Salmon Season in Crisis
A collapse in prices and over-capacity lead to tension on the Columbia River.
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.
Only thirteen days of the present fishing season remain, and there is no desire to fish beyond the limit. The present season has been most singular. Starting with an unprecedented amount of gear, an unfavorable market, and a belief in a short catch, the canneries have been in an unsatisfactory position. The price of fish was set considerably higher than last season, which brought up sufficient fishermen from the Sacramento to catch everything that came into the river. From 75 cents to $1 was paid for fish, and all that has been packed cost, on an average, 90 cents a fish. On the first of this month, 340,500 cases were reckoned as being put up. The extraordinary run this month has not been equaled in size and numbers since 1879. Since Monday, fish have been selling at figures far below what would have been looked upon as a fair price twenty days ago. Thirty cents has been the figure, and on yesterday's steamer went a large crowd of fishermen who refused to catch at those prices.
“The time has gone by when a man could make a fortune in one season on the Columbia river.”
The volatile economics of the Pacific Northwest salmon industry have long been a source of regional anxiety. Much like modern struggles over fishing quotas and market prices, this 1883 report highlights the classic boom-and-bust cycle of a resource-dependent economy.
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