6 COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1905. 



whalers from New Bedford, Mass., and other Atlantic ports, who fre- 

 quented the waters of the north Pacific and Arctic oceans. In the 

 memorial to the President of the United States adopted by the legisla- 

 ture of Washington Territory in the winter of 1866 especial stress was 

 laid upon the fishery resources of the territory and the need for an 

 arrangement with Russia by which our fishing vessels would be 

 enabled to resort to the Alaskan harbors for shelter and to procure 

 fuel, water, and provisions. Even at that time our fishermen were 

 engaged in cod fishing on the Alaskan banks, the first vessel having^ 

 gone there in 1863, while our whalers had been working in Bering Sea 

 and along the Arctic shore for years. 



The treaty of cession between Russia and the United States was 

 signed March 30, 1867, ratified by the Senate May 28, and proclaimed 

 by the President June 20 of the same year. Formal and actual pos- 

 session was taken on the 16th of the following October. Much doubt 

 was expressed in this country as to the wisdom of paying so large a 

 sum of money for such an apparently sterile region as Alaska, and it 

 was feared that the expenditure would never be justified. Such cal- 

 culations were much at fault, however. The United States has not 

 only been more than reimbursed directly, but through the fisheries 

 alone has been many times compensated for the financial outlay. The 

 rental from the fur-seal islands has more than paid the initial cost of 

 the district, and at the present time the tax derived from the salmon 

 fishery amounts to about $90,000 a year. 



The following table shows, so far as it has been possible to secure 

 reliable information, the quantity and value of fishery products secured 

 in Alaskan waters from 1868 to 1905 (both inclusive). In some 

 instances, where but rather fragmentary data could be obtained, esti- 

 mates based upon the figures in hand have been inserted for the missing 

 years. The second column in the table shows the products in units 

 as put on the market, but in the third column all have been reduced to 

 pounds for convenience in comparison. The dates given indicate the 

 number of years the fishery in question has been prosecuted. No 

 account has been taken in this table of the very extensive intertribal 

 commerce of the natives in fishery products, as there are no accurate 

 data for this feature. 



