Seward daily gateway., 1928-10-08
CANDIDATE SEES SPLENDID FUTURE
 WESTWARD |s||.E:S! !: {!
DEMOND TELLS OF HISTORIC HERRING RUN; PROMISING
 LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY

A. J. Dimond, Valdez attorney and Democratic nominee for Thirc District Senator, returning on the
 Steamshiptrip just ended. Outside "trip to Unalaeka and other ports oi the Aleutian Islands, spoke enthus- iastically of the region of Alaska lying Southwest of Seward. He sqid:
 ''The trip was very enjoyable one to me. The weather generally was fine and the officers and men of the ship most capable and cour- teous. I was at Unala5ka and Bris- t"l Bay 15 years ago and have not h2l9 there since until making the i believeable. Those who had their Fodiak Island region where the salmon run this season was abnor- mally light, the country to the west has enjoyed Q fair degree of pros Ipcrity At Unalaska particularly we found every available man enl- ployed by reason of the heavy run Icf herring. 1t Was difficult to se- cure place to sleep, but the peo- 'ple with true Alaskan hospitality. opened their homes and took in Wayfarers like myself,
 Everyone reports that the herr ing came this year into the harbor at Unalaska in numbers almost un- helieVeable. Thos who had their gear on the ground at the time the run began made small fortunes. And the herring came in equal numbers in all Of the bays and har- DOTS on Unalaska Island. About 22,000 barrels of herring were pack eG, but all with whom I talked say that these 32,000 barrels do not constitute one percent of the herr ing that appeared in the waters of the Island during the run. The herring are very large. which indi- cateS, since herring do not mature Gntil between the ages of five and eight years, that they are old fish. The run did not last long, but suffi- C'cnt fish were taken in ponds to l?st the plants for weeks. At the time we left the Donna Lane was packing fish that had been in the ponds for more than five weeks,
 T believe that within the next generation the Aleutian Islands will all, CT nearly all, be devoted to sheep and cattle ranching. A be- ginning has already been made. People who hvae not been there do not realize the extent of these is- lands nor their adaptability to the raising of cattle and sheep. In latitude they lie Considers blv South If Ketchikan and on the Pacific side they are touched by the warm waters of the Japan current. Tn latter September when we left t!.ere, the hills and valleys were as green as in midsummer. The snow fall is light and usually does not remain long on the ground. The crass is plentiful and nourishing Men who are familiar with the re- zion estimate that it will support 100000 sheep, besides cattle and horses. The sheep ranchers say that in texture and length the wool of the sneep raised on the islands is superior to that produced in the United States.
 "The surrounding waters furnish plentiful supplies of fish. While lying at the harbor of Nickolsky, village on Umnak Island, one of the passengers with hook and line caught 12 fine, fat cod and one ilalibut in less than half an hour In nearby waters salmon run the year round and are taken by the residents in traps for their own personal use. This village is very