ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1920. rot 
munities, to a general shiftlessness, which habitually leads to priva- 
tion and suffering in the winter. 
A similar condition was observed in certain fish camps on the 
lower Tanana, in which natives seemed obviously less intelligent and 
less efficient than in the great majority of camps on the main river. 
In a few of these was heard the complaint that there were no fish, 
but it is believed that their scant supply was due to other causes. It 
is of course true that any scarcity will first declare itself on the 
upper river and among the tributaries, after the salmon, which 
run in a single channel in the main river, have distributed them- 
selves over a far wider area. It is regretted that reliable reports 
could not be obtained from the Innoko, the Koyukuk, and the Por- 
cupine. 
n comparing the effects of the cannery in 1920 with those in 1919 
conditions are met in the two years that were the very reverse of 
one another. 
In 1919 the total run of salmon was far below normal, the condi- 
tions for fishing at the mouth of the river were favorable, the can- 
nery catch was very large, and considered in relation to the number 
of salmon running it was far larger. 
In 1920 there was at least a fair aver age run of the better class, and 
not improbably it was one of the best runs that can be expected in 
the Yukon; but the cannery was unsuccessful, owing to adverse fish- 
ing conditions. It obtained little more than half as many kings as 
in 1919 and less than half as many chums. Had the 58 000. kings and 
155,000 chums been permitted to enter the river more salmon un- 
doubtedly would have reached the spawning grounds, but the amount 
of dried salmon would not have been greatly increased. In the first 
place the number released would bear a small ratio to the total num- 
ber running in so good a year; and, furthermore, along that section 
of the river which “put up ‘by far the larger amount of ‘dried salmon, 
wheels, if operated more than a few hours each day during the 
height of the run, caught more fish than could be cleaned and pre- 
pared for drying. It does not then appear that with a large run of 
salmon and a relatively small cannery pack the latter has any recog- 
nizable effect in lessening the dried salmon supply of the Yukon. We 
are not prepared, however, to venture the assertion that such would 
have been the case had the cannery Pes in 1920 reached as large 
proportions as it attained in 1919. But even had the cannery put 
up the full 60,000 cases in 1920, for which it made preparations, it 
would not have reproduced the severe conditions which existed on 
the river in 1919. These, as has been shown, were the result of a 
phenomenally poor season, made much worse by a large cannery 
pack 
GENERAL DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 
The dependence of the native and white population on the salmon 
supply of the Yukon admits of no question in the minds of any who 
have acquaintance with the conditions of life in the great interior 
of Alaska. The natives have other sources of food, but the salmon 
form their main provision for the winter—their insurance against 
starvation when other sources of food fail them, as they not infre- 
quently do. No one who inquires into the matter can doubt that if 
