, 1876-12-09
WEALTH UNDER WATER !!
THE SALTWATER FISH OF
PUGET SOUND.
SOMETHING. ABOUT THE FISHERIES.

SOMETHING. ABOUT THE FISHERIES.
Our beautiful Sound has no gold placers
ON its shores, as far as known; nor has the
dull thump of the quartz stamp ever been
heard in the gloomy fastnesses of her frown-
ing hills. But she has a wealth that has
enriched other communities and built up
cities of Opulence, whose ensigns have float
ed on every ocean. New Bedford, Marble
head and Nantucket, in our own land, with
Utrecht, Cronstadt and Yarmouth, in the
North Sea, have aggregated millions of
money from
THEIR SEA FISHERIES
And expended their profits in every imag-
Unable enterprise in California, Oregon and
the Sandwich Islands. 1t must not be over
looked that half the Columbia river salmon
fisheries are located in Washington Terri
tory, while Oregon reaps the credit and the
profit of them. But setting them aside and
giving Oregon the lions share of what they
earn, our Territory has still boundless
wealth of profit in the prosecution of her
fisheries. The salmon caught in Puget
Sound are not as large as those taken at
Chinook on the Columbia, but they are al
ways fat and equally fine favored. There
are salmon tisht ries at SteilacOOm and
Mukilteo, where salmon are salted and
smoked but not canned for export.
HERRING FISHERY.
The largest undertaking of this kind is
the picturesque little bay of Port Madison,s
wher a party by the name of Hammond
has had fishery in successful operation
for nearly five years. Here he makes fish
oil and cures red herrings tor export, send
ing away several hundred boxes to San
Francisco every month. He commenced
in the face of every imaginable obstacle,
and it was for a long time a mystery how
he kept his establishment out of the Sher-
ifs hands. Indeed few were cruel enough
to insinuate that he was subsidized by the
brewers to inoculate the whole Sound with
perpetual thirst. But Hammond kept peg
ging away and now turns out superior ar
ticle in this line, to anything save the her
rings imported from Holland. Mr.. Ham
mond is turning out about 5000 boxes Of
herring per year and making 1000 gallons
OF herring oil per month.
THE HALIBUr,
Which is caught in the lower Sound and
Bellingham Bay, could however be made a
great source of profit and wealth to thi
section. The fish can be taken in great
abundance, are of large size and are always
in demand when once fairly introduced.
They vary from forty to eighty pounds in
weight and are of delicious flavor when
fresh. Sailed and smoked, they are pre-
ferred by many to salmon, while the ''napes
and fins" are standard article of COM
p,nrno To roaEa fbic s, ,sharv b1a q
small schooner is necessary, built in
THREE COMPARTMENTS,
The middle one being perforated with holes
so as to allow continual supply of water
to pass through. Into this ''welI' the fish
can he dropped as soon as caught and will
keep fresh and lively till their arrival at
San Francisco. The same kind of vessel is
adapted to the catching of any kind of sea
fish and would easily make a fortune for
her protector. AT present there is not a
vessel of this kind on the coast. The only
way that halibut ever get to San Francisco
is by being carried in ice by the Pacific
Mail Steamers, which cannot deliver them
as well as smack.
COD FISHING
Can be successfully carried on in the Gulf
Of Georgia, but the genuine cod is rarely
seen in Puget Sound waters. The reddish
or rock cod is caught all the way from
Steilacoom to Point Wilson, also the fish
known to the Indians as cultus cod. The
latter is good chowder fish but valueless
as an article of export. The cod is proper
ly speaking a coldwater fish and improves
in quality the further you go north. The
fisheries in the Ochotsk Sea are still profit
able but not as good as they were before the
Central Pacific railroad was completed.
which enabled them to ship Eastern cod
through to California and they are larger
fish than any caught here.
THE ooLAcHAN
Is found all along the North coast from
Cape Blanco to S1tka and is more plentiful
in northern waters. Here, as at Coos Bay,
It is only seen for day or two in the latter
part of April, but in the northern rivers
like the Skeena and Mas, it runs for three
or four weeks. 1t is not unlike the smelt,
though an experienced eye can readily tell
them apart. Its flesh is very juicy and fat.
The firm of Loggie & Co. at New Westmin-
ster, put MP lot for exhibition at the Cen
tennial and got premium on them. The
flesh con tains an oil said to be far superior
to cod liver oil for sanitary purposes. In
Alaska these fish are known as
THE CANDLE FISH,
AS the natives use them for lighting their
huts. We look forward totlse day when an
immense amount OF capital will be invested
in preparing these fish for market and ex-
porting them to the markets of the Old
World as well as Eastern cities. British
Columbia can readily surpasS us in the pro-
duction OF them, however, as her harbors
have colder water than ours. Little is
known of their habits as yet, but enough to
superinduce the belief that they are deep
water fish and come into the coast only for
purposes Of propagation. They will yet
prove a great source of wealth.
WANT OF EXPERIENCE
Has hitherto proven great drawback to
those who have invested their capital in en-
terprises of this sort. Men have gone into
fisheries just for want of other occupation
and lost money where practical men like the
CrocKers, Keeneys and Rogers, Of New
London, would have become opulent.
Most of the salmon fisheries oD the Colum-
bia, who had money to begin with, have got
rich. The only ones who have gone to the
wall, are those who borrowed money at
high rates of interest, or were obliged to
pay high prices for supplies by reason of
buying everything upon credit. The thor
Oughbred business man who never UNDER
taxes to do more business than his means
will admit, will find the Puget Sound fish
cries good investment.
Two colored gentlemen have just
deserted the Republican side of the