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240 REPORT or! COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
report is based it was feasible to visit only that part of the Columbia 
basin within the States of Washington and Oregon. For hundreds of 
miles east and northeast of that section, however, salmon and other 
fish in more or less abundance are found, the catch being mostly utilized 
by ranchers and Indians living near the stream. 
The following counties of Washington and Oregon, bordering on the 
Columbia River and its tributaries, maintain commercial fisheries, the 
full extent of which is exhibited in the tables elsewhere presented: 
Oregon: Clatsop, Columbia, Multnomah, and Wasco counties. 
Washington: Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clarke, Skamania, and 
Klickitat counties. 
Clatsop and Pacifie counties, which are at the mouth of Columbia 
River, have fishing interests on their ocean sides as well as in the river. 
Through the courtesy of the numerous firms engaged in the fishing 
business of the river, the agent was able to obtain from their well-kept 
records detailed statistics showing the results of the fishery and can- 
ning industry of the river in a more comprehensive, useful, and reliable 
form than have heretofore been obtained. 
THE SALMON INDUSTRY.» 
This branch of the fisheries completely overshadows all others, and 
is the only one entitled to mention with the exception of the sturgeon 
fishery, which is of recent development. 
In the early years of the salmon-packing business on the Columbia 
chinook salinon were extremely abundant, comprising the bulk of the © 
run and all of the pack; other varieties were unutilized. With the 
beginning of a decrease in the abundance of chinook salmon the small 
blueback salmon was brought more into notice. When the run of 
chinooks began to fail some of the packers made cautious experimental 
packs of small quantities of bluebacks to help out their annual pack, 
although few were willing to concede the advisability of utilizing any 
fish except chinooks. The bright red color and fine flavor of the 
bluebacks at once gave the fish a firm hold on the trade and resulted in 
an active demand, which has continued to the present time. Singular 
as it may seem, the utilization of the bluebacks and the increasing 
quantities consumed annually have been attended by an apparent 
increase in the abundance of the fish. 
The accompanying figures will show that while the blueback is found 
in the Columbia River every year it has of late had its years of abun- 
dance and scarcity, thus resembling in its migrations the humpback 
salmon of Puget Sound. For the past six or eight seasons the even 
years have witnessed the larger run of bluebacks. Up to a compara- 
tively recent date the steelhead, which has always occurred abundantly 
in the Columbia, was considered wholly unsuitable for packing. The 
same cause, however, which brought the blueback into use has led 
to the utilization of the steelhead. Recently the demand tor canned 
