ALASKA. 
73 
CODFISH. 
The next important fishing industry in Alaska is the codfish 
business, carried on by two San Francisco firms at the Shumagin 
Islands, and in the Bering Sea. The catch of 1890 amounted to 
a total of 1,138,000 fish, of the value of $569,000. Since the 
beginning of the codfishing business in this Territory in 1865, 
the total number of fish taken is 25,723,300, of the value of 
$12,861,650. The first four years, the business did not come near 
to its present proportions. 
A hasty survey has given an idea of the extent of the banks, 
but there is much yet to be done to properly define their limits 
and determine their character. Portlock Bank, extending north¬ 
easterly from Kadiak, has an immense area; Shumagin Bank, 
south of the Shumagin group of islands, has an area of about 
4400 square miles; Albatross Bank, oft' the southeastern side of 
Kadiak, has an area of 2,900 square miles; Slime Bank, north 
of Unimak Island, in Bering Sea, covers an area of 1,445 sc l uare 
miles, embracing depths from 20 to 50 fathoms; Baird Bank 
stretches along the north coast of Alaska 1 enmsula 230 miles, 
with an average width of 40 miles, covering an area of 9,200 
square miles. The depths range from 1 5 to 50 fathoms, with a 
bottom of fine gray sand. 
HERRING. 
The business of the Alaska Oil and Guano Company, at Kil- 
lisnoo, Carl Spuhn, president and manager, gives employment to 
45 white men, 50 Indians, and a few Chinamen. Their principal 
business is fishing and the manufacture of oil and fish t( rtilizer, 
though they also have a trading post. I heir capital stock is 
$75,000. They have a fishing fleet of 3 steamers, 4 scows, and 
2 small boats. * The product of their factory in 1891 was larger 
than in 1890, being 300,000 gallons of oil instead of 157,000 
reported the previous year. They also put up 700 barrels of salt 
salmon and manufactured 800 tons of guano. The value of the 
product was not less than $114,000. The oil is worth about 30 
cents per gallon and the guano about $30 p er ton. 
