Robert Deniston Hume (October 31, 1845 – November 25, 1908) was a
cannery
Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although un ...
owner, pioneer
hatchery
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled condit ...
operator, politician, author, and self-described "pygmy monopolist" who controlled
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
fishing for 32 years on the lower
Rogue River in U.S. state of
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. Born in
Augusta, Maine
Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County.
The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Maine, and third-least populous state capital in the Un ...
, and reared by foster parents on a farm, Hume moved at age 18 to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
to join a salmon-canning business started by two of his brothers. They later re-located to
Astoria on the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
, where they prospered. After the death of his first wife and their two young children, Hume moved again and started anew in
Gold Beach
Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. Gold, the central of the five areas, was lo ...
, at the mouth of the Rogue.
In 1877 Hume bought rights to a Rogue River
fishery
Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...
, then built a
salmon cannery
A salmon cannery is a factory that commercially cans salmon. It is a fish-processing industry that became established on the Pacific coast of North America during the 19th century, and subsequently expanded to other parts of the world that had e ...
and many other structures and acquired all of the
tidelands
Tidelands are the territory between the tide line of sea coasts, and lands lying under the sea beyond the low-water limit of the tide, considered within the territorial waters of a nation. The United States Constitution does not specify whether ...
bordering the lower of the river. He remarried, invested in a small fleet of ships and a salmon hatchery and expanded his business interests to include a store, hotel, newspaper, and many other enterprises in Gold Beach and in the nearby community of
Wedderburn, which he founded. Canning, shipping, and selling hundreds of tons of salmon over the years, he became known as the Salmon King of Oregon.
Hume often wrote editorials, engaged in litigation, appealed to legislators, and waged political campaigns to protect his business interests. Running as a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, he was twice elected, in 1900 and 1902, to represent
Coos and
Curry
A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included.
There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...
counties in the
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...
. According to his biographer, he voted self-interest first and conservative positions second, resisting
Populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
ideas in vogue at the time.
Among his publications were a series of articles about fish management, collected and reprinted as ''Salmon of the Pacific Coast'' in 1893. Despite his efforts to maintain a steady fish supply through egg-collecting and fish-rearing, salmon catches on the Rogue, rising in some years and falling in others, generally declined over time. Seventeen years after Hume's death in 1908, the state closed the river to commercial fishing.
Early life
Robert Hume, the youngest surviving boy in a family of 12 children, was born in Augusta, Maine, on October 31, 1845. Because his parents, William and Elizabeth Hume, had little money, he was adopted by the Robert Denistons when he was four years old. After growing up on the Deniston farm, he went to San Francisco at the age of 18 to work in a cannery operated by two of his brothers. In 1867, when Hume was 22, he and his brothers, who had moved north to Oregon, opened the first cannery on the Columbia River near Astoria. In 1869 he married Celia Bryant, with whom he had two children. The first, a girl, died while still a baby. The second, a boy, died at age 4 in 1875, and Celia Hume died shortly thereafter. Celia and the two children were buried in
Lone Fir Cemetery
Lone Fir Cemetery in the southeast section of Portland, Oregon, United States is a cemetery owned and maintained by Metro, a regional government entity. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first burial was in 1846 with the ceme ...
in Portland.
Although Hume had prospered, buying several Columbia River canneries between 1872 and 1876, when his wife and children died, he sold most of his holdings and returned to San Francisco. There he bought a steamer, the ''Alexander Duncan'', and searching for new purpose in life, traveled north along the Oregon coast. While visiting Ellensburg (later renamed Gold Beach), he decided to buy a salmon fishery near the
mouth
In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...
of the Rogue River in
Curry County. There in late 1876, "he took up his career once again in one of the most isolated and desolate sections of the Pacific Coast".
Lower Rogue empire
![R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/R.D._Hume_map.png)
After building a cannery, warehouse, bunkhouse,
mess hall
The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...
, and other buildings and hiring fishermen, Hume opened his salmon business in 1877. He acquired ownership of all the
tidelands
Tidelands are the territory between the tide line of sea coasts, and lands lying under the sea beyond the low-water limit of the tide, considered within the territorial waters of a nation. The United States Constitution does not specify whether ...
along both sides of the lowermost of the river; this gave him virtual control of fish populations migrating between the ocean and
spawning bed
A spawning bed is an underwater solid surface on which fish spawn to reproduce themselves.
