93 8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 13, 1908. 
The Fish Wonders of Alaska. 
Concluded from page 899. 
At the time I visited Alaska, a few fish wheels, 
such as are employed on the Columbia and other 
large Western rivers, were used in the capture 
of fish. A fish wheel looks very like the paddle 
wheel of a side wheel steamer. It is moved by 
the current striking the paddle blades, each one 
of which is provided with a screen-wire scoop 
that is submerged at every revolution. At this 
moment the fish enter the scoop, and as the 
wheel turns they are lifted out of the water and 
finally dropped into a chute and then slide into 
a barge alongside. 
The most destructive fish killing agencies were 
the fish traps used by the salmon canneries. 
These traps consisted of a cluster of piles driven 
into the mud near the shore and so arranged 
that after a wire netting had been fastened to 
them an inclosure was formed into which the 
fish swam at high tide. Once inside they were 
unable to find their way out of the many crooks 
and turns, and were held prisoners until the re¬ 
ceding tide made their capture easy. 
Nets also are important factors in the des¬ 
truction of salmon. They are stretched several 
hundred feet into the bay where they are an¬ 
chored or allowed to drift with the tide, a fisher¬ 
man in a skiff holding the outer end of the net 
while a man carrying the other end patrols the 
beach. Nets are also stretched across the mouths 
of salmon streams, and often the catch is so 
large that horses are used to haul the seine 
ashore, or from lack of help some of the fish 
are allowed to escape before the fishermen can 
land their catch. Fishing camps are established 
all along the coast and small launches make 
daily trips to gather up the fish in barges which 
are towed to the canneries. The fish are then 
hoisted from the barges in large buckets and 
dumped into chutes which run them into a large 
receiving room. As the result of two days’ 
catch I saw a pile of salmon five feet deep in 
a receiving room about fifty feet square. 
Although the natives of southern Alaska fre¬ 
quently suffer from hunger during the winter, 
such conditions should never exist. These peo¬ 
ple are naturally fish-eating Indians, and in a 
few weeks during the summer a family could 
easily put up enough dried fish to last it until 
the following season. During the remainder of 
the summer the men could work for the can¬ 
neries, and if the proceeds of their earnings 
were not squandered for rum they would earn 
more than enough to clothe themselves and to 
live in luxury all winter. Some of the Indians 
are quite industrious, and these are usually the 
ones that are associated with the missions or 
the commercial companies. Nearly every Indian 
family has a few salmon or candlefish drying on 
poles or racks in front of their cabin during 
the fish season, but as soon as the pangs of the 
winter’s hunger have been satisfied, all thought 
of another famine is forgotten. 
The natives employed by the canneries usually 
catch fish with nets furnished them by their 
employers, but often they resort to their own 
primitive methods. In shallow streams walls of 
stone are built in such peculiar shapes that the 
salmon cannot escape from the many angles and 
turns when once they have entered the trap; 
or, standing on a dock of poles built over the 
water, a squaw will scoop up the fish as they 
pass under her, using a crude dip net made of 
willow twigs. 
I saw Indians on the Chilcat River fishing day 
and night. The fisherman walked along the bank 
carrying a pole on the end of which was a barb¬ 
less steel hook. Tossing the hook end of the 
pole into the stream he turned it so that the 
elbow rested on the bottom. Then he gently 
drew the pole back and forth, and when he felt 
a fish strike the shaft he knew that a salmon was 
probably crossing over the pole, so he gave it a 
quick jerk, drove the hook into the fish's side 
and hauled it upon the bank. This is called 
snagging salmon. 
If the night’s catch is not taken to the can¬ 
nery in dugout canoes the following day, it is 
usually made up into dried salmon or eucla, as 
this product is called. The process of making 
eucla is simple. The fish are cleaned, the head 
is cut off, the body split and the backbone taken 
out. Then the salmon are placed on racks made 
of poles, and a fire is kept smouldering under 
them until they are half dried and half smoked. 
These dried fish, besides being eaten by the 
natives, are fed to their sled dogs and shipped 
to northern points to be used for the same pur¬ 
pose. On islands where foxes are propagated, 
eucla is fed to them, so it will be seen that fish, 
fresh or dried, forms the principal food of the 
natives, their beasts of burden and the wild 
animals during summer and to some extent dur¬ 
ing the winter. 
