St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-14
FISHING WITH THE SALMON.
The LATEST Scheme Ever Invent
ed for Capturing the Finny


Tribe.
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 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 underShot wheel, with the
buckets turned the wrong way about.
This is set in high, narrow fiume near
the bank of the river, where the cur
rent is very swift. From the down.
stream end of this fume, extending out
ward at an angle of forty-ive degrees,
are two upright fences, formed by pick
cts driven closely together into the bot
tom OF the river, and wired to keep
them from washing away. Just above
the wheel (which is some ten feet in
dian.eter), at the upstream end, is a
platform, from which a boX-fiume run
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 by millions. The stream is very
deep, and large percentage always
succeed in getting to the breeding
"
running up river they are constantly
which to spawn. Also, where the cur
rent is.very swift they are unable to
make Roadway in the center of the
stream, and consequently seek the more
quiet water near the bank. OF these,
two instincts the inventor of the fish
wheel took mean advantage. AT the
Cascades, for instance, where the water
is very swift, he sets his wheel. Here
comes the fish, hugging the bank by
acknowledgement black fellows, from
two to four feet long, heading reSolutely
up stream. Nothing can turn them
backward. That wonderful instinct of
nature which insureS the preserva-
ton of species is nowhere better devel-
Oped than in salmon. Now they are
just below that widespread fence. The
current, which is rushing through the
fumes and turning the big wheel at a
lively pace, attracts their attention. The
upper fence, which sets nearly square
across the stream. makes quiet water
here, and this flow seems to come from
the bank. This, to the salmon's mind,
is evidently the mouth of shallow
creek. Here is a spawning ground to
our liking, and up this little stream we
go. So they crowd up between the two
narrowing fences toward the fatal
wheel. The first fish reaches it, goes
with rush to overcome the current. is
caught by bucket, and up he goes high
in the air, while every bucket brings up
another and another, till there is pro-
cesSiOn of ascending fish. At the top
the velocity throws the fish violently
upon the platform, from which he
shoots down the flume to a great
tank on the shore. Here come the fish,
crOwding each other forward to that
busy wheel. None can go under or to
one side. None will go back. And
once school starts for wheel. the
owner can consider that he has title
deed to the entire lot.
One wheel will run cannery. Day
and night, while the run lasts. they
come flying up the wheel and shooting
Fortunately there are but few places on
the river where the wheels can be placed
with this result. Where the fish can
keep in the middle of the river few can
be caught this way. But the men who
control these points are making for
tunes. AS it is salmon are rapidly dis
appearing from the Columbia. Many
canneries are idle this season, and the
fShermen'S price per fish is rising every
year. Surely this engine of destruction
is largely the cause.
From statistics published by an En-
glish paper it appears that the crop of
apples in Great Britain averages $1,000
tons, valued at $40 per ten: about 49,
100000 gallons of cider are made yearly.
The production of cider in France aver
ages 900, 100000 gallons. The orchards
of Great Britain cover 10000 acres: an
acre with forty good apple trees will
produce 1000 gallons of cider. Nine
hundred thousand barrels of apples are
imported yearly from the United States
and Canada.