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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1900)
tM?4( 'taw-"? . - - -.-r -c . 'A. ffi t PART THREE PAGES 25 TO 32 VOL. XLX. PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY' MORNING, APRIL 22, 1000. NO. 16. PplttJW, Last Sunday the rails of the fishing fleet again began to dot the broad mouth of the Columbia, and from now until August 12 ono of the prettiest spectacles on the lower reaches of the great river will be the trim little boats, each with Us flat sprltsall. its two or three men and Its canvas-covered nets, slashing the water, on Its way to or from the fishing grounds. Although the Spring run of salmon has begun, the fish that are coming now form only the advance guard the out posts of the army that will follow by and by, and if the season Is anything like a successful one, the number of boats en gaged in fishing will double, treble and quadruple, as each fortnight goes by. The fisherman who succeeds this scar-on In making a good catch will be on the royal road to fortune, for salmon that. In early days, brought 15 to 20 cents a fish, now bring 5 and C cents a pound, and It takes only a 20-pound salmon to put his captor Jl ahead of the game. Most of the fishermen who are engaged in drifting for salmon work for them selves. They are supplied by the canneries with the gear that they require and pay for It out of the fish they "bring In. The gear once paid for, the profits are their own. , They are a peculiar and a distinctly in dividual race, these fishermen. Their mode of Hfn is one which Inures them to hard work, gives them a contempt for hardship and peril and a rough exterior which only their fellows or their chums on shore can penetrate. From the- time the season begins, their home Is their boat, racing through the water at dusk, drifting for fish far Into the night and resting quietly at anchor in the morning hours, with the sail drawn snugly over the sprit at the stern to form a perfect shelter tent. 3Xn'o Clnbbed Together. This season a number of them have clubbed together at Astoria and rented a scow where their meals are cooked. They are a Jolly, sociable lot among them selves, spending their money like sailors at the end of the season, quick to resent an Injury and always ready to unite when their interests clash with those of the packers. As a rule, however, they are peaceable and. only once or twice, has trouble threatened, as a result of a dif ference between the men who catch the fish and the men who pack them. Few more beautiful scenes are presented than the outward voyage of the little fleet, as It leaves Astoria for the fishing ground?, on a clear Spring or Summer evening. Along toward half-past four, a .boat or two lea-.es the wharf, hoisting their sails as they swing out Into the stream, and when the fresh ocean breeza catches them, sending their sprits home and boundling forward like frightened deer. Soon another and another are in the stream and. In half an hour, they are flocking from the water front like gulls, racing with each other as they go, till the whole "bay is specked with them as far as the eye can see. The evening glow lights the 'Western horizon with a deep red, against which the brown sails stand out In sharp outline, and as the shadows begin to fall, the craft grow smaller and smaller till darkness shuts In, when only the swish of water under ihe bows of a few belated ones Is heard to tell that the fleet Is voyaging for the bar. Nearly all night they drift slowly and leisurely, and the passengers on passing steamers, should any be bound out then, see the twinkling of their lanterns like a thousand fireflies on the water. In the morning the fleet comes back, perhaps many of the boats laden with a fine catch and others empty, but every "fisherman purling his pipe philosophically and put ting his boat through Its best paces In the race homo again. Ilonts In TJp. The boats used by the Columbia River fishermen are. like the fishing craft of every country, the result of an evolution which 1ms gradually fitted them exactly for the service In which they are engaged. They are all of the same general plan, sharp at both ends, hollow-bowed, built to ride waves like seagulls, and to In crease in buoyancy as their cargo weighs them down Into the water. They carry a sprltsall which can be shortened merely .by unshipping the sprit and taken In en tirely at a moment's notice. This Is necessary, for the winds that blow at the mouth of the Columbia are subject to vio lent Increases on short notice, and the fisherman must be able to get his craft under bare poles In the nick of time or capsize and struggle in a water-logged boat until help arrives. As long as the weather Is pleasant the life of the salmon-seeker Is tolerably en joyable, as such lives go. He Is In the open air; he never knows what Ill-health means, and the constant excitement of his quest and friendly rivalry of dally races with other fishermen keep up his Interest In things. But when drizzling rains pour down, -week in and week out; when a driv ing gale sets In from the ocean and the swell grows heavier and heavier, till the