An Indian fish camp is probably the most 
repulsive sight imaginable. If the wind is blow¬ 
ing in the right direction you can tell when you 
are nearing a salmon camp long before it is 
sighted. About the first thing to greet your eyes 
is rack after rack of drying salmon and the 
smouldering fire beneath them. Heaps of fish 
heads, entrails and bones lie here and there, 
while dirty squaws, their clothes, hands and even 
their faces covered with blood and filth, squat 
here and there about the camp preparing the 
salmon for drying. It is remarkable how quick 
and expert these women become in splitting the 
fish and taking out the bone, leaving scarcely a 
vestige of meat attached to it. The small fish 
are split open and held intact by the skin and 
flesh of the under side, but the large ones are 
too thick to dry unless they are completely 
halved and then gashed in the thicker portions 
of the flesh in order that the smoke and heat 
may penetrate. 
About the mouths of the streams on which 
these salmon camps are situated the Indian dogs 
and children amuse themselves catching the fish. 
Some of the youngsters are so small that after 
they have succeeded in cornering a fish, the 
combined efforts of the party are often required 
to dispatch it and carry it to camp. I have 
watched dogs running about in a rift snapping 
at the salmon and apparently having the time 
of their lives. 
One of the most amusing sights that I saw 
during my stay in Alaska was two Indian boys 
being towed -about the harbor at Kadiak by a 
huge halibut they had just hooked. Utterly un¬ 
able to land the fish they had fastened the line 
to the stern of the boat, and while they pulled 
with all their might, each one at an oar, they 
rallied each other for not exerting more strength 
and shouted loudly for help. Finally an Indian 
ptff out in a boat and the fish was landed. 
There is such a quantity of better eating fish 
in these waters that the Indians seldom eat cod¬ 
fish, although they, too, are abundant. I have 
seen fifty or a hundred at a time swimming 
about the docks at Kadiak. They take a hook 
readily and are caught as fast as a line can be 
dropped to the bottom and pulled up again. 
J. Alden Loring. 
Tarpon Catches. 
Miami, Fla., May 23.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Hon. W. P. Shattuc, of Cincin¬ 
nati, who is conceded to be one of*the most 
expert tarpon fishermen, if not the best, made 
a remarkable record this season, killing thirty- 
three tarpon during the season. The general 
on board his yacht Buckeye has fished from Bis- 
cayne Bay to Jewfish Creek, touching at Rubicon 
Key, Totten Key, Lignum Vitae Key, Pumpkin 
Key, in Cards Sound, going on to Barnes Sound 
where the general had quite an exciting time 
with a 197H pound tarpon that fought gallantly 
for his life, but had to succumb to his master 
in the record time of twenty minutes. 
Lovers of fish and the delight of catching 
gamy ones can find the largest variety in Florida 
waters of any water I know, there being 113 
distinct varieties caught during this season. Con¬ 
gressman John W. Gaines, from Tennessee, 
caught no kingfish in one morning and says he 
is coming back to try his hand at tarpon next 
season. General Shattuc on April 16, 1906, in 
four hours killed six tarpon weighing 75, 80, 85, 
90, 100, 120 pounds, a total of 550 pounds of as 
fine sport as any man has ever taken from the 
water in that length of time with rod and reel. 
Brothers of the reel, come to Florida if you want 
sport fit for the kings. 
I will write next time about our smaller game 
fish - W. M. Dorn. 
Fish Do Not Hear. 
Much controversy has taken place on the 
question of sense of hearing in fish, and many 
experiments have been tried with a view of set¬ 
tling it. Some of the latest of these are those 
of which M. Marage has given an account in 
the Paris Comtes Rendus. The fish experi¬ 
mented with were carp, tench, pike, eel and 
others, and the author finds no evidence of a 
sense of hearing. Sounds were transmitted 
into the water close to the fish with an energy 
capable of affecting deaf mutes. No effect was 
produced on the fish. 
Advice to Anglers. 
Of all the sports that many men 
Are looking for, and wishing 
To take a hand in now and then, 
By far the best is fishing. 
So get a rod and line and hook, 
Impale a worm or cricket, 
Strike for a river, lake or brook, 
In open land or thicket. 
Should flies be thick, or weather wet. 
Pray, “don’t get in a pucker,” 
Have patience, friend, and soon you’ll get 
A catfish, trout or sucker. 
Should you take home when night appears 
A little fish’s corpus, 
Don’t tell your friends in after years 
’Twts big as any porpoise. 
Now, anglers, you who stretch the truth, 
Fish lying is an evil; 
Unless you stop, you’ll go, forsooth, 
Straight to the very devil. 
