lowed by the witness, who stumbled on
a stone, allowing his rifle to drop.
Striking the ground the weapon was
discharged. The ball struck deceased
causing almost instant death.'7
Following the flag-draped casket al
most the entire population attended the
last, sad rites; but the only tear shed
as the body was lowered to the grave
welled in the eyes of. the heartbroken
Inez.
Three volleys were fired over the sol
dier’s grave; and alone it was left and
forgotten, neglected save by one who
loved him. She kept the flowers fresh
on his grave during their season of
bloom.
Time, that magic healer, erases the
traces of grief and blots out the sor
rows of the heart. Today, weed-grown
and neglected the grave is marked in
the Sitka cemetery only by a stone that
stands in evidence of the story.
A year had passed. Denny renewed
his suit for the hand of Inez; and again
he asked her to be his bride, only again
to be told what had been told him be
fore.
It was pay day. The lights in the
club burned unusually bright, and wine
was flowing freely. Denny was the
center of attraction, lie was enter
taining all comers, and upon him idle
compliments were showered, spoken of
minds under the influence of wine. The
festivities were in a high state and
“He’s a Jolly Good Fellow" was re
peatedly directed at the genial host
of the evening.
It was long past the midnight hour
when Denny left the«club and reeled
unsteadily along the path toward his
quarters. The cool breeze from the sea
blew fresh in his face, cooling liis fev
erish brain for a moment. For a mo
ment his thoughts were rational. He
steadied himself and stopped, but the
flow of hot blood returned and he re
sumed his reeling way to his quarters.
Denny was absent at reveille. An
orderly was sent to his quarters where
he received no response to his knock
though the door was locked on the iu
side. The commanding officer was
notified, and the officer of the day
forced an entrance to the room.
Denny lay dead upon his bed. A
bullet had ended his life, the last hours
of which had been hours of remorse.
Peace he had sought with his Maker,
for on the table was a letter telling
of the duel fought between Livermore
and himself wherein he had killed his
comrade.
Not long ago a lady visited Sitka
with her daughter. She visited the
cemetary and paused beside a neglected
grave which called to her memory a
scene of many years ago when that
grave was made. It recalled the day
long ago when hers wrere the only tears
shed as that body was lowered beneath
the sod to wait the command of Him,
our only Judge.
WANTS FAIRER VIEWS
“I am in full sympathy," said Pres
ident Taft in his Controller bay message,
‘ ‘ with the concern of reasonable and
patriotic men that the valuable resour
ces of Alaska should not be turned over
to be exploited for the benefit of greedy
absorbing and monopolistic corporations
or syndicates. Whatever the attempts
which have been made, no one, as a
matter of fact, has secured in Alaska
any undue privilege or franchise not
completely under the control of congress
1 am in full agreement with the view
that every care, both in administration
and in legislation, must be observed to
prevent the corrupt or unfair acquisi
tion of undue privilege, franchise, or
right from the government in that dis
trict. But everyone must know that
the resources of Alaska can never be
come available either to the people of
Alaska or to the public of the United
States unless reasonable opportunity is
granted to those who would invest their
money to secure a return proportionate
to the risk run in the investment and
reasonably under all the circumstances.
On the other hand, the acrimony of
spirit and the intense malice that have
been engendered in respect of the ad
ministration of the government in Al
aska and in the consideration of meas
ures proposed for her relief and the
wanton recklessness and eagerness with
which attempts have been made to be
smirch the characters of high officials
FISHERIES OF ALASKA
(Continued from Page Three)
requires a keen mind and constant,
watchfullness to win any measure of
success.
The industry began in 1866 with a
pack of 4,000 cases on the Columbia
river. It has grown until now fishing
is done in most rivers and inlets from
the Sacramento in California to the
Nushagak n Bristol bay, Bering sea.
In 1909, the record year, the Pacific
coast pack of canned salmon was 283,
596 cases, representing a value of more
than 20,000,000. In this total Alaska’s
contribution was half the entire amount.
The manner of handling and process
ing has improved greatly as the indus
try increased and spread and as the
quantities handled became larger. Salm
on packing as carried on today has re
duced the handling of raw material to
a minimum, as well as the time con
sumed from fish boat to can. The pack
ing methods have been modernized, so
that it is now one of the most sanitary1'
of the packing processes. Automatic
machinery does the work formerly done
by hand labor, and the visitor, passing
through the packing plant, is impressed
with the fact that salmon and can are
hardly touched by human hands from
the time the fish arrives at the cannery
dock until it lands, hermetically sea'ed,
on the packing floor.
The canneries are located in the cen
ter of the fishing district adjacent to the
streams where the fish run, so that the
fish are received fresh daily. It is a
wonderful sight to watch the lifting of
a trap or seines on the banks, with the
thousands of shining, splashing, impris
oned fish.
The day’s catch is taken aboard the
cannery tender or on a lighter in tow.
Arriving at the cannery the fish are
thrown on an elevator, consisting of a
runway from the receiving dock to the
tide water at an angle of forty-five de
grees and supplied with an endless chain
with buckets that carry the fish to the
floor of the fish house. Here they are
washed in cold water on a perforated
floor.
iney pass next tmougn me ••iron
chink’7 a remark aide invention for
cleaning fish. Head, tail, fins and en
trails are removed, and the fish passed
on to the “fish tank” where the skin
is scrubbed clean in cold water. A
“rinsing” in cold water comes next,
then the dripping tank with perforated
bottom, allowing all water to drain.
A conveyor takes the fish through the
“cutter” a machine with revolving cir
cular knives, where it is cut into steaks
the size of hte can. In he “filler” an
matically. Here, too, they receive each
iron plunger forces the fish into the tins,
which pass through the machine auto
(automatically, also) one-quarter ounce
of salt.
The cans are lifted from the filler and
placed on a conveyor for the “wiping.”
They are topped, soldered, tested, and
given a first cooking of forty-five min
utes without being touched by hand, ex
cept once, when the can is placed on the
belt conveyor.
The final cooking is for an hour un
der heavy pressure of steam. They are
cooled, then lacquered and labeled, by
machinery also. Before each operation
they are tested, six times in all, for de
fective cans. In boxing forty-eight
cans are packed in a case.
This describes the processing and
packing method now in vogue in all
modern plants for the one-pound “tall”
cans, which is the standard package.
Flat and oval cans, as well as two pound
cans are hand packed as no machinery
for filling these cans has yet been in
vented.
Hatcheries for the planting of salmon
fry are conducted at Yes lake, Afog
nak, Fortmann, Karluk, Klawak, Hetta,
and Quadra—the latter five private
hatcheries, the two former operated by
the Bureau of Fisheries.
There are a score of salteries and
many mild curing plants. This business
is proving one of the most attractive
in southeast Alaska, where king salm
on are to be found throughout the
greater part of the year.
So much for the salmon, the king of
the food fish.
Weekly Sourdough, $3.00 a year.
The
Alaska
Sourdough
for all the
South
eastern
A laska
news.
By Mail
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Per Year
Address:
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SOURDOUGH
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