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John Nathan Cobb (1868-1930): founding Director of the College of Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle.

Article Excerpt
Introduction

John Nathan Cobb (1868-1930), author, naturalist, conservationist, and canneryman (Fig. 1), was one of the last of a breed of men who attained a high position in academia without the benefit of a college education. (1) In a career that began as a printer's aide for a newspaper, he worked as a stenographer and clerk, a newspaper reporter, a "Field Agent" for the U.S. Fish Commission (USFC) and its successor, the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, as an editor for a commercial fishing trade magazine of the Pacific Northwest, and as a supervisor for companies in the commercial fishing industry. In 1919, Cobb was appointed the founding director of the College of Fisheries at the University of Washington (U.W.), the first such college established in the United States.

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Thus, through self-education, hard work, and ambition, Cobb rose from unpretentious beginnings to become a dean in a major university. Cobb's career was testimony not only to the democratic ideals of the United States, but it also was evidence of his competence and an affirmation of the high level of esteem in which he was held by his peers. He excelled in knowledge of the commercial fisheries industry.

Cobb's tenure as director (later, dean) of the College of Fisheries from 1919 to 1930 must be considered successful, based upon the number of students enrolled in the College as well as in the records of attainment of its graduates. Cobb's approach to the educational focus of the College reflected his experience and mind-set, focusing on the practical applied aspects of the commercial fishing industry. Initially, this approach was also that favored by the University administration.

By the time of his death in 1930, however, it became apparent that his educational philosophy was out of date and was not accepted by the new University administration because of the College's failure to emphasize scholarly achievement. This was demonstrated by the rapid termination of the College by the U.W. administration upon Cobb's passing in 1930 (Stickney, 1989).

Cobb became a well-known "professional" naturalist of his day and his reputation was based on his keen knowledge of the commercial fisheries industry which was reflected in his many publications. He was a smiled compiler of fisheries catch statistics, and he produced well-received books on the fisheries of both Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., and Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus. Cobb's position as Dean of the College of Fisheries at the University of Washington emphasized his role as a leading national expert on fisheries.

This account describes Cobb's career and his ascendancy in 1919 to the directorship of the newly founded College of Fisheries at the U.W. I first provide a sketch of his professional life as naturalist, author, and "canneryman," and then outline the "campaign" to establish a school of fisheries at the U.W. as well as Cobb's appointment to it as the founding director. Cobb's educational goals are presented, as are his nascent ventures into research on the passage of fish over high dams. I examine the success of the College during its first decade of existence and describe its demise upon Cobb's death. Briefly noted is the school's reemergence in late 1930 as a school dedicated to the newly developing profession of fisheries science.

This work is based primarily on the papers of John N. Cobb housed in the Manuscripts, Special Collections, and University Archives of the U.W. Libraries, relevant material in the archives of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, U.W., and Cobb's published and unpublished works. (2) A history of the School of Fisheries, published by Stickney (1989), provided a basic roadmap for a detailed inquiry of Cobb's career at the University of Washington. The College of Fisheries has undergone several name changes over the years. It was a College from 1919 to 1930, a Department of Fisheries from 1930 to 1934, a School of Fisheries from 1934 to 1958, a College of Fisheries, again, from 1958 to 1981, a School of Fisheries from 1981 to 2000, and in 2000 was renamed the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. A brief history of the School of Fisheries, based on Stickney's (1989) book, is posted on the School's web site. (3)

John N. Cobb, Author and Naturalist

John Nathan Cobb was born in Oxford, N.J., on 20 February 1868, the son of Samuel Spencer Cobb (1842-1921), a railroad engineer, and Louise Catherine Richard (1845?-1918), a native of Belfort, France. He was one of at least twelve children in the family (Fig. 2). (4) His vitae indicates that he attended "public schools" and discontinued his education at an early age to go to work.

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The family apparently moved in the 1880's to Pennsylvania, and records indicate that in 1884, at the age of 16 years, he was working for a Pennsylvania newspaper, the Carbondale Reader (Fig. 3). He rose to become an editor of that periodical. For the next 15 years or so, Cobb worked, apparently as a stenographer and typist, in a variety of positions for a railroad company, a law firm, a supply and machinery enterprise, and a brick manufacturing company.

