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Columbia River Discovered
Captain Robert Gray discovers the Columbia River. -
First Salmon Shipped
John Dominis of Boston salted and shipped 53 barrels of Salmon from the Columbia back home, hoping to start an export business for salmon. They sold for a decent sum, but the captain did not want to try it again. -
Salmon-Packing Business
Nathaniel Wyeth tried to start a new salmon-packing business, but the Hudson Bay Company competition overwhelmed him. -
Hudson Bay Company stops working by the 49th Parallel
49th Parallel created, so the Hudson Bay Company stopped working in Canada so much. Settlers began to fish more in the 1850s, especially along the Sacramento River. People eventually tried to fish in the Columbia Basin. -
Salmon Fishing Becomes and Industry
By the time of this year, commercial fishing finally became an industry on the Columbia. -
Cans of Fish
The first of many canneries for fish began to operate on the Columbia, in which two commercial fishing boats fished in the Columbia. This became 1200 boats by 1881 -
STRIKE!
Canneries had much competition, so they teamed up to lower the prices paid for fish. Fisherman of the Columbia began to organize strikes and acts of violence. They formed the Columbia River Fisherman’s Protective Union in 1879. -
To the Peak!
1883 and 1884: More than 42 million pounds of fish, and over 620,000 cases of salmon were packed. -
Dam it!
The first dam built in a salmon producing river along the Columbia is finished. Over 22 followed over the next 30 years. -
Depressed
A depression forced many packers out of business due to fish prices. -
Practice Banned
Practice of catching sturgeons by their bodies with a series of hooks is banned. -
The Highest height ever reached
After many years of declination in the fishing industry on the Columbia, commercial fishing reached another one-year peak. Over 49.5 million pounds of salmon and steelhead were caught. It would never pass this peak again. -
Happy National Canned Salmon Day!
First official National Canned Salmon Day celebrated on March 14th. -
The Great War
Due to World War I, canned salmon prices increased by fifty percent, and exports to Europe doubled to 80 million pounds. -
Period: to
Depressed Again
The great depression decimates canned salmon prices. -
Declination
After the depression, the commercial harvest of fish along the Columbia river continued to decline from 24.7 million pounds to 18.8 million pounds. -
Under the line
Commercial Salmon catch drops below 10 million pounds for the first time. It stayed this way until 1969 (except for one year) -
Deeper in the Doo-doo
The commercial catch of steelhead and salmon drops to 1, 249, 500 pounds, the lowest it ever got between 1960 and 1990. Fishing seasons had to be cut shorter. -
Deeper than ever
Commercial catch drops below 1 million pounds. This was the lowest catch since 1866.