The Salmon Slump of 1894
A historic overproduction leaves Seattle's fishing industry in a cold, stagnant market.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The market for canned and salted salmon is extremely dull. A gentleman, who is well versed on the subject, says that in all his experience of twenty-five years he has never seen the market so dull. The production of 1893 was greater than any former year, the total pack of canned salmon being 1,275,000 cases and salted salmon over 10,000 barrels. With the exception of the Columbia River salmon, which is the most valued product, there is at least three-eighths of the pack still on hand, and this is now offered at very low figures. Some of the Alaska canners, having large stocks of last year's pack on hand, will not attempt to pack this year, preferring to take no chances. It seems people are economizing on food as well as clothing. A consignment of salt salmon from Seattle sold in Boston recently, hardly netting enough to pay for the packages in which the salmon was packed.
“Some of the Alaska canners, having large stocks of last year's pack on hand, will not attempt to pack this year, preferring to take no chances.”
This 1894 report captures the extreme boom-and-bust volatility that defined early Seattle commerce. Today, the Pacific Northwest's relationship with salmon has shifted from raw commodity-extraction to the urgent, complex challenges of environmental restoration and habitat preservation.
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