The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-18

THE FISHERIES OF PUGET SoUND.-From Wilke-
sons "Notes on Puget Sound" we take the following
glowing account OF the valuable fisheries at the Pa
cidc terminus OF the Northern Pacific Rsllroad:-
"The fisheries Of Puget Sound are those OF the
Sound proper and of the waters commercially ap-
purtenant. Vicinity makes this appurtenance. The
cod, hake, and halibut OF Alaska, and the North
Pacific generally, are about eight hundred miles
neafer to the drylng-racks on Puget Sound than TO
those OF San Francisco. Therefore they belong to
Puget Sound and Puget Sound will take that trade
In fish whenever she wants It; and 1t more be
got away from her than Norfolk can get away the
cod and mackerel fishery from Gloucester.
But the variety and abundance of fish
OF the highest excellence in Puget
Sound proper, as designated In the
Northern Pacific Railroad charter, are as striking
acterlsc OF these waters as are It's timber and
Its climate. Salmon OF many speces-for OF this
famous fish are many kinds, differing much In
quality and value-crowd the seas bays and streams
at certain seasons OF the year. They abound lite
rally in millions. The statement often made to me
by residents that salmon can be taken in any de-
sired quantities is most strictly true In water Of
convenient depth they are seined. In deep sound
iDgs they are taken with the hook. No other
facility and no other outlay necessary for the
prose cuon OF the business of fishing for them than
good seine and men enough to work it. An Idea
OF the abundance OF the salmon In Puget Sound can
be got from the fact that in August, 1869, at the
mouth of the Snohomish, 100 were taken at one
haul. The Indians catch large quantities, and the
Hudsons Bay Company long established profitable
export trade in them. Some Yankees from Massa-
chusetts and Maine have just got into the business
and they will show that it is capable OF indefinite
expansion. Cured and sated, these fish sold last
year for ten dollars barrel for shipment to China
ard the Sandwich Islands, and down the South
American coast But there is fish, superior that
the salmon is not worthy of lying In the
same basket with It, and the speckled trout only az
gracious favor should be permitted to get into the
frying pan in which 1t has been cooked-the cod the
true Gddus. That is in Puget Sound. It especially
abounds on the west side of Vancouver and the
north OF Fuca. But it is everywhere, and 1t is a
kiDgly fish In It's proportions. 1t averages two and
half feet in length, with grth round the shoul-
ders of eighteen inches. 1t has the flavor OF the
Block Island cod, and of food for man or gods
nothing more can be said than that. These fishes
are seined at several places the sound and caught
also with the hook in deep The price last
salted and in the BARREL from sixteen to twenty
dollars. But these Puget Sound cod are only the
flank Of the main body OF these admirable fishes
The banks on which they live begin on the north
western extremity OF Vancouver and extend beyond
Alaska. Whaling captains have assured me that on
the old Russian American whaing-gro they
have at times sensbly felt retardation OF the mo-
ton OF their ships under shortened sail by reason
of the masses OF these fishes. Habut abounds
In Puget sound OF enormous size, and or delicacy
and tenderness not known in its Atlantic congener
The quantity in which they exist here may be estI-
mated from the statement of an Official OF the Hud
sons Bay Company that in forty y-eight hours fish
ing vessel OF six hundred tons can be loaded with
them. Eulachon, a very delicious fish OF the size
Of small herring, is in shoals on the North Pacific
coast as far south as the mouth OF the Columbia.
Sturgeon OF immense size are plenty of the mouths
Of the Frazer and other rivers So abundant is this
FISH that isingass made from 1t is regular article
of export by the Hudson's Bay Company. Her.
rings In countless millions Smells pre-.
cisely the delicate fish OF New York Bay
are taken by boat loads. Dog-hsh In Incredible
quantities taken by the Indians solely for their
OIL, and this oil is staple export OF the Hudson 8
Bay Company. There are several varieties OF rock
fish and deep-sea perch, the latter often running to
eight pounds weight. or speckled trout in the cold
streams moving into the sound, even to 'siX-poun-
ders there seems to be no end"