Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-10
wRrrrIN FOR THE pIsPArcH.I

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imminent Is has been declared. If there wer
an unlimited demand, the fishery would un
questionsbly be wiped out within five o
six years Companies would set up can
neries en- every stream, blockading all the
rivers with nets and traps 50 that not {
single fish could 60 up to spawn, and pretty
soon there would be ne more to catch. For
tunately, the market will only take Ger
tain product at profitable prices, and thu
the business is forced to limit itself.
Methods That Arc wastefu'.
This year owing to q previous glut, the
seven canning concerns have been compell
ed to reduce their output to one-half that O.
last year. The fish they legitlmately need
for their annual pack might be taken with
out causing any perceptible Elimination in
the numbers OF salmon, but the trouble
arises from their shockingly wasteful
methods. Net only do they prevent natu'
raj propagation by extending barriers across
the streams, but they destroy many fish for
everyone they use.
Their nets capture all fish indiscrimin-
ately. Some otSthe salmsp have very pink
| flesh, while the flesh of others is white OF
only light pink. All but the first kind are
thrown away and wasted, because the mar
ket demands pink-aeshed salmon, and
buyers who receive any other sgt think
that they are getting poor article. AL
| though, as q matter of fact, the white-feshed
fish are as excellent in quality as those
which have pink meat, there is not single
canAery on the largest river south of Beh-
ring Sea, the Stickeen, simply because the
salmon that frequent it have mostly white
flesh. 1t was believed by the aboriginal
natives that this difference Of coloring was
due to the different species of shrimps on
which the salmon feed IN various localities;
the Russians accepted this view, and it
has been indorsed by modern naturalists
Always Breed at tho Sams Place.
For the sake of illustration take virgin
salmon stpeanl, TO which the fish are accus-
toned to resort in the spring of every year.
Led BY q wonderful instinct they return
always to the river where they were
originally spawned and Matched. Ascend
ing to the headwaters they breed, returning
thereupon to the ocean. One day along
comes . canning company and sets up
factory near the mouth. It stretches nets
or traps clear across the river, allowing not
one salmon to 60 up, and destroying vast
numbers of them besides those which it puts
up for market. A first-class establishment
of this kind will turn out 2, 900 cases a day
of 48 one-pound cans each. At the end of
half dozen years there are hardly any fish
alive that we're spawned in that stream, and
80 it ceases to be q salmon river.
Nearly one-half Of the salmon pack of
Alaska has been, obtained for many years
past from the Karluk river, which is q little
stream only about 30 feet wide and so shall
low at times as to be not more than knee
deep in the middle. The reason for the ex-
traordinary plentifulness of the fish in that
locality is that they are obliged to travel
few hundred yards frem the sea in order to
reach series of lakes, where they can de-
astonishing spectacle used to be witnessed
annually, the salmon crowding up it in
such numbers that there seemed to be moro
fish than water A similar phenomenon
can be observed to-day in some other Alas
kan rivers On the other hand the salmon
which frequent the Yukon for spawning
purposes travel as far as ], 500 miles in order
to lay end fertf1ize their eggs, the result
being that very few of the breeding fish
ever get back to the ocean alive.
A Wound II Fatal to Q Salmon.
In ascending the streams the salmon must
leap up waterfalls, run the gantlet OF rap
ids and chance other dangers They are
very apt to receive cuts or bruises, and the
slightest injuries are usually fatal, parasites
fastening upon the wounded parts and lit.
orally eating out the vitals of the fish. Con.
st the spawning season great
numbers Of them may be seen dead and
floating down the rivers, thousands lying
along the banks In rotting windrowh Curl
ously enough, nothing whatever is known
Is to the marine lie of the salmon. Where |
they find their feeding grounds In the briny
IL Al
habits are no man can tell
The diminutive creek known - the Kar-
LUX river may fairly be called ths most
wonderful salmen stream in the world. On
August 2, 1889, 153, 900 Of these fish were
caught at its mouth. During that year
,000, 900 red salmon were taken from its
waters and packed for market in $50, 900
,ases of 4S one-pound cans each. This enor-
nous production wes secured BY literally
running fence across the river and stop
ping al Of the fish that were entering for
he purpose Of breeding
An lsIanu Devoted to Salmon.
It has been recently suggested that the
Government would do wen to set aside
while there 10 yet time reservation for the
protection Of the SALMON. Tho
sland of Afognak in tho North Pacific, 750
niles west Of Sitka, Is recommended a. an
appropriate spot for the purpose. In1s 10 Q
mall island only 90 miles across, but It has
everal streams flowing into the surround
ng ocean, which at the breeding season
contain innumerable fish of all the finest
'arietiea
The salmon commonly build nests BY COL
Getting stones and piling them in little
leaps, laying their eggs in the crevicea.
Around every such nest may usually be seen
greedy horde of little freshwater sculpins
nd bullheads. Trout also gobble the spawn
,reedily, and the young fish are eaten In
reat numbers by gulls, ducks and looms.
Bears are often seen standing on the banks
+ the streams and striking with their
laws ct the breeding fish in the shallsws,
browning those which they catch upon the
hore and devouring the heads by prefer
noe. In the ocean the selmon find other
nemies in the salmon-sharks, porpoises
nd sea liona
The eanners 6rst cut OF the heads and fms
nd take out the entrails, after which the
sh are washed, cut into lengths the size Of
he cans, and fed into the latter by machin-
~. Finally the cans are htopped,
poked with steam, and labelled for the
,arket Nearly all'of the work IL done BY
hinesa RENE BAoHR
Codia Cholsrs and Diar-
rhoA Remedy
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