2 1 2 Sport and Life. 



sometimes been found which are known to live in deep water ;* and from 

 this the conclusion has been drawn that the quinnat during his sojourn in 

 the sea frequents such depths as would be inaccessible to seals and 

 porpoises, which are its principal enemies. 



Factories in which the fish are cured for export, called " canneries," 

 have been established for years on all the principal rivers of the Pacific 

 coast, and "canned salmon" is an article of trade carried all over the 

 world. This industry far exceeds now in importance all the other fishing 

 interests of the coast taken together. It began with small means on the 

 Sacramento river in 1863, extended to the Columbia river in 1870, and to 

 the Fraser in 1876, On the latter river seventeen extensive factories were 

 at work in 1890, all crowded together within twenty-five miles of the tidal 

 and estuary portion of the river. They employ 350 boats, each using a 

 drift-net 150 fathoms long, to catch the fish on their entrance into the river. 

 One would suppose that not many quinnats can escape through such a web 

 of nets. Indeed, in the course of one day, in the very good season of 1890, 

 some 150,000 fish (O. quinnat and O. nerka) were delivered at the 

 canneries, and converted into "canned salmon" within twenty-four hours. 

 The statistics of the canneries of the Columbia river furnish still more 

 startling evidence as to the abundance of the quinnat and the extent of this 

 industry. In the six years preceding 1884 nearly 2OO,ooo,ooolb. were 

 canned on this river alone. Taking the average weight of the quinnat of 

 this river at 2olb., we find that in each of these six years 1,660,000 have 

 been taken ; a number much below the truth, as no allowance is made 

 for the weight of the offal, and the fish consumed fresh or captured by 

 the native population in the upper parts of the rivers are not included in it. 

 It is not surprising that the annual destruction of such a vast number of 

 fish before the spawning season should have raised doubts as regards the 

 continuance of this prosperous state of things in the minds of those most 

 interested in this industry. But whilst some perceived a distinct diminution 

 in the number of fish captured, others deny it, basing their view on the 

 experience of the annual variations in the abundance of fish. Years of 

 great scarcity, indeed, seem' to have been very few, local, and accounted for 

 by the state of the water in a particular river. However, to prevent a 

 possible exhaustion of this mine of wealth, regulations have been put in 

 force in the United States as well as in the British territories. In addition, 



* In the Appendix I have printed what are probably the oldest notes made 

 by a scientific observer on Pacific coast salmon i.e., the late Mr. A. C. 

 Anderson, one of the earliest pioneers of scientific attainments on the North- 

 west coast. 



