44 
FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1909. 
A NEW FREEZING PLANT AT KETCHIKAN. 
The most important and interesting event in the halibut industry 
this year was the opening in September of the plant of the New 
England Fish Company at Ketchikan, the finest freezing and cold- 
storage plant on the Pacific coast. Late in the fall announcement 
was made that the company’s plant at Vancouver, British Columbia, 
and its two Canadian vessels had been sold to the Canadian Fishing 
Company (Limited), of Vancouver. 
Since the New England Fish Company first began operating on 
this coast it has had its headquarters at Vancouver, where it outfitted 
its vessels and prepared their catches for shipment in bond, free of 
duty, to markets in this country. It operated three vessels with Amer- 
ican register and two with Canadian register, the catches of the latter 
being marketed mainly in Canada, or, when shipped to the United 
States, paying the regular duty. For several years there has been 
developing in Canada, and more particularly in British Columbia, 
a decided opposition to the company, the claim being that it had no 
rights in British Columbia waters and was deriving a profit that 
should go to Canadian fishing enterprises. The knowledge of this 
feeling on the part of the Canadians, and the probability that it 
would eventually crystallize into some official action, doubtless had 
considerable weight in the company’s decision to establish its plant 
at Ketchikan. 
Other factors influencing the company, and probably the con- 
trolling, were (1) the nearness of Ketchikan to the fishing banks, 
thus enabling the vessels to visit the banks and return in less than 
one-fourth the time heretofore consumed when Vancouver was the 
headquarters, and delivering the fish in much fresher condition; 
(2) the probable opening, in two or three years, of the transconti- 
nental line of the Grand Trunk Railway to Prince Rupert, British 
Columbia, a port but 92 miles from Ketchikan, by means of which 
shipments can be made in bond to eastern United States markets in 
the same time required to cover the distance from Vancouver, the 
Pacific terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, thus saving the 
coastal run from Dixon Entrance to Vancouver, a distance of 475 
miles; and (3) the opportunity to handle the catches made by the 
large fleet of power and sail vessels and launches during the fall, 
winter, and early spring months on the banks in the sheltered waters 
of southeast Alaska. 
The site of the new plant in Alaska is at a point on Tongass Nar- 
rows about one-half mile from the center of the town of Ketchikan, 
and this has been named Belanna. The location is on deep water, 
thus permitting vessels to tie up at the dock at any stage of water. 
