ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 251 



WORK AT KENAI STATION. 



On June 2 I left Sitka on the steamer Newport, for the westward, 

 with a view to first visit the experiment station at Kenai on Cook 

 Inlet, and then go to Unalaska, and from there to St. Michael and up 

 the Yukon River in the interest of these investigations. The steamer 

 Newport touched at Homer and Seldovia, at the mouth of Cook Inlet, 

 but did not go up to Kenai. 1 had expected to reach Kenai from 

 Homer on some passing boat, but there appeared to be very little 

 traffic on the inlet. I waited a week at Homer without an opportunity 

 to go up. The Cook Inlet Coal Fields Company, who own all the 

 improvements at Homer, kindly accommodated me with quarters 

 during this enforced stay, which was duly appreciated, as I was not 

 provided with a camping outfit. At the end of a week I felt com- 

 pelled to hire a sailboat in order to reach my destination. I induced 

 the owner of a small sloop, which was put to sea on the high June 

 tide, after having been on dry land all winter, to take me up there. 

 We reached Kenai after a somewhat adventurous sail of two days and 

 nights. The wind was unfavorable and the tides are so swift in the 

 Inlet that the boat was at times carried back almost as fast as it had 

 advanced. 



I found the work at the Kenai Station advancing favorably. Mr. 

 H. P. Nielsen, who has been in charge of the station from the begin- 

 ning, deserves much credit for the amount and quality of the work 

 which he has accomplished. Except for a few days on special occa- 

 sions he has never had more than one man to help him, and most of the 

 time he has been alone. He has built a barn and silo, both of logs. 

 He has also built a station building intended for quarters for the 

 superintendent and also to furnish storage room for seeds and speci- 

 mens. A photograph of this building as it appeared at the time of 

 my visit is reproduced in PI. IX, fig. 1. The building was not fin- 

 ished at that time, but it has since been completed. He has cleared, 

 fenced, and put under culture about 6 acres of land and more ground 

 is cleared, off and on, whenever time can be spared from work required 

 by the growing crops. (PL IX, fig. 2.) There has been but one }^oke 

 of oxen at the Kenai Station and one of these is getting old and gradu- 

 ally giving out. To replace him I bought a yearling from one of the 

 residents and turned him over to Mr. Nielsen's care. Oxen are, in my 

 judgment, the most satisfactory work animals for the pioneer Alaska 

 farmer. The station oxen at Kenai live wholly on native feed, and 

 are, therefore, maintained at practically no cost, except the labor of 

 providing the feed. For stump pulling, plowing new ground full of 

 roots, etc. , oxen are far superior to horses. We have worked the oxen 

 at Kenai in harness from the beginning. The yoke is used only to 



