146 
15ULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
rise oil the high water. Boats can enter the lagoon only after half tide. About half 
a mile from the mouth of the outlet is a marshy island, which is the end of a large Hat 
making out from the southern bluffs, aud which has the greater part bare at low 
water. The lagoon is shallow, with sandy and grassy bottom and deeper holes along 
the spit aud the northern shore. There is a shallow, regular channel at low water, 
and with difficulty a tlatboat can be worked through. At the upper end of the lagoon 
the water is slightly brackish and the current Hows out; the tide affects it by backing 
up about 18 inches. 
The lagoon generally freezes over in the latter part of November, and as a rule does 
not break up until late in the spring. In the river, above the lagoon, and at the 
head of the latter, small bowlders, probably brought down by the ice, are scattered 
along the banks. It is said that the lakes at the head of the river frequently freeze 
over, and in an extremely severe winter it is claimed that they freeze to the bottom. 
The theory is advanced that when the lakes are frozen to the bottom it accounts for 
the small run of salmon at almost regular intervals. 
inSHING-GROUNDS OF THE KARI.UK REGION. 
The waters surrounding the outlet to Karluk Lagoon are probably the most 
remarkable in salmon production in Alaska, not only in point of numbers, but in 
the length of the runs. The lish are principally redtish {Oncorhi/nchus nerlca)^ hnt 
stragglers of all the other species are taken, and in some years the humpbacks come 
in immense numbers. One instance is recorded in which they were so thick in the 
outlet that a boat could not be pulled through them, aud this condition prevailed for 
weeks. (See Dr. Beau’s report.) 
When salmon were taken for salting puriioses only, and for some time after can- 
neries were introduced, the fishing-ground for Karluk was in the outlet and lagoon, 
from 4 mile to 2 miles from its mouth. It was not necessary to go outside, for an 
abundance of salmon could always be taken near the saltery and cannery. So 
numerous were they that by a few hauls, with a seine only 40 fathoms long, enough 
fish could be caught to supply the cannery for a day. On starting out in the morning 
fishermen were instructed to catch no more salmon than could be handled during the 
day. Seldom did they fail to bring in the required amount; the chief obstacle in the 
way was to devise means to take care of the salmon as fast as caught. This was no 
easy task, for fish were plentiful, the cannery small, aud everything connected with 
it crude, having few of the appliances now in common use. The workmen, as compared 
with those of to-day, were unskilled and did not move with the speed and expertuess 
now displayed. In a few years, however, it was found that larger nets and a greater 
number of them had to be used in order to compete with new canneries. 
Up to 1889 fishing had been confined to the river, but even this wonderfully prolific 
stream could not long supply the demands of three canneries, and soon a perceptible 
falling-off in the daily catch was noticed. Before the season ended all the canneries 
were taking a large portion of their fish outside the mouth of the river. River fishing 
was not wholly abandoned, but the major i)ortiou of the catch came from the outside 
fishing-grounds. 
The canneries at Karluk are chiefiy, but not entirely, supplied from the fisheries 
in Karluk Bight. A few fish are taken in the vicinity of Red River and Ayakulik, on 
the western side of the island, a few miles south of Seal Rocks; also off the Slide, 
the bluff next east of the spit; from the Waterfalls, about 3 miles to the eastward of 
