Gu'6 SEAL LIFK OX THE 1'RIIULOF ISLANDS. 



not set* how it was possible tor a fish to ever pass them to the spawn- 

 ing grounds. 



Remonstrating with the tbreinan about such flagrant violation of the 

 law and o!' his own promise, made in IS'.M. tliat sueli methods should 

 not be continued, lie replied: 1 was sent here to take lish: my orders 

 are to lake them wheiever I can lind them, and 1 am going to obey my 

 orders." 



lie afterwards explained to me how, during the storms when the 

 water is too roi gh to allow the spreading of nets, enough salmon pass 

 into and up the river to supply twice the quantity of spawn required 

 for perpetuating the stock. 



His rival across the river indorsed him in all this, but added: ' ; As 

 soon as the storm ceases the fishermen follow the salmon upstream to 

 the playground and capture every one of them." 1 



Exhibit 11, which accompanies this report, is a copy of a bill which I 

 would like to see become law. for 1 believe it would, if enforced, put an 

 end to the present wasteful methods of salmon slaughter in Alaska 

 without doing injury to any honestly conducted enterprise in the 

 Territory. 



Exhibit (.' is a detailed statement of the salmon pack in Alaska for 

 1SJ.">. showing the number of lish taken, the number of cases put up, 

 and the numberof men white, native, and ( Miinese employed ; also the 

 cost of the tin consumed in the business, the amount invested in each 

 plant owned by the Alaska Packers' Association, and other data as per 

 instructions. The only item of prime interest 1 have been unable to 

 secure is the selling price of the product of each cannery in the market 

 to which it is consigned. 



Through the kindness and courtesy of the Alaska Packers' Associ- 

 ation 1 have learned that the average selling price in San Francisco, 

 where the greater bulk of the whole pack is sold, is as follows: Silver 

 salmon, si' cents per do/en: red salmon. \)'2\ cents per dozen: king 

 salmon. OL'J, cents per do/en, and barrels of UOO pounds net, 84.7."). 



Considering that only very lew silver salmon are taken and packed, 

 it is safe to say that the whole number of cases put up in 1895 averaged 

 .':>. 00 per case, or a sum equal to ^-,^,7(14. 10, which, added to the 

 price of Hi.sr>7 barrels at s4.7."i. makes a grand total of *_!,3-!0,0<>8 as 

 the price reali/ed on Alaskan salmon in 18!)."). 



Exhibit E is a summary of the salmon pack of the Pacific (-oast and 

 Alaska for 1S!>.~. showing a grand total of -,040,0111 cases of 48 pounds 

 each, the largest yearly catch on record. An examination of the figures 

 shows that about one third of this catch was taken from the streams of 

 Alaska. 



That adequate protection should be given to these streams by which 

 the salmon may be perpetuated indefinitely goes without saying, and 

 yet I find it the hardest part of all to make men believe there is any 

 danger in t lie present methods of fishing. 



'lhat 1 might not be accused of setting my own individual opinion 

 against men of practical experience, 1 addressed letters of inquiry to 

 many gentlemen who are deeply interested in Alaska, whose homes 

 are there, and who have everything at stake in the successor failure 

 of t lie Territory. 



To Mr. William Duncan (Ealher Duncan), of Metlakahtla, 1 sent a. 

 series of questions which 1 requested should be submitted to his peo- 

 ple for consideration and the answers given to me when 1 called at the 



Th<- phi\ ground i- that part of thr stream where the salt and fresh \vatcrs meet 

 and mingle, in which the salmon prefer to live for several weeks before spawning. 



