530
THE WEST SHORE.
payed out into the water so a not to foul it, and
then ii permM-d to float some distance with the tide
or current, when it is again hauled into the boat and
and the fish remold. It seems almost impossible
for fmh to successfully run this gauntlet of nets, ag
gregating fire hundred and forty-five miles in length,
and costing not less than $300,0(1000 Jear M they
have to bo renewed each scaion, yet that they do is
proved by the great numbers that finally reach the
spawning grounds. Some fishermen own their own
Wals and net, worth about $100.00, and others ope
rate lata belonging to the canneries, the former re-
527), constitute the next most important method f
fishing near the mouth of the river, the location of
majority of these being Baker's bay (Bee engrarta
on this page) lying north of the channel and bar.
trap is constrncted by driving a row of piles from tie
shore or shoals toward the deep water where the fob
are running, at the outer end the piles forming i
rectangular enclosure or pound. On the piles is laid
a netting of wire or twine, with a two-inch mesh in
such a manner as to prevent the passage of the feh
and lead them into the pound, from which they can
not escape and can be easily removed. Between the
P7
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j ' '' . r'
f,iii
ffc
MU' .V, hi, Mi t INM'KY AM. .fcYIN; RUK- roft M:TS.-.LE I'.UiE Ml.
cmicg about one dollar each for their fish, and the
Utter sixty cc tU. Trices vary in different seasons,
but this is the average. Skill and bravery are both
required by the bar fi.hermen, and annually half a
hundred of them lce their lives among the breakers.
In their rivalry to get the first chance at the fish as
they enter the river, they crowd down upon the very
verge of the bar, and every few days a boat is swamped
in the I re akem Occasionally the luckless men are
rescued by the crew of the life boat at Cape Hancock,
but the majority pay for their temerity with their
lives.
Fish trap, or pound nets (s engraving oa page
owners of the pound nets and the gill net fishermen
there is constant friction, the latter deeming the
pounds an infringement upon their rights to catch
fish. Another method of fishing is shown in the o
graving on page 523, and consists of operating tie
old-fashioned seine from the shore or sand bars. A
seine is about eight or nine hundred feet in length,
with two and one-half and three-inch meshes, d
is used near the head of the estuary, above th
fishing grounds of the gill nets and traps. Sea
fishing presents a peculiar aspect to one passes
in a steamer. Men, horses and boats are seen c
ing about in the shallow water, either plw&S the