The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-01

4uE Sc6l lSnifg IN June. Ineu tHcy
make . business OF getting their
winter supply, and in . few weeks
take great quantities. By an ac-
curate record kept for the government
at Neah Bay during the year 1sS0, it was
ascertained that the tribe took 1885 30
pounds during their season 5 fishing, all or
nearly all of which was dried for their
winter use. 1t was in this locality that
the schooner MoiIie Adams obtained rs
fares of fresh halibut, which were shipped
10 Eastern markets during ISIS. On July
9th of that year the Mollie Adams lett
Seattle on hetched halibut cruise, and
after trying several places found the hsn
abundant of the southern extrem-
ity of Queen Charlotte island In
depth varying from thirty TO forty
five fathoms, continued On these
grounds till September 8, fishing IN all
but nineteen days, and securing haul OF
10000 pounds. Two such trips could be
made IN one season, while the netcned
trips 10 Greenland or Iceland from New
England ports consume an entire season.
Two great obstacles prevented the de-
velopment Of this industry on this coast
One was the high price fishermen have 10
pay for ice. and the other and worst oo-
stacle was the exorbitant price OF freight
charged on ali the railroads for transport
ing these fish to Eastern markets. But II
Is expected that better arrangements viii
be possible in the future. SO far aSlce Is
concerned, IL has been ascertained that
supplies can be obtained along the lines OF
the Northern PACING and Union Pacihc IN
the lakes and streams of the Cascade
range, where ice houses can be constructed
and ice collected, as Is done IN the East.
The reason why il has not been done here
before this is because there has not been
demand sufficient TO warrant the outlay.
Ice houses can be erected along the line OF
the Port Townsend Southern railroad, on
Hoods canal, at the base Of the noun
tains, where ice can be got in the
mountain lakes, where the temperature
is far colder than on the salt water PUGET
sound. Ice houses for storing ice could be
erected at these lakes and streams and
then slid down to the storage houses on
the line of the railroad. as is done in New
England. So also on the Seattle & Lake
Shore road, as well as on the Northern
Pacinc and Union Pacific. When the
transcontinentaI roads viii reduce their
fares so that t.sh can be taken East as an
article of economical food for the poor man
and not as an article of luxury for the
rich, and when the railroads viii aid in
bringing in ice 50 that it can be furnished
to the fishermen at Eastern price, then,
and not till then, will we see the fishing
industry increase and It's development be-
come an important factor in the wealth of
the state, while at the same time it viii be
an important factor in the earnings OF the
xx-L.. cd I'D
growth.
Much can be done by our Legislature dur
ing its coming session TO develop our fish
ing industry by enacting comprehensive
law in the place of the present abortion,
which is only police regulation for the
salmon fisheries of the Columbia river.
We want the laws for fish commission
not only to include and care for the sal
mon and sturgeon of the Columbia, but for
the cod, the halibut and other salt water
fish of Puget sound, for the fur seals of our
coast, the whale fishery at Cape Fattery
and the encouragement and development
of the fisheries of the North Pacific by our
own citizens.
The present law should have provided
for the fish commission taking full and
complete account of all of our hsh pro-
1SSlS
tire year, and not contining them TO the
mere salmon run of hfty-six days. This is
the year of the eleventh census of the
United States, and if a proper record had
been kept we could have made good
showing for this state. The government
are employing enumerators, who are ex-
pected in one month to do the work of an
entire year. The account that will be
rendered viii not do US as much good as If
made up officially by our own fish
commission. But under our present
law no provision was made for
this record. which, to be done correctly,
should be done by men who are employed
during the entire year. The salmon have
their season; so do cod, halibut, her
ring and other variety of fish, and so have
the seals and whales. They do not all
come in the i've months of the salmon
fishing of the Columbia. Then We have
oysters and CLAIMS marketed every year to
the amount of many thousands of dollars.
The members of the legislature from the
Sound counties are presumed to know
more about the value and importance of
our fisheries than the farmers Of Eastern
Washington, and it will be the members
of Western Washington who viii be looked
to for the requisite information on which
to enact intelligent laws.
There is no reason why our fisheries NAV
not reach in few years the value of the
fisheries of Massachusetts which now
count up to millions of dollars. The
city of Gloucester, one of the richest cities
of its size in the Union, was built almost
entirely from the profits made from the
mackerel, cod and halibut of the Atlantic.
We haye all these elements of wealth in
our waters, In our salmon, halibut, cod,
and other hsh, and in fur seals and whales.
We must encourage these fisheries and we
must keep an account of them to show
their great value and importance to this
state.
! believe If an accurate account could
have been kept of the value of all our nsh-
cries of every kind, not only of the salmon
product, which is easy TO get, but of the salt
water product taken by white men and by
Indians, an array of figures could have
been shown to members of the legislature
which would have surprised them; and vet
this industry is but in its infancy. We
must not expect that the salmon are to
continue TO be the only fishery in
dustry of our state. We must
have larger vessels than dorys
and jiggers, and extend our hshine 10
northern waters. We must make Puget
sound the headquarters of the whalernen
and ship the oil and bone of the Arctic
over our own railroads instead of sending
il seven hundred miles TO San Francisco;
and so of cod and halibut. This industry
rDuS- and will eventually come 70 p,,,a+