ALASKA. 
7 0 
Allowing the average value of salmon during these years to have been $4.50 
per case, we have a total valuation of $10,337,03 1 for this one export since the 
industry took this form in Alaska. Add to this sum the value of the salted 
salmon exported, and the amount used in the Territory, if that were possible, 
and the grand total would surprise those who have not given the subject a study. 
The report for 1895 of Mr. Joseph Murray, special agent to 
inspect the fisheries in Alaska, says that during the year, nearly 
7,000,000 cases, of 48 pounds to the case, were packed, and the 
total value of the salmon canned was over $2,000,000. 
The species of salmon found in Alaska in quantities sufficient 
to constitute an economic resource are the red, the king, the silver, 
the humpback, the dog, the steelhead, and the Dolly Yarden varie¬ 
ties. By an act of Congress, approved March 2, 1889, t ^ ie erec tion 
of dams, barricades, or other obstructions in Alaska streams to pre¬ 
vent the ascent of salmon was prohibited, under penalty of not less 
than $250 per day. A letter from Secretary Carlisle, dated Feb¬ 
ruary 19, 1896, called the attention of Congress to the fact that 
the law failed to meet the exigencies of the situation. On June 
9, 1896, the following act was approved: 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives oj the United 
States of America in Congress assembled , That the Act approved March 
second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and entitled “An Act to provide for 
the protection of the salmon fisheries of Alaska,” is hereby amended and reen¬ 
acted as follows: 
“That the erection of dams, barricades, fish wheels, fences, or any such fixed 
or stationary obstructions in any part of the rivers or streams of Alaska, or to 
fish for or catch salmon or salmon trout in any manner or by any means with 
the purpose or result of preventing or impeding the ascent of salmon to their 
spawning ground, is declared to be unlawful, and the Secretary ©f the Treasury 
is hereby authorized and directed to remove such obstructions and to establish 
and enforce such regulations and surveillance as may be necessary to insure 
that this prohibition and all other provisions of law relating to the salmon 
fisheries of Alaska are strictly complied with. 
“Sec. 2. That it shall be unlawful to fish, catch, or kill any salmon of any 
variety, except with rod or spear, above the tide waters of any of the creeks 
or rivers of less than five hundred feet width in the Territory of Alaska, except 
only for purposes of propagation, or to lay or set any drift net, set net, trap, 
