294 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



entitles it to mention is tlio offshore cod fishery carried on from Ana- 

 cortes, in this county. During 1892 direct rail connnunication was 

 established between Seattle and this county, with tlie water terminal 

 at Anacortes. This town was one of many communities that the open- 

 ing of the railroad brought into existence. Up to the date of the visit 

 of the agent of the Fish Commission no ,'ittention had been given to 

 the fisheries, with the exception of the cod fishery noted. 



In 1891 Capt. J. A. Matteson, of Provincetown, Mass., brought to 

 Anacortes the schooner Lizzie Colby, which had for a number of years 

 been engaged in the Grand Banks cod fisherj^ out of Provincetown. 

 On the arrival of the vessel she was at once sent to the fishing banks 

 in Bering Sea. Although the season was late when fishing began and 

 the operations were continued only twenty days, 85,000 i)ounds of cod- 

 fish were taken and brought to Anacortes. On March 17, 1892, this 

 pioneer vessel in the cod fishery of Washington sailed from Anacortes 

 on her second trip to Bristol Bay, Alaska, returning August 30 with 

 364,000 pounds of codfish, which were caught in three months' fishing. 

 On the return of the vessel the cargo was stored under pickle in tanks 

 until needed. As occasion requires, the fish are dried on outdoor 

 flakes, and prepared for market as boneless codfish. The fish are sold 

 in Seattle, Portland, and other cities of the west coast, and one car load 

 was sent to Boston, Mass. 



WHATCOM COUNTY. 



This is the most northern county of the Pacific Coast of the United 

 States. It lies at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Georgia and 

 just northeast of the Strait of Fuca, and is of considerable importance 

 in connection with the fisheries. Salmon on their way to the Fraser 

 River pass the shores of this county, off which they are usually found 

 about a month earlier than they are in the Fraser. The fisheries are 

 centered at Point Roberts, a military reservation. Numerous varieties 

 of fish are here found, but only salmon at the present time have any 

 commercial importance. Previous to the establishment of a salmon 

 cannery at Point Roberts in 1891, all the fishing of the county was 

 confined to the period of the early run of salmon on their way to the 

 Fraser. At that time the catch, of which no reliable report could be 

 procured, was used locally, and sold to the canneries over the boundary 

 line, on the Fraser River, and was much less than in 1891 and 1892. 



During 1892 ^ver three-fourths of the catch was taken by the 85 

 white men using purse seines and pound nets, and less than one-fourth 

 by 100 Indian fishermen employing reef nets and gill nets. The reef 

 net, of which a diagram and description were given in the previous 

 report on the fisheries of this coast, is gradually going out of use, only 

 10 being used in 1892, against 20 in 1891. The proportional quantities 

 of salmon taken with the different kinds of apj^aratus are as follows : 

 Pound nets, two-tenths; purse seines, six-tenths; gill nets, one-tenth; 

 reef nets, one-tenth. Silver salmon and skowitz or dog salmon are 

 taken by purse seines and gill nets ; sockeye or blueback salmon are 



