The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1894-07-06

ested both in wheels and dip nets Be-
yond this point is Mr.. /. H. Taffe, who
conducts very extensive business. and
who, up to this year supplied a number
Of the cannerymen with fish from his
various snaring paraphernalia.
l visited Mr.. John McGowan on my
way. up the river. and he very gladly
put me in possession of all the facts at
his disposal. p ]. MCGOWAN & Sons
lost two stationary wheels by the Hood
and the lead to q third was completely
washed out. The firm now have in
operation one scow wheel and one sta
tionary wheel, and up to date have
packed 9,2OO cases of fish. Mr.. Nc
Gowan IN his conversation said. .'Our
stationary wheel is sending In about
one and one-half tons OF fish day, ana
we get about 1900 pounds a day from
the scow wheel. In addition to this, We
have among our present source Of sup
ply seventy drift nets which are re-
sponsible for about twenty-five tons a
day, Two scow wheels in the rapids,
owned by private parties, are also send-
ing us In fish occasionally. At rough
calculation l would say that our can
nery's pack this year will be about one
third short Of that Of last season, diff
ference or course brought about by the
loss Of the best part Of the apparatus
and the damage to our machinery The
run Of bluebacks has been marvellous.
never saw anything like 1t. and, as
you can see for yourself the river Is
still swimming with fish. They are ex-
ceptionally large. We haven't got one
single wheel in good shape. If we had
even one In fair running order 1t would
more than fill our capacity, and had
there been no flood we would have been
compelled to pull up some OF the wheels
and have them lie idle"
Mr.. Frank M. Warren, whose cannerv
is located about three miles above Me-
Gowan's, has been one of the heaviest
losers on the Upper Columbia, and right
alongside him are several other owners
Of apparatus who have also suffered
considerably. Warren has two station-
ary and one scow wheel DESTROYED on
the Washington side OF the river and
two stationary wheels broken to pieces
on the Oregon side. These two latter
were probably the finest and most ex-
pensive wheels in the world, costing
something like $500 each to erect. Their
cribs were 40 feet long, 10 feet deep, and
2l feet wide, built Of 5xS inch tlmbers
and filled with solid masonry cemented
together at every crevice Every yestige
Of both these foundations has been car
ried away by the current and scattered,
rock and lal, over the land on both
sides: Mr.. Warren said to me- Il have
never before seen the upper river 90
full Of fish. We have two wheels rum
ming, but neither Of them Is working
properly. II we had all our apparatus
at work, that is IL none OF II had been
destroyed by the food we would have
been able this year to have caught
enous5 salmon to supply every cannery
In Astoria. My shortage Of pack to
date in comparison with last years OPP
eratlons is about 1000 cases, but II this
phenomenal run Of bluebacks keeps ON
much longer / win be able to put up
very nearly an ordinary pack by the
end OF the season. Mr.. Warren esti-
mates his loss through the destruction
OF property, at close on $4,000. He ex-
pressed his sincere sympathy with Mr..
Kinney in his trouble and hoped that he
would goon recover himself again and
retrieve his fallen fortunes. In fact,
every canneryman that met on the
Upper river had time to turn from his
own losses to say a kindly word on the
same subject, and their regrets were,
am certain. thoroughly genuine.
Close to Warrens cannery were the
two fine stationary wheels owned BY
Dodson q Co.. both Of which have been
torn to pieces and with their founda-
tions swept down towards Vancouver.
Hamilton & Tozier had a scow wheel
In the immediate vicinity, and this, too,
wenb by the board. George II. Steven
son ana w. j. Hamilton each lost q new
scow wheel at this point.
At the Lower Cascades, right where
the rapids boil and tumble most fur
iousIy, after throwing the water several
feet high, are two dip net stands owned
by George II. Stevenson and operated
principally by Indians Here hundreds
Of passengers from the various steamers
congregate every day while waiting for
the unloading Of freight. and watch
with Interest," the process OF dip net
fishing At every sweep Of the arm a.
five and sometimes seven pound blue
back is thrown up from the boiling
torrent. and yesterday / saw two ana
three Of these fish in the net at the
same time. Chinook salmon are very
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