PACIFIC SALMOlSr FISHERIES. 81 



southeast Alaska, the first having been installed in 1907. The design 

 of this trap follows the shape of an ordinary Puget Sound driven trap. 

 It is constructed of logs, 20 to 26 inches at the butt, bolted and 

 braced together in one solid frame. Suspended from this frame 

 through the logs are 2^-inch pipes extending dovni in the water 30 

 feet. Halfway down these pipes and also on the extri^me lower ends 

 are eyebolts, to which the weTb is dra^^^l down and fastened. Thus 

 the web is kept in place as well as if the pipes were driven piles. The 

 lead is also a continuation of large piles or logs bolted firmly together 

 with similarl}' suspended pipes and webbing. 



The so-called wooden traps on the Columbia River are essentially 

 weirs, being a modification of the brush weirs or traps used by the 

 Indians for the capture of salmon long before the advent of the wliite 

 men. They are built on shore, of piling and planks, the latter 

 arranged like slats with spaces between. The bowl, or pot, is pro- 

 vided with a movable trapdoor that can be opened during the closed 

 season and on Sundays, so that the fish can pass through and run 

 upstream. These weirs, after being built, are launched into the 

 river, placed in proper position near the shore, and then ballasted 

 so that they sink to the bottom. 



According to Collins," "pound nets were introduced on the Colum- 

 bia River in 1S79. In May of that year O. P. Graham, formerly of 

 Green Bay, Wis., built a pound net on the river similar to those used 

 on the Great Lakes. The success of this ventm'e led to the employ- 

 ment of more apparatus of this kind, and many fishermen went 

 West to participate in the fishers'." 



The first trap on Puget Sound, it is said, was built by John 

 Waller, about 1880, off Cannery Point, at the southeastern corner of 

 Point Roberts. 



xVccordiiig to Collins,'' H, B. Kirby, who had previously fished on 

 the Great Lakes, set a pound net in Puget Sound about 18S3, ])ut it was 

 a complete failure. This was set oil Point Roi^crts, near where the 

 Waller trap was set. On March 15, 1888, he again set a pound net, 

 which he liad designed to meet the new conditions, at Birch Bay 

 Head, in the Gulf of Georgia. It proved a coniplcte success, and 

 was the forerunner of the present large number which are set annually 

 in these waters. 



In Alaska the first trap was set hi Cook Inlet about 1885. British 

 Columbia refused to permit the use of pound nets in its waters until 

 1904, when their use was allowed within certain limited regions. 



Some of these trans, especially on Puget wSound, have proved 

 extremely valuable. The years 1898 and 1899 covered practically 

 the high-water mark, as several desirable locations changed hands in 

 those years at prices ranging from S20,0()0 to $90,000 for shigle 

 traps, the original expense of which did not exceed $5,000. But 

 few have brought such high prices since, however, owing to the decline 

 in the run of salmon, and at the present time but few of them would 

 fetch much at a sale. 



Th(; location of sites for these nets is regulated Ijy law in Oregon, 

 Washington, and British Columbia, hut hi Alaska the procedure is 



a Rpport on thn Fisheries of the racific Coast of tic T'nitocl States. 13y J. W. Collins, Report, U.S. 

 Commi-ssirincr of Fish and Fisheries, 1888-89, p. 210. Wtusbington, 1893. 

 fcColliii!': Op. dt., p. 257. 



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