1,299 gallons No. 2, and 193 gallons 
No. 3. A shipment of 15,893 pounds of meal produced this season 
was sold at Seattle for $68 per ton, bringing a total of $523.36; the 
remainder of the meal is still at the island. The oil is in storage at 
Seattle pending decision as to its most advantageous disposition ; the 
market for this product was very poor at the close of the year. 
During the summer of 1920 an experiment was conducted to deter- 
mine the comparative values of oil rendered from the carcasses of. 
seals which had been dead for different lengths of time. It was con- 
sidered possible that in the cool climate of the Pribilofs the factor 
of decomposition might be of less consequence than is the case where 
