PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 75 
or for home use is carried on to a considerable extent along the main 
river and also on the Snake and the Yakima, tributaries of the 
Columbia. In nearly all cases hook and line and spears are used 
alone, but on the Snake River, near Lewiston, in iso are several 
rather important haul-seine fisheries. Fishing is carried on at these 
places in the spring for steelhead trout and in the fall for chinook and 
silver salmon and steelhead trout. As many as 25 salmon have been 
taken at one time. While this may seem a small number to one 
habituated to the large catches farther down the river, in the aggre- 
gate it amounts to a considerable quantity. 
Considerable local fishing is carried on along the various Oregon 
streams above the sections usually fished by commercial fishermen. 
Most of this is done by ranchers living along the streams, and while 
by far the greater part is for home consumption a small proportion 
is sold. 
On the Yukon River and its tributaries considerable salmon fishing 
is prosecuted. Much of this is done by natives for the use of them- 
selves and their dogs, but at places white fishermen operate for a 
portion of the year and sell their catches in near-by settlements or at 
the mining camps. No effort has ever been made to secure statistics 
of the extent of this fishery. 
APPARATUS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
GILL NETS. 
The gill net is the oldest and most popular form of apparatus in 
use in the salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast. There are two kinds, 
drift and set, these names clearly expressing the difference between 
them. Fine flax or linen twine is generally used in their manufac- 
ture, although in some places cotton twine is employed, and it has 
usually 12 threads and is laid slack. They are hung in the ordinary 
manner—to a rope with cork floats to-support the upper portion of the 
gear, and to a line with lead sinkers attached, which keeps the net 
vertical in the water and all its meshes properly distended. The 
nets are tanned, usually several times each season. 
Drift nets vary greatly in length and depth, depending upon the 
width of the fishing channels, the depth of water, etc. On the Sac- 
ramento River they average about 300 fathoms in length, are 45 
meshes deep, and have a stretch mesh of from 73 to 94 inches. On 
the coastal rivers of Oregon these nets average about 125 fathoms in 
length, and are about 36 meshes in depth, the mesh varying with 
the species of salmon sought. On the Columbia River the nets aver- 
age about 250 fathoms in length and have a stretch mesh for 
chinooks of 9 to 94 inches. On the Willamette River, the principal 
tributary of the Columbia, they average about 75 fathoms in length, 
with meshes of 8 and 93 inches. On Willapa Harbor drift gill nets 
run from 100 to 250 fathoms in length, are 30 meshes deep, with 
stretch meshes of 7 and 84 inches. On Grays Harbor they average 
100 fathoms in length, the chinook nets run from 24 to 45 meshes in 
depth, with a stretch mesh of 9 inches, while the silver or coho nets 
are 35 meshes in depth, with a stretch mesh of 7 inches. In northern 
British Columbia the nets average 150 fathoms in length with a 
stretch mesh of 5% inches. In the Puget Sound region the nets 
