NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE ON THE SALMON AND TROUT. 373 



D— ON THE EDIBLE QUALITIES OF THE SACEAMENTO SAL- 

 MON. 



San Francisco, August 1, 1872. 



Dear Sir : Your esteemed and very interesting' favor of the 12th 

 ultimo reached me not until yesterday, owing probably to some irregu- 

 Inrity of the mail. It is quite encouraging to us out here to learn that 

 the commissioners of the Eastern States are taking an interest in the fishes 

 of this coast. Born and raised on the Atlantic seaboard and accustomed 

 from my boyhood to fishing in its waters, I have found much to interest 

 one in the marked difference of the fishes of the Pacific coast from those 

 of the Atlantic. 



As a rule (with the exception of the salmon) the fish of this coast are 

 not so good in quality not so reliable in quantity, neither are there large 

 runs of migratory fish, as is the case on your coast. The herring comes 

 into the liarbors in schools, but not in quantities. The mackerel is rarely , 

 seen, and the few that frequent our bays are small, and, as a general rule, 

 applying to all our fish, saving the salmon, there is a want of both 

 fatness and flavor. The halibut we also have somewhat plentiful on 

 the northern coast, and sometimes ia small numbers as low down as 

 the harbor of San Francisco. 



Our great and reliable fish is the salmon, visiting our coast, in swarms 

 annually, from the Bay of Monterey to the extent of the Territory of 

 Ahiska. The salmon of the harbor of San Francisco are a large, fine, 

 fat fish, and are a valuable article of food, and are sold in the season as 

 low as five cents per pound. They are equally plenty in all the bays 

 and inlets north of this, improving in flavor as you go farther north, 

 until, in the bays and rivers of Alaska, thej' exhibit a flavor and rich- 

 ness utterly unknown to the epicure of the world at large. The desire 

 of the people of California to have introduced in these waters the shad 

 stimulated the commission to attempt the bringing across the continent 

 the young fish from the Hudson River, and we are indebted to Mr. Seth 

 Green for successfully placing in the Sacramento Eiver some fifteen 

 thousand, alive, in good health and condition, and we await with faith 

 and patience their return from the ocean. In the mean time, I, this year 

 provided transportation for and desired Mr. Green to send us fifty thou- 

 sand more, for the purpose of pursuing the experiment yearly, until the 

 first return might assure us of success; but the engagements of Mr. 

 Green are such as to prevent his coming with them himself, and the 

 dififlculties of transporting them he deemed too great for him to intrust 

 the care of them to any one else. Mr. Green has written me upon the 

 subject of obtaining salmon-ova on this coast, and I have answered him 

 that they can be obtained here in the vicinity of San Francisco in un- 

 limited quantity. 



deferring to the mission of Mr. Livingstone Stone, I would add that 

 here he can have every facility for obtaining salmon-ova, and the im- 

 pregnation of them. The fisheries which supply this city with salmon 



