Los Angeles herald., 1905-02-16
CHINOOK SALMON
KING OF FISHES
0ELICACY GREETED STARVING
LEWIS AND CLARK
Tale Of Founding Of the Town Of
Astoria and the UpbulIding Of
This Industry In Pletur-
esque story
BY w. {. BrindIey


century ago two hardy adven-
turers, Captains Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark, I'm their efforts to cross
the country to the Pacific with band
of forty followers, had suffered untold
hardships, including the eating of dog,
found a most refreshing change Of diet
when they reached the Columbia river.
There for the first time they saw the
famous Chinook salmon, king of fresh
water fishes, and tasted its luscious,
rose pink flesh. To the weary, half
starved travellers, the salmon seemed
q most welcome addition to menu
which for weeks consisted of crow,
berries, an occasional wolf or deer, and
the wolhsh dogs which they bought of
the Indians. The captains recorded
the incidents of the change in their
diet In their journals, and Captain
Clark made a rude sketch of the fish
At the Lewis and Clark exposition,
which is to be held at Portland, Ore,
during this coming summer, from
June 1 to October Is, in commemora-
tion of the journey of Captains Merf-
wether Lewis and William Clark, a
most interesting exhibit will consist of
a complete exposition of the salmon
industry, together with specimens of
live salmon in tanks and dead salmon
In glass Jars, of salmon eggs and
salmon fry and methods of salmon
Matching. The exhibit will show how
the salmon are canned and how they
are preserved by cold storage. 1t will
be one of the many interesting things
about the western worlds fair, which,
while worlds fair in every sense,
will aim particularly to show the re-
sources and progress of the Pacific
northwest, a country which was added
to the domain of the United States as
a direct result of the Lewis and Clark
expedition.
Samon's Romantic Story
The Importance of the salmon indus
try today depends upon an incident in
the life story of the salmon. The
salmon industry has been reduced to
a system, and there is little romance
left in it. But the story of the sal
mon is romantic as Of old. The salmon,
as is well known, is equally adapted
by nature to life in fresh and salt
water. The fish spends his youth in
the fresh water of the upper Columbia
river and it's tributaries, which IS
cooled by glacier and spring fed
streams. When the youngster is year
old, being then from four to six inches
long, he migrates to the sea. Four
years later the fish returns to his ma
tive river, spawns and dies. The sal
mon thrives only in rivers fed by
streams from glaciers.
When the salmon return to the river |
in the spring, and the latter part Of
the summer, they come in great |
schools. 1t is this incident that makes |
the Salmon industry profitable. The
fish come back in such great numbers |
that fishermen catch them literally by |
the thousands, and can sell them at a |
profit for five cents pound This |
makes 1t possible to pack the salmon |
In cans, or preserve them in other
ways, and market the product at so
reasonable price that all may have 1t |
on their tables.
The salmon packing business has
grown, and system has resulted in Il |
of packers which is local
ly known as the salmon trust; but |
the primitive methods of catching the
fish remain almost unchanged The
progress of the industry has not al
tered the habits of the picturesque fish
erman, or the appearanceof his humble
craft with its peculiar shaped sail.
Center of Salmon Industry
The ancient town of Astoria, founded |
as trading post by John Jacob Astor
in 1911, is the center of the salmon
packing business and the home of the
Finnish fisherman, type of people not
found elsewhere in the world. The
Finlander does not possess the ro-
mantle temperament commonly sup
posed to be characteristic of fisher
men. Probably not half a dozen of
the hundred Finlanders that catch
salmon for a living ever heard of Izaak
Walton. They are people sturdy, in
dependent and, in general, lazy. They
fish three months in the year, make
on the average $500 in a season and
i've the other nine months on the
proceeds of their catch. In the spring
when the fishing season is at it's height
Astoria resembles a mining camp
breaks loose" The fish
ermen pay their grocery and clothing
bills and the merchants settle their OBJ
igations. When the season is over
he Finlander repairs his nets, puts
what money he has left In the bank,
md, perhaps. with the help of his
leighbors builds him house on piles
IN the tidewater lands by the river.
The fisherman uses a heavy, clumsy
raft about twenty-five feet long, with
| nine foot boom. Sometimes he owns
lis own boat; oftener he rents II from
canning company The boat is
'quipped with a spritsail, which, by an
ingenious contrivance, is made to serve
m occasions as a tent. A boat puller
'Oes with the fisherman and is maid ,