Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-01-30
(By H. L. EVans)

(By n. L. Evans)
l am glad to note that Frank Car
penter has at last turned his attention
to Alaska and | greatly enjoyed his
articles in the Sunday Capital News.
He has the faculty of quickly getting
at the pertinent facts regarding
country and presenting them In
lucid and entertaining manner, mix
ing human interest narrative with his
information. thus making his stories
really fascinating.
The magnitude of the fish industry
of Alaska as described by Mr.. Car
penter in last Sundays article is no
doubt a great surprise to most of your
readers as is also the significant fact
that Canadian enterprise has succeed
ed in Wrestling the profits of this vast
traffic from us. This means that fish
caught in the United States waters by
ships owned in the United States and
manned by United States crew
whose families live in or about Seat
tie, market their catch in a Canadian
port to a Canadian company, to be
transported by them over a Canadian
railroad to consumers in eastern cities
OF the United States and paid for with
United States coin: and it means also
the ultimate removal of all families of
these crews from Puget sound to Can
adian cities. to spend their wages in
Canadian stores as we'll as to outfit
and provision their fishing boats with
Canadian goods. l regret that MIR.
Carpenter did not go further and tell
why these Canadians have been able to
take this most profitable business from
us like taking candy from baby.
when all of these men prefer to live in
the United States and market their
catch in home ports.
Fish Industry Is Lost.
The fact is there is a combination
controlling the Seattle market and
when a loaded halibut ship is seen
beating her way down the inside pas
sage, word is wired ahead the day be-
fore. When the ship arrives the next
day ii is only to meet a fixed market
and the owner is lucky to be alive to
break even with the expense OF the
trip. AS soon as he disposcs of his
load the market suddenly RECEIVERS. If
he seeks to store his catch for n higher
market he again finds the cards
stacked against him. His only altern-
ative, after repeated appeals for relief,
was TO transfer his business TO a Cam
adam port where he would receive fair
play. Too late, the enterprising citi-
zens of Seattle after the most bitter
and lClg continued opposition, sue
ceeded in building a municipal dock
with a municipal cold storage plant,
for the relief Of the halibut men, and
now that these facilities are in oper-
alton Seattle may be able to hold the
remnant of the fish business, but it is
doubtful if she will ever be able by
legislation against the Canadians, to
recover what she has already lost.
Fish Greatly Relished.
Possibly the superabundance Of so
tnany varieties of fish, shell fish and
other sea food, thus affording an easy
living. may account for the vast SUI
periority of Alaska Indians over all
other primitive tribes of America.
And they showed great skill and in
genuity in preparing many delcacies
In the fishing season for consumption
during the long winter months. Her
ring and coude fish were dried and
packed in great quantities. Herring
spawn was a considerable item in their
diet Knowing that the herring pre-
ferred to deposit their spawn on cedar
twgs the women would bend live
cedar boughs over the banks of streams
frequented by the herring, and stake
them down under the water. Later
they would be taken up and cured.
During the winter the cured spawn
would be eaten direct from the
boughs.
Make Valuable Blankets.
A great dolicacy of certain Alaskan
tribes was salmon roe packed in
nest of clean moss and burieu in the
ground on the beach like a dog buries
a bone. After "A certain number of
days when good and ripe" or in other
words. when a certain chemical change
had taken place, imparting certain
relished flavor the Indian would dig
1t up and devour it with great gusto.
No danger Of the white man stealing
this It'd bit. as he did practically
everything else belonging to the In
dians. but the Indians drew the line
at limburger cheese and some OF the
other delicacies of civilization.
No other aboriginal people APP
preached the perfection of the Alas
kan Indian particularly the Hydah in
carving in wood, horn or stone, in
canoe making, in basket and blanket
weaving. some or the best Alaskan
baskets sell for as high as $500 each.
We hear "A great deal in this country
about the Navajo blanket. but really 1t
should not be mentioned the same day
as an Alaskan chilket This blanket
was woven from wondrous totem de-
sign by hand from the long wool of
the mountain goat taking from six
months to year to make full sized
blankets from one-half to three
fourths of an inch thick.
What Totems Mean.
As the Indians lived largely on sea
foods, the division of fishing waters
among them was of vastly more i'm
portance than land boundaries on
shore They were never an agricul-
tural people and did very little hunt
ing on land. Most of their wars other