ALBATROSS EXPLORATIONS; ALASKA, WASHINGTON, AND OREGON. 57 
seizes, and all other gear employed are furnished by the canneries. Three hundred 
dollars is considered fair earnings for a season’s work, the season beginning the 1st of 
August and continuing uutil the latter part of October. 
Fish traps for salmon. — There are seven fish traps in Puget Sound, all of which 
were put down during the spring of 1888. Four are owned by Parker & Felters, pro- 
prietors of the Columbia River Cannery at Seattle, who were the first to introduce 
traps in this locality. Mr. Felters is of the opinion that these appliances will take 
the place of seines, as there is less expense attendant upon their management. One or 
two men are sufficient to tend them and keep them in repair. The fishermen about 
Seattle are strongly opposed to the building of traps, as threatening the future pros- 
])erity of the salmon fishery if they are used to any great extent. With the general 
introduction of traps, requiring much fewer men to carry on the work, the majority of 
the present fishermen would be forced to seek other employment during the salmon 
season; and, furthermore, the fishery would so"'’> be broken up, at least to such an 
extent as to make it unprofitable to more than a v ery limited number of fishermen. 
Up to September, 1888, the traps had taken a large proportion of the salmon 
brought to the Columbia River Cannery at Seattle. In addition to the traps, this 
cannery also has two drag and two purse seines fishing for it. The purse seines are 
used in the harbor of Seattle or in Dwamish Bay. Fishing is carried on both day and 
night, according as the tide serves. No attempts are made to fish excepting near the 
time of high water, when the larger catches can be made. 
Salmon canneries. — Each cannery has a small steamer to visit the traps in different 
parts of the Sound, carrying out supplies and bringing back the nightly catch. The 
catch of salmon for 1888 was not large. Up to September 9 the Columbia River Can- 
nery had put up 750 cases; the King County Packing Company, 600 cases; and the 
cannerj^ at Dwamish Head, owned by Mr. George Myers, 1,200 cases. Mr. Myers has 
seven purse seines fishing for him, and has in his employ about forty men, mostly Chi- 
nese. He claims to have facilities for putting up 650 cases of salmon per day, and 
could average 450 cases per day with his present help if fish were sufficiently abun- 
dant. Nearly all the canning is now done under contract with Chinamen, who catch 
the salmon and prepare them ready for shipment at a specified sum per case. The 
price paid under this system during 1888 was 42 cents per case. 
Many improvements have been made in canning machinery, the filling and sealing 
of the cans being now accomplished by means of automatic devices. 
Decrease of salmon . — A Mr. Herrick, formerly connected with a cannery on Colum- 
bia River, but now in the employ of Parker & Felters at Seattle, claims from an expe- 
rience extending over the past twenty years that salmon are rapidly decreasing in 
this region. This decrease is due not only to the great annual catch, but also to the 
presence of much floating refuse from the saw-mills of the neighborhood. Mr. Myers, 
of the Dwamish Head Cannery, on the contrary, considers that there has been no gen- 
eral decrease, and that there are no indications of the salmon becoming exterminated, 
as some predict. He has been connected with the fishery in Puget Sound for the past 
twelve years, and states that salmon are as abundant now as at any time in the past. 
They fluctuate in abundance, however, from year to year. 
Size of salmon, etc . — Salmon run much smaller in Puget Sound than in the Colum- 
bia River. Mr. Herrick states that in the former region twelve salmon on an average 
are required to make a case, while in the latter three are sufficient for this purpose. A 
