Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-21
SUPERINTENDENT Bic SALMON OUTPUT
Reception by TWenyFour Alaska the Largest Source OF
Hour-a-Day Club. Worlds Supply
GIVEN AT Y. M. c. A. ROOMS jCATCH ON COLUMBIA RIVER
Addresses Prominent Ministers Eight Cannerles Between The Dae
and Others and Portland, Ore
GUEST OF HONOR RESPONDS FISHING ABOVE TIDEWATER
Favorable to It's
of He Is hibion-Towns Supplant Will
era1 secretarv derness in Coumbi Valley
Alaska the Largest. Source OF
Worlds Supply.
CATCH ON COLUMBIA RIVER
Eight Canneries Between The Dalles
and Portland, Ore.
FISHING ABOVE T1DEWATER
Sentiment Favorable to Its Pro
hibition-Towns Supplant Will
derness in Columbia Valley.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

/ BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
! PORTLAND, Ore. September g 1909.
| Nearly all the worlds supply OF canned
I salmon formerly came from the Columbia
river, but Alaska is now the largest
source The Columbia catch has been
| increasing, but not SO rapidly as the con-
sumption and the output of other rivers
There are altogether twenty-five Gamer
/ les on the Columbia, employing about 3oO
hands and producing 3O.137.00O pounds OF
fish. valued at $3,318.OOO. The business is
very much larger below Portland than
above. There are eight canneries scat
| tered along the eighty-five miles between
The Dalles and Portland. The salmon do
not go above The Dalles in numbers large
enough to make canning profitable from
a commercial standpoint.
All of the salmon on the upper Column
| b'a are caught with wheels. simple con-
power for ordinary mills. They are from
six to ten feet wide and from ten 10
twenty feet in diameter, and are ntted
! with blades in the shape Of baskets the
| force of water causes them to turn ana
| when schools of fish are running up
| stream they are scooped up by the blades
and as the wheel revolves they are
dumped into a chute, from which they
slide into a tank. There they are strung
| together by running stout cords through
the gills, are tied to large floats marked
| with the owners name and set adrift in
| the river. thousands of them In single
| bunch. Opposite each of the canner1es
men are waiting in boats who grapple
the vast floats with hooks. tow them over
| to the cannery, where the fish are lifted
up to the first floor and dumped in piles
| to be killed and cooked and packed IN
| cans for market. The fish will weigh
| from thirty to seventy-five pounds. and
| will probably average fOrty-five pounds
| each through the entire season.
| The use of the wheels is made possible
by the habit of the salmon In swimming
| as close to the bank as they can In their
upward migration to the spawning
ground. You know that when they are
| four years old salmon always return to
| their birthplace to spawn They never
| 60 anywhere else, and they go in enor-
| NOUS Embellishments, tens of thou
| sands and even millions of them. some
| times SO many that they move like a
| solid mass under the water.
Crossed River on Backs Of Fish.
| A story is told and believed that twen-
| ty-five or thirty years ago the river was
SO crowded that men actually walked
across from bank to bank upon the backs
| of the fish This seems incredible but any
| one who saw the run OF salmon in Puget
sound this summer would not dispute 1t.
have heard reliable. serious men say
that they saw q million fish in one school
this summer which actually damned the
water Of the river. and so many We're
brought down to the canneries at Belling-
ham that 1t was impossible to put them
all up. Word was sent out around the
| country that any one who wanted nsh
should come to the cannery. and pro-
g.
day after day and were loaded With the
poorer qualities, which were taken home,
dressed, sailed. picked. smoked and pre-
served in various other forms Tor con-
sumption next winter. But even this ala
aot dispose Of them all, and the cannery
people we're compelled daily to tow
barges full of tainted fish out into the
sea and dump them where the water II
deep.
fish, Of course. but the larger number get
by them and 60 up the Columbia, where
they spawn and, when the eason
changes. return to the ocean.
Like every other business out here. hal
mon fishing and packing Is being "regu-
lated The legislatures of Oregon ana
Washington give the fishermen and can
ners something to think and talk about
every winter. In 1903. DESTROYS OF pro-
tecting this great industry, Whlcn mas
given Oregon not less than a hundred mil
lions of dollars, the people gave a major
ity of $1,000 in a referendum vote for
law that had been enacted by the legis-
lature to prohibit salmon fishing beyond
| the head Of tidewater on the Coiumoia.
an Injunction suspending the enforce
ment of the laws. and before a legal ques-
ton could be settled the law was re-
pealed, and a substitute was passed pro-
hibting fishing on Sunday. and shorten
ing the season by several weeks.
Fishing Above Underwater.
There is a prevailing sentiment. which
will assert itself sooner iater. in ia
yor> of prohibiting salmon fishing above
tidewater-that is. above where the salt
water ceases and where the rivers be-
come fresh-because there is where the
salmon commence to spawn, and II they
are prevented from doing so. of course
! the supply will natural y decrease. On
| every river except the Columbia, and in
| Alaska. salmon fishing has been stopped
| at the head of the tide, and it will be
| done here.
Tine salmon output OF the Columbia this
year will be M per cent 'ess than last
year, while the floors of the canneries on
Puget sound and Alaska have been
grooming under the harvest Of the sea.
tbs is considered a strong argument in
to. which will undoubtedly have a ma
jorty IN its favor during the approach
ing session.
There are few boats on the Columbia.
A single freight train that runs over
either of the railways along its banks
will carry AS much merchandise and proo-
uce as all the boats COMBINED during
the entire season of navigation. There
are two excursion companies, with two
boats each. licensed to carry 400 people
each and they leave Portland at { O'Clock
every morning. MAKE the journey to 4 e
Dalles eghty-fve miles and return about
the same hour i'm the even ng. The fare Is
81. 80 for the round trip and IL is ue
iightfu way TO spend an Idle day. Or
one can go up by the raifway-there are
five or six trains each Way-and return
BY the boat. vice versa. The boats
make several stops for freight along the
way but that does not detfact from the
pleasure of the voyage.
The city of Portland IS not on the Co.
lamette a tributary of great Importance,
whose name is pronounced Wil-lamm-
cite, with a very strong accent on the
ANN. There is peninsula between lie
two rivers about eighteen miles long,
and the Intervening territory is being rap
idly occupied with factories, railway
yards and residences Several SUBURBAN
additions to the city of Portland have
been laid out along new trolley lines
and long rows of attractive cottages.