Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-05-25

Great Prosperity of Fisheries
Wholesale Destruction Of Fish.

treat prosperity or ~ISherfeS-
Wholesale Destruction Of Fish.
A letter in the San Francisco Chronicle
from Portland Oregon, says: Salmon
fishing will begin about April 20. Il sell
dom begins before that time, because the
run is very light, and there being moro
t1oating-snags and drift wood in the river
than at any other time, the nets are cas-.
lily destroyed. The season lasts four
months. A boat. net and signal-light
cost from 500 to $500. There is ageneral
disposition to center the salmon-cannine
business at that ancient little town, as it
seems to be the cheapest place of opera.
tons, Cor if the fisheries were further
up the Columbia tug-boats would have tc
be employed to bring back the fishing.
boats. Yet the lower bay at the mouth
OF the Columbia is very stormy during
often loss of life and a great deal of dan
ger and hardship. This is one reason
the Columbia salmon cost more than the
Sacramento salmon.
Fishermen who have their own boat
and nets are paid 60 cents a salmon
weighing eight pounds. These whose
boats are furnished by the company are
paid 45 cents a salmon. One of the firm
has raised the price to 20 cents u fish
butthe others refuse to see the elevation.
Salmon are packed in one-pound cans
and 4S cans make a case, the average
price of q case being So or $500. The
product of the 36 canneries IN the Col
umbia river last year was 535, 900 cases,
the capital invested in these cannerius
is about So, 600, 600. When it is known
that ishing-boats cost $500 or 5000 each,
and that some of the fishing firms have
100 boats, and that a total Of about 1000
men are employed the cost can readily
be understood. About one.third Of
The salmon product is shipped to San
Francisco for reshipment to Aus
tralia, the Eastern States, and
islands in the Pacific ocean. The re-
mainder is shipped from Astoria to Liv-
erpol or London. One vessel recently
lett with 10000 cases worth $3.50, 600, the
most valuable cargo of salmon ever
shipped from the Pacific coast.
The continued run of salmon in the
Columbia is remarkable, considering the
the merciless iron wheels that impale
them like Spanish garote. There is a
sentiment in abolishing this wholesale
destruction of fish, and it is likely that a
law will be passed prohibiting it. The
law against fishing between Saturday
night and Monday morning isnot rigid
ly enforced. This law was passed in or
der to allow the fish to ascend to their
spawning grounds. But in this whole
sale and untimely destruction the peo-
pie are destroying the very source of
their revenue. 1t is proposed by the
cannery proprietors to establish a hatch
1.,, -.<N .,,l.i -
think the state should e.
tablish a hatchery for the benefit of can
merry establishments. Yet the ~canneries
have year after year, packed from 400,-
900 to $50 900 cases, depending solely on
the fish that escape to their natural
spawning grounds. 1t can easily be es-
timated what a future awaits this grow.
ing industry when a hatchery has been
established able to turn out millions OF
fish annually, and their wholesale de-
struction stopped. Perhaps then 2 900, O0C
cases might be packed which would be 9
of l0,0oO,0 900 about one-fourth of which
would be net. During the fifteen years
the revenue derived from fishing in the
Columbia river was about S25, 900 600
There were 100000 cases of salmon
value of which was 81, 800, 600. Thi.
would leave 800, 0G0 cases for cannerie!
outside of the Columbia river. Whe1
salmon fishing began here fftee1
years ago the price was abou
three times what it is now, OF
$l5 a case. II the wholesale destruction
Of fish is not stopped, and hatcheries are
not soon established, the supply vii
soon be like the last run Of shad, anc
the price will advance. But there il
considerable salmon fishing in Alaska
three %canneries being in existence
there, and recent reports refer to the
establishment of another
The '%'scooping' wheels, upon which
salmon are caught, resemble the old
fashioned "undershot wheel" They
are built upon embankments or protect
ing rock, so that the wheel will be in
the water when the stream rises. Oh
course, they are built in the low-wate1
season. The wheels have plank paddles
so that the water running down stream
sets the wheel in motion, and the sal,
mon coming up stream are caught on the
wheel and literally broken. They fall
into a "chute," something like a wood.
drive and slide down into boxes. A
wheel scoops I'D 5000 or 4,UG0 salmon a
night. There is no law to prevent this
wholesale slaughter and destruction, but
there is a loud cry for it.
800.