Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-29
CANNING Or SALMON
Methods of a Great North
western Industry.
1T
USING THE FISH WHEEL
EMPLOYMENT OF WE1Rs, NETS
AND sEINEs.
Permanent Traps Located in Puget
sound-The Operations
in Factory.
USING THE FISH WHEEL
By WILLIAM E. CURTIS.


Written for The Evening Star and Chicago Record
| Herald.
| 1t is a good deal of a job to catch 10000
fish day, especially If those fish weigh
| from eight to sixty pounds each. 1t is even
| more of job to catch 10000, but that has
| often been done. and. according to the
| truthful gentleman who explained things to
NE out a. Belingham, Wash, last fall, the
| biggest catch ever known on a single day,
| by single gang of men, was $1,000 fish.
| More than 10, 600 salmon have been caught
| by single fish wheel on the Columbia
| river in a single day, and all the boss did
| Was to lie in his bunk and listen to the fish
! falling into his scows, three or four every
| second like hail.
| The salmon season IS short and If the
| Gamers and fishermen are going to get the
| best of It they nave to hustle 1 saw 80, 900
| fish spread out On the floor of the Pacific
| American cannery at Bellingham one day,
and the next day saw 10000, weighing all
| the way from five to fifty pounds each That
| cannery can handle 10000 fish a day with
! twC shifts, but the men and women can
| Wcrk only so long because their hands get
| sore. Salmon packers this year are paid
| 81 10 per 1000 cans, and quick-fingered, eX-
| perlenced hands can put up 600 cans a day.
| Soth the fishing and the canning are very
| interesting. There are various methods of
| come OF IneW were N use by the
! niltutOred savage as long ago 1902, when
| Vancouver was cruising around that way.
| The same methods are used now, only the
| Indians made their nets of withes of young
| cedar ana their ropes of willow bark in
stead OF Cordage and steel wire
The Use Of the Fish Wheel.
The most interesting method of fishing
| is the whee, used on the Columbia and
ether rivers, for it does it's business like
| alaiE elevator, or scoop dredge and actu-
ally pumps the fish out of the water. All
! salmon, as l told you in a recent letter. go
| TO the headwaters of rivers to spawn and
nothing but wheels and traps can prevent
them from doing SO. Their determination
niakeS them easy game 20
Inc fsh wheel is usually placed in the
| rapids of river so that there may be as
| much power as possible to turn it. A dam is
| built and wheel from five to fifteen feet in
WIDTH and from ten to thirty feet in diam
| eter, like an ordinary mill Wheel is located
between abutments To its blades are at
| tached dlp-nets made of galvanized iron
netting, and as the wheel is placed in the
| force of the current it revolves continually
night and day. according to the force of the
water. Every time it revolves it scoops
| up from to a dozen of the salmon that
are eagerly crowding each other up against
the dam in their efforts to go farther
| toward the source of the stream. AS the
wheel turns it dumps its load automatically
| into chutes on either side, arranged so that
| the HSn Will SIlOe Dy tnelr own weight INTO
| fiatboats that are waiting for them. These
| boats will hold five or six thousand full-sized
| fish, and as fastSas they are filled they are
| towed to the eannery. Night and day,
| from the beginning of the season to the
end, there is a struggling mass of fish below
| the dam, and the remorseless wheel picks
| them up by the dozen every time Ii re-
| wolves. $50 -'f
A wheel at the cascades of the Columbia
| river has caught more fish than any other.
| 1t has been running since 1879 and has
| earned millions of dollars. There are be-
| tween thirty and forty similar wheels on
| the Columbia, with twenty or more scoW
| wheels, as they are called, built In SINH
! lar manner, but attached to big nat boats
| that can be moved from place to place, ac-
cording as the fish are running. These
| wheels throw the fish over into the bottom
! of the scow from which they are shoveled
| out into iatboats.
Employment of Weirs, Nets and SeiErs
| Wooden and wickerwork weirs have al
| ways been employed on the rivers by the
| Indians They are used to fence off part
| of the channel, and when fish enters one
of those innocent-looking places his case
| is hopeless. The leaders or tunnels,
| as they are sometimes called, run up stream
| 800 or 600 yards, growing narrower and
| narrower until they finally terminate in
| a row of traps, which are wide enough
| for the fish to go through easily, but are
| too narrow for them to come back 1t Is
! like the ordinary trap that is used TOR rats,
| mice and other animals.
| Nets of all kinds are used Seine fishing
| is carried upon the bars at the mouths
of the rivers ana along the coast, and In
dams and other poor folks without capital
| make a living with ordinary dip nets when
| the salmon are running. They build rude
platforms from the banks out into the riv-
ers, upon which they stand and sweep their
nets through the water as far as they can
| reach. Sometimes they catch several hun
dred pounds day when the salmon are
running plentiful, but it is very hard work
| Usually the dip-netters carry their fish
to the canneries on their backs or in wag-
ons, or hire squaws who can pack 100
| pounds at a load. If the cannery is down
| stream and conveniently located they have
an ingenious device for saving labor. They
tie their salmon in punches, attach them
to casks, and float them down. Each fisher
man has casks painted of different color,
so that the men who are patrolling the rlv-
er alongside of the cannery for that pur-
pose can keep tally as they pick them up.
| Thousands of pounds of fish are f1oated
| down the rivers in that way every day
during the season.
Traps Used in Puget Sound.
All of these methods are used in the
rivers but in Puget sound and along the
coast permanent traps are located to take
advantage of the habits of the fish, which
are well understood The ordinary trap is
stationary and consists of wire or cordage
are usually set at right angles with the
beach, and near the mouths of rivers, vary
ing according to local conditions, such as
the currents tides and depth of water. The
fish invariably strike for the shore and then
follow the shore line until they come to a
river. They run in great schools, and never
turn. This stubborn determination is of the
greatest advantage to the fishermen. The
traps are laid like the weirs l have de-
scribed, with a lead into which the fish
enter as they go sailing along. 1t grows
narrower and narrower until 1t leads them
into corrals from which they cannot escape,
and then the fishermen scoop them out into
hatboats made for5 the purpose and tow
them to the canneries
The scows of the Pacific American Fish
cries Company, which has the largest can
merry In the world at Bellingham. will hold
about 1900 sockeye, salmon each. During
the night, while it is cool. the salmon
are pitched into c6nveyors which carry
them up into the cannery automatically
and distribute them about the floor of the
butcher room," which is kept clean by
hoodinS and scrubbng it every night with
salt water. The scows are kept fresh in
the same way During good season as
| a hundred