The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1906-07-26
FISHING IN PUGET SOUND

NS~-~SS
thereabout, reminds me that | have
long intended writings up the fisheries
of this locality for your readers.
Although fishing here is engaged
in as a means of livelihood rather than
for amusement, am informed by an
old fisherman here that there is no
place on earth where fishing with
hook and line can be reduced to so
fine an art as right here in this corner
of the globe where fishes are slaugh-
tered by the hundreds Of thousands,
in nets, for canneries, drying establish
ments and for shipping. This same
old fisherman, who makes his living
angling for the finny people, said that
before he came west he had considered
himself past master of hook and line,
but after one day spent in trying his
skill with the salmon, he began to
lose confidence in himself, and at the
end OF a week he took off his hat to
this wary foe, and was forced to adj
NIT there were tricks in the trade of
which he had never dreamed.
1t might be we'll for Messrs.
Richards, Ward, Alden, and other
mighty nimrods Of your city, to take
day off and try for themselves what
fishing in the streams and lakes of
the Puget Sound country means.
They would find in these waters and
the deep sea hereabout all the tribes
and clans that 90 to make up the
finny people of all waters. But finest
is the salmon. First in point OF
money value; first in war with hook
and line; and first in the appetites OF
his countrymen.
And there are as many varieties OF
salmon as there are months in the
year. September is the month for
the Silver salmon. Then each day
as the tides push their way up to the
mouths of streams, this fish of the
"Silvermail and notified back" comes
with it. First few; then a few hum
dreds; then countless thousands; un.
til the waters flash and swirl with
shining fins. This is called the
salmon run, and there is one fact in
connection with it that reads some
what pathetically. These fishes crowd
up into the streams to spawn or de-
post their eggs; choose them a mate;
sport while in the clear waters; work
their way on and on up to the snow
cold mountain sources, and there die.
Just that one voyage out into the wide
deep sea they take, and as they return
they meet the young salmon going
out on their one voyage discovery,
from which they are sure to return to
meet death in the nets, or, escaping
this, follow their fellow predecessors
and meet their fate.
The statistics of the fish industry
of this state show its Importance, and
must not be taken as an ordinary fish
story. 100000 pounds of fresh
halibut constitutes the shipment of
this year, and it is shown also that
car loads of this fish are actually sent
to the Atlantic coast, and during the
hot season immense quantities of
salmon are thrown away at the large
canneries, owing to their inability to
use them before they spoil.
We visited one of these large canning
establishments, and were much in
terested in the detail of the work, which
is let by contract to Cinnamon, who
in turn hire a small army of men,
women, and children. The salmon is
unloaded from boats onto floors;
chopped up by men hired for the pur-
pose; and carried on trucks to tables,
women are engaged in filling the cans.
1t seemed most unpleasant task,
and somewhat dangerous. A young
lady, evidently suffering, was nursing
badly swollen and infamed hand,
the result of fish poison. Her home
was distant fifteen blocks, and she
was preparing to wall" that distance,
the strong odor of fish debarring her
from the street car.
The cans being filled were placed in
shallow pans, trundled on trucks to a
tank of boiling, lifted with cranes and
subm erged. The fish cooked, the cans
sealed and they were removed to a
large airy room, comparatively clean.
Here the cans were stacked ready for
the staining and labelling. Women
and children were at work here at IS
cents per 1000 cans. A bright eyed,
smiling mulatto girl seemed to be
taking things easily and was willing
to stop her work and answer questions
She informed us that the proud
distinction of labelling 1000 cans had
been hers for her first days work.
This being so unusual that her
employer seeming a chance to save q
few pennies, proposed on the second
morning to hire her at 81 90 per day
straight.
Sand how many labels can you
place in a day now?" we asked, and
with cunning flash of her black ewes