896 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tlie law. His letter also gives facts of importance as to the habits of 

 the Sacramcuto salmon. Writing from Eio Vista, August 17, 1877, he 

 says: "I understand the ' cannery ' has shut down, but the greed for 

 salmon is so great I would not trust them without watching. As to the 

 fishermen, they will be salting them all along the banks of the Sacrar 

 mento and Lower San Joaquin (as far up as the mouth of the Moke- 

 lumne) unless special means are taken to iDrevent it. The Three-mile 

 Slough, leading from one river to the other, around the head of Sherman 

 Island, is also fine fishing ground, and more retired from jjubhc obser- 

 vation than any other. Many of the fishermen started off with their 

 tanks, &c., the very day the 'cannery' was reported to have stoi)ped. 

 Many of them are energetic, restless men, and the idea of doing some- 

 thing sly or contrary to law gives zest to their labor. Eight here, where 

 I write, a few boards have been thrown up shed-fashion by a party I 

 need not now name. You may well believe salted salmon will be under 

 it if some stranger does not prevent it. You may rest assured that the 

 people who reside here will not be known as the initial instruments in 

 imnishing any one for the violation of the sahnon laws, although there 

 are many who feel it ought to be respected. No doubt public feeling 

 and x)ractice will occuj)y about the same status at Collinsville and wher- 

 ever salmon fishing is a business. As I wrote to you the other day, now 

 (August) is the time to protect the salmon. In review of long experi- 

 ence and observation I opine that of all the salmon passing in the 

 months of August; September, and October, more than 90 per cent, pass 

 between August 10 and October 1. The seed run is always on time, not 

 being Hke the spring run, accelerated or retarded by the different moods 

 of the river, caused by the winter and spring rains. If, during the last- 

 named period (August 10 to October 1) the law was rigidly enforced, 

 you would find seed enough for home use and a good part of all creation 

 besides. Indeed, I think that one mouth out of the thickest of them, 

 say August 20 to September 20, would be quite sufficient, and therein I 

 differ with you in opinion, no doubt. But you have not, perhaps, ob- 

 served in person, as I have, the multitudes and urgency of the run at 

 that time ; and this is almost uniform — it has not varied in time ten days 

 in twenty years. Kow, during the period of four or six weeks, the 

 State, in view of the magnitude of the producing interest involved, ought 

 surely to provide, beyond peradventure, for the enforcement of the law. 

 The statute names the taking or £)ossession of salmon a crime, but in 

 the i)ublic mind this crime is only an illegal act. You cannot force 

 sentiment by act of the legislature. The absence of sentiment excuses 

 the citizens' apathy, and between ignorance and cupidity the salmon 

 will suffer unless special agents of the State do for the public what the 

 public have not yet quite learned they ought to do for themselves. 

 Strangers are the best agents for this business. Citizens Uving in a 

 fishing neighborhood do not feel like subjecting themselves to the enmity 

 and revenge of a rough class by complaint. And, again, in this salting 



