The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1899-08-05

lULE COUNTY, SOU
COLUMBIA RIVER SALMON.
How the Fish Arc, Caught ana
Canned For Market. A Visit
To the Sea-coasl.
NUMBER 4.
From my earliest years have wished
! to visit the Columbia river and see them
catch salmon and more than likely take
a hand IN the sport myself. This evil
IDENTIFY, because of my love for the sport
the rod and reel brings when in contest
with any game tish OF the waters of any
land and because confounded the sal
mon with hls cousin Of the cold, rapid
streams OF Canada and the far north.
As matter of fact, however. the catch
ing Of salmon in the Columbia river is
mere matter Of dollars and cents and
to such an extent that it is doubtful if
the most ardent disciple OF the gentle
Isaac Walton ever casts bait for this
lordly fisl, "where rolls the Oregon"
Anyhow, after one had hooked and land
ed salmon Of average size from the
Columbia river he would not seek more
| fish TO conquer for some few days to
come. learned, too, that there are
salmon and salmon, as there are varieties
Of the bass and pike families. -Four
kinds o. salmon swim up the Columbia
and they vary greatly in value as food
fish of commerce. The royal chinook is
the finest salmon known to the trade
and found only in the Columbia river.
Its average weight is 25 pounds, its COM
mon weight 65 pounds and its extra size
So pounds. We saw a great many Of
them above so pounds. The average
weight of the steelhead salmon is 10
pounds, largest weight 30; Of the silver
sides pounds and of the blueback AZ;
largest size OF the latter 10 pounds.
The fishermen get from4 to 6 cents
per pound for tho chinooks and others.
When We were there 5 cents was the
average price. They told us that we
poor miserable sinners here never got
taste Of canned chinook salmon. but
that practically all Of the salmon sold
hereabouts was put up in Alaska. The
best salmon sells at the canneries at 1919
cents a can by the car lot. One OF the
largest canneries visited sold its entire
product to London concern.
We saw the salmon in all stages Of its
existence and nonexistence-swjm
gracefully III the water, in the exas-
perating fish-wheel, pulled out Of Its
native element in gill nets, in the hands
of the stole Chinaman with his merc;less
knife and finally dead as dead can be in
/ the little cans Of commerce. 1t was a
great sight, about as interesting one
as we saw on the trip.
They have two ways OF catching sal
mon, by Gsh-wheels and gillnets, though
far the greater part Of the business is
carried on with nets, as the mouth Of the
Columbia is wide and the water free ia
everybody, while the fishwheel must be
located on shore near rapids where
ownership is necessary. Some
thing ike 6,O00 persons are engaged in
the fishing business along the lower
Columbia, either as fishermen or in the
canning business. The catch Of raw
salmon alone in 1898 amounted to the
enormous amount of 35,00O,O0O pounds
valusd at nearly two and half million
dollars. The gill net fishing at the
mouth of the river Is carried on by per.
haps 1900 fishermen, who go out nights
in their little sail boats and come in
mornings with their catch. When the
ebb tide is strong some Of them never
come iu, but are carried out to sea anf
never again heard from. But when thu
run is good the business is very profit
able and they take great risks. Tht
boatmen set out their nets with buo.
at one end and the other end secured tt
the boat and either anchor or float about
We saw two OF them unload their night
catch one morning for which the.
received sl2 and Sl4 each, which wa
J not by any means a big catch.
, The fish-wheels are by all odds til
most interesting sights to be seen alonI
| the river. As stated they are placed at tn
: foot Of rapids and perhaps 90 to so fee
7 out in the river, depending upon til
!. formation of the shore and depth an
| speed of the rapids. The wheels ar
t about fifteen feet in diameter. wit
s blades about five or six feet long, tn
i, whole constructed upon the same genel
al plan Of an 0vershot wheel. The whet
is covered with woven wire and set j
n the water so that the current turns i
9 Tho salmon in trying to get up the rive
4 enter the wheel and once in cannot escal
l. only into large box under the platform
# where once in they are safe and secnr
J. In order to more effectively steer II
# fish to the wheel, leads made OF logs an
Il piling are run out into the river I'll
.. wheel once started is automatic In i
v workings, requiring no attention as Ion
h as there is room for the fish in the bo,
and the catch from them is sometime
enormous. The entire train-load Of 3;
n people piled out OF the cars comir
4 down the Columbia to see one Of the
10 wheels in operation, and the great pi
"a |of salmon, a big wagon load Of the
-e under the trap door, Hopping aroun
O immense forty and fifty pound fellow
,,x manv OF them, was one Of the eye-opene
n of the journey. This same wheel hi
p already caught and sent toa near
d cannery that day five ton of the fs
10 One wheel was pointed out to us tn
had record OF 81 ton in "a hours. viii
nt at cents per pound would mean oy
4d $4,000. But this Of course was an exec
tv tional catch and an exceptional run
"a salmon. The places along tile ri,
"a where wheel can be successfully op
Ia. = ks,,.I. r..