PACIFIC COAST FISHES. 



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merely a beginning. In 1876, the total production reached the 

 enormous sum of 2o,ocx3,ooo pounds. The venture was begun, in 

 its small way, on the Sacramento River, but a few years later. the 

 business was transferred to Astoria, Oregon, which is now the 

 headquarters of the canning establishments, as well as the nursery 

 and entrepot of the raw material. One factory alone, that of A. 

 Booth & Co., produces 2,500,000 pounds of fish annually. It 

 is the largest salmon establishment in the world. But in addition 

 to the 20,000,000 pounds of salmon exported in cans, the quantity 

 of salted fish in barrels, and the great amount consumed by the 

 Indians as their staple article of diet the year round (fresh and 

 dried), make the grand product, of the Columbia River alone, fully 

 45,000,000 pounds, or &,% times the whole catch of the United 

 Kingdom of Great Britain. There are now, we believe, thirty 

 canning establishments on the Pacific coast, and these run night 

 and day, like a blast-furnace, for 100 days in the year. Such con- 

 sumption, it may reasonably be supposed, must inevitably result in 

 depletion, and to guard against such probable contingency, the 

 United States Government established, two years ago, a hatching- 

 house on the Clackamas River, a tributary of the Columbia, capable 

 of producing 20,000,000 of young salmon per season, which, when 

 mature, would make ten times twenty million pounds in canned 

 weight. Of course the percentage of loss from natural causes is very 

 great; but just now the most destructive foe to contend with is 

 the violator of the protective law who catches fish at all times in 

 contravention of prudence, common sense, and compunction of 

 stomach. The heaviest catch takes place in June. 



Among the more prominent Salmoids of the Pacific Coast, 

 should be included the Dolly Vardens and the Rainbow Trout 

 (Salmo irridea), both of which have been introduced and estab- 

 lished in several States east of the Rocky Mountains. Of other 

 fish, mention should be made of the common Pampano, of 

 Trachynotus carolinus, among the Carangidas, and of the 

 Cynoscion phoxocephalum, among the Scicenidae, the most . 

 beautiful of the family of Weakfish. 



