The Savannah tribune. [volume] (Savannah [Ga.]) 1876-1960, 1888-11-10
THE SALMON WHEEL.
Enicacious but Shortsighted Meth
cd of Wholesale Fishing.

cd of Wholesale Fishing.
The man who invented the Columbia
river salmon wheel was a genius. The
LATEST fisherman who ever baited hook
could ask no easier way of landing o
fish. And only the fact that it can only
be used at certain points on the stream
prevents this machine from exterminat-
ing the salmon in one season. Imagine
common understood wheel, with the
buckets turned the wrong way about.
This is set in high narrow hume, near
the bank of the river where the current
!. Is very swift. From the down stream
end of the fume, extended outward at
an angle of 45 degrees, are two upright
! fences formed by pockets driven closely
J together into the bottom of the river and
1 wired to keep them from washing away.
\ just above the wheel, (Which is some 10
feet in diameter) at the upstream end,
! is platform, from which box fume
1 runs to the shore.
Now let US see how it works. When
the salmon are running, as everybody
knows, they come up in the Columbia
river in millions. The stream is very
i deep, and O large percentage always sue
& coed in getting to the breeding grounds
4 an safety. When salmon are running
up river they are constantly on the
lookout for small streams in which to
spawn. Also where the current is very
swift they are unable to make Roadway
7 In the centre of the stream, and conse-
] quently seek the more quiet water near
i the bank. OF these two instincts the
inventor of the fish wheel took mean
advantage. At the Cascades, for in
stance, where the water is very swift, he
j sets his wheel. Here come the fish,
I hugging the bank by acknowledgement
black fellows, from 2 to feet long,
heading resolutely up stream. Nothing
can turn them backward. That wonder
full instinct of nature which insures the
preservation of species, is nowhere better
|, developed than in salmon. But III
this instance it proves his destruction.
Now they are just below that
widespread fence. The current
which is rushing through the fume
and turning the big wheel OF q lively
I pace attracts their attention. The up
per fence, which sets nearly square
! across the stream, makes quiet water
/ here, and this flow seems to come from
1 the bank. This, to the salmon's mind
! is evidently the mouth of o shallow
I creek. Here is spawning ground to
i our liking, and up this little stream We
i go. So they crowd up between the two
narrowing fences towards the fatal wheel.
i The first fish reaches it goes with rush
j 10 overcome the current, is caught by
4 bucket, and up he goes high In the air,
4 while every bucket brings up another
= and another, till there is procession of
eag ascending fish. At the top the velocity
throws the fish violently upon the plat
,l form, from which he shoots down the
p fume to great tank on the shore. Here
3 come the fish erowding each other for
ward to that busy wheel. None can go
under nor to one side. None will go
back. And once school starts for
T wheel the owner can consider that he
has title deed to the entire lot.
One wheel viii run cannery. Day
and night, while the run lasts, they
come flying up the wheel and shooting
down the hume in q continuous stream.
Fortunately there are but few places on
the river where the wheels can be work
ed with this result. Where the fish can
keep in the middle of the river few can
be caught in this way. But the men
who control these points are making
fortunes. AS it is, salmon are rapidly
disappearing from the Columbia. Many
canneries are idle this season, and the
Il dshermen's price per fish is rising every
year. Surely this engine of destruction
Is largely the cause. -LiUermOre Herald.
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