THE ALASKAN FISHING GROUNDS. 91 



Ou the 4tii of July, 1880, we saw two species of salmon — "redflsh" or "krasnoi riba 

 (0. nerJca) and "hoikob" (0. Aeto) — banging on the drying-frames at Alexandrovsk in great 

 numbers. A lagoon near the Tillage, which receives a small but rapid stream, is well supplied 

 with fish. In addition to the ordinary frame of poles on which the split and gashed salmon are 

 hung, the natives frequently fasten small trees in the ground, cut off the limbs to a suitable 

 length, and cover them with the blood-red fruits of their labors, making them a kind of Christmas 

 tree of substantials. The little houses in which dried fish are stored for winter are set on logs 

 placed endwise to insure protection from dogs. Cod and halibut are reported to be present here 

 the year round. The halibut-line'of these people is made of the stem of bull kelp, which grows 

 here to an immense size. One of the plants measured aboard the "Yukon" had a stem sixty-seven 

 and one-half feet long, with eighty-six fronds, two of which measured twenty-five and thirty-five 

 feet, respectively. On this kelp line two hooks are fastened' at the ends of a short bar on short 

 snoods. The stone sinker is fastened to the middle of the bar by a snood longer than those 

 holding the hooks. The bidarkas are made of the skins of hair seal. At the time of our visit 

 seven skins of sea-otter recently killed were stretched on drying frames. The sea-otter are said 

 to feed largely on chitons and clams. The abundance of fine clams near Alexandrovsk makes it 

 a good otter- ground. From Alexandrovsk due northward is a settlement called Seldovia, 

 consisting of sixty-eight Kodiak natives and Creoles, who are devoted to sea-otter hunting. On 

 the opposite side of Chugachik Gulf, near Anchor Point, is the village of Laida, containing 

 seventy-eight Kenai people, who are also sea-otter hunters with indifferent success. Mr. Petroft 

 gives a graphic account of the Kenai people, from which I extract the following remarks relating 

 to the fishing : 



"These people build birch-bark canoes with which to navigate the numerous swift and 

 brawling rivers in their Territory, and they go down to the seaboard, buy skin canoes of the 

 Kodiak pattern, and navigate to some extent on salt water, in quest of fish, in this manner. In 

 this connection we wish to call attention to the fact that these people do not make, in any form 

 whatever, wooden canoes ; for that matter the explorer will find no wooden canoes north of Mount 

 Saint Elias in this whole region. They are expert fishermen, and they certainly enjoy an 

 abundance of piscatorial food, salmon of fine size and quality running up their rivers, trout in 

 the thousand and one lakes of their country, finding them there all through the winter, fishing 

 through the ice; and with a certain degree of "contempt for the salt water, which is the 

 treasure-trove and life- trust of the Kodiaker and the Aleutian, they spend no time there unless 

 the steamboat-puf&ng of an approaching school of white whales attracts their cupidity and 

 supplies them with a rare feast. These animals (the "beluga') are found here running up some of 

 their rivers quite a distance."^ 



THE KASSILOV SALMON FISHERY. 



The Kassilov fishery, owned by the Western Fur and Trading Company of San Francisco, 

 and operated by Capt. H. R. Bowen, is located at the mouth of Kassilov Eiver, Cook's Inlet. It 

 was established in 1879. The gill-nets are twenty -four fathoms long, two fathoms deep, with a 

 mesh of eight and one half inches, and cost ten dollars each. They are made of Barber's 

 shoe-thread. Gill-nets are used for salmon also. Two buildings, valued at two hundred and fifty 

 dollars, are in use. There are three sixteen-foot dories. Four natives of Alaska are employed. 

 The fishery is active from May 20 to September 1. Tide water makes up the river about seven 

 miles ; there are no obstructions except rapids. Two weirs are constructed here ; the leaders are 



'Preliminary Eeport on Census of Alaska, 1861, p. 36. 



