242 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



and the attacking party hastily withdrew to Astoria, leaving several 

 of their uumber killed aud wounded. No further attempt was made 

 to interfere with the non-union fishermen. 



The ^fi shin (J apparatus and methods. — The various appliances employed 

 in the Columbia Iviver for the catching of fish and the manner of 

 operating the same present few changes as compared with the previous 

 investigation. No new method of capture has been devised, although 

 there has been a very marked increase in the number of traps, wheels, 

 nets, etc., operated. 



Gill-net fishing is by far the most inii>ortant branch of the salmon 

 fishery of the Columbia River. More money is invested in the fishery 

 than in any other, and larger quantities of fish are thus taken than by 

 any other means. The number of men interested also outnumbers 

 those employed in all other branches of the salmon fishery. The 

 fishing-grounds covered by the fleet of gill-net boats are mostly near 

 -Astoria, extending about 10 miles above that place, and the same 

 distance below. Several hundred boats cruise upstream and as many 

 more descend the river. 



The boats are mostly owned by the salmon-packers, but the nets are 

 made and owned by the fishermen. Before the opening of the fishing 

 season the men contract with the canners, who have supplied their 

 boats, for the entire catch during the year. Fishing is done more or 

 less during the entire twenty-four hours. The best hauls, however, are 

 usually made at night, at which time the fish are less able to see and 

 avoid the drifting net. 



The boats drift up and down stream with the tide. If the morning 

 finds a fisherman near the cannery at which he has contracted to 

 deliver his catch, he lands his fish there; if he has drifted to the mouth 

 of the river, his fish are delivered on board a receiving scow of the 

 cannery with which he is connected, an agent on board receipting for 

 the fish, which later in the day are collected by a steam tug and taken 

 to the cannery. The work of the night being over and the fish delivered, 

 the fisherman prepares his breakfiist and rests during the time inter- 

 vening between the tides. His boat is sailed to a quiet spot out of the 

 channel, the anchor is dropped, the sail taken in, and his simple meal 

 cooked over a small oil stove. The rudder is then unshipped and stood 

 up on deck at the stern, the mast is taken down, the sail removed, and 

 the mast is ]»laced lengthwise the boat, one end resting in the bow, the 

 other end on the top of the unshipped rudder, forming a ridgepole for 

 the extemporized tent formed by the sail. Often several hundred boats 

 may be found witliin a small area, each containing the sleeping fisher- 

 man and his assistant. 



While Chinook salmon constitute the great bulk of the gill-net catch, 

 the quantity of other fish thus taken is considerable and is increasing 

 yearly. With the demand tor cheaper grades of salmon the size of the 

 mesh of the gill nets has been reduced. 



