THE SALMON FISHERIES OF CALIFORNIA AND OREGON. 739 
had two masts, considerably raking, with Chinese sails, which were not like anything used in this 
country for sails. Nearly amidships, but a little nearer one end than the other, was a tent in 
which the Chinamen lived. There was also considerable space in the hold of this really Chinese 
junk, which added a good deal to the house-room. 
“The whole air and look of these crafts was decidedly foreign, and I might say oriental. 
“Tf I understand their method rightly, the small boats are to visit the sloughs and various 
fishing points when they go out to draw the seine, and the larger boats are really only movable 
dwellings and store-houses, where they live and receive the fish that are brought in by the small 
boats, and which, of course, they move from place to place onthe river as the exigencies of the 
changing fishing seasons may require.”* 
2. THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE EEL AND SMITH RIVERS, CALIFORNIA, THE 
ROGUE RIVER, OREGON, AND THE ADJOINING SEA-BOARD COUNTIES. 
In Eel River there is a fall run of salmon only, composed of O. chouichat and O. kisutch. The 
cannery usually runs till the last of November. About 6,000 cases were put up in 1880, 1,400 
in 1878, and 8,500 in 1877. About $3,400 worth of salted salmon in half-barrels were shipped to 
San Francisco in 1878. The salmon are not counted at the canneries, but sold by weight, at $20 
per ton. The cannery was built in 1877; and belongs to the Cutting Packing Company in San 
Francisco. 
Mr. V. S. Treat, in a letter to Professor Baird, dated Ferndale, Cal., March 3, 1880, refers to 
the salmon-canning interests of Eel River in the following language: 
‘“‘ Kel River is about 225 miles north of San Francisco, and is a barred river; steamers make 
the trip from San Francisco in about twenty-four hours; a round trip in seven or eight days. 
“A good harbor inside the bar. The river is about 150 miles long and subject to heavy freshets 
in fall and winter. There is but one cannery on the river, put up in 1877. In 1878, 1,400 cases 
were put up against 3,500 in 1877, which, at $6 per case, amounted to $6,600. Other shipments 
of salmon in half-barrels, amounting in all to $100,000. About one hundred and sixty men are 
employed. The salmon are taken in seines and fine gill-nets of 7-inch mesh. There are two or 
three kinds of salmon here; several kinds of trout; sturgeon are plenty; perch and smelts are 
plenty; quahaug, clams, and crabs are found here, though shell-fish are very scarce. Parties here 
talk of putting in lobsters and shad from Sacramento River this season. Salmon are not counted 
here, but are sold by the ton, live weight, at $20 per ton.” 7 
At Ellensburg, on Rogue River, Oregon, near its mouth, is a salmon cannery, belonging to 
Mr. R. D. Hume. : 
In Del Norte County, California, there is no sea-fishing of any importance. The salmon 
run in considerable numbers in Smith River in the fall, and at the town of Smith River there is 
a salmon cannery. Its product for 1880 was 7,000 cases. About 500 barrels have also been 
salted down. The total annual catch outside of salmon probably does not exceed 3,000 pounds. 
Rogue River is fed in spring by melting snows from the mountains, and has consequently 
both a spring and a fall run of salmon. In spring, when the river is high, the water is fresh for 
a considerable distance beyond the bar. 
The fish do their playing outside, and as soon as they reach the mouth ot the river, run straight 
up. At this season they are therefore caught with gill-nets. In fall the water is salt or brackish 
* Report U. 8. Fish Commission, III, 1874, pp. 382-5. t We now (1886) prefer the name 0. techawytecha. 
