110 FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
which passes through the county en route to the ocean. In consider- 
ing the fisheries of the various counties they will be taken up accord- 
ing to their rank as regards the value of the catch. 
Clatsop County.—This county, with its extensive salmon-canning 
industry, located at Astoria, ranks far above any other in the State. 
The catch for the year was 22,676,724 pounds, valued at $1,039,955. 
The great bulk of this catch was salmon, with chinook far in excess 
of the others; the catch of chinook was 16,167,867 pounds, valued at 
$886,585. Next to the salmon, the most important catch was razor 
clams, of which 77,200 pounds, valued at $10,900, were taken on the 
coast. ‘The fisheries here support five canneries, all located at Asto- 
ria, on Columbia River; four of them also canned small quantities 
of shad and shad roe in 1915. 
Several of the firms also froze small quantities of salmon, shad, 
shad roe, and sturgeon. Six clam canneries were operated on the 
ocean side of this county in 1915, but the pack was not up to normal 
because the clams seem to have been on the decrease for several 
years. One of the canneries also packed a very small lot of salmon. 
Considerable crab fishing has been done from Astoria during the last 
few years: The greater part of this work is done from January to 
June, and during the early part of this period it is frequently too 
rough for the boats to reach the crab-fishing grounds, which are loca- 
ted principally beyond the Columbia River bar at the mouth of the 
river; they often go as far as 15 to 20 miles when crab fishing. But 
for this obstacle greater effort would undoubtedly have been made 
in this line. The crabs are taken with a sort of dip net or hoop net, 
made of cotton twine, hung on iron hoops, two hoops to each net, 
placed one above the other, about a foot apart; the nets are sunk 
and buoyed so that they may be located easily. 
The most important form of apparatus in Clatsop County is the 
gill net, the catch of which was 14,607,184 pounds, valued at $641,041; 
the great bulk of this was salmon, with small quantities of shad and 
sturgeon. Seines occupy the next place in point of importance, the 
catch with these being 6,024,288 pounds, valued at $302,764. The 
line and pound-net fisheries also add considerable quantities to the 
salmon catch of this county. 
The investment of Clatsop County wis $2,076,577, an amount 
greater than that of all the other counties combined. 
Columbia County.—This county ranked second in the value of the 
catch, but the amount invested was less than in some other counties. 
This is probably due to the fact that some of the other counties have 
canneries, and these buildings add considerably to the investment, 
while Columbia County has no canneries or fish houses of any kind, 
except a small wholesale fresh-fish house at Rainier. Practically all 
the fish caught by the fishermen of this county are sold to the canner- 
ies at Astoria. The catch amounted to 2,711,569 pounds, valued 
at $114,911. The investment for the year was $176,162, this amount 
consisting chiefly of the value of gasoline boats and gill nets. 
This county adjoins Clatsop County and borders on that part of the 
Columbia River where the Shing grounds are especially prolific, and, 
as in the latter county, owes its importance principally to the gill-net 
fisheries, the catch by these nets being 2,317,982 pounds, valued at 
$83,179. Of this amount 1,835,441 pounds, valued at $76,154, 
represent chinook salmon alone, the remainder being made up of 
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