732 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



COLLINSVILLE AND BLACK DIAMOND. lu the year 1880 there were about 225 boats engaged 

 in salmon fishing on the Lower Sacramento, each boat with a crew of two men. Most of the men 

 are Italian, some are from the southern part of Austria, and a few are Greeks. On account of 

 the nature of their work, most of them live on scows, which they tow from one part of the river to 

 another, following the salmon in their migrations. The majority of the fishermen are unmarried. 

 Those who have families generally live on shore; a few, however ha\-e large scows of two or more 

 rooms and take their families with them up and down the river. During the season when few 

 salmon are caught and the canneries are not running, many of the fishermen go down the river to 

 Martinez and Benicia, but when the open season comes on, the most of them cluster around Black 

 Diamond and Collinsville, where the canneries are. 



OUTFIT. 



A good outfit for salmon fishing is worth from $700 to $1,000. It consists of a scow, $ sail 

 boat, and a gill-net. These, of course, vary in price, but on an average the scow is worth $250, 

 the boat $250, and the net $300. The men make their own nets. They are single thickness gill- 

 nets, which drift down stream, catching the salmon as they run up. They are from 200 to 300 

 fathoms long, from 6 to !> fathoms deep, and with an average mesh of 8| inches (measured mesh 

 is diagonally across when stretched). 



Nearly all the boats are made in San Francisco. They are sharp at bow and stern, sloop-rigged, 

 with a center-board, ami probably average from two to three tons. 



The scows are variable in shape and appearance. They are flat bottomed, with vertical par- 

 allel sides narrowed and slanting somewhat towards each end. They are boarded over above and 







are nearly covered by the house, only a narrow margin being left around the sides. The house 

 generally has but one room, with a door at one end and two windows on each side. It is flat- 

 roofed. Probably an average sized scow would be 20 feet long and 12 feet wide, the house about 

 7 feet high and occupying all of the scow but a strip about 1<S inches wide on each side and 2 

 feet wide at each end. Some of the fishermen, on account of poverty or other reasons, own no 

 scows, but live on shore and fish always in the same locality. Of course these are placed at a dis- 

 advantage by not being able to follow the run of salmon. 



METHODS OF FISHING. 



Fishing is always done on the ebbtide, whether it be day or night. Two men always work 

 together. They go out to their fishing-grounds, which are chosen chiefly by a clear channel, and 

 the net is placed in the water, one man working the boat and the other paying out the net. Every- 

 thing is governed by laws which the fishermen have made for themselves. Each of the two men 

 has his own part in the work. It is always the same one who rows while the other manages the 

 net. The two then rest in their boat, boat and net floating down together until they have gone 

 far enough, when the net is taken out, and the fish removed. The distance they float of course 

 varies with the grounds and the season. 



According to a law among the fishermen, a second net is not to be placed in the water until the 

 first one has floated down a certain distance, and although the fish are all caught running up stream 

 the second, third, and even fourth net frequently catches more than the first. They generally 

 begin fishing at about half ebb tide. 



DISPOSITION OF FISH. 



The salmon caught are either shipped to the San Francisco markets, sold to the canneries, or 

 salted and smoked. 



