6 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



however, suffice to say that as many as 100,000 salmon 

 have been taken in a single haul of the seine nets at 

 Karluk, which is the greatest place for this kind of fishing 

 in Alaska. A powerful " combine," known as the Alaska 

 Packers' Association, controls some of the best rivers in the 

 country, and the way in which the fishing, canning, and 

 packing are carried out in its canneries is well worth 

 seeing. Every appliance known to man in the way of 

 machinery for this purpose is used ; and the fish are hardly 

 touched by hand from the moment of leaving the water 

 until they are sent down -country packed in tin cans. So 

 rapid indeed is the process that only a few minutes elapse 

 from the time the fish arrive on a steam-tug alongside the 

 cannery wharf, until they issue in tins from the other end of 

 long lines of machinery, which are often working night and 

 day during the big run of fish. All forms of nets are used 

 for catching the salmon ; — from traps to seine and gill nets. 

 Boats and men are kept working at high pressure while the 

 fish are running thick. Nevertheless, there are countless 

 millions of fish which escape and run up the rivers to spawn 

 and die, since they never return to the sea again after spawn- 

 ing. If evidence of this be required, a walk along the shores 

 of a lake, or the river-banks in autumn, will soon convince the 

 unbeliever, who will not be long in forming an opinion, 

 since the sight of dead salmon, and the awful smell arising 

 therefrom will soon drive him as far as possible from the 

 spot. The canneries only work for a short time during June, 

 July, and the early part of August. Each spring expeditions 

 leave San Francisco early in April ; big sailing vessels 

 conveying a staff of men, and materials for making the tin 

 cans and packing cases. The men employed are chiefly 

 Chinese and Italians, over whom are placed able super- 



