822 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



process the salmon pass through forty or fifty hands. In 1874, the 

 Cook Bro's. cut up 98,000 salmon, averaging in weight between 10 and 

 17 pounds when dressed. They shipped upwards of 30,000 cases con- 

 taiuing 48 one-pound cans each. 



There were in all in the spring of 1875, fourteen canneries on the 

 Columbia the first being at Astoria, only a few miles above the bar at 

 the mouth of the Columbia, and the last or uppermost being 60 miles 

 up the river at Rainier. 



I give below a list of the Columbia River canneries in May, 1875, in 

 the order in which they come as one descends the river from Portland, 

 Oregon. 



Number of casea 

 Name. shipped in 1874. 



(In round num- 

 i)er8.) 

 i R. D. Hume, Rainier. (Sixty miles from the mouth of the river. Not 



running now , 6, 000 



2. William Hume 23,000 



3. George W. Hume 35,000 



4. Joseph Hume 30,000 



5. A. S. Hapgood 25,000 



C. John West «& Co 35,000 



7. T. M. Warren 25,000 



8. Watson Bro's &. Bramau 16,000 



9. Oregon Packing Company, (J. W. & V. Cook) 30, 000 



10. R. D. Hume, Bayview 37,000 



11. Columbia River Salmon Company 10,000 



12. Meigler & Co 16,000 



13. Badalet «& Co., Astoria 15,000 



14. Booth & Co., Astoria. (Had not begun operations) 



Total 303,000 



As each case contains 48 one-pound cans* this makes a total of 

 14,256,000 pounds of canned salmon that were put up at the canneries 

 of the Columbia River in 1874. 



The cannery of Booth & Co., at Astoria, which made no returns last 

 year for the simple reason that it was not built, was ready to commence 

 work at the beginning of the season of 1875. This establishment now 

 employs about 175 men and does a large share of its work by steam. 

 It is the largest on the river and in May, 1875, the proprietors expected 

 to turn out 45,000 cases of salmon, the coming season. 



Some notion of the magnitude of these establishments may be 

 arrived at by considering that at some of the larger ones the tin alone 

 for the cans costs between $50,000 and $100,000. The salmon them- 

 selves that are consumed in all the canneries of the river in a year, if 

 placed lengthwise in a line, would reach upwards of 500 miles; while 

 the cans if laid on their sides and placed end to end would reach from 

 Xew York to Omaha. 



The prices of canned salmon have varied very much duriug the last 

 few years. In 1874 the average price was $6 a case, or 12^ cents per 



* Usually, though, some two-pound cans are put up. 



