FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
209 
the scows can be correspondingly moved to suit the convenience of the 
fishermen. They are used chiefly in Baker’s Bay. 
In the seine fishery both men and horses live on large scows when 
not employed in operating the nets. These scows are housed over. In 
some cases the horses are quartered in oue end of the scow and the men 
in the other, but quite as frequently there are two scows to a seine 
gang, oue for the fishermen and the other for the horses. 
Apparatus . — The only really important forms of apparatus employed 
on the Columbia are those used in the salmon fishery. These are (1) 
movable gear, such as gill nets, seines, “squaw nets,” and dip nets ; 
and (2) fixed apparatus, which includes pound nets, slat weirs (or traps), 
and fish wheels. 
Gilknets are of two kinds, called “drift nets” and “set nets,” these 
names having special reference to the manner of using them. The gill 
net is the oldest and most popular form of apparatus used in the salmon 
fishery. In 1887 it is stated that 1,600 nets were employed in the drift 
fishery of the lower Columbia. The nets used in this fishery range in 
length from 250 to 300 fathoms or more, but are mostly about 300 fath- 
oms. They are 45 meshes deep (25 to 30 feet), the mesh being generally 
8£ to 9 inches. The minimum legal size is 8J inches, and occasionally 
a 10-inch mesh is used. 
The nets are all handmade by the fishermen themselves or their 
families ; the fishermen’s union prohibits the use by any of its members 
of factory or Chinese- tuadp nets. Fine flax or linen twine is used ; this 
is the celebrated “ Barbour twine ; ” it has 12 threads and is laid slack. 
Hard-laid twine would not u fish well.” The nets are made “ between 
seasons” and are hung ready for use in the following spring. They are 
hung in the ordinary manner — to a cork rope, with floats to support the 
upper edge of the gear, and to a lead line with sinkers attached which 
keeps the net vertical in the water and all its meshes properly distended. 
After being hung the nets are tanned, and it is said they are tanned twice 
a month during the fishing season. The cost is about $300, or $1 per 
fathom. Nets ordinarily last about two years, but the fishermen gen- 
erally expect to put in half new twine each season. 
The set nets are not used in the lower part of the river, but are em- 
ployed chiefly on the Willamette and near the Cascades. They are 
mostly machine-made; vary from 25 to 100 fathoms in length, from 35 
to 50 meshes in depth, and the mesh ranges from 5 to 10 inches. Their 
cost is proportionately smaller than the drift nets, but will not vary 
materially from $1 per fathom of length. 
A few reels for drying gill nets are used on the Columbia River simi- 
lar to those of the Great Lakes, but generally these are not in favor. 
Nets are most commonly dried on shore by spreading on frames on the 
wharves, and occasionally they are hoisted on the masts of the fishing 
ets precedes mending, but nets are dried after 
o; d, and always after beiug taken from the water. 
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