Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/186

 does not require any land space for ite inceptioil and support. The isolated condition of Oregon at diat time made die business unsuccessful, hence it was abandoned. A few years later interest in salmon fishing for commercial purposes revived, and by 1850, considerable quantities were shipped to the Sandwich Islands and to more distant countries. Salmon were first packed in cans on the Columbia River in 1864—the amount that year being 4,000 cases of 48 pounds each. Recently, however, the business of canning and shipping salmon to all die ports of die world has grown to tremendous proportions, and thousands of men are employed in the various branches of the industry. Since it began the Columbia River pack has exceeded a half million cases in each of ten different years, and there have been more than 25,000,000 cases packed during the life of the business, totaling $1 15,000.000.

In recent years the system of freezing the whole fish has been installed, and it has made possible the shipment of fresh fish to all parts of the world, the consumers thus practically using fresh salmon at their meals. The principal markets for frozen fish have been the Atlantic cities of the U. S. A. and Luropean capitals. Immense canneries have been established on the Columbia and other Oregon rivers, where salmon are prepared for the markets of the world. Most of the catch is made by the use of drift- and gill-nets, though many wheels, traps and seines are used with marked success. Near the mouth of the Columbia River, however, and outside the bar in deep water, boats of different rig, and fitted for trolling, drift or purse-net fishing, swarm by scores and hundreds. The salmon industry has grown to be one of the greatest in the commercial life of Oregon, the vedue of the catch to the fisherman alone in 1917 being more than $2,000,000.

The Royal Chinook Saiirion. One of the most important industries in Oregon is the catching, preparation and marketing of the Chinook salmon, which is regarded as the