Terms, Five Dollars a Year. 
Ten Cents a Copy. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1874. 
( Volume 2, Number 24, 
1 17 Chatham 8t. (CityHall Sqr.) 
For Forest and Stream. 
OH! WHERE SHALL WE GO? 
O H! where shall we go on the bright days of summer, 
To search for new pleasures that out of reach seem, 
And bring back before us the scenes of our childhood, 
That long since have vanished and gone like a dream? 
The sun of sweet summer, the stars of sweet summer, 
Glad hours when we roamed by the Forest and Stream. 
Oh! where shall we go on the bright days of summer, 
And search by the banks of some river or stream, 
To find the lost loved ones that long have departed, 
Away,far away, where the little stars gleam? 
The sun of sweet summer, the stars of sweet summer, 
Gaze down o’er their graves by the Forest and Stream. 
St. John, N. B . J. Newton Wilson. 
For Forest and Stream . 
jp/i* jf nlmonidne off the ^dcific. 
T HIS family is more extensive in north-western Ame¬ 
rica than in any other portion of the world, and many 
of the species are so much alike that it requires much more 
than a superficial scanning to distinguish them, and give 
each its proper cognomen, for when doctors disagree, as 
many of the fish doctors do in their technical diagnosis, it 
must be hard for an apprentice to give a perfect one, or to 
agree with all the icthyc iEsculapians. 
The salmon run in the rivers of Oregon and Washington 
Territory at all seasons of the year, each species having its 
own time for entering the fresh waters. Those that enter 
in spring and early summer are, however, the best, and 
few of the later arrivals are deemed fit for the table by the 
whites, though the siwashes , as our noble red men are 
called., eat all varieties, being, apparently, indifferent to 
epicurean qualities. All they care for is that the 
fish is capable of furnishing pabulum to the gastric 
regions, for they will never sacrifice the ventral orifice for 
the sake of the palate. The first of the family to visit the 
Columbia River is what is known in our vernacular as the 
spring silver salmon, and called by the Indians the tyee , or 
chief salmon. This is the salmo quinnat of Richards, and 
is the best species of the entire family in every essential 
quality necessary for the table or commerce. It is the only 
variety exported from Oregon, except in a few isolated in¬ 
stances when an autumnal variety, rather large and some¬ 
what lean, is prepared for the markets of the Sandwich 
Islands. The S. quinnat begin to arrive about the middle of 
April and last through May and often up to the middle of 
August, They enter in myriads, and very often are so 
dense as to crowd each other ashore. The waters seem to 
fie fairly alive with them from near the surface to the 
muddy bottom, and they appear to be as numerous in one 
part, as another. The larger and older fish are at the head 
of each school, and they lead their hosts over many a weary 
mile, jumping cascades, hurling themselves down steep 
declivities, wriggling and twisting themselves over shoals, 
; md finally selecting the grounds where their numerous fol¬ 
lowers are to indulge in their watery hymen. These 
leaders bear the marks of many dangers passed, when they 
\ eac fi Ike spawning grounds, the snout of the greater por- 
Jon being worn away, while they are often minus an eye, 
a ml in most instances deprived of all their adipose tissue. 
For this reason all the fisheries are situated near the mouth 
°f the Columbia, or at least only a few miles"from it, as the 
fish are in the best condition when fresh from salt water. 
The tribes along the Fraser River think that the salmon 
delect the old and experienced ones as leaders when about 
to make their hegira for the spawning grounds, hence they 
term the decrepid, maimed, and attenuated, but brave and 
Persevering pilots, the mee-oo-tees , or chiefs. 
When these have found a locality suitable for the depo¬ 
sition of their ova, they close toward the shore; the female 
then inclines her head against the current and by using the 
oaudal retains her position long enough to deposit the eggs 
j n the nest selected. This done she darts off suddenly and 
or place is assumed by the male, and when he has dropped 
the impregnating milt he also shoots off to join his com¬ 
panion. In this way each couple succeed each other with 
the greatest regularity until they have accomplished that 
mission which a blind instinct has made them dare all 
dangers to perform. What becomes of them after, may be 
conjectured from the fact that millions of them die from 
exhaustion at the heads of streams, and that they furnish a 
feast that lasts for several months to the vultures, eagles, 
fish-hawks, fish-crows, gulls, and several species of carniv¬ 
orous quadrupeds. It is supposed that the salmon do not 
eat any food after entering fresh water, and this fact 
coupled with their severe toil, readily accounts for their 
emaciated condition and the death of so many of them 
after having fulfilled their mission. This species when it 
first enters fresh water is about as handsome a type of the 
icthyc order as one could desire to see. The head of the 
adult is large and pointed, and about one-fourth the length 
of the body; the snout is cartilaginous; the caudal deeply 
cleft, and the dorsal outline arched. The general tint of 
the back is a bluish-gray; sides ashy-gray with a silvery 
lustre; the back above the lateral line is studded with ir¬ 
regular rhomboidal spots, some of them ocellated; the 
scales are large, and the branchial rays vary from fourteen 
to twenty. This brave and handsome fish is the best 
known of the entire family, as its size, gastronomic quality 
and high commercial value have made it known in the 
four quarters of the globe. The usual mode of catching it 
is with traps or weirs, and seines, or nets; it is never to my 
knowledge taken with a hook. 
The fishing season usually commences in April, and from 
that time until August the Columbia is a scene of activity 
where the fisheries are situated. These establishments, 
which are built in a shady nook, are composed of a long 
two-story building, and are divided into several compart¬ 
ments. One is devoted to the manufacture of barrels, 
another to the making of small round cans; still another is 
reserved as a cook-house, and here are situated the immense 
boilers in which the fish, when packed in cans, are cooked. 
