The west shore., August 01, 1883, Page 192, Image 22

102
THE WEST SHORE.
August, 1883,
Fisheries.
Salmon packing on the Columbia river was
brought to an end for the year by the beginning
of the close season, the first of August. The pack
is the largest known and yet, owing to the com
petition having raised the price paid fishermen for
the talmun lieyond a reasonable figure, the profits
will be small. There were tlirty-eight canneries
in operation and 1,700 boats in the river. The
twenty-four canneries located in Astoria packed
420,000 ol the 630,000 cases and paid $1,1 10,000
of the $1,550,000 paid out to fishermen. The
large pack and the fact that the run of fish in
July was very great, are pointed to as evidences
that the supply of salmon in the river is not be
coming exhausted. To achieve this result a
greater number ol boats, larger nets and more
assiduous fishing were necessary, and it is pretty
certain that the proxrtion of salmon running in
April, May and June, the ones which go to the
headwaters and become the chiel propagators, that
escaped the miles of meshes spread for them, was
very small. In examining the following table it
must lie borne in mind that nets are now more
than twice the sue first used, and that seins and
fish traps catch many that are there credited to
the boats. It will be seen that the price paid for
fish has steadily advanced while the market value
of the canned goods has declined. It will balso
seen that in spite of the increase in the site of
nets, the number of boats and the skill of the fish
ermen, the average caught by each boat has
largely decreased. All these things point to the
necessity of a propagating establishment j for
with an increase in the run of fish will come a de
crease in the number of boats necessary to be
Med, an increase in the average per boat, with a
neceary decline in the price paid for fish, and
consequently a safer margin for the packer to
work uKn. The table is very suggestive. The
figure ate approximated for convenience :
r-1- An Tnm Com
r . ilia,
- Sou. Cftm. m, Omu.
1hi ,) 2 2,1100 linn) 15
IW 1X.0U0 1& I.20Q 13 00 20
Jw ,( as 1200 20
lWW KU.0U0 35 2,-)7 10 00 20
1K70 I5ll,liO HO 8,000 0 00 20
H71 2HO.0 00 n ijw 9 5 w
uu 2vo,o(H) wo a,v goo &
UTJ 2fo,uuo 125 2JM) 7 00 25
IH74 SOMJO 'iVO 1,400 6 50 25
15 akj 7 500 25
1 4.M,0U 400 1.1J5 4 SO 28
177 MjUO 45o l,ouo tuo K
im 4H0MSJ &50 KM too 25
Ib7 4HOJW0 750 W0 4 00 60
lHI &W.000 W0 M 4 10 50
IKM 5.W.Q00 l iM 6 00 00
lCl 545,000 l, MJ j 00 75
mm 1.7U0 s7o too 90
Estimating that one hsh will fill eitrhteen
xund cans and that four doten cans make a case,
it will be seen that 1,680,000 salmon were M
this year, or an average of 9SS fish per boat as
t,m an average ol 5,000 per boat in 1870.
Aimougn the fiih,ng hu .
....,;n 00 me Columbia, it is still
OtlMl SI IUKm tviinl. .1 . . .
,..,. ,c tojj, 1DlJ m Iome
placet where the run of fish is late, it is just begin
ning. The pack Id British Columbia will prob
bty l smaller than Ust j,,, but new canneries
i Alaska, on Pug uml and Mh j
wUUU acnr, to , ,he ,oul pck of ilES
"" ny previous year,
The total value of fish taken in British Colum
bia in 1882 was $1,842, 675, showing an increase
of $388,353 over the previous year. Had the
valuation been as high as in 1881, the total
would have reached $2,000,000. Fishing opera
tions in the province give employment to 5,215
men ; the value of canneries is $402,000, and of
boats, etc. $220,670.
IDAHO.
Boomerang, on the line of the O. S. L. near
the mouth of the Payette, consists of about half
a dozen new board structures. It is waiting
patiently for the boom that is expected to follow
the appearance of the iron horse.
There is yet good government land to be home
steaded in Camas prairie, or to be purchased at
$1.25 per acre. It is a fcrtle grain region and a
good country for an industrious man. A railroad
to connect it with the outside world will be built
ere long.
At Moscow the Columbia Elevator Company
is constructing an elevator with a capacity of
250,000 bushels of grain. It will be finished
in two months, and will be prepared to hold a
portion of the immense wheat crop of that re
gion until the railroad is completed, probably by
the end of December. Grain will be handled in
bulk.
