302 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



Stone [Livingston): Salmon-Jishing among the McCloud River Indians in Cali- 

 fornia. Communicated in writing to the Author in June, 1882. — "The usual method 

 practised by the McCloud River Indians for cajituring salmon is spearing. 

 Their spear is a very long and comparatively slender pole, thickest in the middle, 

 and tapering toward both ends. I should say that twenty-five feet may be con- 

 sidei'ed a fair average length of a McCloud River Indian's salmon-spear, and in 

 the middle it is not far from an inch and a half or two inches in diameter. It is 

 always painted black with a preparation of pitch. 



" The anterior end of the spear terminates in a fork with two prongs, about 

 fifteen inches in length, and likewise of wood. On the end of each of these 

 prongs is loosely stuck a sharp-pointed piece of bone, made from the ankle of a 

 deer. These bones are also firmly tied by a rope to the shaft of the spear. 

 When preparing to strike the fish, the Indian poises the spear over his head, and 

 throws it with great velocity at the victim. The moment the pointed bones pierce 

 the salmon, he springs to get away, and pulls the bones off the ends of the 

 prongs ; but the pointed bones being ingeniously fastened to the rope near their 

 middle, as soon as they are held only by the rope, change their direction nearly 

 at a right angle, and now become laterally imbedded in the salmon's body. Thus 

 the fish is firmly held and is soon pulled ashore. 



" The Indians throw their spear with great dexterity, and are usually suc- 

 cessful in getting salmon with it. They go spearing in the morning and evening, 

 but usually in the morning, from daylight to sunrise. They capture with the 

 spear nearly all the salmon that they eat fresh ; but in the fall, when they are 

 preparing to dry their winter's stock of fish, they catch them in another way- 

 At this time they build an angular brush dam across or partly across the river, 

 with the angle down stream, and at this angle they place a large coarse wicker 

 basket. This is the season when hundreds and thousands of salmon are floating 

 down the river in a dying condition at the close of the spawning season. These 

 exhausted fish are trapped in great numbers in the wicker baskets, from which 

 they are taken, split, and dried for winter use. Nearly all their supply for dry- 

 ing is obtained in this manner. 



"The McCloud River Indians have a third method of fishing for salmon, 

 by diving into the river themselves with nets ; but this mode is only resorted to 

 once or twice a vear, and is made an occasion of festivities rather than a means 

 of acquiring food. The whole year's supply of salmon is practically obtained by 

 the first-mentioned two methods, viz., by the spear and the wicker basket. I 

 should say, however, that since the United States Fish Commission has estab- 

 lished a station on the river, the Indians derive a very large proportion of their 

 daily and winter's supply of fish from the nets of the Commission."* 



* Mr. Stone is Deputy U. S. Pish Commissioner for the Pacific Coast. 



