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out of the hole they are eaten by the starving fish, who thus keep alive on their spawn. Great numbers of the eggs are killed by being covered too deeply with gravel, as this is constantly being thrown up by the spawning fish, until their tails and fins are denuded of skin. In October many of the salmon were stripped of skin from the tail to the dorsal fin, halfway to the back; others sailed around with long streamers of dead skin floating behind.

End of salmon wheel, showing opening

into which the salmon pass.

In spite of this great food waste caused by the run to the spawning grounds, the industry of catching and canning salmon is one of the most important in the Northwest. The records show that fully 25,000 persons are employed directly in it in some capacity, either on shore or afloat, and they receive over $8,000,000 in wages. Materials (tin plate, solder, boxes, etc.) to the value of $6,000,000 yearly, are used in making the pack. Four or

five thousand vessels, steamers. launches and fishing boats, are used in handling the catch.

The salmon is prepared in several ways, the most important being fresh, frozen, salted, smoked, mild cured and canned. The last is by far the principal method. The salmon are then sent to market. The method of catching includes trap nets and the "wheel of fortune," illustrated in this article. These are placed in lower sections of rivers where the salmon are still fat and suitable for food. fortune is a novel idea. to the bank of the wheel rim placed low enough in the water to be turned up stream by the current. On the Columbia River the run is so great that the mass of swimming fish may extend from shore to shore.

The wheel of It is fastened river and the

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Falling in the open rims of the wheel they are lifted to an inclined trough, down which they slide to a platform from which they are thrown into storage bins by the fishermen. Thus they catch themselves. The reason why they are called "wheels of fortune" is because one may "take" five thousand dollars' worth of fish in one "run."

In canning, so far as possible, the scows are run alongside the receiving wharf and the fish pitched on an endless conveyor, which carries them up and delivers them on the floor of the butchering shed. Here they are fed one by one into an "iron chink," a machine which cuts off the head, tail and fins and splits the fish down the belly and removes the viscera, all in one revolution. The dressed fish are then placed in pockets on a revolving drum and carried around to a series of rapidly moving circular knives, which divide them into cuts of just the size required to fill the cans.

The next process is cooking the fish This is performed by boiling in vats of hot water, the vats being filled with the food product by mechanical conveyors and their contents removed in the same way. It is next taken by

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means of an endless belt through the steam box, which cleans the outside of the can, past a couple of workmen who place little disks of tin on top of the meat-this is done so that later when the tops of the cans are punctured after the first cooking to allow the steam and gas to escape, the fish will not clog up the hole-and on to the topper,

It is believed by scientists and scientists and others who have made a study of these strange fish that all attempt at least at one time in their lives to come back to the locality where they were spawned. The proportion that die in this effort, and the immense number taken by the salmon fisheries also during the "runs," indicate that this species would become extinct were it not for the enormous number of eggs which are produced by each female. Examinations made at hatcheries prove that a fish may carry from 300 to 400 eggs to each pound of its weight. In other words, a salmon weighing thirty pounds may contain over 10,000 eggs.

During the spawning season, as already stated, the breeding salmon are surrounded by fish and other enemies that feed upon the eggs, and unless these are safely lodged under stones or in some other shelter until they hatch out, they are quickly seized and eaten. Within three or four months after spawning, the young average about an inch in length, but at first live entirely upon what is called the yolk sac, a membrane full of matter which is attached to the body. Then they begin to feed upon insects and other organisms, and in a single year may increase their weight fully forty times. For a year or two they remain in the vicinity of where they were spawned, then take their departure for the sea. Only a small portion of the fish hatched out, however, ever reach the ocean because from the time they leave the egg they are constantly menaced by not only fish and birds, but animals which capture them for food. Consequently the salmon may be said to lead a varied life, which usually ends in a cruel death.

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Looking down on Blithedale Canyon. Photo taken from a point six hundred feet from the summit of Mt. Tamalpais.

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Mount Tamalpais Game Refuge

By Harold French

A glimpse at the picturesque landscape covering Mt. Tamalpais, lying across the bay some ten miles north of San Francisco. Nature lovers are actively working to have this strip of territory declared a Game Refuge, or a National Park.

