SALMON FISHEK1ES OF ALASKA. 23 



"Several other small creeks empty into Larsen's Bay on its northern side, but 

 owing to the high black slate bluffs which almost everywhere line the shore, no fish 

 can enter them." 



Near the Arctic Packing Company's cannery, at Larsen's Bay, Mr. Booth describes 

 "a large tract which apparently consists wholly of peat to a considerable depth. 

 Above it is a small pond from which the cannery draws a portion of its water supply, 

 the other portion being taken from springs which rise through the peat bog. At one 

 of these springs an excavation six feet in depth did not reach the bottom of the peat 

 deposit. Such deposits exist also in many places in the Karluk River Valley and 

 probably in the Sturgeon Biver Valley and others of similar topographical features. 

 They may be a valuable source of fuel supply in the future if suitable means for dry- 

 ing the peat could be devised. As yet no attempt has been made to utilize them nor 

 has any of this peat been experimented with so far as my information goes." 



Photographs were made of the salmon fleet anchored in Uyak Bay during a south- 

 west gale, of the harbor near the mouth of this bay looking across Shelikoff Strait and 

 also to the northeast, besides Larsen's Bay, including the canning establishment of 

 the Arctic Packing Company. 



AFOGNAK BAT. 

 (Plates xxxiv and xli.) 



After having completed preparations for a trip to Afognak Island, to make col- 

 lections and photographs and continue our study of the salmon, Mr. Lewis and I were 

 poisoned by a plant which we supposed to be wild celery and had to remain at Karluk. 

 Mr. Booth and Mr. Stone accordingly made the excursion and investigated the phys- 

 ical characteristics of Afognak Bay, lake, and river, and the possibilities of conducting 

 a salmon -hatching establishment in that region. Mr. Booth's account is given below. 

 Mr. Stone's report will be referred to elsewhere : 



" The interior of Afognak Island is, from the best accounts, made up of flat marshy 

 valleys separated by mountain chains from 1,500 to 2,000 feet high. These valleys 

 contain many lakes, which connect by means of short rivers and shallow estuaries 

 with deep narrow inlets leading to the open sea. The most important of these is the 

 Afognak River, and in Afognak Bay, the inlet at the mouth of its estuary, are situated 

 the canneries of the Royal and Russian American Packing Companies. This river is 

 but short, its total length measured from the point where it leaves the lake to the 

 upper end of Afognak Bay being not more than three miles. 



" As the whole of Afognak Lake can be seen from the source of the river, and our 

 time was limited, it was not explored. Its extreme length does not exceed 3 miles 

 and its greatest width is about three-fourths of a mile. The general configuration is 

 shown on the accompanying chart. It derives its water supply from small streams 

 coming directly down from the surrounding hills and creeks, which drain two wide 

 valleys to the northward. The lake seems to be surrounded by a thick fringe of 

 spruce woods, except at its extreme north end, which is grass-covered, with here and 

 there clumps of alder. Where the river leaves the lake it is about 130 feet wide, but 

 narrows down to 70 feet in width in the course of 100 yards, and after going about 

 one-third of a mile narrows still more, being there not more than 40 feet wide. Thus 

 far it keeps an almost straight course, so much so as to remind one of a canal. From 



