88 PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 
little above Redding the river emerges from the canyon and widens 
into a broad shallow stream. Below Sacramento it runs through a 
level country and is affected by tides. Sloughs are numerous in this 
stretch, some connecting it with the San Joaquin. The Sacramento 
and San Joaquin Rivers join as they empty into Suisun Bay. 
The principal tributaries of the Sacramento which are frequented 
by salmon are the Pit and McCloud Rivers and Battle Creek. At one 
time salmon frequented the American and Feather Rivers, but min- 
ing and irrigation operations along these streams either killed them 
off or drove them away. 
The San Joaquin River has its source in the Sierra Nevada Moun- 
tains. Flowing westerly and forming the boundary between Fresno 
and Madera Counties for a considerable distance, it then turns 
abruptly to the north just where it is jomed by Fresno Slough, which 
drains Lake Tulare. From here its general course is northwesterly 
until it joins the Sacramento River, near the latter’s mouth. The 
Chouchilla and Fresno Rivers are the principal tributaries of the 
San Joaquin. 
The principal fishing grounds for salmon are Suisun Bay, the 
lower part of San Joaquin River, and the Sacramento River as 
high as the vicinity of Sacramento. Drift gill nets are used almost 
exclusively in this section. From Sacramento to Anderson there is 
considerable commercial fishing, more particularly with haul seines. 
Owing to the early and excellent railroad facilities which the fish- 
eries of the Sacramento River have enjoyed, they have not been 
handicapped so seriously as most of the other Pacific coast rivers in 
finding profitable outlets for the catch. Soon after the first trans- 
continental line was opened the shipping of fresh salmon to eastern 
points began, and it has been an important feature of the industry 
ever since. 
The chief event in the history of the salmon fisheries of this river 
is the fact that the canning of salmon on the Pacific coast had its 
inception here in 1864. The circumstances leading up to this event 
and its consummation are interestingly told by R. D. Hume: 
The first salmon cannery of the United States was located at Washington, Yolo 
County, Cal. A part of the building was originally a cabin situated on the river 
bank outside of the levee just opposite the foot of K Street, Sacramento City. It was 
built in 1852 and occupied by James Booker, Perey Woodsom, and William Hume. 
William Hume came to California in the spring of 1852, bringing with him a salmon 
gill net which he had made before leaving his home at Augusta, Me. In company 
with James Booker and Percy Woodsom, Mr. Hume began fishing for salmon in the 
Sacramento River just in front of the city of Sacramento. William Hume had been 
salmon fishing in the Kennebec River in the State of Maine with his father, where his 
father and grandfather had been engaged in the same business since 1780, and their 
ancestors in Scotland had for pleasure pursued the sportive salmon on the Tweed and 
