XIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Iii carrying on this series of investigations it has been, necessary, 
owing to the lack of sufficient funds, to rely chiefly on the services of 
volunteer naturalists, and most assistance in this direction has been 
furnished by Dr. David S. Jordan, president of the Indiana University, 
and his associate professors and students in ichthyology. Special men- 
tion should be made in this connection of Prof. Charles H. Gilbert, Prof. 
B. W. Evermann, and Mr. C. H. Bollman. Dr. James A. Henshall, of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, also volunteered his services during the summer of 
1888. After a conference with Dr. Jordan as to the observations which 
it was desirable should be made, the work was mostly placed under his 
immediate direction, and the part intrusted to him has been conducted 
in a very zealous and appreciative manner. The investigations made 
up to the close of the year had reference to seventeen States, as follows : 
New York, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, 
Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. 
During the winter of 1888-89 Congress passed an act to provide for 
the protection of the salmon fisheries of Alaska, wTdch, owing to the 
rapid increase in the number of salmon canneries established in certain 
parts of that Territory and the wholesale methods of capture resorted 
to, seemed in great danger of being seriously depleted within a com- 
paratively few years unless subjected to appropriate regulations. By 
this enactment it was declared unlawful to erect dams, barricades, or 
other obstructions in any of the rivers of Alaska, which might prevent 
or impede the ascent of salmon and other anadromous fishes to their 
spawning-grounds, and, furthermore, the Commissioner of Fisheries 
was directed “to institute an investigation into the habits, abundance, 
and distribution of the salmon of Alaska, as well as the present condi- 
tions and methods of the fisheries, with a view of recommending to 
Congress such additional legislation as may be necessary to prevent 
the impairment or exhaustion of these valuable fisheries, and placing 
them under regular and permanent conditions of production.” 
In accordance with this provision, arrangements were made for 
undertaking the investigation directed during the summer of 1889, and 
a party suitably equipped for that purpose was organized in June. 
It set sail for Alaska early in July, immediately after the close of the 
fiscal year. The party was in charge of Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, ichthy- 
ologist of the Commission, and personally acquainted with Alaskan 
waters, and consisted besides himself of Mr. Livingston Stone, super- 
intendent of the Fish Commission salmon station in California; Mr. 
Franklin Booth, engineer, of the University of California; and Mr. 
Robert E. Lewis, general assistant. They have been directed to first 
visit Kadiak and Afognak islands, the principal centers of the can- 
ning interests in Alaska, and subsequently, if the time permits, Cook 
Inlet and Bristol Bay. Their instructions comprehend a very thorough 
investigation, and it is confidently expected that sufficient informa- 
