50 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
auuual pack in eacli region and the proportion of the difterent sections in the value of the canned 
products afford an interesting study of the seasonal fluctuations of the business. 
The growth of the salmon-canning business, as indicated by the number of canneries in 
operation each year, is shown in the following table. The acme of the business Avas reached in 1889, 
when 37 canneries were run. In 1892, for reasons elsewhere stated, the active canneries were 
reduced to 15, and since that year there have been numbers of canneries held in reserve in the 
most important districts. Owing to the establishment of new canneries and the reopening of old 
ones, the plants operated in 1896 and 1897 were more numerous than in any season since 1891. 
Talde, shmvin;/ hi/ years the niimher of canneries operated in each district of Alaska from 1S78 to 1897. 
The number of salmon canneries in operation in 1897 was 29, divided as follows among the 
different districts : Southeast Alaska, 9; Prince William Sound and Copper Eiver, 2; Cook Inlet, 
1; Kadiak and Chignik, 10, and Bering Sea, 7. In the previous year, also, 29 canneries were 
operated, 9 being in southeast Alaska, 3 on Prince William Sound and Copper Eiver, 1 on Cook 
Inlet, 8 at Kadiak and Chignik, and 8 in Bering Sea. 
The number of persons employed in the Alaskau salmon-canning business in 1897 was 5,252. Of 
these, 1,148 were white fishermen, 759 native fishermen, 312 white cannery employes, 439 native 
cannery hands, 2,268 Chinese cannery hands, and 326 hatchery men, crews of cannery launches 
and other vessels, and various other employees. The persons employed in various capacities in 
each district numbered as follows: Southeast Alaska, 1,829; Prince William Sound and Copper 
Eiver, 364; Cook Inlet, 173; Kadiak and Chignik, 1,577, and Bering Sea, 1,309. 
The amount of invested capital represented by the Alaskan salmon industry is A’^ery large. 
The value of the vessels, boats, fishing gear, buildings, machinery, etc., including the canneries 
not operated but held iu reserve, aggregated approximately $3,623,200 in 1897, apportioned as 
follows among the diff'erent districts : Southeast Alaska, $597,400 ; Prince W illiara Sound and Cop- 
per Eiver, $263,500; Cook Inlet, $154,300; Kadiak and Chignik, $1,741,000, and Bering Sea, $867,000. 
By far the largest item in the investment was the cannery buildings and equipment, which had a 
value of $2,630,860. The other leading items were vessels and boats, $836,100; 544 gill nets, 
$69,470; 48 traps, $48,050, and 133 seines, $38,680. 
