ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
427 
15 cents each ; all were in good condition and fresh. The Clay-street marketmen asked only 2 cents a 
pound retail for dressed fish, and said they had sold but few. The Pioneer Fish Company said they 
had not sold 1 pound at retail this morning, and that they would have to dump their fish this 
afternoon; wholesale price, 1 cent a pound. In the California market, Leon was offering to deliver 
fish at your house for 5 cents a pound, and would sell fish over the counter for 10 cents apiece. 
The receipts of shad in San Francisco could be greatly increased if the dealers 
did not discourage their shipment by the fishermen, owing to the very low prices which 
prevail when the supply is large. All the firms dealing extensively in shad are obliged 
to restrict the receipts in order to protect themselves and their fishermen from loss. 
Shad have at times been thrown away because of the impossibility of selling them, or 
sold at ridiculously low prices. Thus, in October, November, and December, 1893, 
when the preceding table shows large receipts, the prices were sometimes hardly suffi- 
cient to cover the transportation charges. A shipment of 1,500 pounds of fine shad, 
sent in by a Sacramento River fisherman in the third week of November, brought only 
$1.50, and about the same time another lot of 795 pounds sold for only $1. 
At the present time, fewer shad are probably handled in San Francisco than in 
1890, 1891, 1892, or 1893. The supply of salmon in that city determines the quantity 
and price of the shad sold. Owing to increased shipments of Puget Sound salmon to 
San Francisco of late, the market has been partly closed to shad ; these salmon are 
cheap fish, which the San Francisco dealers are able to buy at 1 to 11 cents a pound. 
When salmon are scarce, shad and other cheap fish are in demand. 
The action of the dealers in curtailing the receipts of shad in the past two years 
has resulted in fewer gluts, and conditions have been altogether more satisfactory 
than formerly. At the present time, when the dealers desire a consignment of shad, 
they have only to telegraph or telephone to one of their agents on the fishing-grounds 
and the required quantity will be on hand the next morning. By this method the fish 
reach the consumer in a much better condition than where the receipts are unre- 
stricted and the fish are held over from day to day. 
Practically the entire quantity of shad handled by San Francisco dealers is sold 
and eaten fresh. The Chinese prepare small quantities of salt shad; the fish they 
utilize this way have often been on the dealers’ stands for several days and can be 
obtained very cheaply. The fish are lightly pickled for one or two days and are then 
hung up to dry on the roofs of their houses. Although there are several smokehouses 
in San Francisco, no shad are smoked. The experiment of thus treating shad has 
been tried and abandoned, owing to the little demand for them prepared in this way; 
there is, however, some sale for smoked salmon and sturgeon. 
Mr. Thompson, of Oakland, who has been engaged in the smoked-fish business 
for a number of years, has given more attention to smoked shad than anyone else on 
the west coast. In 1893 he is reported to have smoked between 11,000 and 12,000 
pounds of shad, which had a retail value of $1,440, or about 12 cents a pound. 
Mr. Alexander reports that about half the shad which go to San Francisco dealers 
are reshipped out of the city to various parts of the State. Some shipments are made 
to Salt Lake City, Denver, and points in Mexico. The fish are cleaned, iced, and 
packed in boxes holding 100 to 200 pounds. When shad are to be sent very long- 
distances, or to a warm climate, one box is placed within another. Fish prepared for 
distant shipment are split down the belly and packed with ice, but those intended for 
local consumption are split down the back. 
