COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1905. 19 



Large quantities of halibut are prepared each year by the Indians 

 for food in the winter season. The fish are cut in strips, partially 

 dried in the open air, and then suspended in the smoke from the fires 

 generally built on the floor in the center of most of the Indian houses. 



The possibility of developing an important and profitable industry 

 in the canning of halibut has often been canvassed in Alaska, but the 

 difficulty of interesting capital in an untried industry, when the prof- 

 its of salmon canning have been so sure for many years, has usually 

 been too great for the promoters. The first halibut canned in Alaska 

 were put up at the Klawak cannery in 1878, when 200 or 300 cases of 

 2-pound cans (2 dozen cans in a case) were packed. This venture 

 was continued for a few seasons, not more than 300 cases of 2-pound 

 cans being packed in any one season, and then abandoned owing to the 

 lack of a market for the product. In the summer of 1904 the Alaska 

 Fish and Halibut Company opened a small cannery on Wrangell Nar- 

 rows, just above Tonka, and put up an experimental pack of 41 cases 

 of 1 -pound flats (48 cans to the case) . Some of the cases were shipped 

 to Boston and other eastern points, and the balance distributed on 

 the Pacific coast, where they have met with a very good reception. 

 If the results of the experiment justify it, the company expects to put 

 up a one-line cannery to be devoted exclusively to the packing of 

 halibut. During the winter of 1904-5 the Juneau Packing Company, 

 of Juneau, put up 36 1-pound cans as an experiment, and expects to 

 enter into the business on a large scale should the goods meet with a 

 favorable reception. The writer had an opportunity to see and taste 

 these goods, and found them both pleasant to the eye and agreeable 

 to the taste. The West Point Packing Company, at Petersburg, 

 expected to put up a small pack in the winter of 1905-6. 



One very favorable feature of this industry, if it be established, is 

 that it can be prosecuted at all seasons of the year. Salmon can- 

 neries could be utilized when not engaged in the packing of salmon, 

 thus saving the initial cost of a plant put up especially for halibut. 

 The salmon canning season begins in June usually, and, with the 

 exception of a few plants, closes by October. Halibut are most 

 abundant during the winter months, the very season when the salmon 

 canneries are shut down. 



The Juneau Packing Company, of Juneau, put up a large smoke- 

 house during 1904, and is now engaged in the smoking of halibut, 

 herring, and salmon. The greater part of its prepared product is 

 shipped to Puget Sound ports. 



