The Wrangell sentinel., 1926-10-07
The Fisheries
 of Alaska

Perhaps less romantic than mining. but equally as profitable in a commercial way, and the source l Of much greater revenue to the Territory is the fishing industry of 1 Alaska. Four kinds of fish are chiefly Of commercial value - sal mon. cod. halibut and herring. The earliest figures on production show l catch of S202.13S value in cod of s416,000 in salmon in 1868. The l banner year in the fishing industry in Alaska was that of 1918 when l the combined value of all fisheries products totalled S59.144,859. This sum is more than eight times the purchase price of Alaska. The total value of fisheries from 1868 to 1921 is S4S0,000.000.
 The fishing industry is the prin eipal revenue of some of the Coast cities which owe their existence as permanent settlements and their present prosperity more largely to the fishing industry than any other activity.
 Salmon are found along the en- tire Alaskan coast from Portland Canal to Point Barrow. The prin-
 
 liam Sound, Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay. The bulk of the salmon are can ned. though there are a few salmon salteries. picking plants and mild curing stations in operations. Sal mon are also one of the principal varieties of fresh fish, the king sal mon being best adapted to the fresh fish market because of the fact that it may be found in par italy landlocked waters during the entire year and caught by the pro cess of trolling. Dried or smoked salmon are especially valuable as dog feed and are used also in this form by the Indian population as food
 The salmon catch in Alaska is se- cured almost wholly by means of traps, seins and gill nets Tn 1925 there were operated 458 traps. 437 seins, aggregatisg 71,409 fathoms and 2,916 gill nets aggregating 3l9,285 fathoms. In this year the total number Of salmon taken in Alaska was 79,477600, as follows Gohoe or Silver. 1,887,754; Chum or Keta, 9,691,666; Humpback CT Pink 49.l41, 343s King or Spring was 794, 300; and Red or Soekeye. the choicest of the lot, 18,963,537.
 Last year there were about 20.000 persons engaged in the industry throughout Alaska, and the total pack was about 5,500,000 cases Of this number about 1,447,000 cases were of the choice red salmon the biggest percentage of it being pack ed in Bristol Bay up in the Bering Sea district where the highest grade of salmon in the world is found. In the entire Territory there are about 130 canneries. As the most of these are in isolated places they nearly all have their own wireless station which keeps them in touch with the outside world at all times.
 In southeastern Alaska between Ketchikan and Juneau the salmon eanneries are open about six months of the year, part of this time being for the purpose of getting the plants in readiness for the coming season. In the spring they outfit in Seattle mostly and send part of their crews north. After their ar rival come the first supplies among
 
 shocks, These places are then very busy for about six weeks making their cans for the season, as a can nery that puts up one hundred thousand cases of fish must have AS times that number of cans and this is by no means small job. These thousands are then stock piled for future use. The force then is at work making up the one hun dred thousand cases and by the time that is over with the fish are running by the thousands. They are brought to the canneries in barges, open boats, gas boats, and various other contraptions. The Iron Chink, a modern invention that cleans the fish, scales them and cuts their heads off, is then brought into operation and goes to work on the millions. During the run which. yarirs ;n various "c"- tions, the crew work with great en- durance, until finally the cannery has it's pack put up or the fishing season comes to a close on account of Government regulations. But the work is not finished now the filled cans are all handled again, labeled in most instances and packed into cases for shipment, 48 cans in box. Finally the pack is either all shipped out for the market or in some cases part is stored until sold and the crew are returned south again. Another spring comes and the big army sweep north again in quest of the "Silver Horde"