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THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 383 
making the annual output over 100,000,000 
in salmon fry that are liberated from the 
hatcheries in streams of our State. These 
salmon fry in a few months find their way 
to the great ocean, where they mingle with 
the unknown elements of the Pacific. There 
they thrive and grow until, in the course of 
nature, instinct directs them back to the 
streams from which they descended, to re- 
produce their kind, when they are inter- 
rupted by all the late appliances known to 
men, and converted into one of the great- 
est industries of the Pacific coast. 
No State in the Union has more varied 
resources than Washington. Mining is an 
important industry, yet in rgor the fishing 
industry exceeded the mining by $3,300,000. 
Notwithstanding we have forests so dense 
that the sunlight never penetrates them, yet 
in Igor the fishing industry of the State of 
Washington exceeded the lumber output, 
both foreign and domestic, by over $1,200,- 
000. In the Eastern part of the State we 
have the finest wheat farms in the world, 
yet in 1901 the fishing industry was in ex- 
cess of our wheat crop in cash value. 
When you consider that this fishing in- 
dustry has been built up in the short space 
of g years from a few thousand dollars to 
a commercial factor aggregating $10,000,- 
000 annually, you can easily understand why 
a conservative Legislature last year voted 
for the use of my department the liberal 
appropriation of $153,000. 
The pioneer who blazed his way through 
the forest, built his log hut on the hill- 
side and cleared his garden spot, has given 
way to the advance of civilization, and in 
place of his cabin’ appear the palatial resi- 
dence, the undulating waves of cultivated 
grain. The primitive merchant, with only a 
few hundred dollars invested in his busi- 
ness, has increased his resources a thou- 
sandfold, or given way to greater aggrega- 
tion of capital. The lonely fisherman who 
netted or speared fish while his family was 
warmed by the campfire and sheltered from 
the storm by the walls of his ‘tepee, has 
given way by means of modern appliances 
to large commercial enterprises. 
Statisticians will bear me out when I say 
that no other locality has made such rapid 
strides in civilization during the past few 
years as the State of Washington. Within 
the last decade, we have advanced from a 
struggling, straggling, impoverished com- 
munity, without money, developed resources 
or influence, until to-day our resources are 
the wonder of the world, and our money 
finds market in the avenues of the metropo- 
lis. We have prestige in every State in the 
Union, and are recognized as a factor in 
both the political and the commercial world. 
Our citizens are fast reaching that finan- 
cial condition where they can share with 
their Eastern neighbors the joys and pleas- 
ures of outdoor life. 
About 2 years ago, when I took charge of 
the Department of Fisheries and Game, my 
attention was first called to the rapid in- 
roads being made on Our game, and the 
depletion of our mountain streams of their 
finny tribes. The great prosperity of our 
State during the last few years has brought 
within her borders men of wealth, men of 
leisure, men who do not view life entirely 
rom a commercial standpoint; men who 
believe the serious side of life should be 
brightened by outdoor sports; men to whom 
the whisp of a fish and the ripple of water 
are aS music; to whom wild game in the 
forest, the majestic trees, the placid lakes 
and the babbling brook in which fish 
abound, appeal in all their grandeur and 
beauty. 
As we looked with pride on this great 
influx of wealth, prosperity and civilization 
within our State, we yet realized, with 
misgivings, that it would be the cause of the 
d:sappearance of the rainbow and the cut- 
throat from our mountain streams, and 
the deer and the elk from our wooded hills. 
We realized that if our game was not to 
become extinct within a few years, heroic 
measures must be adopted, and this led to 
a conference between a few true sportsmen 
of the West and myself. The result was 
that last year we placed a code of laws on 
our statute books for the preservation of 
our game; and, while they are not perfect 
nor so radical as we would have then, still 
they work well for a beginning, and we 
expect within a few years to make the State 
of Washington one of the grandest game 
preserves on this continent. 
The law prohibits the killing at any time 
of any spotted fawn, or more than 4 deer 
during the season when it is lawful to kill 
the same. It prohibits the killing at any 
time of any female elk, moose, antelope, 
mountain sheep or goat, and, during the 
season when it is lawful to kill any of 
these animals, only one male of each 
species may be killed. No person shall, 
during the season when it is lawful to 
hunt, kill more than 10 prairie chickens, 
IO grouse, sage hens, native pheasants, 
ptarmigan, Chinese or Mongolian pheas- 
ants, nor more than 15 quail of any variety, 
25 snipe, ducks, geese or brant, in one day, 
Deer must not be run with dogs nor fire- 
hunted; ducks and geese shall not be hunt: 
ed from launches nor sink boxes. 
This is the general law, but in many 
counties some of the game is entirely 
protected until 1906 and 1908. The sale 
of all game is prohibited except during No- 
vember of each year, when ducks, geese, 
brant and snipe may be sold to the number 
permitted to be killed in any one day. 
Hotel keepers, boarding houses, markets, 
