II. FISHING GROUNDS AND HISTORY OF THE FISHERIES.® 
WASHINGTON. 
Puget Sound.—Strictly speaking, the name Puget Sound should be 
restricted to that long, narrow arm extending south from the Strait 
of Juan de Fuca, but a practice has developed,:and is now common 
among fishermen and others, of designating all the great water area 
in the State of Washington comprising Puget Sound proper, Strait 
of Juan de Fuca, Canal de Haro, Rosario Strait, the Gulf of Georgia, 
and the smaller straits, bays, and sounds, as Puget Sound, and this 
practice, for the sake of convenience, has been followed in this report. 
This great indentation in the coast, with its numerous islands and 
many fine harbors, has greatly aided the development of this portion 
of Washington and has been especially favorable to the prosecution 
of the salmon and other fisheries. Numerous rivers and creeks enter 
the Sound, the more important of these being on the eastern shore 
and comprising the Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish, Snohomish, 
Duwamish, Puyallup, and Nisqually. On the southern and western 
shores the tributary streams are nearly all small, the more important 
being the Skokomish, Quilcene, Dungeness, and Elwha. 
During the period when what is now the State of Washington was 
debatable ground between Great Britain and the United States, the 
Hudson Bay Co. annually salted considerable fish on Puget Sound 
and exported some to the Hawaiian Islands and Asia. 
The first fishing operations by Americans were soon after the set- 
tlement at what is now known as Seattle, about 1852. For many 
years the catch was sold either fresh or salted, and the industry was 
small, as the population, for some years, was sparse. The extension 
of the railroad to Puget Sound, thus furnishing an outlet to the rap- 
idly growing population in the Middle West, did much to aid the 
industry. This also gave opportunity to begin the shipping of fresh 
halibut and salmon to Eastern points. Ainsworth & Dunn, of Seattle, 
operating later under the name of the Seattle Fish Co., were the first 
successful pioneers in this branch of the industry, beginning about 
1889, and carrying it on until they sold out in 1901, as noted later. 
In 1903 the San Juan Fishing & Packing Co., which had begun the 
fresh-fish business in 1899, bought the business from the Pacific 
Packing & Navigation Co. 
a For some of the regions the historical data are fragmentary and can not be considered as other than 
historical notes. It is hoped that someone will write a history of the industry before all of the pioneers 
have passed away. 
Gt13°— 17-94 21 
