204 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
At the Cascades, The Dalles, and Celilo are the fish-wheel and dip-net 
fishing grounds. 
Wilcox states that from Rainier, 46 miles below Portland, to One- 
on ta fishing is prosecuted chiefly to supply the market. Here drift and 
set gill nets of small size are employed ; the boats are not so large as 
those of the lower river, and the fishery is not of extensive proportions. 
The Willamette, below Portland, is frequently resorted to. by the 
fishermen on the Columbia, and is embraced in this report. 
The number and location of pound nets, slat weirs, and wheels are 
shown on the maps, plates xxxi and xxxn, on which also are defined 
the seine-reaches, gill-net grounds, etc. 
Fishermen, factory hands, lay, etc .— The fishermen on the Columbia 
River are natives of many countries. In addition to native-born white 
Americans and Indians, no less than twelve other nationalities are rep- 
resented, of which all except the Chinese are Europeans. Natives of 
northern Europe are most numerous, Sweden, Norway, and Russia 
being largely represented. There are, too, many native-born Ameri- 
cans— 20 per cent, of the whole— while 50 Indians engaged in fishing 
in 1888 * It is a noticeable fact, however, that notwithstanding the 
great predominance of Chinese in the canneries, very few of them en- 
gage in catching fish. Those who are classed as fishermen are simply 
helpers in capacities where they seldom catch the fish themselves, but 
fill places where they do not come into competition with other fisher- 
men. Most of them, if not all, are employed in connection with the 
fish wheels. As a rule, fishermen of other races are inimical to the 
Orientals, and the latter seldom find it practicable to overcome this 
prejudice sufficiently to make it possible to peacefully follow fishing. 
The tendency among the foreign-born fishermen to become citizens of 
the United States is more marked here than elsewhere on the Pacific 
coast. Thus, we find that whereas only 21 per cent, of the fishermen 
(including Indians) are native-born Americans, no less than 71 per cent, 
owe allegiance to the United States. Reference is made to the statis- 
tical statements relating to the fishermen for details. Wilcox found that 
about one-third of the fishermen on the Columbia and its tributaries are 
non-residents, who come here only to participate in the salmon fishery, 
and leave as soon as the season closes to engage in fishing elsewhere or 
to work upon farms, etc. About 900 live at Astoria, and many of them 
have families ■; others are scattered along both banks of the river, but 
chiefly on the Oregon side. 
On April 11, 1886, the gill-net fishermen organized as an association 
under the name of 66 The Columbia River Fisherman’s Protective Union,” 
and secured the incorporation of the society on August 16 of the same 
year. The organization of this union was the outcome of a strike 
* A great many Indians fish for themselves on the upper river, but not in a com- 
mercial way. These have not been included, nor was it practicable to get any esti- 
mate of the fish taken by them. 
