140 
BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 
COOK INLKT DISTRICT. 
This district e.'ttends from Cape Elizabeth to Cape Douglass. All the canneries 
that have been operated in Cook Inlet have been located on the eastern shore at 
two points, Kenai and Knssilof. In 1891 three canneries were in operation, but since 
that date only one. 
The climate of Cook Inlet runs to extremes in the different seasons. The 
summers are comparatively mild and sunny, and the winters very cold, the extreme 
temjieratnre reaching 60° below zero over the surrounding country. Across the 
Kenai Peninsula, in Prince William Sound, the summers are wet, and in the winter 
extreme cold is not experienced. 
The Cook Inlet district is a very difficult one to fish. There are probably ])lenty 
of salmon to supply several canneries, but they are not only difficult to catch, but the 
fisheries and the conditions attending the serving of the canneries are extremely 
hazardous. The tides and currents in the inlet are strong and treacherous, increasing 
in height and force as its head is aiiproached, where the tide comes in with a bore 
which is extremely dangerous to small craft. Nearly every season some lives are lost 
in the swift currents of Cook Inlet. The whole section is unsurveyed. Shoals make 
out a long distance from the shore, and are continually changing. When the cannery 
people return in the spring of the year they find the shoals and flats are much 
changed, and bowlders — sometimes of very large size — are noticed where they were 
not before, having been brought down by the large ice floes. 
As frequent allusion is made to the very large king salmon taken in Cook 
Inlet, it may be mentioned that in 1897 the largest individual salmon ever known in 
the vicinity was caught at Knssilof; it weighed just 68^- ijounds, and lost 21 pounds 
in dressing. It is said the flesh of the coho is a deeper red here than at other places, 
and there is a marked difference between the large and small redfish, the latter being- 
much rounder. 
The average pack of this district since 1882 is 0..5 per cent of the Alaska pack, 
and for 1897 it is 3.6 per cent. 
KAKNIT RIVER. 
Kaknu Eiver takes its source from Lake Skillokh, on the western slope of the 
Kenai range of mountains, and flows in a westerly direction for about 40 miles, 
emptying into Cook Inlet at Kenai, some 12 miles north of Kussilof. The river is said 
to have some large tributaries, and as a salmon stream has a greater value than the 
Kussilof. The cannery at Kussilof has three traps in this vicinity during the fishing 
season. The superintendent of the cannery, when asked as to the value of the two 
streams, said that they were both very uncertain; that the Kussilof ranged from 
nothing to 5,000 cases, and the Kaknu from 3,000 to 10,000 cases. The fish here 
average about 14 to the case. The Kaknu is undoubtedly the better stream, but the 
impression prevails that neither can be depended upon, and that it is exceptional to 
have a big run. Another authority stated that the Kaknu was good for 150,000 fish. 
Kenai was a place of considerable importance in the earlier days. The Pedoubt St. 
Nicolas, a stockaded post, was established by the liussians in 1789 and several trading 
