FISB'EjRMEN'S own book. 119 



Between Cape Disappointment and the Cascades there are thirty five can- 

 ning establishments and more than a dozen fishing stations. At each of 

 these points there are houses of various kinds, canneries filled with expen- 

 sive appliances, etc., etc. Ten steamboats and tugs, owned by the canners, 

 run as tenders, and one large boat is run during the season by the O. R. & 

 N. Co., merely to carry fish. There are 1,400 fishing boats and nets on the 

 river. The total value of all property engaged in the salmon business is 

 above $2,000,000, the largest individual interest being that of William 

 Hume, $150,000. Fishing boats cost $250 each, and nets from $300 to 

 $400 each. A boat will last ten years with ordinary usage. The boats are 

 of Port Orford cedar and oak, with copper fastenings, and are made by 

 builders at Astoria. Formerly all boats were made at San Francisco, but the 

 Astoria merchants do better and cheaper work, and so have monopolized 

 the business. More than fifty boats were built here this Summer. They 

 are generally 24 feet long, 26 inches deep, and 6 feet 6 inches beam, sharp 

 at both ends, narrowly decked on the ends and sides, furnished with center- 

 boards, and can be rowed or sailed, as the winds serve. They are magnifi- 

 cent sea boats, run easily, and will carry about four tons. 



The number of men directly employed in the fishing business during the 

 busy season is about 7,500, of whom 4,000 are Chinese. It is impossible to 

 give exact figures, because the figures continually change, but these esti- 

 mates are based upon careful inquiry, and are approximately correct. In 

 the actual work of fishing about 2,500 white men were engaged from April 

 I to August I — four months. Half of these are masters of boats and the 

 other half assistants or pullers. Independent fishermen who own their 

 boats and nets and sell their catch to the canneries, receive 60 or 62^ cents 

 per fish. As a rule, however, the canneries own the outfits, for the use of 

 which the fisherman gives one-third of his catch, receiving only 40 cents 

 per fish from the cannery. Each fisherman employs and makes terms with 

 his own boat puller, the usual rate for this service being a share in the 

 catch, about the equivalent of $70 per month. One hundred dollars per 

 month, after charges for boat and net and pay of boat puller are deducted, 

 is considered only a fair return to the fisherman, and the average is rather 

 above than below this estimate. Only white men engage in fishing, the 

 greater proportion, however, being Italians, Fins, and other foreigners, men 

 without families, who come to the river from San Francisco only during the 

 fishing season. 



In the canneries all the responsible places are filled by white men, whose 

 pay ranges from $50 to $150 per month, the average being about $65. 

 About one thousand men are so employed. The greater part of the inside 

 work is done by Chinamen, whose average pay is $1 per day and board. 

 Four thousand are employed on the river. 



