New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-18
STURGEON on THE PACIFIC COAST.
THE MAKING OF CAYIARE.
San Francisco Chronicle

From The San Francisco Chronicle.
The sturgeon is naturally an inhabant of the
large rivers and brackish water of the north tenn
perato zone, more particularly of Europe and
America The Sacramento. the San Joaquin Rus
sian River and the Columbia on the West ana the
Hudson and Delaware on the East are favorable
to its production I'm great quantities.
The importance of the fishery to san Francisco Is
shown by the amount brought into the market in
the first three months OF last year being 49, ,6l
close season of six months. since which time the
authorities have not yet been able to obtain data
Indications point to a large Increase In weight this
year thousand pounds were brought In one day
last week.
of s.nguarity. Its armed exterior skeleton seems
to point its being one of the few descendants OF
the eanoid armor plated fishes of the prehistoric
The position of the mouth Is much the same
as i'm the shark family. but its form and function
rather those of the remora. or sucker family
The flesh. too, Is remarkable as being part red
dish yellow and part white. English hshmongers
call 1t beef and veal" In that country it is usual
~ cooked by baking with stufilng OF fine herbs.
There are several varieties OF the sturgeon fam
ily the sturg con proper (accipenser sturio). the
beluga and the sterle being the principal. the two
latter kinds belonging more to Russian waters:
Some twenty five years ago there were millions
of surgeons in san Francisco Bay and tributary
mento and San Joaquin rivers, where they lay on
the muddy bottom feeding on clans and bottom
fishes The Chinese. who have an inordinate fond
for ,gelatinous substances such as isnglass
China a very deadly hook for capturing the stur-
It's peculiar backbone They stripped out the back
bone and threw away the rest Some of the back
from them and also highly tenacious glue The
principal use, however Is for making gelatinous
tail in the elaborate Government report the
California fisheries by w. A. Wilcox. Of the United
landed the Chinese. armed with hook pulls out
enough the spinal marrow to get hold of it; then
marrow which averages four or fivc feet long. Is
in long white. connecting lines. resembling string
contain scraped out and thrown away. They are
then dried and called bone" These bones are
pix,a fOItr
a pound for this substance at the fishery In the
early practice of throwing away the fish no doubt
John was guided by ignorance for had he then
known that sturgeon "A saable article OF food
and that a compound fish will yield SO worth Of
raviare he doubtless would have catered profitably
10 the tastes of the Mclean man" and sent his
bundles of backbones to the aSwery land alice
ary supposed to be omnivorous. do not care to eat
The common sturgeon OF the Pacific Coast called
distnctively the white sturgeon Is accipenser trans
monanus II reaches isnE'n Sf eight or ten feet
dred TO five hundred pounds. Ii Is found In the
Sacramento, Columbia and Fraser rivers In abund-
ance ascending them AT the time OF the salmon run
In the spring for the purpose OF spawning. The
Fraser River they gorge themselves on the eulachon
The sturgeon is one of the most important fish in
the San Francisco market. The fishery II carried
on in a legitimate way. with some system. would
fully than 1t is The important point Is that caviare
must be made Immediately the fish is killed. The
regular manufacture OF caviarc was attempted at
Martinez by man who came from the Delaware
River. but he was unable to obtain II with sufficient
il a commercial success There is another species
called the green sturgeon, accipenser mediorostris
White. but less abundant At one time s flesh wa s
repucd poisonous and never ished, but. in
both sTsy Sn
other American sturgeon the shovelnosed (scaphir-
ali the larger rivers OF the West and south IL is
taken In considerable quantities In the Ohio River.
us habits seem to be similar to those OF the lake