Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1888-11-03
THE SALMON WHEEL.

How Columbia Rivers Finng Inhabitants
Are Being Differentiated.
The man who invented the Column
bia river salmon wheel was a genius.
The LATEST fisherman who ever baited
hook could ask no easier way OF
landing a fish. And only the fact that
it can only be used at certain points ON
the stream prevents this machine from
discriminating the salmon in one sea-
son. Imagine a common undershot
wheel with the buckets turned the
wrong way about This is set in a
high, narrow fiume near the bank Of
the river where the current is very
swift From the downstream end Of
the fume, extended outward at an
angle of forty-fve degrees, are two
upright fences formed by pickets
driven closely together into the bottom
Of the river, and wired to keep them
from washing away. just above the
Wheel (Which is some ten feet in diam
eter), at the upstream end, is a plat
form, from which box-aume runs to
the shore.
/ Now let us see how it works. When
the salmon are running, as every body
knows, they come up in the Columbia
river by millions. The stream Is very
deep and huge percentage always
succeed in getting to the breeding
grounds in safety. When salmon are
running up a river they are constantly
on the lookout for small streams in
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
come the fish, hugging the bank by
thousands-great black fellows, from
two to four feet long, heading reso-
lutely up stream. Nothing can turn
them backward The wonderful in
stinct of nature which insures the
preservation of species is nowhere
better developed than in a salmon.
But in this instance it proves
his destruction Now they are just be-
low that widespread fence. The cur
rent which is rushing through the
fume and turning the big wheel at 0
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 tho bank. This, TO a salmon's
mind, is evidently the mouth of shall
low 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 to the fatal
wheel. The first fish reaches it, goe:
with rush to overcome the current
is caught by a bucket and up he goes
high in the air, while every buckle
brings up another and another, till
ehChO 10 q BAOOCoD4On Va ooCDhuLllB lolts
At the top the velocity throws the fish
violently upon the platform, from
which he shoots down the aumt
to a great tank on the shore,
Here come the fish crowding
each other forward to thai
busy wheel. None can go under MOI
to one side. None will go back, An,
once school starts for a wheel tn,
owner oan consider that he has a title
deed to the entire lot.
One wheel will run a 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
worked with this result Where tn
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 Co
lumbIa. Many canneries arc idle thi
season, and the fishermen's price PEI
fish is rising every year. Surely thi
engine Of destruction is largely tn
cause, -LiUernl0Te Herald,