THE SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 
157 
condition. At this time the cars had no covering and the lish struggled wildly in 
their efforts to escape. This no doubt added largely to their death rate. It has since 
been learned that later in the season little difficulty was experienced in transferring 
and holding the fish. Another year, with the increased facilities contemplated, 
together with the experience gained concerning local conditions during the past two 
seasons’ work, will bring this hatchery up to a high standard. 
OFFAL IN KARLUK RIVER.. 
During a heavy run of fish a large amount of offal is daily thrown into the outlet. 
Three of the canneries are situated on the bank of the stream and one at the month. 
The refuse material coming from the one at the mouth is nsnally carried directly out 
to sea, but that which falls from the other three is for a long time swept back and 
forth, up and down the estuary, by the current of the stream and tide from the ocean. 
A considerable amount of this material is sometimes thickly strewn over the bottom, 
frecpieutly in the path of salmon on their way upstream. At the time of the writer’s 
visit to the river the daily catch of salmon was small, and a correspondingly slight 
amount of refuse matter was visible; but enough was noticed to form an opinion as 
to the quantity that would have been dumped into the river had the catch been large. 
Inquiries were made of different individuals connected with the fishery as to 
whether offal in any way affected the progress of salmon in their Journey upstream. 
It was stated that at no time had it been noticed that the movements of salmon 
had been arrested by offal, either stationary or moving over the bottom. It was 
claimed that frequently a large number of salmon would be seen in that jiart of the 
river where the refuse matter was most abundant, causing the water to be very much 
discolored, which, so far as could be observed, did not in any way disturb their move- 
ments. With most marketable sea fishes, even a small amount of blood or refn.se 
matter has the effect of driving them from the ground, and it would seem that the same 
rule would ajiply to the salmon. In order, however, to arrive at a definite conclusion 
in regard to this matter, a careful study tvould have to be made of the stream under 
various conditions. As this river has for years been the dumping ground for such 
large quantities of refuse, it would seem that its injurious effects are indeed slight. 
ALITAK HAY. 
Alitak Bay is a deep indentation, with several arms, on the southwestern end of 
Kadiak Island, about Go miles from Karluk. A map and a description of the locality 
are given in Dr. Bean’s report, in the Fish Commission Bulletin for 1889, pages 182-184. 
The Arctic Packing Company in 1889 built a cannery in the southwest bight of 
Olga Bay, which is a branch of Alitak Bay, and is connected with it by a long, narrow 
passage. It has been operated every year since its construction, and in 1892 it was 
in the pool formed by the Alaska Packing Association, and in 1893 it entered the 
Alaska Packers’ Association. It has a capacity of 1,500 cases. In 1891, under an 
agreement with the Kodiak Packing Company, in the same locality, the cannery of 
the latter company was closed and its quota of fish packed in the Arctic cannery. 
This cannery is the only one now operated in the vicinity of what is locally called 
the “south end.” 
In 1897 the company employed 25 white fishermen, 7 white cannery-hands, 10 
natives, and 57 Chinese. The apparatus consisted of two drag seines each 250 fath- 
oms long by 120 meshes deep, and two drag seines each 200 fathoms long by 100 
