THE SALMON FISHERIES OF CALIFORNIA AND OREGON. 739 



had two inasts, considerably raking, with Chinese sails, which were not like anything used in this 

 country for sails. Nearly amidships, but a little nearer one end than the other, was a tent in 

 which the Chinamen lived. There was also considerable space in the hold of this really Chinese 

 junk, which added a good d< al to the house-room. 



"The whole air and look of these crafts was decidedly foreign, and I might say oriental. 



"If I understand their method rightly, the small boats are to visit the sloughs and various 

 fishing points when they go out to draw the seine, and the larger boats are really only movable 

 dwellings and store-houses, where they live and receive the fish that are brought in by the small 

 boats, and which, of course, they move from place to place on the river as the exigencies of the 

 changing fishing seasons may require."* 



2. THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE EEL AND SMITH RIVERS, CALIFORNIA, THE 

 ROGUE RIVER, OREGON, AND THE ADJOINING SEA-BOARD COUNTIES. 



In Eel River there is a fall run of salmon only, composed of 0. chouicha] and 0. Msutch. The 

 cannery usually runs till the last of November. About 6,000 cases were put up in 1880, 1,400 

 in 1878, and 8,500 in 1877. About $3,400 worth of salted salmon in half -barrels were shipped to 

 San Francisco in 1878. The salmon are not counted at the canneries, but sold by weight, at $20 

 per ton. The cannery was built in 1877, and belongs to the Cutting Packing Company in San 

 Francisco. 



Mr. V. S. Treat, in a letter to Professor Baird, dated Ferndale, CaJ., March 3, 1880, refers to 

 the salmon-canning interests of Eel River in the following language : 



" Eel River is about 225 miles north of San Francisco, and is a barred river ; steamers make 

 the trip from San Francisco in about twenty-four hours ; a round trip in seven or eight days. 



"A good harbor inside the bar. The river is about 150 miles long and subject to heavy freshets 

 in fall and winter. There is but one cannery on the river, put up in 1877. In 1878, 1,400 cases 

 were put up against 3,500 in 1877, which, at $6 per case, amounted to $6,600. Other shipments 

 of salmon in half-barrels, amounting in all to $100,000. About one hundred and sixty men are 

 employed. The salmon are taken in seines and fine gill-nets of 7-inch mesh. There are two or 

 three kinds of salmon here; several kinds of trout; sturgeon are plenty; perch and smelts are 

 plenty ; quahang, clams, and crabs are found here, though shell-fish are very scarce. Parties here 

 talk of putting in lobsters and shad from Sacramento River this season. Salmon are not counted 

 here, but are sold by the ton, live weight, at $20 per ton." 



At Ellensburg, on Rogue River, Oregon, near its mouth, is a salmon cannery, belonging to 

 Mr. R. D. Hume. 



In Del Norte County, California, there is no sea-fishing of any importance. The salmon 

 run in considerable numbers- in Smith River in the fall, and at the town of Smith River there is 

 a salmon cannery. Its product for 1880 was 7,000 cases. About 500 barrels have also been 

 salted down. The total annual catch outside of salmon probably does not exceed 3,000 pounds. 



Rogue River is fed in spring by melting snows from the mountains, and has consequently 

 both a spring and a fall run of salmon. In spring, when the river is high, the water is fresh for 

 a considerable distance beyond the bar. 



The fish do their playing outside, and as soon as they reach the mouth ot the river, run straight 

 up. At this season they are therefore caught with gill-nets. In fall the water is salt or brackish 



* Report U. S. Fish Commission, III, 1874, pp. 382-5. t We now (1886) prefer the name O. ttchawytscha. 