In fishery management, a spawning bed is an artificial bed constructed by wildlife professionals in order to improve the ability of desired game fish to r ...
s upstream. Over the next 32 years, Hume's company caught, processed, and shipped hundreds of tons of salmon from the Rogue. Meanwhile, he remarried and expanded his business interests to include a store, hatchery, hotel, saloon, and sawmill, and other enterprises involving shipping, a newspaper (the ''Gold Beach Gazette''), real estate, and ranching.
After a fire destroyed the hatchery and several other Hume buildings in 1893, he moved many of his holdings to the opposite side of the river, where he founded the city of
Wedderburn in 1895, naming it "in honor of the ancestral castle of the Humes of Scotland". Floating some of his unburned buildings to Wedderburn from Ellensburg, he added a new hatchery, offices, a new home, many other buildings, and a
horse-racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...
track. He started another newspaper, the Wedderburn ''Radium'', and applied successfully for a post office, which opened in 1898 and was run by a Hume employee in Hume's general store.
As his businesses grew, he added to his fleet of ships, big ones to ship salmon to San Francisco and smaller ones for shallow waters and for towing larger ships in and out of the Rogue mouth. In 1879 he bought the steamer ''Varuna'' and the tug ''Mary Hume'' and started a shipyard at Ellensburg. In 1880 he added the steam schooner ''Mary D. Hume'', the tug ''Pelican'' in 1883, the schooner ''Berwick'' in 1887, the steamer ''Thistle'' in 1888, and replacement craft in subsequent years. Returning ships brought goods for Hume's general store.
Throughout his career, the store was one of the central components of his business. It was a center of supplies and news for the people of the Rogue, who awaited the arrival of the fall provision ship with anticipation and anxiety, for this vessel was the only source of winter provisions. It provided Hume, the employer of the great majority of the citizens of Gold Beach and Wedderburn, with a means of repossessing the wages of his employees and of profiting on the exchange.
Hume became known as the Salmon King of Oregon and referred to himself as a "pygmy monopolist" in an autobiography published in the ''Radium'' between 1904 and 1906.
Politician
According to Hume's biographer, Gordon B. Dodds, Hume "entered politics both as officeholder and as lobbyist to protect his realm from the assaults of anti-monopolists". Between 1890 and 1910 in Oregon,
Populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
–Progressive coalitions led by
W.S. U'Ren and Governor
Sylvester Pennoyer
Sylvester Pennoyer (July 6, 1831May 30, 1902) was an American educator, attorney, and politician in Oregon. He was born in Groton (town), New York, Groton, New York (state), New York, attended Harvard Law School, and moved to Oregon at age 25. A H ...
, a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
, battled business-oriented
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
factions based in Portland. In 1892, John H. Upton, the Populist candidate for the state legislature from Coos and Curry counties campaigned mainly in opposition to Hume's monopoly on the Rogue. Political threats like the one posed by Upton as well as threats from the
Alaska Packers' Association
The Alaska Packers' Association (APA) was a San Francisco based manufacturer of Alaska canned salmon founded in 1891 and sold in 1982. As the largest salmon packer in Alaska, the member canneries of APA were active in local affairs, and had cons ...
(APA), which had begun fishing the Rogue, led Hume to write political editorials, file lawsuits, endorse candidates, petition the legislature, and eventually to run for office himself.
In 1894, Hume, hoping for a seat in the state legislature, campaigned in support of Populist demands such as unlimited coinage of silver, more regulation of large corporations (like the APA), and large-scale government spending for
internal improvements
Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canal ...
. Dodds says that this approach "illustrates Hume's view of the purpose of a political campaign: The program advocated should be one that would win, and not necessarily the program that the party or the candidate believed in." After losing this election, Hume went to
Salem
Salem may refer to: Places
Canada
Ontario
* Bruce County
** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie
** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce
* Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...
, the state capital, in 1895 to lobby for bills that might favor his business interests. In 1896 Hume, switching to the Republican Party, used his newspaper, the Wedderburn ''Gazette'', to support Republican
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
for the U.S. presidency.
In 1900 Hume, running as a Republican, narrowly won election to represent Coos and Curry counties in the state legislature. Shortly after taking office, Hume helped scuttle a bill to repeal a law passed in 1899 that gave the owner of tidelands the exclusive right to fish the waters in front of them. Since Hume owned all the tidelands on the Rogue, the law gave him a monopoly on fishing its lower reaches. On issues unrelated to his business interests, Hume generally voted conservative. He won re-election in 1902, garnering 934 votes—less than half of the total cast—to the Democrat's 807, the
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
's 219, and the
Prohibition Party
The Prohibition Party (PRO) is a political party in the United States known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and as an integral part of the temperance movement. It is the oldest existing third party ...
