94 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
The chinook gill nets are usually 8? to 9 inches stretch mesh and 
24 meshes deep, while the gill nets for silvers, dogs, and steelheads 
are of 7-inch stretch mesh and 35 meshes deep. 
For some years the salmon from the Quinault River were brought 
to Hoquiam and Aberdeen for canning. In 1911 W. W. Kurtz, of 
the former place, began the erection of a cannery at Moclips for the 
urpose of packing these fish, and the same season his example was 
followed by Frank Shafer. Mr. Kurtz still operates his plant, but 
the other is now owned by the Pacific Fisheries & Packing Co. 
Grays Harbor.—This is the first important indentation on the coast 
of Washington south of Cape Flattery. It is about 40 miles long 
from east to west and about 20 miles wide in the widest part. The 
principal tributary is the Chehalis River, but there are a number of 
small streams which debouch into the harbor. 
In 1883 B. A. Seaborg, who operated a cannery on the Columbia 
River, established a plant at what was later to be the thriving city 
of Aberdeen, although at that time it was practically a wilderness. 
In 1902 the North American Fisheries Co. built a plant at Aber- 
deen. Shortly after it came into the possession of the Grays Harbor 
Packing Co., and on June 8, 1903, it was destroyed by fire. It was 
rebuilt and operated by this company until 1906, when it was sold 
to S. Elmore & Co., who still own it. 
The Hoquiam Packing Co. built a cannery at Hoquiam in 1904 
and have operated it ever since. 
In 1910 two canneries were in operation at Aberdeen and Hoquiam, 
respectively; in 1915 there were three at the former place and 
one at the latter, while in 1919 there were six in operation. 
Willapa Harbor.—The entrance to this harbor, which also includes 
Shoalwater Bay, is about 27 miles south of Grays Harbor. The har- 
bor runs east and west and is about 25 miles long. Shoalwater Bay 
extends south from it a distance of about 30 miles, its southern por- 
tion ending about a mile from the Columbia River and its west- 
ern side being separated from the ocean by a spit varying in width 
from three-fourths to 1 mile. The bay is shallow, excepting in the 
main channel. The principal salmon streams entering the harbor 
are the Nasel and North Rivers, in which most of the pound or trap 
nets are located. 
In 1884 B. A. Seaborg, a Columbia River canner, established a plant 
on Shoalwater Bay, as the whole of Willapa Harbor was then known. 
About 1900 F. C. Barnes established a cannery at Sunshine, cn the 
Nasel River, but the run of salmon on this river soon became so small] 
that the plant was abandoned and the machinery moved to Mr. 
Barnes’s cannery at South Bend. 
In 1904 P. J. McGowan, the Columbia River canner, opened. a 
cannery on the North River. Mr. McGowan, who was over 80 years 
of age at the time, had turned the control of his important Columbia 
River canning interest over to his sons, but findmg idleness not to 
his hiking, started this cannery in order to have something to occupy 
his time. He operated it for several years and then abandoned the 
roject. 
e In 1912 the Chetlo Harbor Packing Co. established a cannery at 
Chetlo Harbor, but operated it only that year and in 1914. 
In 1919 only two canneries, both of them at South Bend, operated 
on Willapa Harbor. 