little boat Is tossed about like an eggshell. It Is by no means an easy nor a safe pur suit. More than once a boat has been found drifting out to sea, bottom side up and with no one to tell how the accident happened, and many are the fishermen wno have spent the night on an over turned boat, exhausted by endeavors to rlf ht It and shouts for assistance, and at- SSF LL "Os, w most lifeless when help has finally come. But men must work and woman must weep, which Is as true today as when the rhyme of the three fishers was writ ten, and the men who gu down to the sea in boats from Astoria take their chances and are as content as any other class of wage earners. Importance of Industry. So much has been printed of the Impor tance of the salmon industry: Its possllil. decline because of the threatened exter mination of the firh, and of the legislation to protect the salmon, that It cannot be dealt with here. It may be. remarked. In passing, however, that last year the Columbia River salmon pack was 340,000 cases, valued at tl.tO 755, and that nearly 10,000 men are employed In the various branches of the work. The present law which, while not considered wholly satisfactory, is the best that has yet been on the statute books, was passed largely through the efforts of the late Holllster D. McGuIrc, who did more for the Industry" than any one else. Mr. McGuire was State Fish and Game Protector for six years, and he gave him self up to the study of artificial propaga tion, the enforcement of the Iawe, In sea son and out of season, and the fostering of the industry in all Its branches, with an enthusiasm and an energy that accom plished wonders. He was seeking the site of a salmon hatchery on the Umpqua River when the boat In which he was rowing was overturned, and he was drowned. Mr. McGuIre's work haa been taken up and energetically prosecuted by his successor, F. C Reed, and both pack en. and fishermen are pleased with what Is being dono for the perpetuation of the salmon. Passengers on the Astoria boats, on awakening in the morning, find their at tention drawn to teams of horses, wading apparently In mid river, and attached to some Invisible burden. To the uninitiated this spectacle causes no small amount of wonder, and the rail of a steamer Is us ually lined with theorizing passengers un til on obliging offlcer explains that these are seining grounds shallow tracts of wa ter where large seines are taken out into tho river in boats and their tow llne3 hitched to horses, which then pull them ashore, with, not Infrequently, a big haul of bright, silvery "chlnooks." The seln-Ing-grounds worked or leased by their owners are among the most profitable and easy means of fishing, none of the dan gers of the men who fish out toward the sea being risked by the seiner. Trap Flahlnfr. Nestling under the rocky point that mari ners look for when they want to locate the mouth of the Columbia Is Baker- Bay, and Baker's Bay, as all who have Jour neyed to the popular Summer resorts along North Beach, Wash., know, bristles with piles, Hko quills upon the fretful porcu pine. There are thousands of them, stretching In every direction as far as, and farther than, they can be counted, and obstructing, so navigators allege, the chan. nel, by forming Innumerable bars on the bottom of the river. These piles are the skeletons or frames of fish traps, with which Baker's Bay fairly teems. The traps are Ingenious affairs, being simply long guiding nets, stretched on the piles, and Intended to deflect the salmon from his cruise to the spawning grounds and steer him Into a maze made of more nets, from which he can no more extricate himself than he can walk on a pair of crutches. He must keep on swimming right along. If he expects to get anywhere, and his destination Is an open space. In tho midst of a group of piles, driven In a circle, at the bottom of which Is a strong net, attached to gear by which It may be pulled clear from the water, salmon and all. Every morning the owners of the traps, In their boats, haul up the nets, and. In a good season, find them alive with the floundering and astonished sal mon, who have been butting their heada Into the piles and nets all night. In a vain struggle to escape. Sometimes a big, pow crful fellow actually rends a net and es capes, but he usually finds himself In an other trap In a few minutes, and then gives himself up for lost. The traps are among the heaviest feeders of the canneries: they take an enormous number of fish, and require but little at tention. They have, moreover, been a fruitful source of trouble for many years, for the gill-net fishermen regard them as' a menace to the salmon Industry, and as sert that If traps are allowed to remain In the river very many years longer, there will then be no more salmon for them (Uie glll-netters) to catch. Several times "mis understandings" between the trap-owners and the glll-netters have threatened dis turbances or very considerable dimensions, and once the General Government deemed It advisable to send a company of soldiers to Baker's Bay and keep It there two or three weeks, pending the adjustment of a difficulty. The traps are