Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/740

478 mon fisher}' interests and a great natural source of food for mankind, lias been saved from destruction.

In the same way and by the same unrestrained greed and short-sighted poUcy of handling the sturgeon fishing interest, that most excellent food fish, has been well nigh utterly exhausted in the Columbia river. So plentiful was this fish twenty-five years ago, and so easily taken that thousands of big sturgeon, some of them ten feet in length, were thro-ivn away at the Portland markets for want of a consumer. Now the fish are very scarce and retail in the Portland markets at twenty cents per pound. The same fate has overtaken the prince of all game fish — -the mountain trout. ' ' Game hogs ' ' of every kind and degree have pursued these fish to the head waters of all the streams ; so that now there is nothing be- tween the trout and total extinction except the orderly and scientific control of the trout streams by Government protection and State hatcheries. That ti'out hatcheries can be made as successful as Salmon hatcheries is amplj' proved by the experience of Mr. John Teal, of Dallas, in Polk County, who owns and oper- ates a private hatchery of his own and where he has produced and raised over 100,000 fine trout from ponds fed by spring water.

So far in the history of conservation of fish and game, the legislature has con- sidered only the demands of the sportsmen and the salmon packers. Fish and game as an article and resource for food for the people generally has had very little consideration. The most reliable and instructive document on this sub- ject is the report of Mr. Geqrge H. Cecil, supervisor of forest reserves in the State; and from which is taken for a record of this interest at this date the fol- lowing extracts:

"In the Cascade national forest, it is estimated that 30 elk are in the forests at this time; in the Malheur national forest, elk, which were formerly exceedingly plentiful, have dwindled to 20, which range the high mountain areas ia the north- eastern portion of the forest. Hunters kill on an average of about five annually, but the larger number are destroj'ed by predatory animals.

"In the Oregon national forest there are about 75 elk, and the law is rigidly enforced here and one is rarely taken by hunters. In the Siskiyou national forest there are three bands of elk. These are in the northwestern part of the forest and include about 50 head. Since 1908, none have been killed by hunters, and it is believed they are increasing in number.

"There are probably 200 elk in the Siuslaw, and during the past few years they have seemed neither to increase, nor decrease, predatory animals killing off the per cent of the increase. During the past few years a few elk have been com- ing into the Umatilla forest, and as many as 13 have been counted there. About 125 elk are believed to range in the Whitman national forest, where the hunters kill annually an average of 25, while predatory animals kill a large number and as a result there is a decrease. About 15 elk range in the Crater Lake Forests near the headwaters of the middle fork of the Rogue river, but the gray wolf destroys nearly all of the young and when there are severe winters pull down the weak ones.

"There are 100,000 of the various species of deer in the Oregon forests. Of these the hunters kill about 14,000 annually, while predatory animals kill prac- tically 20,000 in the same length of time. Panthers and wolves kill a large per