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About The illustrated west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1891-1891 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1891)
THE ILLUSTRATED WEST SHORE. 201 111., in December. In 1875 he visited Oregon and in 1879 established him self in business in Portland. In 1883 he was instrumental in organiiing the Veteran Guard in Portland, thus laying the foundation for the regiment of which he is now second in command. He was a member of the legislature in 1887 and procured the passage of the militia law now in force. He has held various positions in the Grand Army, and was last a representative of this department in the National Council of Administration. Col. Summers will manage the affairs of the department with his customary wisdom and en- trV' . - LINCOLN COUNTY, WASHINGTON. Davenport may be considered the gateway to the Big Bend country, which takes its name from the great bend in the Columbia river. The gen eral topography is rolling, the lands becoming more hilly and rugged as the traveler approaches the Columbia and Spokane rivers, which lie several hun dred feet below the plain of the prairie. The lands lying next these rivers for a distance of twenty to thirty miles out, are rich and dark and exceptionally productive, although more rolling than the lands farther back, but not difficult of cultivation. All kinds of grain, fruit and vegetables common to a north em climate are grown in abundance. A few years ago, when the big bend of the Columbia was designated on maps as a " barren, sage brush plain," the thought of a railroad building through was regarded as a very doubtful possibility of the distant future. As settlements pushed in and the remarkable fertility of the lands was demon strated, the probability of a railroad in the near future became all but certain. In the fall of 1888 the first preliminary survey of the Central Washington, a branch of the Northern Pacific, was made, and the following season the line was built. Farming, which had hitherto been carried on only in the most lim ited way, was then engaged in more extensively, and has since become the great leading industry, until the wonderful productiveness of the soil of these big bend lands have become known far and wide. The estimated amount of grain grown tributary to Davenport last season was nearly a' mil lion bushels. The Central Washington was wholly unprepared to remove the crop as fast as it was thrown onto the market, a fact which was heralded all over the newspaper world, directing the attention of eastern people, as well as that of other railroads, to the magnificent possibilities of our soil Now the survey of the Great Northern has been extended into Davenport and west, and very soon will be prepared to divide the rapidly-increasing traffic with the present road, and other roads will not be slow in pushing in as (he country becomes more fully developed. We might state here that the present branch of the Northern Pacific will eventually be extended on to Puget sound, form ing the main line, owing to its shortness and more direct line to tide water. Thousands of acres within a few miles of Davenport yet remain in their wild state, ready to respond to the hand of man, and can be purchased at a reasonable figure. . While some government lands may still be found, the choice is, of course, all taken up. Good railroad lands, however, can be pur chased all the way from Jj.50 to J8.00 per acre. These lands are fast being taken up, now that they have proved so productive, and a few years hence Lincoln county, and especially the big bend, will take very high rank among the grain regions of the n.Davenprt Timts. SEALS AND DOGFISH. In census bulletin No. 30, March 16, 1891 (Washington, I). C), Un the " Wealth and Resources of Alaska," Superintendent Porter makes the fol lowing statement in his letter of introduction to Special Agent Petroff's re port : One of the most eminent authorities on Alaska rea-nlly ttalrd it ai hit Miff that the million, cod nd herring fisheries of the territory would liecome of tuch Immense vlue In the event of the entire destruction of the fur teal, which now preyi un the fish, that lu extermination It contingency lliat need not excite leriout alarm. As this subject of what influence the fur seal herd had and has upon the , supply of food fishes for man, is one which has often been discussed during the last six or seven years among ichthyologists and naturalists generally at the Smithsonian institution and of the United States fish commission, it is not a new theme 1 but the verdict of experts here is diametrically opposed to the statement above made by Mr. Porter's authority as he quotes him. Curiously enough, on page eight of his bulletin No. 39, appears the fol lowing suggestion by Special Agent PetrorT, of the real and most destructive enemy which these food fishes have