28 
Salmon. This dear, aristocratic fish, so scarce in the warmer 
waters of the North Atlantic, fairly revel in and around the 
southern and western shores of this enormous territory- Salmon 
trout are found around the islands on the coast; they congregate 
in millions near the mouths of the mountain gulches, and range 
from twelve to fifteen inches in length, solid and very fat. This 
fish may be taken in great numbers ; packed in small packages 
for mining and other inland consumption, this delicious luxury 
is destined in a few years to take the place of the miserable 
trash of rusty mackerel now poisoning interior communities on 
our continent. Silver salmon are also found around the islands 
in countless numbers ; they generally resort to the small rivers 
on the islands. We observed many of them around the Kadiak 
group ; they are larger than the salmon trout, and may be seined 
in millions. When properly dressed ahd pickled this fish com¬ 
mands a premium in the markets of the world. In the Stickine, 
Copper, Cook, Nooshgak, Yukon, and the larger rivers draining 
the southern and western coasts of the territory, enormous large, 
fat salmon are found. This fish attains extraordinary "size, 
ranging from thirty to fifty, and in some instances, sixty inches 
in length, many of them girting thirty inches ; we have witnessed 
several in Cook’s inlet, divested of head, back-bone and tail, 
cleanly dressed, that weighed over 100 lbs. The waters bathing 
these shores for thousands of miles teem with salmon ; we have 
seen them reveling in these waters twenty leagues off shore; 
they may be taken in sufficient numbers annually to supply 
northern America and Europe, at figures competing with mack¬ 
erel, pork or beef. This sure industry offers the most tempting 
inducements to the energetic young fisherman possessing means 
and pluck. We have great confidence in this fishery, and earn¬ 
estly commend it to the most favorable attention of fishmongers. 
u At some of the entrances to shallow, fresh water streams, the 
water is packed with salmon, and bears come down in numbers 
to feed upon them, selecting the heads only. On some of the 
beaches near these streams the seine will take them in thousands. 
In the bays leading to the streams, at their head on the south¬ 
east side of Alaska peninsula, the salmon are crowded so thickly 
that the progress of a boat is impeded, and should a south-east 
storm arise at such times the fish are driven on the beach in in¬ 
numerable quantities ; one of the Russian navigators assures us 
that he has seen the beach strewn two to three feet thick with the 
