The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-06-14
From The Sacramento Union Of April 20.
Sacramento Salmon Fisheries.


& The fishing interest in the Sacramento at this
raiat is increasing and expanding with astonlsll-
fapidity from year to year and from month to
! month. The water of the river must be alive
with salmon, or such numbers, caught daily
! would sensiby reduce their numbers. But eX-
& perienced fishermen inform US, while the run
lasts, so countless is the number that no matter
B how many are employed in the business, or how
1 iuany are taken daily, no diminution can be per-
s seeiyed. Even the 'tues'' between this and the
coast range are reported to be filled with salmon.
The run this year is, said to be greater than ey-
Ter before known at this season, the heaviest runs
heretofore having been experienced IN June and
July. The extraordinary run of the present time
8 is expected to continue for something like three
SMeeks. The fish seem to run in immense schools,
& with some weeks intervening between the appear
snce of each school, during which, the numbers
taken are light as compared with the quantity
taken during time like the present.
No account is kept of the number engaged in
fishing, or Of the amount caught, and all state
! ments relative thereto are made from estimates
obtained from those who have experience in the
I ! business, and probably approximate correctness.
These estimates give the number of men en-
sployed now in taking fish in the Sacramento at
about six hundred; the number Of fish taken dal-
slly, on an average, at two thousand-their aver
= aye weight seventeen pounds, making thlrty-tour
{ thousand pounds per day. Two cents per pound,
& which is probable more than the present average
Sspyee by the quantity, would give a daily income
oftfose employed of s6so-not very high pay.
Ether the number of men engaged in the busi-
ness, ,.we imagine, must be over estimated, q the
number of fish caught under estimated.
1t REQUIRES two men to man boat; which
] would give three hundred boats for. six hundred
3 men. Two thousand fish day would give to
each man fraction over three as his share. We
presume few are fishing who do not catch good
( inany more than.tha number. We saw boat
load, the product Of the previous night, consist
ing Of sixty-six salmon, weighed yesterday morn
ING. They averaged a fraction over seventeen
2 pounds, and gave thirty,three as the number
caught by each man, instead Of three as estlma,
ted above.
/ Say the three hundred fishermen man. OIL an
average two hundred boats night; the average
number caught by each boat but twenty, aud
the totaIwotld be four thousand fish, instead OF
two thousand as estimated Our impression Is
2 that the latter comes nearer the mark than the
former as a good many Of the fishermen send
their fish directly to San Francisco; Others take
them to.dihterent points for sailing.
Large numbers are salted down daily; several
firms and individuals being extensively engaged
in this branch of the trade. -
The fish are put down in hogsheads which av-
/ erage, when filed, about eight hundred pounds,
! From one to three thousand pounds are put
! down daily byfthose eagagedin sailing. An ac'
quaintanee has filed sixty-fSe hogsheads this
season. -
I. The most Of those engaged in sailing live on
the Washington side of theriyer and salt their
I fish there.
Including those engaged in sailing, catching
and selling, probably the fish business furnishes
employment for thousand men.
The salmon fsK IS found inno other waters in
/ such vast multitudes as are met in the rivers
emptving in1o the Pacific. On the Atlantic side
the leading fish feature is the run of shad in the
spring; on the Pacific side, salmon ascend oul
rivers at all seasons, in numbers beyond all com
putation. In California and Oregon our rivers
are alive with them; the great number taken by
fishermen are but drop from the bucket. A
bove this on the coast side tribes of Indians use
no other food. 49,.
In the-course Of, a few years, salmon fishing
will extend itself generally over the State, and
more than likely become, in the mean tlne an
important article f.export.
n