148 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
During the past four years attention has been directed to Bristol 
Bay as the best region in which to engage in the salmon fisheries. 
The cost of operating a cannery here is probably greater than in south- 
eastern Alaska, but the higher grade of salmon packed compensates 
for the extra expense involved. In 1903 the pack in this region 
amounted to nearly 200,000 cases more than that of 1902. Here, the 
season being short, about five or six weeks at most, salmon must almost 
daily arrive in large numbers if a full pack is to be secured. A ‘‘slack 
spell” for any considerable length of time is likely to result in small 
packs, for the time lost in the early part or middle of the season is not 
likely to be made up later, as is the case in some other parts of Alaska, 
owing to uncertain weather conditions which prevent extensive fishing. 
The pack, moreover, must be loaded into ships, and it is very desirable 
that this should be done as early in the season as possible. 
The Nushagak River is the most northern point in Bristol Bay 
where salmon have been taken for commercial purposes. During the 
last three years several parties have been investigating the waters of 
the Kuskokwim River and tributaries, and report that a large body 
of red salmon enter this riverannually. One of the principal obstacles 
to the establishment of canneries on the Kuskokwim is the shallow 
intricate passages leading into it, which prevent large craft from 
entering. Ships are an indispensable adjunct to a cannery in this 
region, there being no other means of transportation, and until a 
channel for deep-draft vessels is defined the chances are that this river 
will not be fished to any great extent. 
Several salteries have been established on Bristol Bay southwest of 
the Naknek and Ugashik rivers, between Port Haiden and Khudubine 
Island, and the owners of these salteries intend to erect canneries on 
the sites in the near future. 
In the years 1900, 1901, and 1902 a large number of canneries were 
built in southeast Alaska, although as early as 1900 there were evi- 
dently as many as the streams would support. The result has been 
that in the last two seasons a number of establishments were obliged 
to close. It has been reported that the cannery belonging to the Union 
Packing Company, situated at Kell Bay, Kuiu Island, is to be disman- 
tled and the machinery taken to Bristol Bay. 
The demand for mild-cured and frozen salmon being great, it is pos- 
sible that in the future more of this product will be furnished by Alaska. 
So far only two plants have been established in that territory, one at 
Taku Harbor and one at Ideal Cove, the north arm of the Stikine 
River. The plant at Ideal Cove was operated in a small way during 
the seasons of 1901 and 1902, but it being made unlawful to take salmon 
in 1903 before July 1, and the king salmon, the species desired, being 
obtainable mostly in May and June, this company was forced out of 
business. The other company, however, having a cannery, was enabled 
