242 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
and the attacking party hastily withdrew to Astoria, leaving several 
of their number killed and wounded. No further attempt was made 
to interfere with the non-union fishermen. 
The fishing apparatus and methods.—The various appliances employed 
in the Columbia River 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- meh fishing is by far the most important 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 
| 
| 
| 
distanee 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 
tothecannery. The work of the night being over and the fish delivered, 
the fisherman prepares his breakfast 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 placed 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 within 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 for cheaper grades of salmon the size of the 
mesh of the gill nets has been reduced. 
