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bullet™ of the united states fish commission. 
Even when white men are met and questioned, information relating to the streams 
is difficult to obtain with any degree of exactness. The men at the head of the can- 
neries know the cannery business thoroughly. They know how to get the fish to the 
canneries, pack them, case them for the market, and figure on the profits, but it is 
exceptionally rare to find one who has followed even his home stream to its source 
and examined the lake system and the spawning-grounds. This is not said in a spirit 
of criticism, for the cannerymen are interested only in obtaining fish, but to indicate 
the difficulty of gathering the information desired in our work, except by personal 
examination and investigation. 
As the work progressed it was soon learned by certain signs, and independently 
of any information except by examination, whether a stream carried redfish. A 
shack near the mouth of the stream, with some fishing gear and a canoe or two housed 
in, was one sign, but it sometimes failed. A barricade, or the remnants of one at 
high-water mark in the stream, was an infallible sign of a redfish stream. Another 
sign was the color of the flowing water; if clear, it was probably not a lake outlet, and 
carried no red salmon; if but slightly tinged, brownish, not unlike the juniper water of 
the Dismal Swamp, it was a lake outlet, and probably contained redfish, and possibly 
all the other species as well. 
The exploration of these streams and lakes is not an easy task. The bed of the 
stream is the only highway, and this taxes endurance to the utmost, and, at the best, 
progress is slow. The current is generally strong, the river bed is full of pitfalls, and 
after an advance of a mile, climbing over bowlders, crossing raiiids, clinging to the 
shubbery growing on the faces of precipitous rock walls, and tumbling through trees 
and over log jams, one feels that certain muscles have been called into play that 
have never before been known to exist. Practically no advance can be made on the 
banks; here and there deer trails can be followed, but they lead off away from the 
course and into the mountains. The forest itself is almost impenetrable, not only 
on account of the vegetable growth, but because the mass of fallen and decaying 
timber and its debris form obstructions that are very difficult to pass. The parties 
frequently returned to the vessel well-nigh exhausted, and in several instances men 
gave out while on duty. 
In carrying on the investigations the importance of obtaining detailed records 
from the ditterent streams urns recognized, not only to determine their capacity, but 
to be able to trace injury caused by traps, barricades, overfishing, etc. In a few 
instances only are complete records available, and even in these cases the waste at 
the fisheries anil the amounts taken for local consumption and for winter food are 
unknown. The masters of cannery steamers in calling at the different fisheries record 
the number from each locality in a notebook when the fish are bought, and the amounts 
are paid upon delivery at the cannery. If the fish are obtained at fisheries conducted 
by the canneries, no accurate account is kept by localities. When the season is over 
and settlement is made, these memorandum books are thrown away or lost. Besides, 
there are frequent changes of masters, steamers, and cannery superintendents. 
The Alaska Packers’ Association now have printed form books at each cannery 
operated by them, in whicli are recorded, for each day, the state of the weather and the 
number of each species of fish received at the cannery and packed, so that at present 
the number of fish handled at any one of their canneries can be learned. If accurate 
stream records could be kept, it would be of great value, not only to the Government 
in framing laws, but to the canneries themselves. 
