The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-04-14
TALE TOLD BY KAT0 BOY
Weather Conditions in Territory
Are Delightful; Canning
Industry
from Saturdays DaIIv-


the west better" was statement
made today by Edward Coughlan
former superintendent of a salm-
| on cannery at Shakan, Alaska, who
! came to Mankato recently on account
/ OF the death of his father, Daniel
Coughlan.
Il intend to go back to the west
but just what | will do is uncertain.
l might take charge of new can
merry at Hadley, Alaska.
Some years the rainfall and snow
fall there in year amounts to as
much as 100 inches of moisture, and
yet with oil clothes the people GO
right out in the rain and do not think
, anything of it, With the exception
OF about three summer months, there
is either rain or snow most OF the
: time.
Some people may think of Alaska
| as a very cold place. That is by TIC
means the case where | was. This
year the thermometer actually did
get below zero, but that is very rare.
When the temperature gets down in
the neighborhood of twelve to four
. teen above zero, the people think it
is very cold. / never saw the mercury
get down to freezing, but | was not
there during the coolest part of the
year. | would go about the last of
October to Seattle and would remain
there until the first of April, after
I which | would so back to Alaska and
stay until the next fall.
THE company with which | was
SllnprIntpn6pnf No
That concern was absorbed recently
by the Anacortes Fisheries company,
which is a subsidiary corporation to
the Booth Fisheries company. German
& Co. before that had absorbed the
Shakan Salmon company, the old
name of which was the Alaska Fish
and Lumber company, which had Of
fees in Mankato.
THE three summer months are
sometimes quite warm. | have seen
the temperature get up to ninety in
the shade. Such weather will some
times last for about a week and a
half. You may readily believe that
the climate in Alaska is such that
people can have gardens. / have
seen some very beautiful flower gar
dens and splendid vegetable gardens,
too, thrive, under the Alaska sun.
Away up there in that northerly lat
itude the summer days are very long
and the long hours of sunshine make
things grow very fast. In midsum-
mer, the nights are about three hours
long, and then it can hardly be said
to be dark enough to call it night. Tt
is merely dusk. Root vegetables, such
as potatoes, rutabagHs and the like
grow splendidly. Alaska produces
some of the finest vegetables l have
ever eaten. Other garden produce is
very good too. l have seen magnifi-
cent raspberries grown in Alaska.
But l cannot see that Alaska will
ever amount to much for agriculture.
1t is too bare and rocky The big
industries there are fishing, lumber
ing and mining. In the valleys there
are pretty big trees, some of which
are five to six feet. in diameter. You
find spruce, hemlock, and red and yell
low cedar. AS you go a little higher,
the trees are not SO large. 1t seems
in some places as if the trees were
growing right out of the rocks. Moss
es are very heavy. When you get
above the tree line, you come to the
grass and above that is the snow line
There are some capitalists who
figure on establishing paper mills
in Alaska, so as to use the spruce
trees in the manufacture of paper
The forests, however, are on govern
ment property, and what is cut must
be paid for.
During the fishing season, most Of
the salmon are caught with traps and
nets. This is done as the fish are NOV
ing back towards the creeks and other
streams to spawn. But there is one
salmon, known as the king salmon,
that is caught mostly by hook and line
This is very delicious fish. It has
been our habit to export most Of our
king salmon to Germany.
Some of the fishing and canning
companies have hatcheries of their
own along the banks of the streams
near which their plants are located.
The canneries are growing more nu-
merous, it seems, all the. time. Now
this does not mean that there is any
danger Of salmon giving out. But the
fisheries are there to keep the salmon
in the habit of spawning in certain
streams. A salmon, it is said, after
growing up, will almost always come
back to the stream where it was
Matched and spawn there.
THE United States government
gives the companies a bounty for the
product OF the hatcherjes. This boun-
ty is in the form of a rebate of taxes
There is a movement on foot, however,
TO have the government itself take
over the whole enterprise, of keeping
up the salmon by means of hatcher
les
81 must not forget to mention that
while in Alaska ] at times met Guy
Spellman He was here last winter
He is MankatO boy. He has charge
of the Straites Packing company, thir-
ty miles from Ketchikan. L. P. Hunt
is largely interested in that com
pany."
e'om Saturdays Daily.