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Cobb successfully passed a Civil Service examination in 1895 for the U.S. Government that qualified him for a position as stenographer and typist at a salary of $720 per year. He accepted a position in Washington, D.C., on 1 July 1895 with the U.S. Fish Commission (5), where he was appointed clerk in the Division of Statistics. (6) He was promoted to "Field Agent" on 11 February 1896 at a salary of $1,000 per annum, and was responsible for collecting commercial fishery statistics. Thus Cobb began a career in fisheries that was to last until his death 35 years later and one that led to his recognition as an "expert" in fisheries statistics. (7)

Cobb's position with the "Fish Commission" demanded considerable travel, as he was required to proceed throughout the eastern seaboard to collect statistics on the commercial catch offish and shellfish. For example, in 1896-97 Cobb visited Jacksonville, Fla.; Havre de Grace, Md.; Key West, Fla.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Key West again; and Cape Vincent, N.Y. After most of these trips he returned to the USFC headquarters in Washington, D.C. This pattern of frequent travel continued through 1900. (8) Cobb's first publication for the Fish Commission, on the fisheries of Lake Ontario, was issued in 1898 (Cobb, 1898). He produced about 18 scientific publications and books during his tenure with the Fish Commission from 1895-1911 (Table 1).

In May 1901, Cobb was assigned to investigate the fisheries of the Hawaiian Islands. This project, part of a larger study of the aquatic resources of the Islands, was led by Barton Warren Evermann (1853-1932), a noted ichthyologist for the Fish Commission. The trip lasted nearly 3 months as Cobb canvassed the commercial and "native" fisheries of the Islands, after which Cobb was directed to proceed to Stanford University, Calif., to help finish the report on the investigations. (9) A major publication resulted from this program (Jordan and Evermann, 1902) and Cobb authored a chapter in it (Cobb, 1902). This expedition put him in contact with the leading ichthyologist of the era, David Starr Jordan (1851-1930) (10), the President of Stanford University, a connection that was to serve him well later. (11)

Cobb was directed by the Bureau of Fisheries to return to Hawaii in early 1904 where he compiled catch statistics collected in 1903 so as to compare them to those collected in 1901. The fisheries statistics he collected in the Islands resulted in a paper, The Commercial Fisheries of Hawaii, which was published by the Bureau (Cobb, 1905).

In 1904 Cobb began to lobby the Bureau of Fisheries for a position in Alaska. He asked Dr. Jordan to write a letter in support of his request to become a Field Agent in that territory. (12) Cobb obtained the desired position in February 1905, and his appointment as "Assistant Agent" paid $200 per month. (13) Still based in Washington, D.C., Cobb traveled to Alaska each summer to observe the commercial salmon fisheries and to collect catch statistics. He was apparently a conscientious worker and was known for his aggressive enforcement of fishery regulations. (14) Additionally, Cobb was writing books and reports about fisheries. These included annual reports from 1905 to 1910 on the fisheries of Alaska (e.g. Cobb, 1907: Marsh and Cobb, 191l) and a book, "The Salmon Fisheries of the Pacific Coast" (Cobb, 1911). (15)

By early 1911, Cobb was eager for a transfer from Washington, D.C., to the west coast. In March of that year he wrote George Mead Bowers (1863-1925), Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, asking to be transferred to Seattle. (16) His request was denied, so Cobb turned to the private sector for employment. On 5 March 1912, Cobb wrote again to Commissioner Bowers, this time tendering his resignation:

"Feeling that there is little, if any, opportunity in the Bureau for the advancement of an economic man, and having received an excellent offer from the Union Fish Company of San Francisco, I have decided to resign my office in the Bureau in order to accept the new position, and herewith enclose my resignation." (17)

Cobb thus left the employ of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to pursue greener paths. He never worked for the Bureau again, but he was always interested in returning if an attractive position became available.

Ventures into the Commercial Realm: Cobb as "Canneryman" and Editor

Cobb joined the Union Fish Company in San Francisco in the spring of 1912 in a management position at a considerable increase in salary. The company fished for Pacific cod in Alaska, and Cobb traveled north on the company boats, the Union Jack in 1912 and the Sequoia in 1913, operating out of Sand Point and Unga, Alaska. (18) Cobb's experience with the Union Fish Company was not satisfactory, as he apparently was not granted the freedom to manage as he had hoped, and he left the company in November 1913 on good terms. (19)

Cobb sought to improve his position, as he continually did, and in November 1913 the commercial fishing trade magazine Pacific Fisherman (Fig. 4) based in Seattle, hired him, though at a significantly lower salary than that paid by the Union Fish Company. In his letter of acceptance, Cobb agreed to move to Seattle about 15 November 1913 and to accept a salary of $40 a week "for the present." His salary at the Union Fish Company was $200 a month. (20) This monthly publication was the preeminent voice for the fishing industry of the west coast. He was hired as the editor of the publication and his particular experience in fisheries for the Bureau of Fisheries and the Union Fish Company brought rare skills to the magazine. The owner of the periodical, Legh Miller Freeman (1875-1955), became a power in the commercial fisheries industry and in fisheries conservation efforts. The Pacific Fisherman was a large format magazine devoted to all aspects of the fishing industry on the west coast. It paid particular attention to fishing developments in Alaska, and Cobb's experience in that territory was likely valuable to the magazine. (21)

