The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1894-07-06
FISH WHEELS.
Continued from First Page.l

being given, ne Threw tHe pOie ohe
hauled in a magnificent thirty-foui
pound fish. Four Of us had to hell
him land 1t. His war the largest salm'
on that has been caught on the Upper
Columbia this year. Half a mile further
up, where the river races in a hundred
w~hirlpools round every object In Its
course, is ]. A. Hamilton's INC. L
stationary wheel. This Is the best wheel
now working In the vicinity, and Its
catch records of the past week surpass
anything ever before known in the his
tory Of the salmon industry. Its daily
average take for the last seven days
has been twenty-seven tons, and yes
terday 1t got in forty-six ton of blue
backs and then was compelled to shut
down simply from inability to handle
any more fish. 1t is n Of the sights
Of the locality, indeed a sight almost as
interesting as the lock work itself, to
watch this wheel, without the aid of
man or machinery, simply, as 1t seems
when you are looking at it, of its W
volltion, turning its scoops in a steady
series Of revolutions, and as every drip
ping net comes up from the rushing
river below, bringing in its bosom seven
or eight kicking, jumping fish that In a
moment are thrown on top Of a strug-
Cling mass Of their own kin, and In the
next moment lie themselves buried UNI
der another batch Of s%quirming, fright
ened salmon. At each turn this grim,
silent workman brings more grist TO his
mill. Its owner can lie calmly in his
little hut at the further end of the crib
and know that as long as the river
runs his faithful henchman outside VIII
keep at his task, never tagging or shirk-
ing. No knocking off for a smokes not.
ever a spell for breakfast or dinner, but
only staying its monotonous whirl when
he gets up lazily from his bunk and
pulls 1t out Of the water, because the
crib wont hold any more fish. An ideal
servant, indeed!
w. j. Hamilton, the brother of the
owner OF this co%ntrivance, and himself
largely interested in several other
wheels, told me that allowing a fair in
crease over last year in the run of
salmon, and a fair ratio of loss by
the destruction Of gear, he would
place the total up-river pack at just
one-half Of what 1t was last season,
and added that this decrease would be
solely caused by the great shortage of
wheels. He agrees with most of the
others that l interviewed in saying that
had there been no loss of apparatus
the up-river pack this year would have
been the largest ever known. The losses
of the Hamiltons total $4,000.
Between the Cascade locks are The
Dalles for the whole fifty mile stretch
there is no fishing gear worth noticing,
but in the region Of The Dalles itself
there Is a regular army Of wheels, and
the industry Is here seen at probably
It's busiest point. The principal owners
are Everding & Farrell, Winans Bros,
Cram, and Soufert Bros, all well
known names in the cannery world.
When | approached Mr.. Farrell he was
glad that a newspaper had taken sufl-
rlent interest in the welfare Of the in
to determine to secure a full
statement OF the results the flood had
had on It, and did not hesitate to give
everything at his disposal. He said
hau six fine stationary wheels on
he Washington side Just above The
Dalles, and all of them are completely
Knocked out. Until the food came there
we're no fish, and as soon as II did come
III our gear was taken clear away. Our
oss includes two new wheels Just erect
ID this season, and you can put the
down at $685. 900 roughly, though
guess they will exceed that before we
iet through, Before we can recover
ourselves our pack will be fully half
hort, and | suppose that this will be
the proportion on the whole upper
liver, Our dip nets have been so far
Useless, simply because the river Is
till over the tops of the stands. Our
ack last season was $4,000 cases. and
nth a week ago we had not a a s of
almon put up Everding X Farrelrs
annery has a very large capacity. and
lready several offers have been re-
eived to supply them with fish, but Mr..
ariel told me, TITS too early yet for
$ to say what we are going to do. /
mt let you know any more than the
IAN In the moon, Every effort possible {
MS OF course made to save our Wheels,
nd we had big gangs of men working
light and day trying to strengthen their
'undations, but In the middle of 1t a !
tree or part of a bridge would
weep down and hurl the whole thingl
ling away like chan all over the river.
NY, enormous stones in the crib work
some OF ~ wheels were just taken :
nd slung around like pieces OF torn
lper. You can have no idea of thel
rec OF the current when the river was
It's worst This that you see now
far worse than | ever experienced
but what It was two weeks ago
indiscrIbahle." In
Winans Bros. were a month ago thel
vners Of six expensive stationary
heels and n scow wheel. Now they
nothing. All their s~tationaries arel
spilnters scattered between The
alles and tho ocean. and their scow "a
hung up In a tree on a farm some
here in wasco county. Their loss isl
$500 without estimating their total T
for the season, which would