ALASKA SALMON INVESTIGATIONS IN 1901. 
389 
Since the apparent decline of the salmon fisheries on the western coast of the 
United States attention has been called to Alaska, and the Alsek region has not 
escaped the eye of the canner. The locality has been visited during the past two 
years by several individuals with the idea of obtaining the salmon in the streams, 
but as yet no steps have been taken to even prospect the region. It is reported that 
canner} 7 sites have been selected in Monti Bay with the idea of conveying the catch 
from the Alsek and adjacent streams to that point, while other sites have been selected 
in the vicinity of the Alsek. Either proposition presents conditions difficult to over- 
come, and some very wild schemes are spoken of — one to build a railway from 
Monti Bay to the Alsek; another to transport the fish by trolley, and another, and 
the only feasible plan, to build light-draft surf tugs to cross the different bars. 
There is no feasible inside water route nor can one be made and maintained at a sum 
which the fisheries would warrant. 
It is believed, through the reports made by the Indians and from the number of 
fish seen jumping by those who have visited the section, that there are a great many 
salmon of all species in the Alsek and adjacent streams to Yakutat, but nothing is 
definitely known of the abundance. Yet it may be conceded that there are sufficient 
salmon in these streams to supply several large canneries. To catch them legally, 
to collect them at certain centers for transportation, and to transport them are 
propositions that will tax the resources of the canner to the utmost. 
A cannery is generally located at a point accessible to the home transporting 
vessels in preference to a locality at the fisheries and inaccessible to the transports; 
so that Monti Bay would probably be the most feasible point for a cannery location. 
All these streams have tidal basins, greater or less in extent, into which they 
discharge and from which a channel leads into the open sea, usually over a bar over 
which about 6 feet maybe carried at low water. The gill-netter will find the waters 
here shallow and the channels obstructed by bars and quicksands; the trap-man will 
find that his piling will not stand, and the drag-seine man will find the banks giving 
away under his feet. To find better conditions the higher reaches will be resorted to. 
The weather in summer along the coast is usually good and the surf on the bars is not 
heavy, but as fishing for king salmon would commence the last of April or early in 
May gales may be expected that would interfere with transportation. In fact, even 
under fair conditions it would be a question whether many fish would reach the can- 
nery in Monti Bay in good condition. Experience in the locality may solve many of 
the questions now presented, but at best the pack will be an expensive one. 
The small steamer Beaver and a large naphtha launch belonging to the Western 
Fisheries Company, at Dundas Bay, both crossed the Alsek bar during June and 
carried a few king salmon to their cannery. The Beaver made one trip and the 
naphtha launch at least two. The last time the latter crossed she rolled over and filled, 
but was floated, with the loss of her upper works. This cannery expects next year 
to fish the Alsek, making a sea run from the cannery of from 90 to 100 miles. 
YAKUTAT. - 
There do not appear to be any streams in Yakutat or Disenchantment Bay that 
carry salmon in sufficient quantities for cannery purposes, but the prospects of the 
Alsek and the adjacent streams have been an inducement for the location of several 
