The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-11-20
Text of the Petition OF the Fish.
ermen's Union to the Sec.
retary OF War.
REASONS ARE SET FORTH
Claimed That Use of FIXED Appli.
ances l. Shoaling thG River
and Interfering With In
dividual Rights. \


sented to the secretary. q war asking
that further permits Cor the consirue-
tion OF traps and other liked appliances
for catching salmon be not granted is
as follows:
Astoria. Nov. i2.-To the Secretarv %
War of the United States-Your peu-
Sioners respectfully request ,ha, here
after no permits be issui ucnsinE or
after no permits be issued EcsnsinE or
welrs or pound nets outside OF the har-
bor lines within the waters of The Co
iumhla river: and. We respectfully as
sign the following reasons in support
u this petition;
As such welrs or pound ne.s are con-
structei by driving piles In the bed Of
the rivers IN rows several hundred feet
long and stretching webs. ropes and
lines thereon. they Cirstl are Obstruc-
tons 20 navigation ani (seoond) they
form shoals IN water, o. the immediate
vicinity OF ths sac oy causing depos-
its OF The sli; brought down stream ov
the currents flowing against them. and
tthlri) they interfere with and pre-
vent drifting IN such waters with gill;
nets attending boats and accordingly
lmi, or destroy the public or Common
right of fishery. and fourth thev en-
danger the lives as well as the proD-
erty OF g.nnet fishermen who necessar-
Hy do large part of their drifting
AZ night and are frequently carried bv
the currents against such obstructicns.
We respectfully submi, that the det-
rlmental effec.s of such fixed appli-
ances in navigable waters is now more
fully recognized than It was a few
YEARS ago and that the tendency n
legislation Is toward ab0lishing such aD-
pllances although already constructed
as well as preventing construction u
new appliances of the kind. Thus. 10
refer only to the Pacific coast fisheries.
the use " such appliances is pron!bited
IN Alaska. in British Columbia. in Cal
iforn.a. ana is prohibited in Oregon as
to an streams except the Columbia
river.
While at the last session Il the legis-
lature Of Oregon there was a failure %
abolish such fixed appliances from the
waters o. the Columbia river An Illus
tration OF the recognition by that
body OF he detrimental effects Of sucn
appliances IS found in the fact That /
although a great many thousand dol !
lars worth OF property in the form 0f I
such appliances alr-Gdv constructed and I
owned would have been lost 20 the I
owners bv the proposed action both .
branches Of the Legislature by decided .
maiorities voied u abolish such aDDl.- .
ances altogether. and the failure 1f the .
legislature 70 abolish all su.n a7ull- .
ances resulted only from one branch .
thereof receding from its action on .
consideration o, its vote solely IN .
view of serious loss in r. 1srty that
would he visited on the owners of tle .
Weirs. pound nets and other fxHl 3p-
planes that had already ben con-
s,ruct under the laws permitting the
construction of The same. While the
fixed appliances already IN ta- waters
Of the Columbia river have BEEN only
permitted to remain there b cause th-v
could not b. removed without the drs-
truct'on of heavy prop srty inter SIS.
the detrimental and destructive effects
that would result from an increase in .
tn. number 10 such w-rs and trans
can easily be avoided by declining to
give furtb-r N9enses or permits FOR
the constitution Of the SAM and bv
such a course no property right viii
be lnterfere1 with and no D.rs1n will
be injured or d.sc1mmOdsd, as the ao-
pIications foresuch permits ar always
made before the appliances are con-
structed
Tha, such weirs and traps are OBJ
srrue.i1n to navigation Is too NANTES.
q admit q argument THY are al
ways seys-ll hundred feet in length.
are constructed In navigable water. and
steamers and Other bJats always have
20 20 round them because Il Is lmpos-
sihle 10 pass through them. That they
cause shoals 20 form in the vicinity
thereof Is also manifest. The greater
number Of these ObstructiOns are in I
Bakers bay. between sand Island and
the Washington shore Of the Columbia
river. within a few mil=s If the mouth
thereof There. where the weirs are
found the thickest was once the main
channel Of the river and now an or
binary river steamer can only travel |
at places there upon the tides. al
though OCEAN steamers once could pass
to the north Of Sand Island without
difficulty The fact that the piles drlv-
en- in the waters Of this river will
cause the sit to be deposited IN the
bed thereof and shoals b be formed
is recognized and acted upon by seiners
and others in building up" sands for
seining grounds and other purposes
The island Of sand opposite OF near
Washington. and generally
known as divers sands. was largely
built up by such use Of piles and the
island known as "Kereage's Sands"
and in the same vicinity was being
built up and extended bv the owner