THE FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1906. 63 



in obliquely, but without a barb. The whiteness of the ivory, which 

 is kept constantly in motion, attracts the fish and no bait whatever 

 is required. In November, when the ice becomes very thick and the 

 cold incieases, the fish retire to deeper water and the fishing is over 

 until the following spring. * * * They are preserved by remov- 

 ing the intestines and drying in large bunches strung on seal line, 

 or by throwing them into long cylindrical baskets made of twisted 

 grass and keeping them entire in a frozen state. * * * They are 

 among the most palatable of the many fish found in these seas, and 

 the number preserved is so great as to be almost incalculable. They 

 serve the natives for food either boiled or in the frozen state. They 

 also form an important article of dog feed in the northern portions 

 of Alaska near the coast." 



Trout. — There are five species of trout known from Alaska — 

 namely, steelhead, Dolly Varden, cutthroat, rainbow, and lake. The 

 steelhead is the most important commercially, a small quantity being- 

 frozen and exported from Alaska each year. While all of the species 

 are fairly abundant, some occm' in extraordinary numbers — for in- 

 stance, the Dolly Varden, or salmon trout, as it is known locally — 

 and all form a most important item in the food supply of the natives 

 and resident whites. But few are sold, and these in Southeast Alaska 

 and at a few places on the Yukon River. There is probably no place 

 in the world where the angler can have better and surer sport than in 

 angling for the difi^erent species of trout in Alaska. Plenty of cut- 

 throat trouts were taken in the traps on Nushagak Bay this season. 

 About three years ago one of the canneries put up some with the 

 intention of calling them pink salmon, but they turned out a dirty 

 yellow, making them unsalable. Some were salted, also, but in that 

 condition they proved too dry, A few were packed in bay leaves, 

 but with poor success,, for they were practically tasteless. 



WJiitefish (Coregonus) . — Seven species of these excellent food fishes 

 are reported from Alaska. They are especially abundant in the 

 rivers emptying into Bering Sea, and are also found in lesser numbers 

 in those streams tributary to the Arctic Ocean. In the Bering Sea 

 rivers the Indians catch them by means of ingenious wickerwork 

 traps, made somewhat after the general " style of a fyke net. They 

 are composed of a series of cylindrical and conical baskets, fitting into 

 each other, with a small opening in the end connecting one with the 

 other, and the series terminating in a tube with a removable bottom, 

 through which the captive fish are extracted. Some of these baskets 

 are from 15 to 25 feet in length. They are secured with stakes 

 driven into the river bottom, and the leader, composed of square 

 sections of wickerwork, is held in place by stakes. The traps are gen- 

 erally set over shoals and eddies, where the whitefish congregate, and, 

 as the river freezes over soon after the traps are set, they must be 



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