The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1901-08-01
GREAT SOCKEYE RUN
II Extends Frsn The Salmon Banks
to the Fraser River
cANNERIEs SHORT OF HELP


A most unusual condition has ex
listed In the great salmon fishing indus
try In this county during the past few
days. Up to the middle of last weeh
the cannerymen and independent trap
owners were getting pretty anxious
and the purse seirers on the banks
were well nigh discouraged, although
. few Of them of the south end OF
Lopez island had made a few good
catches and cleared q little money,
selling at Is cents, at which price about
twenty purse seine ''outfits' had made
contracts for the season up to limit OF
$50 fish a day each. Agents of Fraser
river cannerymen OH the banks would
willingly have paid more but it was
useless to offer more as most of the
setners were bound by their cOntracts
aud could only sell in the open market
above the contract limit, which they
began to fear they would not reach.
But by the last of the week a pheno.
menal run of sockeyes reached the
banks. The waters along the south
shores Of Lopez and San Juan islands
were fairly alive with them. They
came in vast shoals of tens and hum
dreds Of thousands. The great traps
were quickly filled and purse seiners
who had rejoiced few days before
over catches of few hundred were
getting thousands at a single haul.
There was great rejoicing in their
camps and the sound of the waters roll
ing in from the mighty ocean and
gently tapping the little beaches in.
denting the ''stern and rock bound
coast" lulled them to sleep filed with
pleasant visions of wealth. But they
soon awoke to find that they had been
having "pipe Dreams" the price of
sOckeyes having fallen, with the rapid
ity Of u plummet, from Is cents down
to 3 cents. 1t is ia condition and not
q theory" that confronts them and the
is one that has never before
existed in anything like the same de-
gree since salmon fishing I'm the waters
Of the San Juan archipelago and the
Gulf of Georgia reached the dignity of
an industry-an industry in which
several thousand men are now en-
ployed and many millions of dollars
invested. And yet, notwithstanding
the enormous run, only few of the
are being operated to their
full capacity, owing to lack Of sufficient
help. OF the nine long lines of machines
in the immense cannery of the PA. F.
Go. at Fairllaven, the largest in the
world, only six were in operation few
days ago, when there were 125, 900
salmon on the floor and tens of thOus.
ands in the traps. And for the same
reason the cannery here has thus far
been operated only up to about four
fifths of its full capacity.
There is ole feature of the labor
question In this connection that no one
can afford to lose sight of who is inter
ested in the maintenance Of the fishing
industry upon basis of profit to both
ihe labor and the capital employed.
Partly in Difference to public sentiment
but principally, probably, because of
the impossibllity of securing a sufficient
number of Chinese, there has been u
large increase within the past two or
three years in the number of white
employees, Of both sexes, in the Gamer.
les. A great maty boys and girls,
young men and young women, have
been employed as .'fillers." They have
as q rule done their work we'll, made
good wages and given good satisfac.
ton, thus proving the fallacy of the
claim made by the cannerynien some
years ago that none but Chinese could
4 q k0,sc nj IF
it occasionally happens that Sunday
operation IL necessity to avoid heavy
loss. Such was the case here last Sun
day when the cannery had been run.
ming only four days. There were
thousands of fish on the floor, more
coming as fast as the cannery steamer
could bring them and the traps were
full. And yet without any notice to
the superin .endent of their intention
not to work quite number of the
filters failed to report Sunday morning
and in consequence the days pack was
about 800 cases short of what 1t would
have been with the same force Of filters
as were employed the day before. Those
who remained away injured the cause
of white labor by furnishing strong
evidence in support of the claim Of the
cannerymen that the Chinese only can
be depended upon. The old saying
that one should "make hay while the
sun shines" applies In principle with
even greater force to the utilization OF
our great foolish supply.
- =
During the week the Canadian
steamers Vancouver, Fearless, CEan-
pion and Fingal, and two large scows
capable Of carrying over $1,000 each,
have been engaged In carrying fish
from the banks to the United Gamer.
La at Steyeston, on the Fraser river.
The secretary OF the company, Mr.: Nc.
Rae. came down on the Fearless Tues.