The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-10-06

In the high tide Of returned prosperity.
which has reached every one Of the mani
fold resources and Industries Of the state.
enguihng in its merry swirl the croakers
wao held high carnival during the hard
times, the salmon packing industry IS
reapins benefit Of The most substantial
kind. Figures compiled by State Fish
Commissioner Little. and by canneryrnen
that the pack for 1897 will be the largest
in the history OF the state.
Packers and trap men expected big
run Of salmon this year. once every four
years the authorities on salmon fishing
say that the droves Of salmon coming into
the Straits Of Fuca from the sea are in
creased 10 countless hordes. Why the
run OF FISH should be larger every fourth
season than in the intermediate years has
never been successfully explained on
scientific basis. II is true. however. that
every fourth season the run of afish is in
creased two fold.
This year the run Of soekeyes was short
er than had been expected. but in numbers
Of splendid FISH the run exceeded anything
known. They came so fast that the can
nerymen were absolutely swamped. From
July Is to August the sockeyes swarmed
the bays and inlets OF The lower Sound.
They filled the traps fasser than they
could be emptied and the fish disposed OF
to the canneries. GIL meters on the Fra
ser river caught boat loads full as fast as
they could lift them. struggling. kicking
and splashing from the waters. only 10
throw them away in great numbers be-
cause the canneries could rot absorb
them.
During the height Of the run, the banks
of the Fraser river were lined with dead
sockeyes. The fishers held out the best
specimens. but the ordinary FISH were al
times unmar&etable from the sole fact that
the canneries could not handle them fast
enough.
In the course of an interview. in which
ne dwelt on the above facts, ]. Holland.
of the Carlisle Packing Company. said last
night:
II really believe that more fish
were killed and thrown away by the sill
METERS on the Fraser river than were
canned. No one was prepared for such a
food of salmon. The canneries ran night
and day, but were utterly unable to cope
with the fish. which came in greater
quantities than ever before known.
Heretofore there have been two well
defined tides OF sockeye salmon. the first
f~4-s t. lie t4fa
July and extending 10 early IN August
Then there has been a lull Of ten days or
So and with the full moon next succeeding
the period of rest the fish have come in
greater numbers than ever. This year
there was no luli. From the beginning
the FISH came in record breaking guam
titles. Nothing like II was ever known on
the Sound. Then about August or S
they dropped of suddenly without slack
ening the pace, and no more OF them were
seen. The second run did not show up al
all Fish trap men have been puzzled TO
account for this unusual phenomena.
THE fish traps have been the means of
saving thousands of fish that would other
wise have gone to waste. Fully fifty per
cent. OF the fish traps on the Sound are
equipped with spillers These are con
nected with the trap by a tunnel They
are built Of nets and piles and are usually
about forty feet square and from forty 20
sixty feet deep. The fish were driven out
Of the trap into the spillers and allowed
10 stay there until the packers could take
them. In this way they We're kept alive
and In splendid condition for ten days.
Many fish ths would have gone TO waste
| through the gin nets of The Fraser river
we've thus preserved.
The salt salmon industry is growing
rapidly and promises 10 become wealth
/ producer. The last Empress steamer from
| Vancouver took a consignment Of 100 tons
| OF salt salmon to China and Japan. BY
sailing the FISH the inferior qualities of
| salmon which We're worthless 20 the pack
| ers are being saved. and a market IS being
| opened up for them in China and Japan
| as we'll as in the Eastern States. salt
! salmon is a valued article Of food Tht
| varieties Of salmon that would not be
available for packing are made into
| valuable product by salting them | see
! no reason why salt salmon packed on this
| side OF the boundary line should not be
/ marketed 70 good advantage in China and
/ japan.
/ In no Industry In Washington il the
! money received from the sale OF the prod
J uct SO we'll dlstribu ed IS in the salmon
/ nackinK business. Fully -ty per cent
/ OF the gross receipts = paid n the en-
/ ployes If the canneries, traps and the g.l
! METERS"