12 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
here indicated may be employed with such persistence and under such conditions as 
completely to arrest the movement of the salmon into and up the streams. 
The methods at present practiced by the canneries for obtaining a supply of salmon 
have an influence in bringing about the impoverishment of these important fisheries 
which can only be understood by a clear apprehension of their relations to the habits 
and migrations of the species which are the object of the fishery. A separate paper 
prepared by Dr. T. H. Bean, ichthyologist of the Commission, upon “ Tlie Life 
History of the Salmon,” is therefore appended to and made a part of this report. The 
account of the distribution, migrations, habits, times, and essential conditions of 
natural reproduction there given will furnish the ' explanation and reason for such 
recommendations of further legislation as may be submitted. 
SPECIES OF SALMON OF ECONOMIC VALUE. 
The species of salmon found in Alaska in quantities sufficient to constitute an 
economic resource are: The red salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerha ), the king salmon 
( Oncorhynchus chouicha), the silver salmon ( Oncorhynchus Tcisutch ), the humpback salmon 
( Oncorhynchus gorbuscha ), the dog salmon ( Oncorhynchus beta), the steelhead ( Salmo 
gairdneri ), and the dolly varden ( Salvelinus malma). 
The Bed Salmon . — This species at present constitutes the principal motive and ob- 
ject of canning operations. The southern limit of its range is the Columbia River, in 
which it is known as the blueback salmon. Its range extends northward to the Yukon 
River, and it makes its appearance in southern Alaskan waters early in June, the run 
beginning later as we proceed farther to the north. Schools of salmon continue to 
arrive until October and, after tarrying a short time in the coast waters, begin to 
ascend to their spawning-grounds, which are in the cold, snow-fed lakes from which 
issue the headwaters of the streams which are frequented by this species for the pur- 
pose of reproduction. The run is confined chiefly to the smaller streams, such as the 
Karluk, in which they crowd in numbers absolutely incredible to one who is not an 
eye-witness, and actually force each other out of the water in their eager struggles to 
reach the sources of the rivers and deposit their spawn. 
The King Salmon. — This is the principal canning species of the Columbia and other 
rivers of Oregon and California, but at present it has relatively little importance in the 
Alaskan salmon fisheries. It is distinctively the salmon of the larger rivers, like the 
Yukon, on which the canning industry has not yet attained much development. It is, 
however, an abundant species, and with the growth of the canning industry on the 
larger rivers will attain great commercial importance. 
The Silver Salmon. — This species is in great request for canning in the Puget Sound 
region, but is not held in mnch esteem by the canners of Alaska, because it becomes 
soft very soon after its capture and can not be kept like the red salmon. It spawns 
in the fall of the year, bnt does not make its appearance on the coast until shortly 
before canning operations close for the season, and, consequently, the opportunity for 
natural reproduction is more favorable than for the red salmon or king salmon. The 
species is abundant now, and under present conditions of the fisheries will doubtless 
maintain itself. The flesh, though not highly colored, is probably not inferior in table 
qualities to that of the red salmon, and in the future, with the extension of canning 
operations, it will doubtless be utilized more extensively than at present. 
