Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-12-16
SALMON INDUSTRY.
1T MAY BE CALLED OUR LEADING
RESOURCE.

RESOURCE.
Varieties Of Salmon and Their habits-Fish
Trappins-WiIl the Salmon Become Extinct
Washington in i004-UncIe Sans Lumber
Yard. as Well-TaIk With the Duke Of San
Juan.
James S. McMillin, better known as
"The Duke of San Juan," who owns
about all that is of value on that
island, has been East and interviewed
by correspondent OF the St. Louis
Republic, and this is what he says OF
our leading resources-iish and lum.
ber:
"The salmon brings Uncle Sam
more wealth than any other fish in
the waters. The catch of Puget
Sound is worth about $5,O0OO00 a
year, and in 1902 more than $4,000,
600 pounds of such fish were caught
in the Oregon rivers.
Alaska salmon bring in several mil.
lion dollars, and, altogether, a large
proportion Of our $50,O0O,0OO worth
OF fish products come from salmon.
You people of the East know
nothing about fish as they swarm in
our Western waters.
"How would you like to sail for
half day through a school OF fish
from one to three miles wide, and so
thick that it blankets the face of the
ocean? Ihave done that again and
again, not far from San Juan.
"What would you think of rivers
go packed with salmon that they fill
the streams from bank to bank-so
thickly packed that were they not so
slippery and the water not so deep
you could walk over them from one
bank to the other. have seen that.
"What would you think" continued
the Duke. as he looked into my wide.
bulging eyes, "of great watts of salmon
sixty feet long, forty feet wide and
forty feet deep-vats so big that you
could drop four.story business block
of forty feet front down into them
and all solid salmon? We have scores
of such vats. We empty the fish into
scows and carry them to our packing.
houses, whence they are shipped to
oil parts of the world"
"Those are big stories, Mr.. McMil-
lin," said 1.
eyes, but if you will come to San
Juan I will show you all that and
more. Our salmon exports are now
greater in value than our lumber ex.
ports, and they are growing year by
year."
els this fishing business a new
one?" I asked.
"Comparatively so with US. The
big salmon fishing OF the West was
for long time confined to the Colum-
bia river, where the Chinook salmon
come from. The Chinook was the
first TO be put upon the market, and
it il best known. It is one of the
finest Of the salmon and about the
largest. I have seen Chinook fish
weighing forty pounds apiece, and
some are caught which weigh eighty.
"When James G. Blaine was at the
height of his popularity, his Oregon
friends sent him an eighty.pound
salmon. 1t arrived in Washington in
good condition, was cooked by q FAM
Gus chef and served whole at one of
his dinners. When you remember
that it takes q good chunk OF boy to
weigh eighty pounds you may get
some idea OF the size of that fish.
"What is the character of your
Puget Sound fish, Mr.. McMillini"
"There are different varieties of
salmon, you know, each of which has
its own nature aud habits, as we'll as
its particular home and spawning
ground. The fish are all Matched at
the headwaters OF rivers.
"They swim down to the ocean as
minnows and live there for four years
when they come back TO the spot
where they were born to lay the eggs
for another generation. They come
by the millions and tens of millions,
in great hordes of many companies,
each fish going back to the place OF
its nativity to lay its eggs and die.
"Among the best and most numer.
GUS of Puget Sound salmon are the
Sock eyes, and an especial favorite is
the Tyee or King salmon.
"The Sock.eye is smaller than the
Chinook. It weighs from five to seven
pounds, according TO the season. In
some seasons we catch millions which
average five pounds apiece. and in
others the average is seven pounds or
more. The Chinook makes directly
for the rivers, and it is caught there
only.
1.-THE Sock.eyes sport about through
Puget Sound on their way to the
streams; and their course is such that
we can catch them as they come in
fresh from the ocean.
IL do not know that you are aware
that the salmon does not feed at all
after he starts on his long voyage
from the salt water sources of tho
rivers. The journey takes weeks, and
during this time he must live off his
own fat.
The result is that fish taken far up