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Cobb remained with the magazine for 4 years. During this period he established himself as an informed observer of the commercial fishing and fisheries scenes. As editor, Cobb most likely had wide latitude over what was published in the journal. He wrote articles that appeared in the journal under his byline, such as "Utilizing waste products in the salmon industry" (Cobb, 1913), and "New methods in Pacific coast fisheries" (Cobb, 1915a). Cobb reviewed "The future of Alaska's fisheries" in the journal's Alaska Fisheries Number in 1914 (Cobb, 1914a) and wrote about Pacific coast fishing methods in the journal's 1916 annual yearbook number (Cobb, 1916c).

Cobb also wrote for the scientific world, publishing in professional journals. An example of the latter includes "Pacific halibut fishery declining" (Cobb, 1915c), published in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. During his years with the periodical he published one book Pacific Cod Fisheries (Cobb, 1916b), a revised edition of which was issued in 1927, and in 1917 he published a revised version of his book, Pacific Salmon Fisheries (Cobb, 1917). (22)

Cobb helped found the Pacific Fisheries Society in Seattle in 1914. Patterned after the American Fisheries Society, the new organization was directed toward the interests of fisheries workers, mainly scientific but also for members of the commercial industry, of the U.S. west coast (Anonymous, 1914a, d). The Society produced an annual publication, at least in 1914 and 1915, titled Transactions of the Pacific Fisheries Society (with Cobb as editor and publisher), in which Cobb published articles (e.g. Cobb 1915b, 1916a). Cobb was Secretary of the organization in 1914-15 and President in 1921 and 1923. Active membership in this new organization enabled Cobb to meet and to socialize with the leading men in both the scientific and commercial aspects of the Pacific coast fisheries (Fig. 5). (23)

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Although successful as an editor, Cobb entertained visions of returning to work for the Bureau of Fisheries. In May 1914, the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries Commissioner Hugh McCormick Smith telegraphed Cobb asking whether or not he could take a temporary job with the Bureau to investigate salmon fishing conditions in Siberia. Cobb was apparently unable to accept the offer, likely due to his current job. However, he wrote to Smith indicating his interest in heading the Seattle office of the agency. Smith offered Cobb the requested position in November 1914 and asked when he might begin work. Cobb responded, the "quicker the better." (24) Cobb was advised by an official of the Bureau, however, that the Secretary of Commerce, William Cox Redfield (1858-1932), was "opposed to the appointment of any person connected with a trade journal or with any fishing company or organization." (25) Cobb then withdrew his name from consideration to avoid embarrassment for Commissioner Smith. (26)

Cobb, in early 1916, was then offered a position as General Superintendent with the Alaska Packers Association (APA) of San Francisco, Calif., at a salary nearly twice what he was receiving from the Pacific Fisherman. The Association was the largest and most influential commercial fishing enterprise in Alaska (Cooley, 1963). At that time APA operated the most fishing boats, employed the most workers, and canned the most salmon of any Alaska cannery. Cobb considered the potential of the position but, at the same time, longed for a return to the Bureau of Fisheries. A position with the latter agency was not forthcoming and, by the time Cobb responded affirmatively to the company, the position at APA had been filled. The position again became available in early 1917 and this time Cobb accepted the offer. Cobb signed a 5-year contract with APA to begin work on 29 January 1917. The terms of the contract allowed Cobb to resign his position within five years if the management of APA, to whom he was reporting, changed during his employment with the firm. (27) Cobb resigned from the Pacific Fisherman on 26 January 1917 to accept the position with APA. (28) His move to APA seemed part of Iris continuous desire to improve his status, economic and otherwise.

During the salmon fishing season in Alaska in the summers of 1917 and 1918, Cobb traveled north to visit the various APA concerns. His work involved inspecting the working and sanitary conditions in the canneries. Because of his previous work in Alaska with the Bureau of Fisheries, Cobb was familiar with most of the APA packing operations there. (29)

Cobb was apparently satisfied with his work with APA, but he again sought another position of advancement. Cobb's experience in the fisheries of Alaska, his former position at the Pacific Fisherman, and his involvement with the Pacific Fisheries Society...