PACIFIC COAST: WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 627 



laud is quite profitable. The salmou do not enter the rivers in numbers at this part of Ptiget 

 Sound until ready to spawn in September, when they move about the bay in schools and are 

 readily netted while "searching for the river." Many of the salmon of the different species are 

 then "dog-salmon," and as such not so readily sold. At first their flesh is red and not bad, 

 and can be salted as well as that of the ordinary salmon; later it becomes poor and worthless, the 

 fish often half rotteii in life, and no use can be made of it. A cargo of salted dog-salmon was once 

 sent to Honolulu with a disastrous effect on the reputation at the Sandwich Islands of the Puget 

 Sound salmon. 



In the fall a fyke-net is planted by Savels & Staples iu Puyallup River. Most of their 

 fishing is done with seines. Gill-nets, traps, &c., are not successful in these waters because of 

 their clearness. Traps built of brush in a way similar to the pound-nets in the East have been 

 built and still stand in Commencement Bay, but the salmon do not run into them and they have 

 been abandoned. 



The species mostly taken are Oncorhynchus chouicha, Pleuronectes stellatus, Lepidopsetta liline- 

 a/o, Purophrys retuhts, and Salvelinus malma, which abounds in salt water and reaches a weight 

 of 12 or 14 pounds; the largest seen by me weighed 11 pounds. Salmo purpuratus, also abundant 

 in salt water, Hypomesus pretlosus, &c., as well as various sculping, "eels," &c., which have, no 

 market value. 



At Gig Harbor, S miles from Tacorna, are three Austrian fishermen, who have been there two 

 years. Most of the fish obtained by them are salted, but some are shipped fresh to Portland. 



The salmon and the orange rock fish (tiebastichthys pinniger) are the species mostly sought, the 

 latter taken with hooks in deep water. Both salmon and rockfish are barreled and shipped to 

 Portland, San Francisco, or elsewhere. Herring are also caught and smoked, but there is little 

 profit in it. In the summer dog-fishing is followed to some extent, the oil being "tried out" of the 

 livers in kettles. About 100 tons of fish are taken per year, exclusive of dogfish. 



Opposite Gig Harbor is a Portuguese fisherman, with one or more assistants, who fishes chiefly 

 for dogfish. 



In various places about Gig Harbor, Quartermaster's Harbor, and Point Defiance are Indian 

 dog-fishing camps. The oil is chiefly rendered in kettles. 



Near Quartermaster's Harbor is a colony termed Kauakatowu, where four or five Chinamen, 

 a negro, and several Sandwich Islanders fish and dry or salt the product, occasionally selling in 

 Tacoma or sending to San Francisco. 



SEATTLE. The local market at Seattle is of some importance. A company of three Italians 

 fish with seines along the shore, obtaining young salmon, flounders, &c., which are sold in a stall 

 iu the town. A company of two or three Greeks fish in the same way, but are absent at the 

 Columbia during the salmon season. "Several Austrians fish with hook and line in the deeper 

 waters of the bay, obtaining halibut, black bass (Sebastichthys melanops), horse-mackerel (Anoplo- 

 poma), uierluch' (Merlucius), pollack (PuUncJiiuii), toincod, &c. Many Indians in the neighborhood 

 bring iu, almost daily, boat-loads of salmon-trout (Snlreliniis), young salmon, and the various 

 flounders, &c. 



Much fishing is done by men and boys from the wharves, Anoplopoma and small flounders, 

 especially Hippoglossoides elassodon, being the principal species taken. 



There are no fishing boats at Seattle, except small skiffs. The amount of fish taken yearly 

 must be about 300,000 pounds. 



POET BLAKELEY. The salmon cannery of Jackson & Myers, formerly at Muchilteo, is now 



