41/4 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
week in September the maximum was 
67°, on the 1st, and the minimum 28°, 
on the night of the 2d. Part of this 
time we were in the mountains, but the 
weather continued so warm that the alti- 
tude did not materially affect the average. 
Undoubtedly we were in the most fa- 
vored portion of the peninsula, and there 
during an unusual season besides. Often 
rain and fog encompassed the higher 
mountains, and frequently we could see 
storms moving up and down Cook Inlet. 
Moreover, the great mountain range on 
the east undoubtedly cleared the wind of 
moisture before reaching us. 
Hunting parties coming out later re- 
ported bad weather during the last of 
September and in October, so the above 
data must be taken rather as an evidence 
of what the weather can be than what it 
is apt to be. 
In the winter months the snow is not 
deep in this region, and for causes al- 
ready suggested. Last winter, when the 
middle and easterly States were experi- 
encing the severest weather in 40 years, 
it was unusually mild on the Kenai 
Peninsula, because during the fall and 
winter a continuance of southeasterly 
winds held the Japanese current close 
against the Alaskan shore, and at a time 
when the Arctic cold waves were sweep- 
ing over the central and Atlantic coast 
States. Whether these counter-currents 
were correlated or whether they were co- 
incidental and of no significance is a 
matter for the expert meteorologist to 
investigate. 
In conclusion, let us hope that those 
interested in the permanent prosperity of 
the Kenai Peninsula appreciate the value 
of an abundant and available supply of 
game-food animals and fish, and under- 
stand how much the presence of this 
game has contributed to its fame through- 
out the world. 
The shipment each fall of thousands 
of pounds of moose and sheep meat from 
the Kenai Peninsula to the mining towns 
of Valdez and Cordova is only of a tem- 
porary and trifling benefit to a few mar- 
ket hunters, and will some day prove a 
costly loss. 
Long after the last flake of gold has 
been panned from the sands and the last 
blast has fractured the veins of quartz, 
the Kenai Peninsula should continue to 
be the home of the giant moose and the 
place where the sheep, the grouse, and 
the salmon are worth more in dollars and 
more in life than all the visionary or 
fleeting fortunes beneath the soil. 
AMERICA'S MOST VALUABLE FISHES 
By Hugh M. Smith 
United States Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries 
rnr^i 
I HE answer to the question. What 
are the most important fishes in 
American waters ? is likely to vary 
wdth the geographical distribution of the 
persons addressed. 
The average citizen who lives within 
the sphere of influence of the sacred 
fish effigy hanging in the Massachusetts 
State-house will undoubtedly name the 
cod and its allies that frequent the in- 
shore waters and the great submerged 
"banks" lying off the coasts of Ncav Eng- 
land, the British maritime provinces, and 
Newfoundland. 
From the Hudson to the St. Johns, a 
primary vote would probably favor the 
shad and herrings among river fishes, 
and the bluefish and squeteague among 
marine species. 
Along the 1,700 miles of low-lying 
coast that extends from Key West to the 
Rio Grande, the fishermen and the fish- 
eating public can hardly conceive of any- 
thing more important in the way of food 
fish than the mullets and snappers. 
Throughout the Great Lakes the white- 
fishes, trouts, and pike perches are so 
abvmdant and support such extensive 
fisheries that they would undoubtedly be 
awarded front rank by millions of people 
in the States abutting on these waters. 
In the vast region drained by the Mis- 
