The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-01-27

TIE COLUMBIA RIVER AND THE SALMON
FIsuERY.-I don't know where | got the
belief that the Columbia was n second
rate river, There must have been some
buuder in the biographies out Of which
GOT my lessons and my notions OF the
Northwest coast at school. Possibly,
too, the knowledge that navigation is in.
terrupted by rapids at the Cascades and
Dales contributed to form an impression
copspicuously wrong. In fact, the Co.
lumbia is one of the great rivers of the
world. II seems to me larger, as it is
infinitely grandcr, than the Mississippi.
between Astoria aud the junction Of the
Willamette its breadth, its depth, its rap
id current, and the vast body of water it
carries to the sea reminded me of descrip-
tions had read Of the Amazon and |
suspect the Columbia would rank with
that stream were it not for the unlucky
Instructions at the Cascades and Dalles,
which divide the stream into two unequal
parts.
For ten miles above Astoria the river
is so wide that it forms really a vast bay.
Then it narrows somewhat, and the chan.
mel approaches now one and then the
other Of its bold, picturesque shores,
which often for miles resemble the Pali-
sades of the Hudson in steepness, and
exceed them in hei ght. But even after
1t becomes narrower the river frequently
widens into broad, open, lake-like expan.
ses,which are studded with lovely islands,
and wherever the shore lowers you see,
beyond, grand mountain ranges snow-clad
in spots. and amazingly fine.
+ The banks are precipitous nearly all
r the way to the junction of the Villa
E meite, and there is singularly little farm.
, ing country On the immediate river. Be.
, low Kalama there are few spots where
there is even room 70. small farmstead
But along this part of the river are the
! "salmon factories" whence come the Ore
. gon salmon, which,p up in tin cans, are
: now to be bought not only in our Eastern
. States but all over the world. The fsl
! are caught in wires, in gill nets, as shaC
r are caught on the Hudson, and this is thu
only part of the labor performed by whit
q men. The fishermen carry the salmon
o in boats to the factory-usually larg'
. frame building erected on piles over tn
2 water-and here they fall into the hand
of the Chinese, who get for their labor
q dollar day and their food.
:, The salmon are flung up on a stage
g where they lie in heaps of a thousand a
q a time, a surprising sight to an Easter
!, person, for in such pile you may Sc
q fish weighing from thirty to sixty pound;
# The work of preparing them for the can
n is conducted with exact method and grea
cleanliness, water being abundant. On
Chinaman seizes fish and cuts off hi
= head the next slashes off the fins an
~ -, disembowes the fish 4; it then falls into
=, large vat, where the blood soaks out
! salmon oeeds like bull-and after soal
II ing and repeated washing in differeI
M vats, it falls at last into the hands of on
u of a gang of Chinese whose business it j
Il with heavy knives, to chop the fish in'
n chunks Of suitable size for the tins. Thei
N pieces are plunged into brine, and pre-
" emily stuffed into the cans, it being Il
object to Gil each can as full as posslb
of with fish, the bone being excluded. III
n, top, which has a small hole pierced in