SALMON AND SALMON RIVERS OF ALASKA. 
171 
AUTHOR’S LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 
Washington^ I). C., January 21, 1890. 
Col. Marshall McDonald, 
U. 8. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 
Sir: In accordance with instructions received from you June 3, 1889, directing me 
to make an investigation of the salmon rivers of Alaska, with iiarticnlar reference to 
the habits, abundance, and distribution of the salmon, the conditions and methods of 
the fisheries, and the steps necessary to prevent their decline and to render them per- 
manently successful, I left Washington June 10, 1889, in company with Mr. Robert E. 
Lewis, who was detailed to assist me in the exploration. We arrived in San Fran- 
cisco June 18. 
Finding that Capt. B. P. Herendeen, whose services had been secured as surveyor 
for the party, could not go with us, Mr. Franklin Booth, of the University of Cali- 
fornia, was engaged to take his place. 
We were delayed in San Francisco, awaiting an opportunity to sail, until July 3, 
in the mean time purchasing materials necessary for the expedition. Prof. George 
Davidson, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, obtained from the General Office 
of the Survey permission for us to use various instruments belonging to his office, 
including a theodolite, a level, a barometer, and other articles mentioned in the sur- 
veyor’s report. 
On July 3 we sailed from San Franciseo for Port Townsend, where we arrived 
July 6. We were joined here by Mr. Livingston Stone, who was detailed by you to 
inquire especially into the feasibility of fish culture in Alaska. 
The Karluk Packing Company’s steamer KarluJc, of San Francisco, was to convey 
us from here to Kadiak, but we were detained by an accident to her keel and did not 
sail from Port Townsend until July 19. 
We reached St. Paul, Kadiak, July 28, and Karluk August 2. 
We found that, owing to the lateness of the season, it was impossible to carry 
out the programme indieated in your letter of instructions. There was no opportunity 
of reaching Bristol Bay, and only one vessel departed from Karluk for Cook’s Inlet. 
This was the steamer Francis Cutting, which sailed August 7, only five days after our 
arrival at Karluk, and we learned that she would not return in time for us to 
accomplish anything at that place during the fishing season. 
Finding that Karluk is the most important salmon fishing station in Alaska, 
yielding fully one-half of the entire catch of the Territory, I concluded that we must 
begin our studies there, even if it became necessary also to limit them to that locality 
