ry HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
STATISTICS OF CAPITAL, ETO. 
We have full statistics of the capital, number of men employed, wages paid, &c., of all bat 
two of the canneries located in Oregon. The two not included are the canneries at Ranier and 
Quinn’s. 
The averages of these are given in the table below. Most of the remaining canneries are 
smaller than these here enumerated. 
The total capital of the sixteen canneries in Clatsop County, above referred to, is $733,500, or, 
on an average, $45,844 each. An approximate estimate of the amount of capital invested in the 
_remaining thirteen canneries, or those of Washington Territory and of Columbia County, Oregon, 
may be made by comparing their pack of salmon with that of the sixteen canneries in Clatsop 
County. 
The average number of cases packed by the sixteen canneries is 22,256 each; by the thirteen, 
14,115 each. Assuming that the pack of salmon is in proportion to the capital invested, which 
is generally true, we have $29,096 for each of the thirteen canneries, or $349,248 for the total. The 
total amount of capital invested in the canneries on the Columbia may therefore be set down as 
not far from $1,081,748, or say $1,100,000. 
Other statistics for the sixteen Clatsop’canneries are the following, to which an addition of 
about one-half more to each total will give an approximate total for the whole river. 
Statistics for canneries in Clatsop County, Oregon. 
Average for | Total for 16 
leach cannery.| canneries. 
Capital invested (real and personal)........---------+--+-- $45, 844 $733, 500 
Greatest number of hands employed (at any one time) ...... 179 2, 862 
Men (above 16 years)....-..-.----2000- cence eee ee ence eens 
Women (above 15 years)...-....-..-- iui dedesaaibracwe teens ts 
CHUGr6N asic ov sacexaessciceseceiennmee es secieace encom 
Number of hours per day 
Wages of skilled laborers 
Wages of ordinary laborers (Chinese)...-..----------+-----| $1 264 |------.- 22+ 
Dotal Paid ix Wages cscag accnccscssccnanaasoaewarenateanaas $25, 831 50 $413, 304 
Value of material consumed......-..----. 2-2 eee eee ec eneee $54, 625 00 $874, 000 
Value of product ..-..-..--.- 2. -- eee ee ec ee ese eeenneeeceeees $68, 295 00 $1, 092, 400 
PRICES OF SALMON. 
The business of canning salmon was first begun in 1863, on the Sacramento River, by William 
Hume, G. W. Hume, and A. 8. Hapgood as Hapgood, Hume & Co. 
The general price, wholesale, has usually ranged from $1.50 to $2; the lowest price before 
1878 having been $1.25. 
In 1878 the stock on hand was very large, and weak holders began to cut prices in order to 
realize. The price finally fell to $1 per dozen. Nearly all the salmon in the market was bought up by 
speculators, and the price rose to $1.40. The prices since have ranged generally from $1.10 to $1.20 
Most of the salmon canned on the Columbia is shipped directly to England. The number of 
cases packed in 1880 (539,587) represents on an average three salmon to the case or 1,618,761 salmon. 
Each salmon when fresh weighs about 22 pounds, a total of 35,612,742 pounds. Adding an estimate 
for the salmon salted pr consumed fresh, and we have a total of 38,500,000 pounds as an estimate of 
the total product of the Lower Columbia for the year 1880. Not half a million pounds of this is 
made of species other than the quinnat salmon (Oncorhynchus chouicha). 
