PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 105 
Canyon, on the Fraser River, caused by blasting operations of a 
construction gang building a railroad through there. This slide, it 
was asserted, cut off the greater part of the run to the upper river, and, 
it was feared, would have a very serious effect on future runs. By the 
time the run of 1914 arrived the greater part of the débris had been 
removed from the canyon, and the fish, it was alleged, could once more 
pass up. Reports of persons who visited these spawning grounds in 
1913 and subsequent years were to the effect that but few spawners, 
as compared with earlier years, were to be found on them. 
That the subsequent decrease in the runs was not to be attributed 
solely to the rock slide in Hell Gate canyon is plainly evident by a 
glance at the pack figures in this area before and subsequent to 1913. 
The following statement shows the combined sockeye packs of the 
American and Canadian packers operating on the run going to the 
lraser River: 
Cases. Cases. 
Pade Sotieid: o4ad warty i H9055R'() 1905... loss.s1dd. pai dese. 155, 714 
sg ROO MA ae Suis SpOp LOL Gs ieee iP oh eh anit bec tees 105, 870 
1 ioe Us i ga ie eee TET 77 a a a ears as ae 0559, 732 
(yf a ee gl hes Sn EN AT ely ie CT eg cap aa A ed BE 70, 420 
[Co CA eine Ae BRAG ageiDEIgi( A IRS! Bit 98, 409 
1S eae 534, 434 
Aside from the damage caused to the “big year” run by the rock 
slide, there can be only one explanation of such a progressive decline 
in the pack, and that is excessive fishing. The fishermen of both 
countries are to blame for this. On the American side traps, purse 
seines, and, in a slight degree, gill nets, have taken a heavy toll of the 
fish as they passed through our waters. After some had safely run 
this gantlet they met thousands of gill nets operted by Canadian 
fishermen in and around the mouth of the Fraser River and in the 
lower reaches of same, and it is a wonder that any of the schools 
ever got to the spawning beds. Several abortive attempts have been 
made by the authorities of Canada and British Columbia on the one 
side and the State of Washington on the other to arrive at some equi- 
table method for protecting this sockeye run. The former especially 
have professed an earnest desire to do something along this line, and 
there is no reason to doubt their sincerity. On the American side a 
few people, and among these a few of the more intelligent canners, 
pleaded for the enactment of laws that would adequately protect the 
salmon, but they were overborne by the great bulk of the packers and 
fishermen who, disregarding all the warnings and teachings of expe- 
rience, insisted upon going ruthlessly forward with the slaughter, 
and when reproached with their shortsightedness clamored for the 
establishment of more salmon hatcheries, as though the latter could 
accomplish the miracle of increasing the supply of fry from a steadily 
decreasing supply of eggs. 
That this wanton destruction of one of our greatest natural 
resources should have been permitted to continue unchecked by the 
people of Washington and British Columbia is a most surprising thing, 
and indicates either a most remarkable ignorance of the condition, 
which should have been patent to everybody, or a criminal apathy. 
« The big year, which comes every fourth year, 