A new town is to be laid out on the O reran
- o
Short Line on Boise river, in Dixie valley, which
may, perphaps, be the terminus until sdiw.
The Boise Statesman says : "Dixie valley is a
fine agricultural section, and the location of the
depot at that point will enhance the value of
land in that neighborhood, and we are glad to
see the people of that vicinity benefited. The
time will come when all the land from Snake
river to Boise City will be irrigated and settled
from ten to filteen miles back from the river, and
a town at this point will be one of great import
ance. Until water is taken out of the river and
carried down over this land it can not be settled,
and the growth of the town will depend in the
main on the present settlers along the river bot
toms." The county of Washington, of which Weiser
City is the county seat, was organized in 1879,
with a population of 800 and a taxable DroDertv
list of $130,000. The present population of
the county is about 1,800, and the taxable prop
erty has increased to $350,000. In 1880 the
county teat was located at this Doint. Mr. Snlo.
mon Jeffries donating to the county five acres of
iana lor tne erection of county buildings and
other purposes. During the summer of that
year the town was laid in blocks of five acret
each, with ttreett 100 feet wide, and in 1881
building really commenced, most of which has
been done within the pasteighteen months. The
present population ol the place is about 25a
There are three stores of general merchandise,
two drug stores, three hotels, two blacksmith
hops, two jewelry stores, three livery stables,
one large establishment dealing in saddles, har
ness, hardware, etc., two stores dealing in stoves,
tinware, etc., six saloons. One hrtwirv nn lam
fiouring mill, with a capacity of fifty barrels per
" tcaoot house, a commodious hall, a
ooort house and jail, and many smaller buildings
and enterprises. A look at the country between
the town and Snake river reveals the fact uut
there are here some 25.000 acTr.rt.. .
fertile land in Idaho, immediately contiguous to
the place, and that all this land can be irriit.j
and made productive. The Oregon Short Li
traverses this large tract, and passes within tW
quarters of a mile of the town. A laree uml
thirty feet wide at the surface, has been com.
menced nine miles from town. This canal will
suffice for the irrigation of most of the districts of
land mentioned. The intentions of the origin,
tors of this enterprise are not precisely knows
here at present, but the prosecution of the enter
prise and its early completion is an absolute ne
cessity, and can not be long deferred. The only
subject of adverse criticism that can be found
here is the rather too intense solicitude of the
people about the immediate growth of the town,
and a seeming disposition to underestimate the
importance and the necessity of distributing the
water of Weiser river over the broad and fertile
expanses of land, upon the improvement and
cultivation of which the healthy growth and per
manent prosperity of the town must in the main
depend. Above the town the Weiser river and
its tributaries, and the Little Salmon, with their
numerous large valleys and districts of fine land
extending to the northeast a distance of one
hundred miles, are all directly tributary to this
place, which must, from its location, be the
supply point and center of trade for the entire
region. In addition to this, the Warrens mining
district in Idaho county and the Mineral and
Heath districts in this (Washington) county are
also naturally tributary to Weiser City. A place
thus supported by almost incalculable agricultural
and mineral resources, and furnished with the
facilities of railroad communication east and west
need be under no apprehension about the future.
How often have many of us passed through this
basin on the stage or by other conveyances, see
ing nothing but the broad expanse of sage desert,
and desiring only to get through it as rapidly u
possible. Now that we can say without exag
geration that it is the seat of a future empire, and
one of the most important and most proraUing
localities of the northwest, we learn to look at it
with other eyes and take in all its beauties and
advantages. Though what the people here call
the town is scattered over quite a large ares,
Weiser City proper, so far as the name and ibe
strength of position are concerned, is confined
to tne original tract donated to the county, and
npon which the county seat has been located.
The distance to the line of the railroad is in
considerable, and can not materially affect the
value of property in the neighborhood of the
county buildings, as this is the point first reached
from the valley above and the place where all the
county business will be done. Boise City Slot
man.
Years ago thousands of men traversed the wilder
ness on their way to British Columbia and the
mines of Fraser river and Cariboo. ThemajontJ
of them returned disgusted, though the mine"
hate been constantly worked with good "!
The prospects this year in Cariboo are bright
ing. Several good quarti ledges are king"
veloped and placer mining is increasing
revolves the wheel ; there may be another excite
ment about the same region one of these dy