At Tacoma is located one of the largest smelting and refining plants in the nation, which draws its ores from all parts of the world.  At North Port in Stevens county is a smelter which is chiefly supplied with ores from this state, supplemented by those of British Columbia.  At Republic in Ferry county are mines producing gold and silver ores of such extent as to have induced the building of a branch line of railroad to carry their ores to this smelter.  There are also in Stevens county large deposits of silver-lead ores, which will be large producers as soon as better transportation is secured.  This last statement is also true regarding many mines in other counties.

FISHING INDUSTRY.

The business of catching, preserving and selling fish gives employment probably to more than 10,000 men in this state and adds probably four million dollars annually to its wealth production.  The fishes include salmon, which is the chief commercial species, cod in many varieties, halibut, salmon trout, perch, sole, flounders, smelt, herring, sardines, oysters, clams, crabs and shrimp from its salt waters, and sturgeon, trout, perch, black bass, white fish and many others from the fresh water.  Great quantities of salmon and halibut are shipped in ice-packed boxes, fresh from the waters, to all parts of the nation.  Of these fish, many salmon, halibut and cod are caught in Alaskan waters and brought into this state to be cured and prepared for the market.

The salmon are chiefly packed in tin cans after being cooked; the cod are handled as are the eastern cod, dried and salted.  The business of handling the smelts, herring, etc., is in its infancy, as is also that of the shellfish.

[Page 22] The propagation of oysters, both native and eastern, is assuming great importance in many places in the state.  In Shoalwater bay, Willipa bay, Grays harbor, and many of the bays and inlets of Puget Sound, oysters are being successfully grown.  In some instances oyster farms are paying as much as $1,000 per acre.  The state has sold many thousand acres of submerged lands for this purpose.  It has also reserved several thousand acres of natural oyster beds, from which the seed oysters are annually sold at a cheap price to the oyster farmers, who plant them upon their own lands and market them when full grown.

The native oysters are much smaller than the eastern oysters and of a distinct flavor, but command the same prices in the market.

AGRICULTURE.

Cereals.

The largest and most important industry in the state is without doubt the cultivation of the soil.  The great variety of the soils and climatic conditions has made the state, in different parts, admirably adapted to a large variety of farm products.  Vast fields of wheat cover a large proportion of the uplands of eastern Washington, the average yield of which is greater than that of any other state in the Union.