Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-30
FISH A1AsKA,s GOLD MINE.
Big Catches Foot Up Splendid Money
Total

While Alaska is primarily known for its
| gold production, perhaps its next largest
| industry Is fishing. The fish commission
| has established a number Of stations there
and is keeping keen outlook over the
development Of the business. With the
great natural resources Of its waters, it
seems destined to be an important factor
| In the feeding OF the whole Pacific coast,
| besides having a profitable export trade.
In the year 1906 there were 1851 people
engaged in the fishing industry. OF these
1926 were employed in the canneries and
other packing works. and the rest were en-
gagged directly In fishing or in transporta-
ton. The total investment in the business
was IS. S35. 45S. This represented only plants
and equipment. and did not include cash
capital which had previously been reckoned
as part of the investment.
The total quantity of water products was
l67, 4OS,4o3 pounds, valued at $9,O7l $751; or
a gain of over $100O,OOO over the previous
year. The value came principally from
canned salmon, but there were included in
the total the whale fisheries and the furs
Of aquatic animals. The fisheries of the
arctic have been almost totally neglected
up to date, and the report says are likely
to continue SO for number OF years, but
they are potentially valuable
The salmon run last year was a very
fair one totaling nearly 3200O.OOO fish, The
report contains mass of information as
to the details of salmon packing and the
trade that grew up in dog salmon with
Japan during the Russian war and was
afterward killed by the Japanese tariff
However, there remains a profitable export
trade to Russia and Germany, and some
other of the European countries The
managers of the industry in Alaska spent
a great deal of time and money experiment.
ing to find suitable method of preparing
the salmon for smoking, as is required by
the European markets, but this has at
length been done, and the trade promises
to be valuable one.
The cod fishery ranks after the salmon i'm
Importance. There has been a bitter rate
war among the dealers on the Pacific coast
and this has hurt the market considerably
but there Is large trade carried on with
the West Indies in sailed and otherwise
cured cod, under the slang term of
Alaskan turkey" and the export trade
has not been hurt by the rate war. big
business is done in fertilizers and fish oil
too.
Quite large trade is done in beaver, land
otter and muskrat skins. But the most
interesting. and a very valuable industry,
is hunting sea otter. This yields a re-
markable return for the small amount of
the catch. as the skins are valued at $50
each on the boat The total catch, so far as
could be ascertained. was only twenty EIGHT
including some pups, total valuation of
$4.S29. This was a great falling off from
the previous year, when the total was
sixty-one, with value of $l3,S6
The fur seal industry is confined largely
to the Pribilof Islands, now under lease by
a private company from the United States
government. They produced l2,o3S skins
out of total of a little over $4,000 All
of these were sold on the London market
some Of them for as much as S24 per skin.