FISHERIES AND FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF PUGET SOUND. • 379 



The same remarks are applicable to the anchovy. When taken in Monterey or 

 San Diego bays, it is only fit for bait; but in Puget Sound, which is its northern limit, 

 it is in perfection, and is one of the fattest and most delicious flavored of the small 

 fish, and is considered by experts to be far superior, in point of flavor and richness, to 

 the best Mediterranean sardine. Some Norwegian and Russian fishermen here have 

 put them up, in limited quantities, in vinegar and spice, and they are delicious and 

 sell readily; but the men who attempted the enterprise were without capital, and there 

 has been no one with executive ability to push the business forward to a success. 



The anchovy come to Puget Sound in enormous quantities, and during their season, 

 from May to November, every bay and inlet is crowded with them. When they first 

 come from the ocean they appear in Clallam Bay, on Fuca Strait, then in Port Angeles, 

 Dungeness and Sequin bays, then in Port Discovery, and next in Port Townsend and 

 Scow bays, where their numbers are almost incredible. I have known them to be 

 in such masses at Port Hadlock, at the bead of Port Townsend Bay, that they could 

 be dipped up with a common water bucket, but as there lias been no demand for them 

 the fishermen do not consider them of value, and when hauling their nets for smelt 

 they generally let the anchovy escape. The anchovy differ from herring in one respect — 

 the herring, when they visit the bays, keep inshore and are easily caught in seines 

 and landed on the beach; anchovies, on the contrary, keep out in deep water and 

 seldom approach the shore, so that drag seines are of no use to capture them. They 

 can be best taken with purse seines, as mackerel are taken in the Atlantic. As these 

 fish are small, not much over 6 or 7 inches in length, they require a net with a small 

 mesh, and with suitable gear an enormous quantity can be secured. 



The only person 1 have known who has tried the experiment of putting anchovies 

 in oil, like the French sardines, is Mr. Joseph O. Cates, of Port Townsend, fish dealer. 

 Mr. Cates formerly worked in the sardine canneries at Eastport, Me., and is an expert 

 workman. He procured some tin sardine cans, and this summer put up a few dozen 

 as an experiment and to show what he could do. Some were put up in California olive 

 oil, and some in refined cotton-seed oil. The result proved a complete success, and 

 demonstrated the fact that the anchovy of Puget Sound are equal in every respect to 

 the best French sardines. 



These fish were tested by experts, and were found to be delicious. It is difficult 

 to perceive any difference between those put up in olive oil and those put up in cotton- 

 seed oil. Capt. Z. L. Tanner, of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross, is of 

 the opinion that for export purposes olive oil is preferable, as he informed me he had 

 observed in the Eastport sardines that those put up in cottonseed oil will, after awhile, 

 acquire a peculiar taste which, although quite sweet, is not agreeable to every one, 

 and is readily detected by experts; but as the so called sardines of Eastport are either 

 young herring or the small fry of other species, the remark may not apply to the 

 anchovy of Puget Sound, and time must be the only test. It is, however, conceded 

 that these fish put up in pure California olive oil are equal to the best sardines the 

 world can produce. 



An opportunity is now preseuted to persons of capital and experience, for it 

 requires both, to come here and start this industry on a scale which must insure 

 success. 



Port Townsend presents peculiar advantages. Not only do the anchovy swarm in 

 the bay irr their season, but in Scow Bay or Long Harbor, making up from Port 



