REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 139 
but there being no market for the product on the Pacific coast, the 
fares were shipped overland to Boston and Gloucester. The cost of 
transportation, however, rendered this enterprise unremunerative, 
and the fresh halibut fishery also, since the local demand was limited 
and a large portion of the product had to find market in the East, was 
for a time unprofitable; but, Atlantic halibut becoming scarce, the 
demand for the Pacific coast product increased to such an extent 
that eastern firms were attracted to Puget Sound and British Columbia, 
and in the last ten years this branch of the fisheries has greatly 
increased in importance. 
In the early years the fleet of small boats, sloops, and schooners 
engaged in catching halibut on the local banks—Cape Flattery, Cape 
Scott, and around San Juan Islands—landed its fish at Port Townsend, 
but since 1888 Seattle, owing to its superior shipping facilities, has 
become the business center. 
While the sailing vessels comprised in the halibut fleet of Seattle do 
not compare in size with those of the Atlantic coast, they answer every 
purpose for which they were designed, many of them having fine lines, 
and being built to encounter rough weather. The large vessels first 
employed were found to be expensive, and, moreover, the shortest 
route to most of the halibut banks being through the narrow channels 
and passages between the islands and mainland of British Columbia, 
smaller vessels were found better suited to the purpose. It was soon 
recognized that the route leading to the fishing grounds of the North 
could be better navigated by steam than by sail power, but it was not 
until about eight years ago that steam vessels were adopted. At vari- 
ous times individual enterprises with steam vessels haye been under- 
taken, only to be abandoned after a season or two; but the forming 
of the company at Vancouver, backed by eastern fishing firms, 
the halibut industry a new impetus. 
Steamers were at first chartered by the company, but as the industry 
maintained a steady increase it was deemed advisable to have vessels 
especially built for its needs. The steamer Vew England was launched 
at Camden, N. J., in 1897, and was brought around Cape Horn to 
Vancouver. In 1902 the steamer Avngfisher, built at San Francisco, 
ras added to the fleet. The steamer Saga, of Vancouver, now owned 
by the New England Fish Company, has also been converted into a 
halibut vessel, and is to make regular trips to the banks. 
The fresh halibut fishery of the Pacific coast was canvassed in 1900 
for the year 1899. In that year there were landed at the various 
points on Puget Sound 3,439,640 pounds of halibut, having a value of 
$108,170. In 1902, according to the Pacific Fisherman for April, 
1903, there were landed in the State of Washington alone 20,050,000 
pounds. Reckoning 2 cents a pound as an average price received by 
the fishermen, this quantity of fish would represent a little over 
Cave 
gave 
