BRIEF RESUME OF
CANNERY WORK
TO WESTWARD
CANNERY SURVEY SHOWS CON
SIDElRABLE IMPROVEMENTS
DESPITE LOW PACKS
Despite the poor season which the
fishing industry has experienced this
year in many parts of Alaska, nu
merous canneries to the Westward
have made improvements and addi
tions to their various plants which
are of considerable importance. What
was formerly only a saltery two
years ago at Saw Mill Bay is now
an imposing cannery site, due to en
larging of the plant of the San Juan
Fishing and Packing Co.
Last year the company moved its
cannery equipment from Seward and
Seattle to Saw Mill Bay, undertaking
to make this the center of its packing
industries. The greater part of th°
buildings are located on dry land,
the warehouse is new and modern
in its construction, labor is made
easier and much time is saved.
Another salmon line was added this
year, making two in all. Five traps
were operated, "whereas only two were 1
used last year. Among the new
equipment installed was a can re
forming plant, an Iron Chink of the
new model is also being successfully
operated.
The herring department also has
been benefitted by new and modern
improvements, one of the newest
types of elevators having been in
stalled. An effort was made to take
the herring of a size sufficient to
pack but this was impossible. The
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SEWARD—KENAI ROAD
herring were so small on Prince Will
iam Sound this year that the fertili
zer plant has received its share.
There is no waste at the San Juan
Fisheries plant. Salmon taken in
the traps are put down in mild cure.
Handling of the salmon was greatly
facilitated by the new Chink, wihere
last year' ten slimers were needed for
one line, only six are now needed
for the two. The San Juan plant at
Saw Mill Bay began in 1918 as a
small saltery, with its combined herr
ing and saltery industry it is now
probably one of the largest plants on
Prince William Sound. The plant is
under the direct supervision of G. C.
Henderson, resident manager for the
Seward district.
I. M. Foster, head of the Alitak
Packing Co., this year added a num
ber of improvements to the plant.
In order to do away with the usual j
cannery odors, Mr. Foster has always
had his fish house entirely separate
from the cannery itself, keeping it
at the end of the dock over deep
water, and fluming the fish into the j
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main building after they have been
cleaned.
Pink salmon at Alitak were of un
usually high quality this year, more
salmon were brought in than was an
ticipated following the Bureau of
Fisheries order requiring a 50 per
cent escapement at Olga Bay, in or
der to permit 350,000 fish to go up.
An arrangement was made by the
Alaska Packers and Alitak plant to
split the catch of the only two red
salmon traps which the government
permits at Olga Bay. The expense
of maintenance was also divided
equally and the companies alternated
in lifting the two traps. In addition
to these the Alitak concern maintain
ed two others.
Improvements made this year at
the plant of the Kodiak Fisheries
Co., at Kodiak have doubled the
floor space there and have permit
ted complete arrangement of the
cannery. Excavating is under way
now for a new location for the boil
ers and retorts, which will be hous
ed in a 36 by 40 addition. This
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i Hardware, Furniture j
M BEDS, MATTRESSES, RUGS, DE LUXE CONGOLEUM M
EE Rugs, Inlaid Linoleum, Crockery and Glassware, Guns ;==,
EE and Ammunition, Powder, Caps and Fuse, Iron and Paper =e
= Roofing, Rope and Twine, Window Glass, Paints and Oils, 5=
EE Pipe and Pipe Fittings, Cutlery and Carving Sets, Flash EE ■
EE Lights and Batteries, Electrical Appliances and Fittings, EE
H WE ALSO CARRY A MOST COMPLETE LINE OF H
= HOLIDAY GOODS, TOYS AND NOVELTIES =
H ALL AT GREATLY REDUCED PRICES si
= All Mail Orders Promptly Filled s!
| J. L. GRAEF 1
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_ -
The First Shipment of Gold from the Iditarod, reaching Seward by Dogsled
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!
addition will be at one end of the
cannery department and will thus
keep all the new equipment together.
