REPOllT OF THE COMMISSIONER OK FISHEKIES. 189 



but there beino- no market for tlie product on tlio racitic coa«t, the 

 fares were shipped overland to lioston and Gloucester. The cost of 

 transportation, however, rendered this enterprise unremunerative, 

 and the fresh halihut fishery also, since the local demand was limited 

 and a large portion of the product had to lind market in the East, was 

 for a time unprofitable; but, Atlantic halibut becoming scarce, the 

 demand for the Pacific coast product increased to such an extent 

 that eastern firms were attracted to Pnget Sound and British Columbia, 

 and in the last ten 3'cars this branch of the fisheries has greatly 

 increased in importance. 



In the early years the fieet of small boats, sloops, and schooners 

 engaged in catching halibut on the local banks — Cape Flattery, Cape 

 Scott,'and around San Juan Islands — landed its fish at Port Townsend, 

 but since 1888 Seattle, owing to its superior shipping facilities, lias 

 become the business center. 



While the sailing vessels comprised in the hali])ut fleet of Seattle do 

 not compare in size with those of the Atlantic coast, they answer every 

 pui*pose for which they were designed, many of them having fine lines, 

 and being built to encounter rough weather. The large vessels first 

 emplo3"ed were found to be expensive, and, moreover, the shortest 

 route to most of the halibut banks being through the narrow channels 

 and passages between the islands and mainland of British Columbia, 

 smaller vessels were found better suited to the purpose. It was soon 

 recognized that the route leading to the fishing grounds of the North 

 could })c better navigated by steam than b}' sail power, but it was not 

 imtil about eight years ago that steam vessels were adopted. At vari- 

 ous times individual enterprises with steam vessels have been under- 

 taken, onlv to be abandoned after a season or two; but the forming 

 of the company at Vancouver, backed b}^ eastern fishing firms, gave 

 the halibut industry a new impetus. 



Steamers were at first chartered by the company, but as the industry 

 maintained a steady increase it was deemed advisable to have vessels 

 especiallj' built for its needs. The steamer JVcnv England was launched 

 at Camden, N. J., in 1897, and was brought around Cape Horn to 

 Vancouver. In 1902 the steamer Kingfisher^ built at San Francisco, 

 was added to the fleet. The steamer Saga, of Vancouver, now owned 

 by the New England Fish Compan}^, has also been converted into a 

 halibut vessel, and is to make regular trips to the banks. 



The fresh halibut fishery of the Pacific coast was can\'assed in 1900 

 for the year 1899. In that year there were landed at the various 

 points on Puget Sound 3,439,640 pounds of halibut, having a value of 

 $108,170. In 1902, according to the Pacific Fisherman for April, 

 1903, there were landed in the State of Washington alone 20,060,000 

 pounds. Reckoning 2 cents a pound as an average price received h\ 

 the fishermen, this quantity of fish would represent a little over 