to encounter : The walcn o( Prince William tound contain, uerh. lett fen than other lectioni of the territory, the mutt abundant tiei king the fligtish, which termt to have driven tony the codfish and nearly eitcnninalcd the herring. um which It lef.lt. This is the same dogfish (Sonatas acanthios) that vexes the soul of the east coast fishermen from Massachusetts up to the Gulf of St. Lawrence 1 it is the same ill-favored sea wolf that these men recognize there as the most ac tive and deadly enemy of the cod, hake and pollock. It is none the Irss de structive in the waters of the northwest coast and Alaska, going as far north as sixty-eight degrees north latitude in Behring sea, and ranging as far south as Cape Mendocino, coast of California. It is especially numerous and vo racious all through the littoral waters between the Straits of Fuca and Kodiak, and it feeds largely upon young codfish from two to six inches in length, young salmon fry and herring. Now, what has mainly prevented these dogfishes from so multiplying as to produce the same result of ruin to the cod and herring fisheries everywhere else in Alaska, as is declared to be the case in Prince William sound, by Special Agent PetrorT, above cited? Why, the fur seal. He is the chief and only pronounced hunter of the dogfish. Man rejects all fishing for that creature as unprofitable, except in a very small way for its oil ; but the fur seal regards the Squalus as its especial and most toothsome game, and feeds upon its plump, oily body, with soft, gel atinous fins t bites qff the head and usually rejects it, because the teeth are sharp and hard and unpleasant when involved in the slight mastication that this animal ever gives to its food. Of course, I do not deny that the fur seal eats cod, salmon, herring, wolffishes, sculpins and crabs, A little reflection will teach most men that nature has kept a perfect sys tem of checks and balances upn the relative status of all wild life, and that when man steps in to disturb that system of natural equilibrium he generally makes a blunder and strives hard to atone for it afterward. Of course, if we could protect the food fishes of AlaSka from this dogfish, their own most nat ural enemy, and other enemies, as well as the fur seals can and do, then there would be no argument on that score in favor of saving these animals 1 but until we are equal to that task it is better to let the fur seal life remain, with out reference to several other excellent and weighty reasons why it should not be greedily and thoughtlessly exposed to the positive danger of swift extermi nation by the hands of unchecked pelagic sealers. If your readers who are really interested in the subject of the preserva tion of the food fisheries of Alaska will turn to a recent report upon " The Salmon and Salmon Rivers of Alaska," by Dr. T. II. Bean, United Stales fish commission, they will find in its pages abundant proof that the chief en emy today, and its only one, to the well being and perpetuation of this indus try up there is man himself, and that the seats cut no figure in the trouble. Henry IV. Elliot, m Forest anil Stream. To show the interest taken by women in the enterprise begun in this issue of TtlK West SHORE under Mrs. Duniway'i management, we present a few extracts from such letters as are regularly reaching this office. Mrs, M. J. Hayden, Vancouver, Washington : I am more than pleated to welcome our veteran leader Ituk to her legitimate life work. Send TlIK West Siick to my addrett, with bill. I will toon add more iiihtcrilieri. Mrs. Sue R. Keenan, East Portland : Send along TlIK Wkst Siiokk with anything that Mrs. IHinlway writet. Mrs. Bruce, Talent, Oregon : i I hear that Mn. Duniway b alwul to take a drurtmenl In 1'IIK WxiT Siuhk. Pleate tend me the initial numlier, and count me at a regular tulwcrilier. Mrs. Cummings, Wallula, Washington : Don't let me mist a copy of TlIK Wkyt Siiumk with Mtt. Duniway'i drMrtmenl. Clara S. Folti, San Francisco : I am delighk-d at the proiect of hrarlng once more from Mn. Duniway In the camcity of editor. Don't fall to tend me the tuluuitory, and count me at one of the regu. tart hereafter. Dr. Paul Gibier, director of the New York Pasteur institute, has just made public the results of innoculation for hydrophobia during the first twelve ntonths of the institute's existence, February 18, 1890, to February 18, 1891, There were 828 persons treated for dog and cat bites. Of this numler 643 were bitten by animals that were not mad, In 185 cases the anti-hydropho-bic treatment was supplied, hydrophobia of the animals which inflicted the bites having been evidenced clinically or by the innoculation in the lalxiralory and in many cases by the death of tome other persons or animals bitten by the tame dogs. No deaths caused by hydrophobia have been reported among the persons innoculated. Indigents have been treated free of charge.