Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-02-06

lMS1ooSN written of the weekly ship
AGgegSz ments of halibut, which are
growing so rapidly that
they promise to make that fish the
most common upon Our dinner tables, and
have visited many of the canneries where
they are putting up salmon for shipment to
all parts of the world. There are A such
canneries in southeastern Alaska alone, and
more than 80 in the whole territory. have
also gone through the cold storage plants ut
ketchikan and elsewhere, where they are
freezing salmon for export and have seen
the various processes of mld-curng and
smoking and picking the fish for the mar
ket. The extent of the industry is surpris-
ing and it is rapidly growing
But few people appreciate what Uncle
Sam is now getting out of the waters OF this
territory. So far the seas have proved al
most as valuable as the land We have rea-
lzed more than S275 100000 from them,
but this includes $52OOO000 which has
come from the skins of the fur seal. The
seal is really water animal. 1t spends the
most of its life in the ocean and is caught
only during the short season. when it comes
to the Pribilof islands in Bering sea to
breed.
The balance is the money received from
the fisheries alone. 1t has already amounted
to more than $2250OOOOO and it is being
increased at the rate OF $20,0O0OOO year.
In other words we are now getting almost
three times much annually from Alaskan
fish as the sum we paid for the whole terri
,61,, - 81 +l,o
and we have received 80 times that amount
since the purchase was made. The product
of fish last year amounted to $21000000
and if the industry is properly protected and
fostered it should produce that much or
more for all time to come.
Indeed, the waters Of Alaska have to be
reckoned among the chief sources of our
food supply. They produce hundreds of
millions of pounds OF food every year. and
the canned salmon alone is enough to give
ten meals to every family in the United
States and still leave some for export The
fresh salmon shipped last year weighed very
close to 100000 pounds, and that cured,
picked and smoked weighed between three
and four millions. The halibut exported IN
1914 amounted to about 100000 pounds
and the Goldfish to 100000 more. In adj
dition to this there are many other kinds Of
fish in these waters that will eventually be
caught and shipped, so that in some respects
the industry is at its beginning.
So far | have seen only some Of the fish
cries OF southeastern Alaska This is known
as fishing district number one in the water
divisions which the United States fish COM
mission has made OF the territory. There
are altogether four great fishing provinces,
Southeastern Alaska begins at the Portland
canal, on the international boundary, and
runs along the coast and in and out through
the hundreds of islands, 500 or 600 miles, to
Yakutat bay. ending some distance east OF
Mount ST Elias This district has great
halibut banks off the islands, and it is the
seat of the fresh fish industry of Alaska
The fishing investments there amount to
something like S16OOOOOO, of which $l3,-
100000 is in salmon and about $3,O0OOO0 in
halibut. There are more than 100000 in
vested in the whale fisheries. Southeastern
Alaska is by far the most important OF the
water regions of Our territory, having some
thing like 10000 men engaged in fishing its
waters.
The second fishing district is known as
that of central Alaska. This begins at Yak
utat bay and includes the great Gulf of
Alaska and all of the waters south of the
mainland and along the Aleutian islands,
which run almost to Asia. This district is