Seldovia, near the mouth of Cook
Inlet enjoyed a fishing boom the
past season, due largely to an in
creased number ot boats, waking
cut ol the port. Libby, McNeil and
Linb.v, operating the schooner Salva
dor, had about 25 employes on the
job, and the Imlaci Packing Co.,
around 40. Between the salmon and
herring industries, about 200 people
were employed steadily in Seldovia
since May. A small one-line salmon i
cannery, the Cook Inlet Pack Com->
pany w as built this year by W. A. j
Estus and employed about 30 peo
ple. Another salmon plant-about Ihe
same size, the All Year Round Pack
ing company plans to pack Dungen'ess
and King crabs this winter.
PROSPECTORS ARE
PLEASED OVER
GOOD SHOWING
ELLIS BALL CHILI MILL MOST
CONVENIENT FOR SMALL
PROPERTIES
kjliv ui me most convenient small
mills yet invented for use by the pros
pector and small operator is the Ellis
Ball-Chili Mill, a number of which have
been sold in this vicinity this year.
This mill is compact and so easily
handled that the smaller sizes can be
packed from place to place by the
prospector. The larger sizes are also j
made portable by coming apart in j
sections easily handled, and this alone !
renders them valuable for the man
with a property far back in the hills.
Nils Hagen, of Woodrow, is the local
agent. He has an advertisement in I
another part of this paper which will,
interest every Alaskan.
PERSONNEL OF BUREAU OF
PUBLIC ROADS FOR SEWARD
The personnel of the local Bureau
af Public Roads, which department
lias been engaged in road construction
in this district since 1921, with the
total expenditure of §624,000, include
the following:
J. B. Reher, associate highway en
gineer; E. F. Wann, and C. H. Kiel,
resident • engineers; W. E. O. Criger
and John Henderson, instrument men;
F. E. Bishop, accountant; Jack Tut- i
tie, timekeeper.
The purchase of Alaska 58 years ago j
was generally known as “Seward’s
Folly.” What was then considered
a lemon has gradually ripened into
marvelous resources for the United !
States.
RAILROAD DEFICIT [
BE OVERCOME IN \
NEAR FUTURE w
SEATTLE, Nov. 19 (,/P)—Doubling the
present tonnage on the government’s
Alaska railroad will “take it out of
the red,” Noel Smith, general mana
ger of the railroad, told the Mining
Club at a banquet last night. A big
cut in operating costs will be brot
about by the replacement of rotting
trestles with steel, and earth fills.
Mr. Smith said many of the old
trestles were constructed from green
timber, often with the bark on, with
the result that decay set in shortly
afterward. He declared that indus
trial conditions along the railroad
are improving.
Falcon Joslin criticised the lack of
government support during the early
stages of construction, and voiced op
position to the route adopted by the
government.
%
COAL ACTIVITIES
BRIEFLY TOLD
The following news leter relative
to coal mining activities was received
by the Gateway in last evening’s
mail.
The letter follows:
The only news at present available
in the coal field is the railroad ex
tension to the Alaska Matanuska *
Coal property on Moose creek, which
will be completed by about Novem
ber 20, this concern has now en
route several carloads of lumber,
two 125 h.p. boilers, one high speed
engine and generator, also consider
able I00I3 and other mining equip
ment, and will no doubt be in opera
tion about the loth of December. The v
dormitory at the mine is about com
pleted,and a trestle leading from the
mine portal to the coal loading sta
tion.
The Evan-Jones mine is operating
continuously, and they are contem
plating the installation of electric haul
age. The new work on coal beds re
cent penetrated, and an air-shaft is
about' completed.
The Healy River mine is also
operating continuously, and they now
have a plant in which fhe various
sizes are separated. This concern
is also about to install electric haul
age system.
Some improvements have been
made by the Premier Coal Mining
company on Moose Creek, such as
the installation of a ventilating fan
of larger capacity, and this mine is
again operating after work being
temporarily suspended owing to high
water which had -washed out a por- *
tion of the Moose Creek Narrow
gauge, and which cut off their trans
portation facilities.
The transfer of Alaska from Russia
:00k place 5S years ago, October 17.
'(
Hubbell & Waller
y ye jy .y yt jyy. yt yr jyr
Water Power Engineers
....Contractors"1""""""'""
U. S. Mineral & Deputy Surveyors
Offices Seattle
PETERSBURG, Alaska
v.'“ •.