In front of the house, and tied to the wharves, is a large 
number of Whitehall boats, in which are placed the nets, 
seines and other paraphernalia necessary for the capture of 
*tlie fish. Out in the greenish waters may be seen several 
more boats, their brawny, picturesque looking crews en¬ 
gaged in hauling the net or depleting it of its contents. 
Farther in, toward the shore, another party may be ob 
served clearing out a weir and pitching the fish into a boat 
where they are summarily killed by striking them on the 
head with a club-shaped bough selected especially for that 
purpose. These weirs are generally the property of a party 
of men who sell their catch to the canning and barreling 
establishments at so much per fish. The usual price is 
from twenty to thirty cents; and as the catch varies from 
50 to 2,000 per night it will be seen that the business must 
be profitable. The latter number is not, however, of very 
frequent occurrence, yet a catch will sometimes exceed 
even this. 
In seine fishing the larger portion of the work is done by 
day. The net being placed in the stern of the boat, one 
man on shore holds on to a rope attached to it; the boat is 
then pulled a certain distance out on the river, paying out 
the net as it progresses until it meets the current, when it 
swings around in a semi circular manner and then moves to 
the shore with the other end. The seine is then pulled 
ashore gradually, and despoiled of its contents. 
The third mode of fishing is confined entirely to the 
night, and the darker it is the better. The nets used are 
generally from 120 to 175 fathoms in length, two and a half 
fathoms in width, and have meshes which measure from 
six to eight inches diagonally. The net is thrown in he 
channel which the fish usually take, and is carried down 
the river by the current from three to five miles. It is then 
hauled in on the boats which accompany it, and to Avhich 
it is attached by ropes, and after being cleared of the spoils 
is agaii^thrown into the water. The fish caught in these 
nets are very large, as the small varieties can pass through 
the meshes. To eastern eyes, the pile of magnificent 
salmon which lie in front of a fishing establishment in the 
morning, seems wonderful, for few of the number weigh 
less than twelve pounds, and some will exceed forty. The 
catch of a net varies from fifty to three hundred of a night, 
and often it will exceed (he latter figure. During the 
month of June, when the annual freshet brings to the 
Columbia a large amount of sediment to darken its waters, 
the gill nets are worked both day and night,as the fish can¬ 
not then see them. On such occasions two gangs of men 
are employed, one for the day and the other for night work, 
for as the season is short no time is to be lost; hence, 
spirited activity is manifested at every establishment. 
When the fish are*counted on the wharf they are handed 
over to Chinamen. One of these gangs, with a dexterity 
acquired by long practice, strikes off the heads with large 
knives placed on pedestals, cuts open the ventral region 
and clips off the cauda; another attends to washing and 
cutting the fish into pieces of a pound each, while a third 
is packing these into cans, boiling them, or soldering and 
preparing the cans. Some salmon are smoked, and some 
are salted and barreled, and when these are selected other 
parties of Celestials attend to their preparation. 
The mode of canning the fish was formerly considered a 
great secret, and no one around the fishery who knew it 
was allowed to divulge it, but now that fisheries are quite 
numerous the ban has been removed to a certain extent; 
yet, the greater number do not care, even now, to tell all 
they know about the matter. The system, as far as we 
could learn, is to put a piece of salmon weighing a pound 
into a can, to add to it some spices, then close up the can' 
except a small hole on top, put it into a boiler filled with 
boiling salt water and keep it there half an hour; it is sub¬ 
sequently boiled in fresh water a certain time, then again 
in salt water for half an hour; the can is then taken out, 
soldered air tight, piled up with others, and after a few 
days is ready for shipment. This mode of treating the fish 
makes it very palatable, so it is purchased largely in Eng¬ 
land and the Continent of Europe. China and the Sand¬ 
wich Islands are also becoming purchasers, and, ere long, 
promise to be excellent customers. The salmon captured 
in 1873 probably reached 12,000,000 pounds, of which about 
one-fourth was barreled or sent to market fresh, the re¬ 
mainder being canned. The total value of all caught was 
about $1,000,000, but from this we may deduct the fish sold 
fresh in the markets of the State. This industry is capable 
of unlimited extension; in fact its only limit can be the 
capital invested, for the fish are numerous enough to 
employ thousands of large establishments. The number 
that die annually is sufficiently great to feed the population 
of the United States; and were this food now wasted pre¬ 
pared for consumption by capital, salmon would be abund¬ 
ant in the homes of the poor throughout the country, in¬ 
stead of being, as now, a rare luxury. 
The species that earliest visits Puget Sound is called 
satsup by the Indians of Nisqually, and semeetleek by those 
tribes on the headwaters of the Columbia. We are inclined 
to think that the latter is the species described, and also the 
satsup of the Sound Indians, though of this I am not 
positive, as I have not examined it. The fisheries on 
Puget Sound are few in number, and do not commence 
work before June, so at the time I last visited them I could 
not find any salmon. 
The tribes along the Columbia and its tributaries catch 
the salmon by spearing them, or else they use a scoop-net 
at each little cascade, and these are numerous enough in 
the rivers of Oregon and adjoining Territories. To see a 
number of Indians, dressed in the garments of nature, 
perched on a cliff or rock in the seething river, and hurling 
with almost unerring .accuracy the glittering spear into the 
mass of salmon that toss and leap or play beneath them, 
and bring it back laden with the rich spoils of the water, 
forms a scene picturesque in the highest degree. Their 
villages are always close at hand during the fishing season, 
and are the abodes of feasting and merry-making, for this 
is the great harvest of the lords of the sage plains. The 
fish when caught are cut into slices by the squaws and 