's 142. During his second term, Hume fought to keep the tidelands law intact and continued to support
laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...
government and low taxes. Hume attempted but failed to win nomination for a seat in the state
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
in 1904, a seat in the state
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
in 1906, and a seat in the state Senate in 1908. Dodds sums up Hume's political career by saying:
His accomplishments as a legislator were slight; only one of his bills ever passed. On the other hand, he spoke and voted against many measures that were defeated and his credo of legislative decision was, first, his own interests and, second, support of a conservative position. In the midst of the Progressive era he remained a "stalwart among the stalwarts", although during the Populist regime he had expediently yielded for a time to free silver.
Hatcheries
![Hume label fix](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Hume_label_fix.png)
Although Hume had shown no early interest in salmon conservation on the Columbia and elsewhere, on the Rogue he tried to protect the fish supply. Disappointed with his company's catch in 1877, he built a hatchery in Ellensburg, and in all but 7 of his 32 years on the river he operated hatcheries along the Rogue.
Through his newspapers, lawsuits, lobbying, and speeches made while a member of the Oregon Legislature, Hume tried to influence public opinion about artificial fish propagation. In 1893, he published a series of articles, later reprinted as ''Salmon of the Pacific Coast'', that summarized his ideas about
ichthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octob ...
. In 1897, Hume persuaded the
United States Fish Commission
The United States Fish Commission, formally known as the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, was an agency of the United States government created in 1871 to investigate, promote, and preserve the fisheries of the United States. In 1 ...
to run an egg-collecting station at
Elk Creek from the mouth of the Rogue. Hume built the station, and the government paid the salaries of the workers who collected the eggs and shipped them to Hume's hatchery in Wedderburn. Although his observations on salmon were well received in some quarters, they "often conflicted with the opinions of other pioneers in the field", and his attempts to control upriver fishing and dams met with resistance and with arguments that he was overfishing the river at its mouth.
Despite Hume's attempts to preserve the fishery, fish runs, oscillating from year to year for a variety of reasons, trended downward over time. The total reported Rogue River salmon catch in 1877, Hume's first year on the Rogue, was ; the peak catch during Hume's life was in 1890, and the catch in 1908, the year of Hume's death, was . As fish runs continued to diminish, the state legislature closed the river to commercial fishing in 1935.
Family life, death, and legacy
In December 1877, the year after his move to Ellensburg, Hume married Mary Duncan, the 19-year-old daughter of a former
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
er, George Duncan, who had lost his fortune in the stock market and hoped to make another by canning salmon in the U.S. According to Dodds, Mary led a relatively secluded life, working in her flower garden, writing letters, and talking to friends, and occasionally selecting clothing for Hume's store or acting as his secretary when he was sick. Although business occupied Hume most of the time, he seemed to value his wife's help, Dodds says, and "events indicated their mutual affection".
In October 1908 Hume was traveling on the schooner ''Osprey'', which was towing another ship, ''Enterprise'', when a storm arose. The ''Enterprise'' was wrecked, but ''Osprey'' rescued its crew and arrived safely in Wedderburn. Hume, who had been exposed to wet and cold, grew ill, rallied briefly, then died on November 17. According to Dodds, "His dying wish was that he be buried at Hunt Rock overlooking his empire on the Rogue." In 1912, after she had sold the Hume holdings in Curry County, Mary Hume had Hume's body moved to San Francisco.
Opinions vary about Hume's fish theories and practices, which influenced state and federal salmon management for many decades after his death. "Hume was ahead of his time", Dodds says, "in his belief in hatcheries, in his practice of retaining fry
mmature fishin feeding ponds, and in his belief in the home-stream theory of salmonology." Another writer says that "Robert Hume's efforts to restock the Rogue with hatchery fish were an early glimmer in the dawning of a new era on the river and in the nation at large" even though "his motives may have been suspect, and the practice a less-than-perfect solution". Environmental historian Joseph Taylor says that while many Oregonians regarded Hume as a salmon expert, "his reputation often exceeded his results". A late 20th-century fisheries scientist sees Hume as "a keen observer of the salmon's natural history, although he did not always interpret his observations correctly."
Notes and references
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Robert Deniston Hume (1845–1908) in
The Oregon Encyclopedia
The ''Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' is a collaborative encyclopedia focused on the history and culture of the U.S. state of Oregon.
Description
The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University's History Department, thOreg ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hume, Robert Deniston
1845 births
1908 deaths
Businesspeople from Oregon
Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives
Politicians from Augusta, Maine
People from Gold Beach, Oregon
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American businesspeople