1066 RErORT OF COMMISSIOXER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [4] 



In pursuance of these instructions I arrived at the fishery on the 19th 

 of May, having previously arranged to have 30,000 feet of lumber deliv- 

 ered on the premises before my arrival. I immediately engaged work- 

 men and ordered material, and on Monday morning. May 23, the work 

 of rebuilding was under full headway, with a force of upwards of twenty 

 white men and about a dozen Indians. There being no building of any 

 magnitude left, we lived in tents until the mess-house was finished, one 

 large tent, 60 feet by 30 feet, divided by a partition into two compart- 

 ments, serving for a sleeping-room and dining-room for the workmen. 



We encountered one serious difficulty at the very outset in putting 

 up the new buildings. When we first built here it was supposed that 

 the flat or nearly flat land lying 12 or 15 feet above the level of the river 

 was safe from high water, and we accordingly erected our buildings 

 there, protecting them from a possible rise of 3 or 4 feet more by a very 

 ponderous breakwater. As the water last winter rose to the almost in- 

 credible height of 26 feet above the river's natural level, we were only 

 left the alternative of putting the buildings on the hill-tops or on the 

 hill-sides. The first being out of the question, of course we were driven 

 I)y necessity to build on the hill-sides. This involved a great deal of 

 grading, which in turn necessitated very laborious digging and exca- 

 vating, sometimes even into the solid rock. It was a long, slow, and 

 expensive work. It was a provoking paradox that here where land was 

 as free as air and almost as boundless, it should cost, as it did in some 

 instances, $1,000 an acre. It seemed at first as if we should never get 

 through digging, but after the foundations were all laid the work went 

 on rapidly, and progressed without any drawbacks, except a lack of 

 means, until everything was done. The lack of means resulted from an 

 attempt to accomplish with $10,000 what could not be done for less than 

 $15,000, but it was work which could not be done by halves, and I con- 

 cluded to go on and finish the work and trust to subsequent action of 

 Congress for indemnification. 



On the 1st of September we had on the fishery grounds a mess-house, 

 hatching-house, and stable. We had also built a bridge 150 feet long 

 across the river, and had added to it as usual a firmly built fence or 

 rack that allowed the water to pass down but prevented the salmon 

 from going up the river. 



The mess-house is a well-built and nicely painted two- story house, 40 

 feet by 25 feet, containing a kitchen, pantry, store-room, dining-room, 

 and men's room on the lower floor, with three large sleeping apartments 

 on the second floor. It is well supplied with running water from a 

 spring on the hill behind the house, so that there is always a full tank 

 of fresh cold water in the kitchen, another tank on the second floor to 

 be used in case of fire, and another on the porch where the men wash. 

 This abundant supply of cold water in this very hot climate is a great 

 convenience, not to say luxury. The mess-house rests on bed-rock, weU 

 aip above high- water mark, and is perfectly safe from any future floods. 



