Seal and salmon fisheries and general resources of Alaska

Abstract

SIR: I have the honor to report that, in compliance with Department instructions dated June 12, 1894, I went to the seal islands of Alaska and inspected the fur-seal rookeries, noting particularly the numbers and present condition of the seals in comparison with what they were every year since I first saw them in 1889.I afterwards sailed along the American coast from Unalaska to San Francisco, calling at every important settlement on the way; inspecting every salmon stream and cannery on the route; making diligent inquiry into the condition of the native inhabitants of Alaska; the wants and desires of the white settlers who are busy developing the natural resources of the Territory, and noting the views of the people generally on all that appertains to the present and future prosperity of the new country.On July 10, 1 left San Francisco on board the TJ. S. revenue cutter Rush, Capt. 0. L. Hooper commanding, and arrived on the 15th at Port Townsend, where we were afterwards joined by Hon. C. S. Hamlin, Assistant Secretary oi the Treasury, who accompanied us to the seal islands and back as far as Vancouver City, British Columbia.We sailed on board the Rush from Port Townsend July 23 and arrived at the seal islands August 3, first touching at St. George and sailing along the coast, inspecting all the rookeries on that island except Zapaduie, and then sailed over to St. Paul Island, where we landed in a dense fog at 6 o'clock p. in. The seal islands, commonly called the Pribilof group, consist of four distinct islands in Bering Sea, situated between 55 and 57 north latitude, and about 170 west longitude from Greenwich. They are about 200 miles west from the nearest point on the mainland of Alaska, 200 miles north of the Aleutian chain, and 200 miles south of St. Matthews Island, or, in other words, they are about 200 miles away from any other land.The seal islands are nearly 2,300 miles from San Francisco, and about 1,600 miles, as the ship sails, directly west from Sitka.They are known, respectively, as St. Paul, St. George, Otter, and Walrus islands.Otter and Walrus are small and of no importance, and as the seals do not haul out at present on either of them regularly, and as they are not included in the lease, it will not be necessary to refer to them again. 1St. Paul, the larger of the two principal islands, is long, low, and narrow, its extreme length and breadth being 12 and 6 miles, respectively, and its total area being about 36 square miles. Around the greater part of the island runs a long, low, sandy beach, easy of access, where the seals haul out without difficulty, and where they were to be 1 In 1894 about 1,000 seals hauled out on Otter Island. ALASKA INDUSTRIES.found for a century in greater numbers than on any other spot on -the earth.St. George Island has an area of about 27 square miles, and its sides rise out of the water so abruptly and so steep that there are only a few places around the whole coast upon which anything coming out of the sea can find a footing, and consequently the number of seal...