The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1881-06-14
DAILY INTELLIGENCER.
Tuesday, June IA. 1881.
OUR FISH INTERESTS.

One Of the leading interests OF our
people totay, and one destined TO show
great increase in the future, is found
in fish. 1t is only few years since this
trade was confined wholly to the Indi-
ans. and consisted in peddling from
house to house buckets Of CLANS and
oysters. bit strings of pan fish and occa-
sional salmon. It DOW requires the
services Of hundreds OF white men, loads
schooners and steamers. necessitates an
immense capital. and brings millions
annually TO those engaged in it.
The herring fishery has been con-
fined principally 10 the operations OF
one msn-E Hammond. long of Port
Madison. but now Of Cypress Island.
His fish have driven the Eastern her
ring from the market. They are quite
o. good TO the taste, or better. and are
sid cheaper. He sends large quanti-
tics to different parts of the Goa t. in
GLIDING San Francisco. and his annual
put up Is about ten or twelve thousand
boxes. He also makes herring oil.
These fish abound here and are taken
in nets. thousand and more at haul.
Other fishermen sell their fish at the
different ports on the Sound. There is
no reason why the herring fishery
should not increase indefinitely.
In the Straits OF Fuca, tho middle
Sound and Gulf Of Georgia are count
less numbers OF halibut Of the lsrgest
size and finest favor. Many men are
engaged in their quest. but ell for the
home trade. including q few fish sent
to Portland. A year or two ago the
echooner wJStepbens entered upon the
business Of catching and preparing
these delicious Ash for the San Fran
cisco market, but. for some reason to
~ unknown. abandoned it after few
months effort. The dried and smoked
holibus we regard superior to cod.
The oyster business is prosecuted
chiefly in the neighborhood of Olympia
and Shoalwater Bay. The product Of
the latter amounts to over hundred
thousand baskets annually, substan-
TALLY oil of which find their way -
San Francisco. The Shoal Bay oys-
tsr is tho largest on tho Pacific coast. The
Olympia oyster is the smallest, but,
with cultivation. is perceptibly grow
ing andimproving. 1t controls the trade
Of Puget Sound and Victoria, and is
fast taking possession of that of Ore
gon. Oyster raising in our Territory
will one day amount TO more in dollars
and cents than wheat raising or lumber
cutting do now. The traffic at New
York amounts TO thirty million dollars
annually. and at Baltimore to as much
more. IL 10 not unreasonable to sup
pose that the traffic here on Puget
Sound will one of those days be quite
as great rs on Long Island Sound or on
Chesapeake Bay. Two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars will about cover
the trade Of the past year.
A small business has been done 10
clans ever since the settlement Of the
country. Millions Of these bivalves are
TO be had each season for the mere
taking. At Olympia. IS with oysters.
more has been done with clans than at
any other point. They arc picked and
bottled. and also prepared in the shape
Of chowder. and canned. Nothing Is
more pslatsbls. and that there Is not q
great demand for them is beyond our
comprehension. 1t will come. though,
ono Of these days.
Our Territory possesses the only real
seal fishery In or near the United States,
excluding Alaska. The value of this
fishery as an element of wealth has
been dawning on the public for two or
three years past. Until 1880 one or two
small schooners only were employed in
II. with companies Of Indians on board,
and With Indians from the shore 10
canoes. thousand or two skins being
taken each season. Last year ak
schooners were engaged. and this year
ten;the catch being In the neighborhcod
Of .. sht thousand seals. The extent to
which the seal fishery Of our Territory
principally near Cape Fiastery) can bs
pushed 10 uncertain.
The smelt. oolachan. rock cod. and
other fish are common. Sturgeon ere
caught nov and then OF enormous size.
weighing from 200 to so pounds. Dog
fish are taken for their oil. thousands
Of gallons Of which are made monthly.
Porpoises and small whales visit our
waters occasionally. and at long inter-
walls ara captured. The cod are found
in the North Pacific Ocean. and their
pursuit, AZ also that OF the whale and
wslrus and lur seal. must in good tiEe
bring to Page. Sound vast trade that
now centers at San Francisco, and
which employs forty or fifty vessels
and nearly two thousand men.