FISHERIES OF WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 319 



Outside of the Fraser Eiver the principal caunery sites iu British 

 Columbia are on the Skeena Eiver, where the business was started as 

 early as 1875, and on the Kaas Eiver. There has been a small cannery 

 at Alert Bay since 1880, drawing its supplies of sockeye from the 

 Nimkish Eiver, Avhich empties on the adjacent coast of Vancouver 

 Island, and 2 are located on Clayoquot Sound, western coast of Van- 

 couver Island, one established in 1895, the other in 1896. Except during 

 three years when the sockeye runs were very small, the Fraser Eiver 

 pack has exceeded, and generally very greatly, the combined pack of 

 all the other canneries of the Province. 



The greater part of the canned salmon produced, in British Columbia 

 has always been exported to England, being shipped by vessel, gener- 

 ally in large lots. The remainder is divided between Australia, other 

 foreign markets, and the Canadian trade. 



The canning industry is of more recent date in the Puget Sound 

 region of Washington than in British Columbia, and is still less 

 extensive, although during the past few years its growth has been 

 very rapid. Kot having the same river facilities as British Columbia, 

 it is necessary to look more to the salt waters for its supplies, and in 

 the matter of obtaining sockeye, the species most cherished for canning 

 purposes, its advantages are considered not so good. It would thus 

 appear as though Washington could never expect to produce as large a 

 l^ackof the higher-priced fish as the Fraser Eiver is capable of supi^lying, 

 though it may prove otherwise, but of the inferior species Washington 

 has suflicient abundance to permit as great an expansion of the business 

 as the demands of trade are likely to warrant for some years to come. 



In 1895 there were only 6 canneries in operation on the Washington 

 side of the line. The oldest establishment was started at Muckilteo 

 in 1877, removed to Port Blakely about 1880, and subsequently to 

 Seattle, where it is now located. The species put up are silver, hump- 

 back, and dog salmon, together with a few quinnat when they can be 

 obtained. In 1880, 15 hands were employed and the pack amounted 

 to 10,000 cases, while iu 1895 the pack reached 81,177 cases. At one 

 time there were 4 canneries in the neighborhood of Seattle, but 3 of 

 these are no longer in operation, although a new one was established 

 there in 1897. The next oldest cannery still in existence is the one 

 established in 1891 at Semiahmoo, at the eastern end of Boundary Bay, 

 which, beginning with 1894, has been run in conjunction with the one 

 built at Point Eoberts in 1893. Both draw their supplies from the trap 

 nets about that point, the most of which they control, and also, to some 

 extent, at times from other nets iu Boundary Bay. These 2 canneries, 

 therefore, under present conditions are the most advantageously placed 

 of all the canneries south of the boundary with regard to obtainiug 

 supplies of sockeye, and their attention is almost entirely confined to 

 this species except in seasons when the run proves short. Some silver 

 salmon, humpback, dog salmon, and quinnat have been put up at both 

 of them. 