usually operated by the packers themselves. More -Trouble for Trap-Owners. Another difficulty which the trap-owner finds constantly bobbing up is the ten dency of the United States Engineers to regard his fish-catching contrivance as an obstruction to navigation, and a nuisance which might properly be abated. If the engineers say that the traps must go, go they must, at least from all channels, or from places where they are likely to form bars In the channels. This edict has not yet gone forth, and It may never be pro TTT m si ysi ii,,. y fd I I v . . .iilll! i I wm m? rt liSi Hi rv't! ?: m wm IM'i WW m IIWi M mm a irn 3& 'I'jLVH' I " t "K U-' . tapT- j- - V. i m IW.: li,Kll'l''l Ml I !l l! MP l!i M'l m iii', 18 1 m !KK Sitf Ulli!: Wi Hi te m m. St' WW Kin IH'llXl mulgated. but tho eagle eyes of the engi neers are constantly on the watch for en croachments, and many Is the trap which has been pulled up. In compliance with a peremptory order, writteq.cn Uncle Sam's letter paper. The amount of money which Is Invested In traps In Baker's Bay is something enor mous, as each trap Is an expensive affair, requiring many feet of net, and the driv ing of a large number of piles. Most of tho traps In the river are In Baker's Bay, whose waters are within the limits of the State of Washington, and tho amount that Is paid Into the state every ym for licenses Is very" large. Here and there along the Oregon shore of the Columbia, almost as far up as the Cascade Locks, are to be found a few traps, but their number Is nothing like as great as that of the traps on the Washington side. The most deadly of all the foes of tho salmon, however, awaits him farther along on his journey up the liver. That Is tho fish wheel, an Ingenious contrivance which T.as Invented on the Columbia river, and which gives the salmon who cnter3 Its - ? vW anj' m m m WIV iasi!:ia ,11'ii'i.w ;iiWi mm ! , i I i! i,i in n , W 'ii m "Jll ail i'IiiH1 I SU! lllhll,1 SIlitM mm. i. ii?rr ii. i n-i ;'I,IV,'J 1 K.i( .i2al .13 sm ."ill LiK- i m M mmm 1 ik long "lead" absolutely no chance for his life. Up the Columbia, from Rooster Rock to the Cascade Locks, and again In the vicinity of The Dalles, these wheels scores of them may be seen working any day during the fishing season. Sometimes, when the run Is large, they are pitching salmon out of the river faster almost than the attendants can take care of them: again the big net scoops rise, ono after the other, dripping and empty, and con tinue to do so for dais at a time. Deadly Contrivance. The wheels consist of large, shallow nets, arranged about central axles, like the fans of a windmill, and dipping Into the river like an undershot wheel, tho current turning them slowly around. Long "leadwajs" are built out Into tho river, to deflect the fish Into the channel under the wheels, and, as they swim up stream, they suddenly find themselves lifted into the air. shot down Into a trough, and thence to the slippery deck of a scow or platform, where a pile of their fellows are breathing their last. The wheels are js&&ga&smm 5S as unpopular with the gllln-t fishermen as are the traps, but repeated attempts to cLo'.lbh them have proved vain; they aro still the largest fetderj of tho up-river canneries. The method of transporting the salmon from the wheels to the canneries, several miles down stream Is both novel and in genious. The current through the Cas cades 13 very rapid, and does not settle down to a sober, steady gait until some miles below the last cannery supplied by the wheels, which are placed all tho way up to the Cascades. At a certain hour every day the salmon caught by the wheels are strung together and made fast to empty barrels, which are painted some bright color, so as to attract attention, and turned adrift in the stream, which is soon hurrying them down the river at several miles an hour. Tenders from the canneries little steam launches are on the lookout for the bar rels when they come down, and soon overhaul them, take them on board, and set them ashore. The birrels of the sev eral canneries are painted different, col ors, so that there is no danger of get ting the fi?h mixed up In the shuffle. Fish from the wheels below the canneries aro taken charge of by the launches, which steam with them up strtanL and make the round of the wheels dally for collec tion. In every little inlet along both the up per and lower river may be seen the scows of tho glllnetters, who fish every where, and. not Infrequently, out of sea son. Mcit of them sell their product to the canneries, although somo few fish only for the market. So thickly are gill nets spread In the river during some sea sons that steamboats are constantly run ning them down and destroying them. If the nets aro In the channel, tho fisher men have noth!rgto say; If they are out of It. the destruction usually results In a suit against the steamboat company. Kins of Sainton. Tho Spring Chinook salmon, which comes only Into the Columbia River, is cdmltted to be the finest fish of hU kind that swims In Pacific waters. Although his average weight is between 10 and 2C pounds, the Chinook sometimes run as high as 60 pounds, and the man who