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THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE SACRAMENTO RIVER. 733 
There are two great “runs” of salmon during the year. The first one begins about the middle 
of April, the second about the middle of August, and they last about forty dayseach. The can- 
neries usually begin about the 15th of April and run until the lst of August, when the “close 
season” begins. They begin again September 15, when the fishermen are allowed to commence 
fishing, when they run as long as the supply of fish will warrant, which is generally from three to 
four weeks. During the canning season each boat is expected to catch from twenty to one 
hundred fish daily, and sometimes they exceed this. From the end of the canning season the 
salmon continually grow scarcer through the winter, until, in January and February, the boats 
scarcely average one fish a day. The salmon average 15 to 20 pounds each. 
While the canneries are not running all the salmon caught are shipped to the San Francisco 
markets. They are shipped exclusively on the river steamers. Each regular shipping place has 
a small building on the wharf for the reception of the fish. They are each marked with the owner’s 
private mark, usually an eye gouged out, the snout cut off, or a cut of some particular shape 
on the gill covers. From 1 to 2 cents per salmon is charged for wharfage, and from 5 to 8 cents 
each for transportation. 
During the canning season each boat is allowed to ship only 40 fish a week to the San Francisco 
markets. This is to prevent the market from being overstocked and is a law the fishermen have 
imposed on themselves. The remainder of the fish caught are sold, at a price fixed during the 
season, to the canneries, providing that the canneries and fisherman can agree on a price and that 
more fish are not caught than the canneries can put up. 
When the canneries refuse to accept all the salmon caught, the fishermen preserve the surplus 
by salting or by salting and smoking. It is also asserted that much fishing is done during the 
“close season,” and the fish cured. This curing is done exclusively by the fishermen themselves. 
The fish are salted in metal tanks about 8 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep. One of these 
will hold about 500 salmon at atime. The process of salting and preparing for shipment takes 
about two weeks. They are usually packed in half-barrels for shipment, but Mr. William Hosking, 
of Collinsville, states that he has shipped them in tierces to London, and that after having twice 
crossed the tropics they arrived at their destination in good order. Salted salmon are extremely 
variable in price, but probably average 20 cents each. 
‘In smoking salmon the salted fish are carefully washed and serubbed, then dried for a day 
and hung up in a smoke-house in which is kept up a slow fire, usually of oak wood. It takes 
about a week to smoke salmon, and they find a ready sale at 40 cents per head. 
SALMON CANNING ON THE LOWER SACRAMENTO IN 1880. 
The salmon pack has been heavy on the Sacramento this year. There have been ten canneries 
_ at work, four in San Francisco, one at Benicia, three in the vicinity of Collinsville, one at Court- 
land, and one at Sacramento. Those in San Francisco and the one at Benicia pack other goods as 
well as fish. : 
Those packing in San Francisco had their fish shipped down the river by steamer or schoouer, 
and the salmon were often old and unfit for canning before they were delivered. This was partic- 
ularly true towards the last of the season, when the fish could only be caught well up the river. 
At this time the salmon brought in to be canned were in such condition that I think they could 
hardly be wholesome food, and with such an article placed on the market it is no wonder that the 
Sacramento fish bear an indifferent reputation. 
The spring run was fairly good, and was remarkable for its unevenness and the length of 
time it lasted. The fish seemcd to come up in a succession of schovls, and while usually the run 
