28 SALMON FISHEKIES OF PACIFIC COAST. 



to the far end of a net apron, called a "brailer,' 1 which is heav- 

 ily weighted by having chains along each side and leaded cross- 

 ways at several places. A small boat is run inside the spiller, and 

 the men in this draw the brailer across the barge and let it sink 

 in the spiller. The fish soon gather over it, when the steam capstan 

 quickly reels it in, the net folding over as drawn in from its far side 

 and spilling the fish out on the scow. Men On the scow pick out and 

 throw overboard the undesirable fish. The apron is then drawn 

 back across the pot and the operation repeated so long as any fish 

 remain. In this manner a trap with many tons of salmon in it is 

 quickly emptied. 



Traps, like nearly all other fixed fishing appliances, are built on 

 the theory that salmon, like most other fishes, have a tendency to 

 follow a given course in the water, whether a natural shore line or 

 an artificial obstruction resembling one ; also that the fish very seldom 

 turns in its own wake. The trap has taken advantage of these 

 natural tendencies of the fish, and is arranged so that, although the 

 salmon may turn, he will continually be led by the wall of net toward 

 and into the trap. 



If a trap is located in a place where fish play and where an eddy 

 exists, and the fish run one way with the incoming tide and the 

 opposite with the outgoing, it will fish from both directions; if 

 located where the fish simply pass by, as, for instance, on a point or 

 reef, it will fish from one side only. 



A variation of the trap, to be used in places where piles can not 

 be driven, is the floating trap. An experimental trap of this variety 

 was used at Uganuk, on Kodiak Island, Alaska, as early as 1890. 

 Its use was abandoned in 1897, not to be resumed until some years 

 later. A number of floating traps (of the type invented by Mr. J. R. 

 Heckman, of Ketchikan, Alaska) have been and are being used in 

 southeast Alaska, the first having been installed in 1907. The de- 

 sign of this trap follows the shape of an ordinary Puget Sound 

 driven trap. It is constructed of logs, 20 to 26 inches at the butt, 

 bolted and braced together in one solid frame. Suspended from this 

 frame through the logs are. 2^-inch pipes extending down in the 

 water 30 feet. Halfway down these pipes and also on the extreme 

 lower ends are eyebolts, to which the web is drawn down and fas- 

 tened. Thus the web is kept in place as well as if the pipes were 

 driven piles. The lead is also a continuation of large piles or logs 

 bolted firmly together with similarly suspended pipes and webbing. 



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 