gets fc &SS&4rJ&8&0 i !SS!fc Jf?vs3::N-3SS,'' ii V one of these fellows in his net usually knows that ho has caught something be fore he gets him out. He is worth th trouble It takes to get him, however, for at 6 cents a pound he Is worth $3 60 at the canneries, and will bring a great deal more than that in the Portland market, where big fish are highly prized. The Spring run of fish is the mainstay of the canneries, although the run of "sllvcrsldee," which comes In the fall, ! ways goes to help out tho pack, f i "steelhead." the finest fish of all I freezing and smoking, runs In the wixi ter. and a sprinkling of them comes wltk the run of Chlnooks. These are tho fislf that rise to a spoon at Oregon City, and for which Rudyard Kipling angled at tho Clackamas hatchery. The "bluebacks," a small but delicious fish, come with the last of the Chlnooks. They arc not ot sufficient size to be of much commercial Importance, but they are a fine fish for the table. The business of packing salmon has lately been undertaken by a. trust, which has absorbed a number of the biggest canneries along the river and has entered the business with a determination to do It all. Its success, however, has not been marked. The opposition of the packers who did not sell their plants to It has been determined: the run of salmon has been small, and, of late, "cold-storage" men are paying so much for fish that It Is hardly worth while to buy them for canning at all. There is always a flna market for Columbia River salmon In Eu rope, and recent Improvements In freezing machinery made it possible to transport them and sell them in the European market as fresh and sweet as they can be sold In Portland. Such Is the demand for fich for freezing that the price has been climbing steadily for the last few years, till It is now almost beyond tho reach of the packers, although they are still in business. Scarcity of Chinese. Another trouble which Is harassing the packers Is the scarcity of Chinese help, which Is considered the most useful In packing salmon. Tho enforcement of tho Immigration law has excluded many Chi nese, who would naturally take the places of those who return to China, and many of the old gangs, which, year after year, worked In the same canneries, have been scattered, some of them going back to China, others seeking the Celestial para dire, and still others growing too old and infirm to work. In the early days of the settlement ot the country along the banks of the Co lumbia and Its tributaries, salmon. In tha Spring season, were actually so thick at tho head waters of the streams, as almost to Justify the statement that a man could cross tho water upon their backs and hard ly wet his feet. So great was the rush to get up stream, that In shallow places many Csh In the great schools were forced clear out of the water by their fellows and died along the banks. But, year after year, the. fisherman has been reaping whero he nev er sowed, and gradually the run of fish has decreased, till It has threatened to cease altogether. This has been prevented by the Inauguration of methods of arti ficial propagation, which It Is now admit ted has greatly Increased the runs of lata years. Artificial fish culture Is only In lt3 la fancy In Oregon, and yet its benefits OX9 already beginning to bo felt In the watera of the Columbia. There aro now threa hatcheries on the tributaries of the river; two on the Clackamas and one on tha White Salmon, and others are In course ot construction. Millions of fry have beea turned Into the water from these hatch eries every year, and by carefully mark ing the fish. It has been established beyond a reasonable doubf that the salmon tana started on their career have returned to the river again and are returning. In in creasing numbers, year by year. The ad vantages of taking tho spawn from thfl salmon, hatching it where It will be froa from Interference by tne numerous ene mies of tho fry that swim and crawl la the rivers, and In keeping the young flail protected till they are old enough. In a measure, to" look out for themselves, axa obvious. Twelve Million Eprzri. Nearly 12.C00.C00 eggs were taken fromj Chinook salmon In 1SSS. and a much large number last "year. The percentage of ft? hatched out and liberated Is very largo, and even' year the "runs" show the et feet of the work of the hatcheries. What becomes of the young fish aftel they leave the river Is something no on knows. Whether they voyage around tha world, or spend their time coasting along the shores. It Is Impossible for any human being to say. but certain It Is that they re turn in a few years to the stream from which they came, to spawn and die. For, after they havo swam hundreds, perhaps1 thousands, of miles Inland, battled witlj rapids, leaped falls, evaded the thousand lurea that are spread for them along tholx way and deposited their eggf they'pasj Into a swift decline. Their snouts contort Into long, hooked beaks; their fat. round sides shrink, and their once strong flna wag feebly and listlessly. They have ful filled their mission in life, and all that la left to them Is to die. which they do, to tht number of thousands.