Denali Highway, Alaska: Sockeye Salmon Hatchery

he world's largest sockeye salmon hatchery is located on the Gulkana River, just north of Paxson. This humble facility is where 36 million sockeye eggs incubate all winter long in boxes. The fish hatchery was started in 1973 as a homemade operation, with handmade wooden incubators, based on a Canadian prototype. Now, easy-to-clean "fish totes" have been adapted for the job. In the early days, everything was done completely by hand. There was no bridge, so fisheries workers struggled across the river, hauling heavy buckets of tiny salmon, while holding on to a rope to keep themselves upright in the current.