280 John H. Mitchell— Oregon 
barreling salmon was established there, and not until 1867 was 
the first fish cannery erected, the purpose of the latter being to 
preserve salmon in cans—fresh, spiced and pickled. There are 
today some thirty-eight canneries on Columbia river, in which 
are invested more than $5,000,000 capital. More than 4,000 men 
are employed during the fishing season. Canned salmon are 
shipped by rail across the continent and by ships to all parts of 
the world. A cargo frequently is valued at a quarter of a million 
dollars, and single cargoes have gone out occasionally of the value 
of over $300,000. The salmon season commences in May and 
ends in August. The fish are caught mainly by drift gill-nets 
ranging in leneth from 120 feet to 600 feet. Many salmon are 
also taken by traps and fish-wheels. 
In the single year 1880, 538,587 cases of salmon were canned 
on Columbia river, having an export value of $2,650,000. The 
average salmon weighs about twenty pounds, and they are 
packed three to a case, making a catch that year of about 1,600,000 
salmon. 
Salmon is by no means the only food-fish produced in large 
numbers in Columbia river. Sturgeon, flounder, smelt, tomcod, 
and salmon trout exist in abundance, and within the last few 
years shad weighing from three to four pounds have been plenti- 
ful. Other waters in the state of Oregon are full of salmon, 
Salmon fisheries are carried on extensively in Tillamook bay. 
Nehalem bay, Nestucca bay, in northwestern Oregon, and in the 
Rogue, Siuslaw, Coquille and other rivers in central and south- 
western Oregon. 
Dairy Interests. 
Several of the coast counties, especially Clatsop, Tillamook, 
Columbia, Douglass, Coos and Curry, in addition to their exten- 
sive and valuable lumber interests, and in some cases, notably 
Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and Coos, their valuable coal de- 
posits, are especially well adapted to dairying, and immense 
quantities of butter and cheese are annually produced. 
Railroad Facilities. 
In addition to the great facilities resulting from grand nayi- 
gable water-courses and capacious coast harbors, with which 
Oregon is so bountifully blessed, the state is now no longer iso- 
