Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-24
By WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

IN WHICH the fTeSlQeHl VI tHe OIitSu OldtSS
is inaugurated. The year following the in
auguration only a fair run is expected.
while on the third year of the presidential
term the fish are out in reasonably large
quantities. During the period of presiden-
tial elections the fish are exceedingly shy
and scarce. They are only seen in small
schools. and keep out of the way of traps,
nets and all fishing devices DIR. Jordan,
president of Leland Stanford University,
who is a famous ichthyologist and ichthy-
ophagus, says that, assuming the year of the
Inauguration, which is the big year, to
yield 100 per cent, the next year may be
expected to produce so per cent, the third
year 65 per cent and the year of the election
30 per cent This singular proposition Is
borne out by the statistics and is something
more than coincidence.
Salmon Statistics.
For example: Taking the last few presi-
Dental campaigns and inauguration years
for purposes of Illustration, we have the
following figures:
Total number cases.
1SSS-Presidental election ............. LAP. 122
1sS 1889 year 1s 5 9sd
1S93-lnaugura ton year. ............... $50 40
1s96-Presidential election. 1881 6Os
1S97-Inauguration year. ............... 3J12. 131
19c0-Presidental election ............. 2994 49,
19O1-lnauguratiOn year. ....-.......... o,u4O9ol
This is particularly true of that species of
salmon known as the "sockeye," an Indian
term which has no reference to the organ of
VISION OF the nSl, 1OunQ III great
in Puget sound. The catch of sockeyes is
always twice large Inauguration years
as it is on the years of presidential cleo
tions. For example the trap at Village
Point, near the city of Dillingham; WASH,
yielded follows:
Actual number of fish.
i9o0-Eiec.lon year. ,5e 400
1S01-Inauguration year. 4o6.ooO
1902. 11S,OOO
1899 1899 r;:,:,ton vs,r 1860 1893
The ratio of variation has prevailed as
long as the oldest inhabitants can remem-
Der and as far back as Indian traditions go.
Next year rousing big catch is expected,
and the Gamers along the coast are max
ing their preparations accordingly. Indeed.
this phenomenon is so well understood that
it enters into the calculations of dealers as
well as packers, and they manage, If posi-
BILE, to buy heavy reserve stocks in 1naugu-
ration years when prices are low Oh ac-
count of the supply, and hold them over In
storage until the lean years bring higher
figures few weeks ago in Bellingham,
where the biggest salmon cannery In the
world is to be found, saw mountain OF
canned salmon which has been accumu-
lating since 1901 in the expectation that this
would be very lean year, and prices are
higher than ever before. The crop of 1904
has been largely overSold, and the stocks
in the hands of jobbers and wholesalers
are pretty well exhausted already. At the
Bellingham cannery. of which spoke, the
pack has been as follows during the last
four years:
1900 a Gas COO 1902 1es' $500 900
1901 ........ 525, 600 1903 10000
I was not able to find any one who could
explain why the catch should be so very
small on the year when Theodore Roosevelt
and Alton B. Parker are running for Presl-
dent and it may be a reflection upon them,
but the packers feel worse about 1t than
they do.
The Explanation.
The explanation of the lean and lat
years as given by the highest authori-
ties is as follows: All sockeye salmon
go out into deep salt water when they
are one year old and remain at the bot
tom of the sea for three years. When
they are four years old by some instinct
which nature has implanted they return
to the river or the lake in which they
were born to spawn and then die. Sal
mon never spawn more than once IN thelr
lives; they always spawn In fresh wa
ter and when that function is performed
they commit suicide with savage desper-
alton. Their entire nature changes. Ihey
seem bent upon self destruction and
after they have laid their eggs they often
throw themselves out of the water upon
the banks.
A theory. based upon these facts, is
that generations ago great nood at the
spawning period of the year filled the
rivers and the lakes along the Pacific
coast and swept the spawn which the
fish had left out into the ocean, so that
very little of 1T was hatched
This took place as far back as indian
traditions go. and the aborigines having
learned this phenomenon by experience
never set their nets on the fourth ami
versary of that great TRAGEDY. IL SO nap
pened that the first presidential election
in the United States took place on one OF
these lean years and has followed the
cycle ever since. The year following,
however, which happens to be the same
as that on which we inaugurate our Pres
ident there is always an unusually large
run, which carries with 1t the stragglers
from the year before. This applies only
to certain kinds of salmon-those when
run in the summer months.
The Steelhead, which is almost the
same as the Kennebec salmon. and those
found in the rivers of Canada east run
in the winter and are not affected by
presidential elections. Nor is the royal
chinook or king salmon which runs in
| April; nor the cohoe or silver salmon;
| nor the log salmon, which run in October
| and November.
Five Kinds Of Salmon.
There are five kinds of salmon and each
has it's own remarkable individuality. The
king, or chinook salmon, is the largest spe-
cies. averaging twenty-five pounds in
| weight. and often running as high as eighty
| pounds. 1t is of bright silver color. with
black spots on its back and tail, when young,
| hut it's color grows dull it gets older.
| The flesh is red, firm and oily, and superior
to that of any other salmon, but when the
| Ash is four years old it begins to turn
| white although the change in color seems
| to make no difference with the flavor. 1t
| spawns only in large rivers fed by snow,
| and gets as near to their sources as possi-
| HE In order to do so 1t Is compelled to
| start on It's journey as early as May i. In
| the Yukon of Alaska 1t runs nearly 5000
miles to spawn at Caribou Crossing, at the
| foot of Lake Bennett, where every season
hundreds OF thousands Of dead chinooks
| can be found lying where they committed
suicide upon the banks. 1t also runs in
large numbers IN all OF the other Alaskan
rivers, and it follows the Columbia, the
Sacramento and other southern rivers to
| their sources in the mountains. An aver
| age value of 81, O0000 Of king salmon. are
| caught and canned on the Columbia river
every year, and $500 900 or $400.0 600 worth
are shipped frozen to market.
| The red salmon or sockeye has q very