Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/151

Rh line between Portland and Astoria, and Robert Mason & Company constructed a building and entered into the production of oil from salmon heads. During this year a new enterprise was started at the canneries of M. J. Kinney and Hanthorn & Company, that of canning beef and mutton. At Kinney's from September, 1876, to January, 1877, nineteen thousand five hundred cases of beef and five hundred cases of mutton were packed. This industry seems never to have gotten beyond the experimental stage in Astoria, owing largely to the difficulty of securing cattle at a fair price and to the lack of facilities for and experience in handling the meat. During the season of 1877 there were eleven canneries in operation in Astoria and more than a thousand fishing boats were in use on the river. Just before sundown, during the fishing season, the river would be covered with white sailed boats, all sailing briskly along on their way to their favorite drifts.

Houses during this year were in great demand, and many were built. The Astorian thus speaks of the building boom:

It may seem surprising, but nevertheless it is true, work is progressing in all stages upon one hundred and eighty-nine new buildings in the city of Astoria at this moment. * * Were we to attempt to enumerate the long list of structures erected in this city since last fall we should fail to do the subject justice. In building wharves and warehouses, canneries, and other packing establishments, ship yards, and machine shops, stores, and residences, many thousands of dollars have been spent.

And again:

Houses are being erected at an alarming rate. Last Saturday ten new structures were raised—one for every working hour of the day.

The river trade, a very important factor in the upbuilding of the city, had greatly increased during the past three years. Twenty or more steamers, large and small,