DOGFISH OIL

Pacific Dogfish
Courtesy of the Monterey Aquarium

The viscous, malodorous extract of the skin and liver of the dogfish was at the heart of the operation of the Port Townsend, Washington area's nineteenth-century lumber industry. This rancid oil was primarily used to grease the skid roads along which lumbermen transported the harvested logs. Hides tanned with dogfish oil were used as drive belts in sawmill machinery. It was the source of nighttime illumination in the mills, which often operated twenty-four hours a day. The crude but effective lighting fixtures were the kettles, similar to and sometimes adapted from a teakettle, with spouts on two sides. The kettles were filled with foul fuel and wicks let down the spouts were lighted. The fetid odor was intensified by combustion. 

The Klallam and Chimakum extracted the oil for use as a paint base and as a seasoning and cooking agent, though not surprisingly the slightly less rank seal or whale oils were favored for edibles. Before extraction caps were established by whites, they traded with the Natives for the oil. Extraction was left to the Native women, who collected the dogfish in discarded dugouts and crushed the carcasses by climbing into the canoes and trampling them. When the fish were sufficiently squashed, the women added saltwater and allowed the mixture to decompose for days or weeks. The oil rose to the top of the noisome brew and was skimmed off. Whites did not improve much on the extraction procedure. They introduced iron-bottomed wooden troughs in place of the canoes so a few could be kindled beneath to hasten the process.

Several factors in the mid-1880s marked the beginning of the end for the dogfish industry. Petroleum products, which cost less and were more efficient, became readily available. Skid roads were being phased out in favor of "lokies" (locomotives,) steam donkeys, and logging carts on rails. Carbon arc lighting, a novelty ten years earlier, was common in sawmills by the end of the decade. Finally, rubberized belts were introduced into the more modern sawmills, replacing animal hides. Like the stench it created, however, the industry was tenacious, and as late as 1890, fifty thousand 
gallons of oil were produced in Washington plants.
Above essay: "City of Dreams," editor Peter Simpson. Bay Press, Port Townsend, WA. 1986.

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"In 1906, Bruce Willis was in the port of
Friday Harbor, in his auxiliary sloop,
AILSA, en route to Griffin Bay to fish.
 He sold 30 gallons of dogfish oil here,  
though he says this is not as good a price,
as Anacortes. It brings ten cents more
per gallon there, the prices 
here only being .25 cents."
The San Juan Islander 2 Mar. 1906.

A 1907 wanted ad in the 
San Juan Islander newspaper 
from the well-known Robert Moran, 
a new resident of Orcas Island.

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" The U and I, Capt. G.I. Peterson of Mitchell Bay, was in port the first of the week on her way to Richardson, where Mr. Peterson will dispose of a barrel of dogfish oil to Hodgson & Graham. He is a veteran fisherman and enjoys the life. Each season he goes to Cape Flattery, and invariably makes good. Even last year, when so many barely paid for the gasoline they burned, the captain netted a fair sum. The U and I was specially built for him, after his own specifications and with her, he ventures further out than most boats and stays out in all kinds of weather. "

The San Juan Islander. Friday Harbor, WA. 14 March 1913.