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287 stories matching salmon
- The Great Columbia Salmon Run Was Dying — and Oregon and Washington Couldn't Agree Who Should Save It
In 1894 a Portland memorial to Congress warned that the Chinook were vanishing: a $31.5 million trade, thousands of jobs, and a two-state turf war over who got to regulate the river.
- The Canal That Would Reshape Seattle, Held Up by Mud and Paperwork
In 1895 the government's Lake Washington ship canal was still a paper route, and every submerged lot owner had to sign away damages before a dredge could move.
- The Harbor's Salmon Season: 40,000 Cases, 200 Jobs—and a Case for the Lowly Dog Salmon
A Grays Harbor cannery packed nearly two million cans and paid fishermen more than $50,000 in three months, while a correspondent argued the maligned dog salmon was as good as dried beef.
- Puget Sound's Fishing Future, Blocked by Ice and Freight
A federal fisheries report praises the region's deep harbors and salmon runs, but explains why deep-sea halibut and cod fishing has failed to pay—and what it will take to change that.
- The Great Salmon Train
In a bid to secure freight business, a Seattle railroad manager stored an entire season's catch of salmon in boxcars for six months, resulting in the city's largest-ever rail shipment.
- The Salmon Strike That Moved an Industry: How Columbia River Fishermen’s Union Priced Themselves Out of Business
In February 1898, a Chicago buyer predicted that the fishermen's demand for higher wages would force salmon canneries to abandon the Columbia River for Alaska—a prediction that came true within a decade.
- The Salmon Elevator: How Science Aims to Tame the Columbia
A new basket-based mechanical lift promises to move migrating salmon over high dams, challenging the limitations of traditional fish ladders.
- Camp Kelpie: A Seattle Hunting Party in the Last Great Bear Country
In 1895, Seattle sportsmen pitched camp on Hood Canal between the Duckabush and Hamma Hamma rivers and found a wilderness thick with black bear, salmon, and one very unlucky tenderfoot.
- The Salmon Slump of 1894
A historic overproduction leaves Seattle's fishing industry in a cold, stagnant market.
- The State Draws a Line Along Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1896, Olympia fixed the harbor boundary from West Seattle to Meadow Point, mapped new Duwamish and Salmon Bay waterways, and cleared the way to sell tide lands.
- The Canal That Would Raise Salmon Bay—and Fill Its Marshes
Government engineers promise Seattle property owners that the Lake Washington ship canal will not strand them: excavated earth will fill submerged land and a public street will run alongside the right-of-way.
- The Price of Power: Turbines Decimate Salmon Fry
Early experiments at the University of Washington reveal the deadly toll of hydroelectric turbines on young Columbia River salmon.
- The Silent Battle of the Salmon Spawning Grounds
An early eyewitness account of the Columbia River’s delicate ecosystem and the struggle to protect a vanishing resource from industrial overfishing.
- The Salmon War at Point Roberts: Lummi Tribe Battles Cannery Giant Over Treaty Fishing Rights
A federal judge is set to decide whether the Alaska Packing Association's fish traps illegally block the salmon run, pitting Indigenous treaty rights against a quarter-million-dollar cannery industry.
- Seattle's Bid to Be the Liverpool of America
In 1895, boosters imagined a Lake Washington ship canal turning Puget Sound into a freshwater harbor for world commerce, coal trade, and naval power.
- The Lawless Slaughter of Columbia River Salmon
A century and a half ago, reports from 1887 reveal that unregulated commercial fishing practices on the Columbia River led to the mass harvest of out-of-season fish, despite laws designed to prevent such waste.
- The Annual Salmon Harvest on the Yakima
Indigenous and white residents alike flock to the Prosser dam to harvest salmon as the fish struggle to leap the obstruction.
- The Great Salmon Haul at Hat Island
A record-breaking catch of silver salmon near the mouth of the Snohomish River turns into a frantic struggle as nets break under the weight of the fish.
- Fairhaven's Civic Wish List: Taxes, Salmon, and $100,000 in Debt
Fairhaven's Commercial Club asked the legislature for semiannual taxes, state-run salmon propagation, and an end to county salary funds—while a commissioner explained $100,000 in floating debt.
- The Salmon Wars of Grays Harbor: How Indigenous Engineers Built a River-Scale Machine
Long before the white man’s mills choked the harbor, Native communities along the Quinault and Grays Harbor rivers operated sophisticated hydraulic traps that captured thousands of salmon—a feat of engineering described in 1890 as 'thrilling sport' yet vital to survival.
- The Salmon War: A 19th-Century Plea for Equitable Fishing
A sea captain argues that restrictive fishing regulations are designed to benefit luxury fur traders at the expense of the working class’s food supply.
- The Salmon Shortage: A Territorial Plea for Survival
In May 1877, a local nurseryman and fishery advocate wrote to the *Northern Star* urging the U.S. Fish Commission to intervene, arguing that Puget Sound’s inferior salmon could not compete with Columbia River catches without urgent government aid.
- The Great Debate: Where Should Seattle's Ship Canal Go?
In 1892, federal engineers weighed the massive engineering feat of connecting Lake Washington to Puget Sound, deliberating whether to carve the path through Salmon Bay or Smith Cove.
- The Salmon King of the Mediterranean
An Eastern businessman is shipping hundreds of tons of Alaska salmon to Europe, arguing that Seattle's future lies in industrializing its natural bounty.
- The Great Yakima River Fish War
Local leaders are locked in a standoff with the state government over salmon rights during food shortages.
Also about this, in other words
- The Last Great Salmon Run of 1876
While Seattle’s modern relationship with the Duwamish is defined by restoration, a century-old dispatch reveals the sheer industrial scale of the salmon harvest that once powered the region’s early economy.
- Salmon Cannery Takes Root on the Duwamish
A local entrepreneur transforms an old homestead opposite Seattle into a new industrial venture.
- The Salmon Bite
A minor fishing injury on the Columbia River turns into a race against gangrene for a young man.
- The Salmon Fishing Prank
A Tacoma society woman finds herself at the center of a Sunday prank involving a 27-pound skatefish.
- The Salmon Wars of 1891: Puget Sound’s Battle for Fishing Sovereignty
While the Columbia River dictated state fishing laws, Washington’s northern waters faced an existential threat, prompting a legislative clash over spawning cycles and local control.
- The Cannery King of the Snohomish
A bold local entrepreneur eyes the river’s abundance, planning to can everything from salmon to berries to fuel the region's growth.
- The Salmon Strike Ends
After a hard-fought season, Seattle union fishermen concede to cannery pricing as the catch hits record levels.
- Salmon War on the Waterfront
Seattle fishermen organize a new union to challenge cannery owners over falling fish prices.