The Dogfish Gold Rush on San Juan Island

Mr. Uthoff, of the Du Jua Manufacturing Company, states that tons of oil were obtained yesterday. The company are engaged in the extraction of oil from dogfish. They have built works, the boat of which is equal to lard oil. The works are at Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, and were put up last year. Their present capacity is about 800 gallons per day, which can readily be largely increased at small expense. The dogfish is a long, snaky-looking, shark-like fish, abounding in all Puget Sound waters, but fairly swarm in the San Juan archipelago. They are easily caught by trolling. A heavy line, with strong hooks attached by short lines every four feet, is consigned to the tide as it is flooding, and when the tide turns it is taken up, and as the fish are taken off, the line is coiled back into the boat. As many as three hundred have been caught at one haul, and if the fishermen make two hauls a day, there is no difficulty in making two to three dollars a day. The company would increase their works very largely if fishermen would work regularly, but those there now make so much they are very independent and won't work steadily. The fish are very fat; nearly one-third of their weight is oil. About one-fifth is ammonia, and of the remaining solids, somewhat is gelatine, while the rest is good fertilizer.