THE SALMON FISHERIES OP THE SACRAMENTO RIVER. 735 



Of course when the work is done in this secret manner, no very close estimate can be made. 

 The estimate given here is furnished by Mr. Silvestri, who has, to that end, corresponded with 

 the principal sailers on the river. The quantity of salmon salted during the fall of 1880 was 

 33,000 fish, averaging 12 pounds each. 



STATISTICS OF SALMON INDUSTRY FOE CONTRA COSTA AND MARIN COUNTIES. 



Fishermen : 



American 5 



Chinese ~.'...r. 25 



Italian 345 



Greek 25 



German 4 100 



Total.. 500 



Number of boats 230 



Amount of capital invested in boats $60,000 



Number of pounds of fish taken, including those canned and salted 10, 000, 000 



Value of fish taken $170,000 



STATISTICS OF TOTAL CATCH OF SALMON FROM 1875 TO 1880. 



The following figures have been obtained by the State commission of California, as the total 

 number of pounds of salmon taken in the Sacramento River for the six years ending August 1, 

 1880: 



1875 (August 1, 1874, to August 1, 1875) 5,098,781 



1876 5,331,423 



1877 1 6,493,563 



1878 6,520,768 



1879 4,432,250 



1880 10,837,400 



The increase in the run of 1880 over that of previous years is ascribed by the commissioners 

 to the planting of young salmon in the river. 



SALMON FISHING IN THE SACRAMENTO RIVER IN 1872-'73. 



The following description of the salmon fisheries of the Sacramento River was prepared by 

 Mr. Livingstone Stone in 1872 : 



"The fishing on the Sacramento is done in three ways: (1) By drift-nets ; (2) by fyke-nets ; 

 (3) by swoop-seines. 



" DRIFT-NET FISHING. The drift-nets are used exclusively for catching salmon. They have an 

 8J-inch mesh, are usually 40 meshes deep, and from 150 to 200 fathoms long. As nearly as I could 

 learn, there were not far from a hundred salmon nets in operation on the Sacramento River in"" 

 1872. At the meeting of the salmon fishermen of the Sacramento that year, there were 95 boats 

 represented. 



" These nets are worked by simply drifting them with the tide. The salmon, which of course 

 are heading against the tide, are gilled in the meshes. The turn of the tide is the most favorable 

 time for this sort of fishing. 



"The nets are frequently drifted a mile before being hauled in. The salmon-fishing is con- 

 ducted entirely by white men, no Chinamen being allowed to participate in it. There is no law 



