Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-10-31

That's because they interest me. AS
a matter of fact, these fisheries are
more fascinating than any place I've
yer seen. Why, you just ought to
witness the run These empty waters
become suddenly crowded. and the
fish come in q great silver horde, which
races up, UP, up toward death and OBJ
liberation. They come with the vio-
lence of a summer storm; like a pro-
digious cleaning army they swarm
and bend forward, eager, undertaking,
one-purposed. It's quite impossible to
describe it-this great silver horde.
They are entirely d~efer.seless, of course,
and almost every living thing preys
upon them. The birds congregate in
millions, the four-footed beasts come
down from the hills, the Apaches of the
sea harry them in dense droves, and
even man appears from distant coasts
to take his toll; but still they press
braveH on. The clank of machinery
makes the hills rumble, the hiss of
steam and the signs of the soldering
furnaces are like the complaint of some
giant overgorging himself. The river
swarms with the fleets of fish-boats,
which skim outward with the lawn
to fit homeward again at twilight and
settle like a vast brood of white-winged
gulls. Men let the hours &c by I'M
needed, and forget to Sleep"
What sort OF men do they hire?"
Chinese, Japs and Italians, mainly.
It's like a foreign country here, only
there are no women. The b~unt-rooms
are filled with opium fumes and noisy
with claoldng tongues. On one side
of the village streets the orientals burn
incense to their Joss. across the way
the Latins worship the Virgin. They
work side by side all day until they
are ready to drop. then mass in the
street and knife each other over their
rival gods"
How long does it all last?"
"Only about six weeks; then the fur
mace fires die out, the ships are loaded,
the men go to sleep, and the breeZes
watt them out into the August haze.
after which Kalvik says back into its
ten months coma, becoming, as you see
II now a dead, deserted village,
Stunned by man"
"Jovel you have a graphic tongue"
said Boyd, approximately. But I don't
see how those huge plants can pay for
their upkeep with such a short run"
well, they do; and, what's more,
they pay tremendously; sometimes a
hundred per cent. a year Or more"
"Impossible!" Emerson was now
thoroughly aroused. and Cherry con-
tinued:
1.-TWO years ago a ship sailed into
port in early May loaded with an army
80 NTH oonbInarv I,,pohar nnal
and so forth. They landed, built the
plant, and had II ready to operate by
the time the run started. They made
their catch, and sailed away again in
August with enough salmon in the
hold to pay twice over for the whole
thing. Willis Marsh did even better
than that the year before. but of course
the price of fish was high then. Next
season will be anoth E big year"
How is that?"
Every fourth season the run is
large; nobody knows why. Every time
there is a presidential election the fish
are shy and very scarce: that lifts
prices. Every res in which a Presi-
lent of the United States is inaugur-
ated they are plentiful"
Boyd laughed. THE Alaska salmon
takos more interest In politics thar I
do. / wonder IL he Is a Republican or
a Democrat?"
"Inasmuch as he is a red salmon, l
dare say you'd call him a Socialist"
laughed Cherry.
Emerson rose and began to pace back
and forth. And you mea to say the
history of the other canneries Is the
same?".
Certainly"
IT had no idea there were such profits
in the fisheries up here"
Nobody knows II outside of those in
terested. The Kalvik river is the most
wonderful salmon river in the world,
for 1t has never failed once; that's why