The Salmon War on the Columbia River
A standoff between commercial poachers and the law tests the authority of Washington Territory’s leadership.
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.
Washington Territory is once again the theater of an interesting matter that has attracted the attention of the settlers on the Columbia River. Our people will, we imagine, take genuine satisfaction in the action of Governor Pennoyer in this matter. The facts are briefly as follows: Certain individuals on the upper Columbia asked that Oregon officials grant permission for them to use long-net apparatus during the closed season for the purpose of fulfilling fish orders. The commission, with strange compliance, granted the request and the fishers started work. Information of this transaction took time to reach the knowledge of Governor Pennoyer, who ordered the fishing to cease and instituted proceedings against the fishers. The Oregon fish commissioners appear in this matter to have construed their authority in a novel and curious light. They are authorized and instructed to enforce the law, but have no authority to set it aside. They have no more right to grant a permit to fish out of season than the county sheriff has to grant a permit to commit murder or theft.
“They have no more right to grant a permit to fish out of season than the county sheriff has to grant a permit to commit murder or theft.”
Resource protection in the Pacific Northwest has always been a point of contention between commercial interests and regulatory bodies. The tension between profit-seeking and the long-term stewardship of the Columbia River salmon runs mirrors modern, ongoing debates over habitat restoration and fishing quotas.
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