PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 83 
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 
white men. They are built on shore, of piling and planks, the lat- 
ter arranged like slats with spaces between. The bowl, or pot, is 
provided 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 1879. 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 venture led to the employ- 
ment of more apparatus of this kind, and many fishermen went 
West to participate in the fishery.”’ 
According to the same authority ®° H. B. Kirby, who had previ- 
ously fished on the Great Lakes, set a pound net in Puget Sound 
about 1883, but it was a complete failure. On March 15, 1888, he 
again set a pound net, which he had designed to meet the new con- 
ditions, at Birch Bay Head, in the Gulf of Georgia. It proved a 
complete success, and was the forerunner of the present large number 
which are set annually in these waters. 
In Alaska the first trap was set in Cook Inlet about 1885. Brit- 
ish 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 trap nets, especially on Puget Sound, 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 $20,000 to $90,000 for single 
traps, the original expense of which did not exceed -$5,000. But 
few have brought such high prices since, however, owing to the 
popularity of a cheaper apparatus, the purse seine. 
The location of sites for these nets is regulated by law in Oregon, 
Washington, and British Columbia, but in Alaska the procedure is 
not well defined and has proved rather confusing to strangers. 
Some acquire the shore line by mineral location or by the use of scrip, 
while still others have merely a squatter’s right. 
Under the existing fish-trap laws applicable to Alaska, a fish trap 
may be operated anywhere along the coast of Alaska, 300 or more yards 
from the mouth of any salmon stream, and along the shores of all 
rivers—excepting those emptying into Cook Inlet, the streams on 
Afognak Island, and in Wood River—where the same are at least 500 
feet wide. 
sioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1888, p. 210. 1892. 
> Ibid., p. 257. 
