The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-11-13
CANNING SALMON IN ALASKA.

The value of the fisheries of the
United States has bacome far greater
than Of any either nation, ana no fea-
ture of our fisheries has had a more
rapid growth than salmon canning on
the Pacific Coast. salmon canning is
by far the largest branch of the Pac!f-
ic coast fisheries and the market value
of canned salmon put up on the Pacif-
ic Coast every year is about twice that
of the entire annual product Of the lake
fisheries We have hardly realized yet
how much the waters OF the Alaskan
coast are contributing 20 cur wealth. In
twenty years nearly 700 100000 pounds
OF fresh salmon have beentaken in Alas
ka and the value of the canned and
s3lted product has been nearly S33 000,-
600. over third of all the salmon
canned and packed on the Pacific
Coast now comes from Alaska, and the
industry is growing eve y year. Ii is
spread along the coast fiCm the neigh
borhood OF Sitka in southeast Alaska
TO Kadak Island near the Alaskan pen
insula. and thSn further north into the
waters of Behring Sea. and that region
now contributes aboui a fifth Cf the en-
tire catch. Kadlak and Chignik con-
tribute about three-seVtnth OF it,s0uth-
eastern Alaska a quarter and Cook In
let. Prince William Sound and the Cop
per River make up the balance. Along
these hun8reds Of miles of coasts there
are thirty Canneries and more than half
of them are ownod by one packing as
/ soc.ltion.
Capt Glenn, Of the army who has
just been describing his Alaskan tXplor-
ations of last year in print. tells Of the
little cannery at Orca. nct far from the
mouth of the Cooper River which was
so little known until recently thar il
could not be accurately placed ON the
maps. This cannary has capaC ~ OF
10000 cases per annum and employs
Il ON l25 to $40 men, of whom sixty are
Chinese. The Chimes do all the work
I in the canncry, making, packing and
labelling the cans and boxing them
for shipment. Tn remainder Of the
force are fishermen and boatmen. and
moss Of fish are caught at tn mouth OF
the Copper River. one G1y les year
vessel Of the company came into OrCa
having on board % 600 fish. representing
a single days catch at the mouth OF tn
copper liver This was by no means an
I ordinary catch, but larger catches have
been made. and ID WIS enough 10 keep
the ClnHery running continuously for
thrC1 days. Here the captain saws he
ate from can shat had just been pack
/ ?. some ~ the famous king salmon.
7 which rs indeed ',ne klnE or salmon. not
/ only on account Of it's size aud beauty
/ but also from It's very delicate flavor"
IN this region. too is the famous can
/ dlehsh. WI u IN IN summer months
/ puts In an app lrancn In immens- num-
/ bers Cart Glenn says tn ir schools are
| so thick that with every outgoing tide
/ they are found cast up ou the beach un-
! able 10 get back into Oh water It Is
I easy % gather 40 a buck tful n them
/ I'm FIVE minutes selecting only those
( that are We. Thb slur ws catch Crrat
/ quantities by simply dipping basket
/ into the wat r. They are much IKE TIE
ordinary smelt in tnXtura and flavor.
/ though much oilier and two or three
/ times "a large. 10 is said the Gsh is
called clndledsh baCtusc VIII 90 be-
| d,ied " will liaht and burn Ike am Or
| dinarv candle.
In Lieut. LcarnarFs report also just
printed he says that llOng The coast in
/ Prince william Sound. and als1 u cook
/ Inlet. there are plenty &C hsh tho pIin-
I cipal vlr.stis being cod, halibut found
ers canjl. hsh Jud salmon Thousands
! uf cu 3es 81 salmon are packed gul ship.
! uaA away VIII. many thluslnds of eII-
mon are simply thrown away brfada
! they are MT The choicest vafietl,s. BN
I this Waaeful policy several oth.r spec
/ los nre being RAPIDLY destroyed Every
/ fresh wator stream contains plenty of
| salnrnn after they start 60 run. ae iht
| Ssh ondfaNur 60 tl The head ~ Tho
! stream before spawning.