T

SO

HE Tamalpais Conservation Club, a thousand strong, as true lovers of Mount Tamalpais have leagued themselves together in an effective way for the altruistic purpose of preserving that wonderful wild playground near the crowded streets of half a million-hiving San Francisco. For many years, devotees of this delectable mountain have repeatedly urged the setting apart of a portion of this rare little wilderness, either by the State or nation, as a public park. Its panoramic, tri-peaked sky line commands a matchless view of the far-sweeping Pacific, the inland waterways of Central California-at times the white tents of the Sierras, en echelon, one hundred and fifty miles away. Down in the blue-green gulfs of a score of deep-carved canyons which furrow the flanks of Tamalpais are the mingled charms of cataract, fernery and forest, all weaving their bright fabric into the unmarred handiwork of Nature. Between the broad shoulders of

Auld

Tam, hidden by epaulets of evergreen, nestle the most lovable mountain meadows, wilding glades where none save venturesome pedestrians or persecuted deer wander from alternating wood to open potrero. This land of Tamalpais has become so endeared to thousands who tramp its trails-two and three generations of communicants with its wilderness shrines-that all who love its undefiled beauties are making common cause to preserve them for the appreciation of posterity.

For some years, the suggestion has frequently been made that the Tamalpais region should be included within

a

the confines of a national park. Muir Woods, covering nearly half a section, has for several years been a part and parcel of the national domain, through the generosity of its donor, William Kent. It was set apart as a monument to the noted mountaineer, John Muir, in 1907. Its sunken setting is a deep basin, densely wooded with virgin growth of redwood, Douglass spruce, oak, laurel and madrone, extending for four or five miles up the southern slopes of the mountain. Many have hoped that the boundaries of the Muir Woods Park would be extended over the untenanted spurs and canyons of Tamalpais for many miles to the northward. One very good reason for the reservation of the mountain and its western shoulder, the Bolinas Ridge, by the Federal government, is for the purpose of protecting the fortifications, guarding the Golden Gate from an attack in the rear. However skeptical most Americans may be regarding the possibility of foreign aggression, there are few who really believe that an invasion of our Western States is a tactical impossibility. Nearly every one will admit that our coastline should not be undefended. Millions have been expended in the emplacing of heavy guns commanding the immediate approaches to the harbor of San Francisco, yet, beyond the range of the twelve-inch rifles, there is nothing to prevent a hostile force landing an army of occupation under the cover of the guns of its fleet, and moving upon these immobile batteries from the rear. Bolinas Bay, situated at the western base of Tamalpais, is an ideal landing place. A A broad

wagon road winds around the sheltered bluffs, leading to Sausalito and Forts Baker and Barry, ten or a dozen miles distant. There is no road along this rugged Bolinas Ridge, and only a jackass-battery could reach its elongated summit in an emergency. Accordingly, military experts, who have investigated the topography of the Tamalpais region have all come to the conclusion that this strategic point should be prepared for adequate defense, at least to the extent of constructing suitable roads from Mill Valley and Fairfax on the Northwestern Pacific, to the crest of this commanding ridge. Culminating at a point 2,100 feet above the curling combers at Willow Camp, this Lookout Mountain of the West coast offers rare positions of high strategic value. I have submitted this question to a number of prominent officers of the regular army, and all have agreed that the reservation of the Tamalpais region. for military purposes would supplement our coast defense to an invaluable degree. Therefore, it is still ad

vocated by those who appreciate the jointly desirable features of this region-its scenic attractions and strategic importance-that the Federal government should acquire its upper ridges as a supplementary military reservation.

Of course, it is right here that the cost of purchasing ten thousand acres or more, either directly from the owners, or, according to the award of condemnation proceedings, enters into the proposition to make a park of the Tamalpais region. Most of the land which has been contemplated by parkmakers as being more necessary to the public than to its private possessors is rocky, brushy and fit for nothing else but a game preserve or a watershed for a reservoir. Other portions are at present devoted to a limited amount of grazing. The various blocks of timber land are scattered, and not valuable enough to warrant the erection of saw-mills. Therefore, the bulk of this untenanted territory has a commercial value of but a few dollars per acre; and so most of the park propo

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A stream in the Muir Woods on one of the flanks of Mt. Tamalpais.

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