149 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
In the state of Washington 28 canneries were operated, valued at 
$1,296,000, and giving employment to 8,687 persons. There were 
employed 1,437 gill nets, value $189,308; 57 drag seines and 70 purse 
seines, value $52,100; 656 traps (pound nets), value $1,058,293, and 29 
fish wheels, value $29,000. In connection with the fishery there were 
also used 67 steamers and launches having a value of nearly $350,000; 
154 seine boats, 270 Columbia River boats, 314 dories and skiffs, 359 
scows, 32 pile drivers, and 4 sailboats, valued at $366,393. The total 
amount of capital invested was $3,341,094. 
Oregon.—The run of salmon on the Columbia River in 1903 was 
unlike any previously known to the fishermen. In April, when the 
season opened, there was a considerable body of chinooks in the river, 
but in a comparatively short time they became scarce. Up to this 
time only a small portion of the gill nets, seines, and traps had been 
employed, and it was not until the season had become well advanced 
that it was thought advisable to bring all the fishing gear into use. 
At the end of June, 1902, the pack amounted to 123,000 cases; at the 
same time in 1903 the output was about 50,000 cases, a most remarkable 
decrease. 
From time to time large schools of salmon were reported off the 
mouth of the Columbia and along the coast of Oregon. These fish 
were daily expected to enter the river, but instead only scattering 
small schools appeared in July, lasting but a few days. Duting this 
time the outlook, even for an average pack, was not encouraging, and 
there was considerable speculation as to the advisability of artificial 
propagation. Many who had hitherto looked upon it with consider- 
able favor now seriously questioned this method of keeping up the 
supply, and the possibility of restoring the salmon fisheries of the 
Columbia River to their former importance by this means was consid- 
ered extremely doubtful. The skepticism was suddenly checked, how- 
ever, by the most phenomenal run of salmon ever witnessed on the 
Columbia River. The immense school of fish frequently reported off 
the coast made its appearance July 31 at Baker Bay, the traps in that 
vicinity being crowded to their fullest capacity. As the school advanced 
traps farther up the river also became crowded. The gill-netters 
began to take more fish than they knew what to do with, and the com- 
bined catch of traps and gill nets was more than the canneries and 
cold-storage plants could handle, the result being that nearly as many 
fish were thrown away as were utilized. So great was the stench 
rising from decomposed fish washed upon the beaches at Astoria that 
the city authorities were obliged to take steps to remove the nuisance. 
The following is an extract from the Pacific Fisherman: 
The average duration of a run of salmon in the Columbia has been three or four 
days, but in this instance there appeared to bea solid body of fish enter the river of 
magnitude never before equalled. As in other fishing centers there is always a tale 
