FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
211 
funnel through which the fish enter the square crib or pound. The 
leader, which runs out from the shore or shoal, is made of twine or of 
galvanized wire netting, stretched upon poles or piles that are driven 
into the bottom. The use of wire for pound-net leaders is comparatively 
recent. In fresh water it lasts several years, and is a good substitute 
for twine netting, but in salt water it can not be used more than one 
season, consequently it is being discarded by the fishermen on the lower 
river. The wire netting, in sheets 5 feet wide, costs 11 cents per Tun- 
ing foot; when 3 feet wide the price is 8 cents per foot. Only about 12 
per cent, of the pound nets have wire leaders. The heart and crib are 
constructed of twine netting stretched on poles, and the boM is so 
arrranged that it can be a lifted” for the purpose of removing the fish. 
During the weekly close season (Saturday evening to Sunday evening) 
the funnel through which fish enter the crib is lifted so that the pound 
can not catch anything. The size of the mesh is as follows: Leader, 
6 inches; heart, 5 inches; crib or bowl, 4 inches. The cost of a pound 
net varies from $700 to $1,000. 
The so-called wooden “ traps” are essentially weirs, and are a modifi- 
cation of the brush weirs or traps used by the Indians for the capture 
of salmon long before the advent of white men. 
The wooden weirs have been employed in the Columbia salmon fish- 
ery for 20 years or more, and their use dates back nearly to the 
beginning of the industry. They are built on shore, of piling and planks, 
the latter arranged like slats with spaces between. The general 
features of the construction, form, etc., are shown in the plan, plate 
xxxiii. The apparatus consists of a leader, generally from 200 to 600 
feet long, two arrow-shaped hearts, with funnels that lead into the crib 
or box where the fish ultimately find their way. The weir is arranged 
to intercept the fish on their passage up the river ; it therefore has an 
entrance on only one side of the leader — the down-river side. The iu- 
stinct of salmon to go up stream is so strong that as soon as they enter 
the trap they immediately turn their head up the river and therefore 
are all the easier led into the upper section of the weir, from which 
there is no escape. The bowl is, however, provided with a movable 
trapdoor that can be opeued duriug the close season, and on Sundays, 
so that the fish can pass through and run up stream. These weirs, 
after being built, are launched into the river, placed in proper position, 
and then ballasted so that they sink to the bottom. They are always 
located near the shore, and often they can not be fished when the water 
in the river gets unusually low. 
Fish wheels are of two kinds, the floating or scow wheel that cau be 
moved about from point to point, if need be, and the shore wheel, which 
is permanent. In either case the principle is the same. The so-called 
scow wheel may be thus described: The float consists of a large square- 
ended typical scow that is usually decked at one end and open at the 
other. Several stanchions, some 8 to 10 feet high, support a framework 
