614 GEOGRAPHICAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



for salmon. There can be no doubt that the law is constantly violated on the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin Rivers. The fish are caught and salted in large numbers. Behind the stalls in the San 

 Francisco market salmoii have been seen in process of being salted down in barrels. In 1862 and 

 1863 salmon often brought $1 a pound in the San Francisco market. At that time $5 was a small 

 price for a salmoa. 



An exchange of food and clothing for sharks' fins is carried on by A. Crawford & Co., ship 

 chandlers, Market street. They send their trading vessels to the Marquesas Islands. Thirty or 

 forty cases are thus obtained in a year, 30 pounds to the case, and are sold at 20 cents a pound to 

 Wung Chung Lung & Co., Sacramento street, near Dnpout. Cleaned shark-fins from China are 

 worth $2.25 a pound, and uncleaned from San Diego 30 cents a pound. 



GATHERING THE EGGS OF SEA-BIRDS. The Pacific Farralone Company own the Farraloue 

 Islands and owned them before the United States claimed them. The present company was 

 formed in 1855, buying out another that was formed in 1852. The first had a charter for twenty 

 years ; in 1875 this was renewed for fifty years. Twenty years ago the supply of eggs (Murre 

 eggs) exceeded the demand, although the demand was then very much larger than it is now, as 

 chickens were at that date scarce, and these eggs had the whole market. From 30,000 to 40,000 

 dozen were sold annually in the flourishing time, but the demand has now fallen to about 10,000 

 dozen, and the supply does not exceed the demand. 



The Murre never lays more than two eggs unless disturbed, in which case she continues 

 laying one at a time until she has laid five or six. If not looked well after the gulls take them. 

 These eggs have no fishy flavor when fresh, but do not bear keeping so well as hen eggs. They 

 make good omelettes. When the secretary of the company (Goodmur) first went out to the 

 islands in 1852 he gathered 1,000 dozen and sold them at $1 per dozen. In the early days of the 

 company eggs sold at 75 cents per dozen. Now they sell at from 15 to 20 cents per dozen. . At 

 the What Cheer House, R. B. Woodward (one of the company) used in early times to use 9,000 

 dozen in the season. All the miners came to him, and he fed them on eggs in all styles. He had 

 a contract for all the cracked eggs at half price, and when there was an unsold surplus the boys 

 would sit up at night to crack them for him. 



A DESCRIPTION OF THE SAN FRANCISCO FISHERIES AS THEY WERE IN 1875. The history of 



the fisheries of California has been so short and full of changes tlat it is a matter of considerable 

 interest to place on permanent record any accounts of their methods which may have been written 

 in past years. The San Francisco Bulletin of January 12, 1875, contained a description of the fish- 

 eries of the city as they were at that time, which is here reproduced: 



"There are engaged in the fish business of San Francisco at this time about one hundred boats, 

 both large and small, although all of them are not constantly employed. Some of these boats are 

 of about 3 tons burden, and are what is termed lateen-rigged. They are fast sailers and able to 

 encounter quite a heavy sea. These, however, are used principally for deep-sea fishing outside the 

 Heads, which we shall notice more fully further along. About thirty boats are engaged in the 

 herring fishery in the bay. These boats are much smaller than those used outside, and are manned 

 usually by two men. They are propelled through the water by oars, and carry about one-quarter 

 the weight of the larger vessels. The herring season begins about the 1st of November and con- 

 tinues until the last of January. At the beginning of the season the price of herring is very high, 

 ranging from $5 to $6 per box, the boxes holding about 80 pounds of fish. As the season advances 

 the price declines until near the close, when the fish become very cheap. The price now is from 

 $1 to $1.50 per box. The business is a very lucrative one while the season lasts, as the fishi-rmc-n 

 do not have far to go, and have no trouble in securing a boat-load of fish in a few hours. 



