PACIFIC SALMON FISHEEIES. 83 



at right angles and discharged into a square box with slat bottom 

 and covered over with boughs. The fish in ascendmg the stream 

 would be stopped by the rack and in swimming around many of them 

 would be carried by the current into and down the flume, eventually 

 landing in the receiving box alongside the shore. 



WHEELS. 



Fish wheels are of two kinds, the floating or scow wheel, which 

 can be moved from point to point if need be, and the shore wheel, 

 which is a fixed apparatus. They operate in exactly the same man- 

 ner, however. Tne station arv wheel is located along the shore in a 

 place where experience has shown that the salmon pass. Here an 

 abutment is budt of wood and stone, high enough to protect it from 

 an ordinary rise in the river. To this is attached the necessary 

 framework for holding the wheel. The latter is composed of three 

 lar^e scoop-shaped dip nets made of galvanized-iron wire netting 

 with a mesh of 3^ to 4 inches. These nets are the buckets of the 

 wheel and they are so arranged on a horizontal axis that the wheel 

 is kept in constant motion by the current, and thus picks up any 

 fish which come within its sweep. The nets are fixed at such an 

 angle that as they revolve their contents fall into a box chute through 

 which the fish slide into a large bin on the shore. The wheels range 

 in size from 9 to 32 feet in diameter and from 5 to 15 feet in width, 

 and cost from SI, 500 to S8,000, the averao;e being about $4,000. A 

 number of them have long leaders of piling running out into the 

 river, which aid in leading the salmon. mto the range of the wheel. 



The scow wheel consists of a largo square-ended scow that is 

 usually docked at one end and open at the other. Several stanchions, 

 some 8 to 10 feet high, support a framework upon which an awning 

 is spread to protect the fish from the sun's rays and the crow from 

 the elements. To one end of the scow are fastened two upright posts, 

 which are guyed by wooden supports, while projecting from the same 

 end is the framework wliich supports the wheel, the latter being con- 

 structed in the same way as tno stationary wheel, but on a smaller 

 scale. In operation the scow is anchored with the wheel end pointing 

 downstream, and as the wheel is revolved by the current, the fish 

 caught fall from the net into a box chute, through which they slide 

 into the scow. As stationary wheels can be used only at certain 

 stages of water, the scow wheel is a necessary substitute to be used 

 at such times as the former can not be operated, or in places where 

 it is not feasible to build a stationary wheel. 



The above forms of wheels are used exclusively on the Columbia 

 River. 



An ingenious device is used by some of the wheel operators on the 

 Columbia River in getting their catch to the canneries, a few miles 

 farther down the river. The salmon are tied together in bunches, 

 which are attached to air-tight casks and sent down the stream. At 

 the canneries small balconies have been constructed at the water end 

 of the building. A man armed with a pair of field glasses is stationed 

 here, and as soon as ho sights one of those casks he notifies a boatman 

 who goes out and tows in the cask and salmon. About 800 pounds of 

 salmon are attached to a keg, and a tag showing the wheel from 

 which shipped, is tied to the fish. 



