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‘Salmon, Seals and Whales’ is a silent film based in Alaska which will take a brief look at the state and it’s industry. It opens with a stamp mill being used to crush quartz rock (:59) and turns to fishing ships at port (1:20). The fish are pulled up in large nets and fish are sent flopping all over the deck (1:25). Conveyor belts are used to transport the fish (1:48). The Pribilof Island belt is the home of the seal (1:52) and these lay off the coast of Alaska. A huge span of seals follows (2:05) with footage of a parent and baby seal and a cluster of baby seals (2:42). A small number of seals were allowed to be killed annually as they were endangered (2:58). Alaskan whaling is looked at next (3:25) with a harpoon being fired off the deck of a whaling boat (3:30). The dead whale is then seen dragged in from the water with men standing on it which shows its size (4:08). The whalers then begin to hack and peel away a layer of skin and fat (4:25) which is then cut into smaller pieces and sent down a chute (4:45). Natives of Alaska are filmed beginning with a woman dumping her own fish catch (5:06). She is also seen weaving the fish together with what appears to be hay (5:22). Small children are seen gathered as well as parents feeding a small child from a pot (6:01). Festivities are shown (6:13) with intricate costumes and dancing (6:29). Reindeer are seen grazing which had been imported by Siberia (6:33). Natives were taught practical arts in government schools (6:59). Footage of their gym class (7:04), reading and writing (7:14), and a sewing and cooking class (7:22) is provided. A map is depicted showing that Alaska lays on the same latitude as Northern Europe and Juneau is pointed to as the capital (8:20). The film then shows American settlements in Alaska beginning with a town area and cobblestone streets (9:19). Agricultural areas are shown (9:31) with a potato harvest being pulled up (10:23) and a horse plowing the fields (10:44). Hay is pulled up from the field (10:57) and a tractor is seen riding through the forest dragging lumber (11:06). The film concludes with the words that nature had provided the state with rich resources and natural beauty and closes on a train riding over a bridge (11:31). We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
