206 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
part of the bay is very shoal, and as the current is strong it can be safely navigated 
only by small vessels built to resist the shock of repeated grounding. It is said that 
the banks from the Etolin side project halfway across the bay, and, with those from 
the peninsula side, coniine the channel to a comparatively narrow limit. A seagoing 
vessel, however, under skillful guidance and with local knowledge, may reach a point 
a few miles below the mouth of the Naknek River, which is about 30 miles below the 
head of the bay; but some cannerymen, considering the risk too great to carry their 
transport vessels even to the mouth of the Naknek, leave them there for the season. 
Above the mouth of the Naknek River the shoals begin to extend across the 
channel, and as a point higher up i° reached the whole bay, at low water, is filled 
with uncovered banks having shallow, narrow channels winding through them. 
At the head of the bay is the mouth of the Kvichak River, which is the outlet to 
the great lakes, Iliamna and Clark, lying on the western side of the mountain system 
bordering Cook Inlet. Very little is known of this lake region, as it has been visited 
by very few white men. 
Mr. A. B. Schanz, the census enumerator of this district for 1890, and Mr. John 
W. Clark, of the Alaska Commercial Company, ascended the Nushagak and, taking one 
of the tributaries, made a portage to the Chultina, which was followed to Lake Clark. 
A description of the source of the Kvichak is given in the Census Report of 1890, 
page 92. From it the following quotation is made: 
We discovered Lake Clark on the morning of Sunday, February 15, 1891. It is a typical Alaskan 
mountain lake, for it has all the characteristics in a marked degree. It is very long, very narrow, very 
irregular, and very deep, and is surrounded on all sides by high mountains. It is nearly 70 m les long, 
is at the widest point hardly 10 miles wide, and is crooked and very full of bays and bights. We tried 
in vain, with a sounding line over 100 fathoms long, to find its bottom; and the mountains hemming 
it in tower in altitude from 5,000 to 12,000 feet. The general direction of the lake is northeast and 
southwest, and extends from the base of the Alaskan range bordering Cook Inlet to the one hundred 
and fifty-fifth meridian. The longitude of the geographical center of the lake is about 160° 15 7 W. 
It has five noteworthy affluents, and its outlet, the Noghelin River, was found to be an important 
stream of great volume, open throughout the winter on account of its force, and running generally 
almost due south. The Noghelin supplies the great Lake Iliamna with its vast store of crystal water, 
the source of which has hitherto been absolutely unknown to geographers. 
Lake Iliamna is the largest lake thus far discovered in Alaska. Its greatest length is about 90 miles, 
and its greatest width about 40. It therefore extends over one-half the width of the peninsula, and 
together with its outlet, the Kvichak River, it provides a waterway from Bristol Bay to within 20 miles 
of Cook Inlet, and an easy portage over a mountain pass completes the route. 
The river is large and discharges a great quantity of water. It is said that the 
influence of the tide is felt 30 miles from the mouth. The Kvichak flows into the 
head of the bay on the western side; on the eastern side a smaller river, the Locke- 
nuck, having a lake source, it is said, discharges its water. At the head of the bay 
there is an extreme rise and fall on spring tides of over 25 feet. 
The Kvichak is purely a redtish region. All the other species occur, but in a 
scattering way. The traps take a few trout, but no steelheads, shad, or sturgeon. 
The times of the runs are about the same as those given for the Nushagak. Inquiry 
was made regarding a hatchery site, but no information could be obtained of any 
location in the vicinity suitable for the purpose. 
Koggiung, the location of the cannery of the Point Roberts Packing Company, 
is on the eastern shore at the upper end of Kvichak Bay, about 6 miles below the 
