2 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
as the result of reckless and improvident fishing, the practical destruction of the 
salmon fisheries of the Sacramento and the reduction of the take on the Columbia to 
less than one-half of what it was in the early history of the salmon-canning industry 
on that river. At present the streams of Alaska furnish the larger proportion of the 
canned salmon which find their way to the markets. 
The pioneer in the early development of the salmon-canning industry in Alaskan 
waters was the Alaska Commercial Company, which in 1887 established a cannery on 
Karluk Eiver on the west side of Kadiak Island, and packed about 13,000 cases of 
salmon. The enterprise proved exceedingly profitable, and operations were rapidly 
extended so that the pack of this company on the Karluk Eiver in 1888 aggregated 
101,000 cases of 48 pounds each, representing a catch of over 1,200,000 bluebacks or 
red salmon in the estuary of a small stream, with a volume and drainage area not 
exceeding that of Eock Creek (the small stream flowing through the Zoological Park 
and discharging into the Potomac Eiver within the city limits of Washington, D. C.). 
The enormous production of this year was secured by entirely obstructing the river 
by running a fence across so that no fish could pass up, and by continuing canning 
operations without intermission until late in October, when most of the fish were dark 
and unfit for food. 
The immense pack made by the Alaska Commercial Company in 1887 and 1888, the 
fame of which quickly extended to San Francisco, had two important results. The 
attention of' Congress was directed to the inevitable disaster that would overtake the 
salmon fisheries of Alaska unless prompt measures were taken to restrain the improv- 
ident and destructive methods employed for the capture of the salmon. Accordingly, 
upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Fisheries, an act for the protection 
of the salmon fisheries of Alaska was introduced into Congress and became a law on 
March 2, 1889, as follows : 
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE SALMON FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled, That the erection of dams, barricades, or other obstructions in any of the rivers of Alaska, 
with the purpose or result of preventing or impeding the ascent of salmon or other anadromous species 
to their spawning-grounds, is hereby declared to be unlawful, and the Secretary of the Treasury is 
hereby authorized and directed to establish such regulations and surveillance as may be necessary to 
insure that this prohibition is strictly enforced and to otherwise protect the salmon fisheries of 
Alaska; and every person who shall be found guilty of a violation of the provisions of this section 
shall be fined not less than $250 for each day of the continuance of such obstruction. 
Sec. 2. That the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries is hereby empowered and directed to insti- 
tute an investigation into the habits, abundance, and distribution of the salmon of Alaska, as well as 
the present conditions and methods of the fisheries, with a view of recommending to Congress such 
additional legislation as may be necessary to prevent the impairment or exhaustion of these valuable 
fisheries, and placing them under regular and permanent conditions of production. 
Sec. 3. That section 1956 of the Revised Statutes of the United States is hereby declared to 
include and apply to all the dominion of the United States in the waters of Bering Sea ; and it shall 
be the duty of the President, at a timely season in each year, to issue his proclamation and cause the 
same to be published for one month in at least oue newspaper, if any such there be, published at each 
United States port of entry on the Pacific, coast, warning all persons against entering said waters for 
the purpose of violating the provisions of said section; and he shall also cause one or more vessels of 
the United States to diligently cruise said waters and arrest all persons, and seize all vessels found to 
be, or to have been, engaged in any violation of the laws of the United States therein. 
