18 FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST STATES IN 1904. 



decrease in 1904, however, due in part, it is claimed, to rumors of 

 sewage pollution in San Francisco Bay. At the time of this canvass 

 the proposed official investigation of these waters had not been made, 

 and no ill effects from the consumption of the oysters had been proved. 

 The shipment of oysters from Willapa Bay, Washington, the product 

 of eastern seed, is considered another factor in diminishing the demand 

 for San Francisco oysters. 



Clams. — The output of clams from Washington in 1904 shows an 

 increase of more than 100 per cent since 1899. In that year the yield 

 was 48,174 bushels, valued at $23,248; in 1904 it was 109,250 bushels, 

 valued at $54,512. Clams are dug principally by Indians. Kitsap 

 County leads in the product, with 56,250 bushels, taken b}^ 40 Indians, 

 who sold them at Seattle for $31,050. These are all small, hard clams, 

 some of which were used locally and the remainder shipped to various 

 parts of the interior. 



The Indians of Clallam County sold to the clam cannery at Port 

 Williams 2,400 bushels of hard clams, for which they received $1,020. 

 This cannery put up 1,600 cases. At Westport, Chehalis County, 500 

 cases were packed; a small cannery at Otympia, Thurston County, 

 canned 300 cases, and a cannery at Friday Harbor, Island County, 

 packed 3,000 cases, making the total pack of hard clams in Washington 

 5,400 cases. 



Razor clams (tabulated under soft clams) are very plentiful on all 

 the beaches of Chehalis County. Soft clams (Mya armaria) are also 

 plentiful, and an experiment of packing them was made at Aberdeen 

 in 1905, though prior to this date they had not been utilized. The 

 Aberdeen factory packed 8,000 cases of razor clams in 1904. 



The total output of hard clams from the Pacific States in 1904 was 

 871,008 pounds, or 108,876 bushels, valued at $65,078; of soft clams 

 303,580 pounds, or 30,358 bushels, valued at $30,055. 



ABALONE. 



The abalone fishery, which is confined to the coast of southern Cal- 

 ifornia, in 1904 3'ielded 797,000 pounds of the live product, valued at 

 $7,199; 27,948 pounds of abalone meat, worth $1,956; 8,730 pounds of 

 shells, valued at $218, and $1,500 worth of pearls, these figures repre- 

 senting the sales of the fishermen. The principal part of the output 

 is from Point Lobos, in Monterey County, where there is a small can- 

 ning plant, which in 1904 put up 60 cases for local use, 200 cases for 

 the Japanese market, 400 for the Chinese, and prepared 48,000 pounds 

 of dry abalone and 44,000 pounds of shells. This plant has an Ameri- 

 can manager and employs 12 Japanese. Abalones are found in abun- 

 dance off the point, and the species which grows here, that with the 

 red shell, is considered superior in flavor to the black or white abalone, 

 and when cooked brings a higher price. The abalones are pried from 



