The Alaska daily empire., 1915-01-01
r2 The Fisheries of Alaska
 By CL. AndreWs) -

gallons of oil valued at $l2.O72OO. ! The whole of the results of the whal- ing from the shore stations was over | sl57.OOO.OO and 99 men were em- ployed in the trade.
 All the early voyagers along the l Alaskan coast remarked the great | abundance of fish in the waters and | entered it in their records. The na- tives lived on them almost exclusive | ly and had many ways of procuring l them. from traps and spears to hooks | of ingenious construction. Every one ! in Alaska is familiar with the rather unwieldy looking halibut hook offered for sale by the natives. but this same hook is most effective in capturing the immense white meated fish that lies close to the bottom of the inland passages of the Southeast coast. The chief reliance of the Aleutes was the store of dried salmon that they pre- pared for winter and called ukali. The herring was taken with sharp spikes or nails in strip of wood with which the native combed the water when the school was running. and the her ring eggs were a deliCacy esteemed by them as greatly as do the Europ- cans the caviar of commerce The herring eggs were gathered by placing hcmlOCk boughs in the water when the school of fish was lying in the inlcts depOSiting the spawn. the bOughS would be covered with the ova. the boughs then taken out and the eggs stripped off to be preserved for future use. The culaChon. furn- ished the Chilkats with an oil that was substitute for butter. This fish is so oily that when dry it burns like piece of pitch pine. The Indians catch them in great quantities and after allowing them to partially decay in large vatS. extract the oil and use it for food. So in different ways has the finny inhabtant of the water afforded means of sustaining life for the native inhabitant since the beginning.
 The Russians made use Of the fish for local purposes but they did not attempt tosnakc commercial use of the treasure. They procured most of their supplies from traps or barri- Cadcs which they called zapors. These consisted of Instructions placed across the stream to prevent the fish ascending and at one side an opening allowed them to enter an enclosure but did not allow their escape. It was a forerunner of the modern fish trap but was placed in the streams and prevented that fish reaching their spawning grounds. The stream at Karluk was the great source of supply for the Kodiak Island settlement from the inception of the colony in l7S3. At Sitka they procured their salmon mainly from the Redoubt Lake southwest of the town. From 1895 until the close of Russian occupation of the territory their supply was drawn regularly from this source
 The fisheries of the north were urg- cd as potent reason for the purchase of Alaska from the Russians. Even in Russian days there were some yes sells which sailed from San Francisco to the banks off the Aleutian Islands for cod, and some of them went as far as the Sea of Okhotsk. Although this was considered as an asset it was not realized upon for many years and is not yet being utilized as would be justified by its value.
 Across the Atlantic over 300 years ago came vessels from Biscay and from Brittany to fish for cod on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and over this same fishery has many a quarrel arisen between Bluenose and Yankee. Here in the north Pacific are 2.000 square miles of cod banks practically untouched while Canada makes a fuss over the Gloucester fish. ermen cutting bait on her shores and in turn tries to appropriate the halibut fishing trade of the Alaskan coast
 From Seattle and San Francisco dur ing 1913. nineteen vessels sailed for the cod banks and secured full fares, while the shore stations on the Aleu.