THE SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 
141 
companies liave been operated at this place. At present there is a small settlement 
of about 150 inhabitants. 
The cannery of the Northern Packing Oomx)any was built in 188<S on the eastern 
side of Cook Inlet, at Kenai, at the mouth of the Kakuu Eiver, 51 miles above Anchor 
Point. It was ojierated in 1888, 1889, 1890, and 1891. In 1892 it joined the Alaska 
Packing Association, and it became a member of the Alaska Packers’ Association 
in 1893. It has been closed since 1891, and some of the machinery has been utilized 
in the plant at Kussilof, but it is said that the cannery is in such condition that it can 
be x^laced in running order at short notice. It is held as a reserve, and has a cai)acity 
of about 800 cases a day. 
Buildings were completed for a cannery by the Pacific Steam Whaling Oomx)any 
at Kenai in the summer of 1897, near the cannery of the Northern Packing Company, 
but no machinery was installed. It was said that the machinery of the Coqueuhena 
cannery was to be placed in this plant in the siu’iug of 1898, and the cannery was to 
be oiierated that season. It will have a capacity of about 800 cases a day. 
KUSSILOF RIVER. 
The Kussilof River has its source in Lake Tustumena, a large body of water on 
tlie western slope of the mountain range that forms the dividing ridge on Kenai 
Peninsula, and flows in a general westerly direction through bottom lands and timber 
for about 25 miles, emjityiug into Cook Inlet at Kussilof. It is said that the lake is 
fed by bottom springs and small streams. The river receives several tributaries, some 
of which are lake outlets. Little accurate information can be obtained of these 
waters. Hunters penetrate the interior after moose, mountain sheep, and bear, but 
their rexiorts are vague and conflicting. The rise and fall of sxiring tides at Kussilof 
is over 30 feet, and tide water extends up the river for a distance of G miles, to a point 
where the first raxiids are encountered. At low water the stream runs some distance 
into the inlet between high mud banks, with a bar at the end, which is bare at sxiring 
tides. The cannery is on the right bank, with some buildings on the river and some 
on the inlet. The river at this place is about 150 yards wide. 
The suxierintendent of the cannery stated that all their fish were taken in the 
inlet, and that the rivers were not fished at all, as fish were not numerous enough to 
justify making xireparation for them. He said that a number of years ago, before there 
was any law on the subject, he built a trax) in the river xu'oxier, which took only 20,000 
fish during the entire season. 
In 1890 Mr. George W. Hume, of San Prancisco, built a cannery at Kussilof on 
the right bank of the river, about half a mile above its mouth. It was oxierated in 
1890, 1891, and 1892. In the latter year it joined, the Alaska Packing Association, in 
1893 it entered the Alaska Packers’ Association, and in 1894 it was consolidated with 
the Arctic Fishing Company’s plant. It has not been operated since 1892. 
In 1882 the Alaska Packing Company, of San Francisco, built a- cannery at Kus- 
silof, on the right bank of the river at the mouth, utilizing in its construction the 
available machinery of a cannery built at Old Sitka by the Cutting Packing Company, 
of San Francisco, in 1878.* In 1885 this cannery was sold to the Arctic Fishing Com- 
XJany. In 1899 the cannery shix), the Corea, was wrecked in Cook Inlet, and the 
eannery was not ox)erated. In 1892 it joined the Alaska Packing Association and 
* The Old Sitka cannery made a xjack in 1878 and 1879 and was then closed. 
