REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. LXXY 
places in that territory, and an important and profitable industry lias 
thereby gained a strong foothold in what is otherwise almost a primi- 
tive wilderness. In 1889 there were 36 of these canneries, 4 of which 
were located in Bristol Bay, 8 on Kadiak Island, 2 on Afognak Island, 
5 on the east side of the Alaska Peninsula, 2 in Cook Inlet, and the 
remainder farther south along the coast. The total amount of capital 
invested was about $4,000,000, while the output for the year was valued 
at about $3,000,000. The resources of the Alaskan rivers in respect to 
this product have been considered by many persons, the- fishermen and 
canners especially, to be practically inexhaustible, and such might be 
the case were the fishery conducted in a judicious manner and the 
habits of the salmon not materially interfered with. Many of the rivers, 
however, to which the salmon resort in great numbers, and which are 
conveniently located for the business, have short courses and compara- 
tively shallow water near their outlets at times of low tide. In streams 
of this character the fish can readily be brought more directly under 
the control of man than in the longer and larger rivers in which the 
fishery has hitherto chiefly been carried on. The fishermen have been 
quick to recognize this advantage in devising means of capture, the 
most formidable and destructive of which have been traps and other 
forms of barricades reaching partly or entirely across the river. Meet- 
ing such a barricade the salmon congregate below it, and, still impelled 
by the breeding impulse to continue the ascent, remain entirely at the 
mercy of their captors, who can remove them with little trouble and 
at slight expense. To what extent this practice is now indulged in is 
not precisely known, and, we are, therefore, justified in supposing that 
only a small proportion of the fisheries are thus maintained, but a 
number of instances of gross misuse of the natural privileges have 
been reported, and as the canneries in any one locality increase in 
number the abuses are said to multiply. 
The salmon interests of Alaska are actually of greater value than 
the sealing, and by proper management they can be made more per- 
manent, but with unrestricted license they will as rapidly be destroyed. 
A knowledge of the habits of the salmon, joined with past experience 
in regard to the fisheries which they have provided, establishes the 
fact that this very important food product is also one of the easiest to 
exterminate, and should be well cared for. 
During the winter of 1888-89 the attention of Congress was cabled to 
the salmon question in Alaska by residents of the Pacific Coast, who 
made an earnest appeal for immediate legislation to protect this source 
of industry before the rivers had become depleted. In compliance 
with their request the following act was passed and became a law on 
March 2, 1889 : 
AX ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the erection of dams, barricades, or other obstructions in 
