CENTRAL AND WESTERN ALASKA INVESTIGATION. 159 



destroy this run for commercial uses by continuing the policy of un- 

 restricted competition which now exists. A third cannery" has re- 

 cently been constructed to draw on this run and is planning an 

 increase in its operations. And three other canneries, situated unfor- 

 tunately where adequate supplies were locally not available, have 

 sent fleets of purse-seine boats to Ikatan. It is believed the district 

 can not sustain fishing on such a scale, but it is not possible, under the 

 existing law, to devise a remedy. 



KARLUK RIVER AND LAKE. 



An examination of Karluk Lake and River was made July 25 and 

 26, the observers walking across the trail from the head of Larsen 

 Bay to a point on the Karluk Eiver, proceeding thence by boat and 

 on foot to the lake. After inspection of all the spawning beds alone 

 the lower half of the main lake, the river was descended to its mouth, by 

 boat. It was regretted that time did not permit an examination of the 

 upper half of the main lake and of the smaller lake and its tributaries. 



On the way up river from the portage to the lake but few 

 salmon were seen, but at the narrowed lower end of the lake, imme- 

 diately above the outlet, a large school of salmon was found, con- 

 sisting of fish that were not yet completely ripe and ready for spawning. 

 I'hese fish were lying relatively still, unless disturbed, when they would 

 rush off in a body, with a great roar of breaking water. It was 

 estimated that there were between 2,000 and 3,000 fish in this school. 



Passing along the western shore of the lake, scattered salmon were 

 found, and schools of no great size were about the mouths of all the 

 small creeks that dash down the abrupt slopes on that side of the 

 lake. Salmon were trying to ascend all these small streams, making 

 frantic efforts to pass up through the broken water which forms a 

 series of waterfalls and rapids among great rocks and coarse bowlders. 

 These streams seemed wholly unfitted for spawning. They were 

 short, violently rapid wherever seen, and appeared to be without 

 quiet gravelly reaches where- spawning could be successfully accom- 

 plished. The shallower portions of the lake, in depths where fish 

 frequently spawn, were on the west side also for the most part 

 totally unsuited for spawning. The bottom was thickly covered with 

 coarse cobblestones and bowlders, without finer materials in which 

 nests could be excavated. Here and there were gravelly or sandy 

 beaches of small extent, but none of those on the west side of the lake 

 gave evidence of being extensively used by the salmon. 



Crossing to the eastern shore, there were found larger and longer 

 streams, rapid brawhng creeks, with coarse bowldery beds, but far 

 more practicable than the creeks of the west side. As the mouths 

 of the streams were approached, dead salmon that had drifted out 

 after spawning lay thick on the bottom of the lake, and upon wading 

 up the rough beds of the creeks, dead salmon were found lying 

 everywhere, lodged among the bowlders or stranded on the shallows. 

 Spawning, however, was vigorously in progress. The creeks were 

 fairly beset with living fish seeking to spawn among their dead com- 

 rades, while off the mouths were small schools, from which a constant 

 series of recruits passed up the rocky incline to take the place of those 

 exhausted and dying. No gravel bars or quiet reaches were seen, 

 and while these streams were the least unfavorable of those observed 

 entering the lower half of the lake, it seemed incredible that any large 



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