COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1905. 29 



In 1904 the North Pacific Fish and Oil Company established a fer- 

 tilizer plant at Grace Harbor, on Dall Island. It was the intention 

 of the company to utilize the offal from a nearby salmon saltery 

 and also such little used species as mud sharks, dogfish, etc. Unfor- 

 tunately the plant proved unworkable and has not yet been remod- 

 eled to suit Alaskan conditions. 



As the offal from the salmon canneries alone amounts to over 

 35,000,000 pounds in a season, all of which is at present thrown over- 

 board and allowed to pollute the waters, it is easily to be seen that if 

 small fertilizer plants could be installed at each cannery to treat this 

 offal, as is done at the sardine canneries in Maine, this enormous 

 annual wastage would be obviated and the waters adjacent to the 

 canneries rendered more agreeable, not only to the denizens of the 

 water but also to the chance visitor. 



Oil.— For many years the Indians have engaged in catching the 

 dogfish (Squalus sucJclii Girard) and extracting from it an oil which 

 they sell to the traders. Loring has always been a favorite resort for 

 these fishermen, as the dogfish are especially abundant in that vicinity. 

 It is estimated that as much as 10,000 gallons of this oil were obtained 

 in 1892. The only firm of white men engaged in this business at pres- 

 ent is the Ketchikan Ka-ko Oil Company, which has a small plant at 

 Loring. The livers alone are utilized, the rest of the fish being thrown 

 away. The oil, because of its heavy body and freedom from grit, is a 

 most desirable lubricant and finds a ready sale in logging camps as 

 "skid grease." In 1904 the company refined part of its product and 

 is now endeavoring to introduce it as a medicinal oil, for which they 

 claim it is well suited. 



AQUATIC FURS. 



Of the few industries followed in Alaska that of hunting the fur- 

 bearing animals is one of the most important. Owing to the immense 

 extent of territory still unoccupied except by a few small tribes of 

 Indians or Eskimos, it is probable that the industry, so far as it relates 

 to aquatic animals in the interior waters, will thrive for some years to 

 come. Those fur-bearing animals, such as the seal and sea otter, 

 found along the shores of the mainland and adjacent islands and the 

 open sea, where they can easily be hunted, are rapidly becoming 

 extinct. This fact has already had a very important bearing on the 

 welfare of the coast tribes, as they have been dependent at many 

 places upon their catch of these animals for the means wherewith to 

 secure the very necessaries of life. 



The fur traders have their stations located at convenient points, 

 and from these in the spring and summer send out vessels to visit 

 branch stations or certain rendezvous, where they secure from the 

 natives their catch of the past year and pay for the same in goods. 

 In the interior the traders usually fit out trusty natives with small 



