FISHERIES OF THE' PACIFIC COAST. 
215 
lead line and fold it np to the cork lino. Then the boatman [ho.it-puller] slowly 
backs np to the net, and as he does so the slack is hauled in. It would not do to pull 
the net in, for that would draw the meshes open and all the fish would drop out. As 
the net is hauled in thafish are picked out of the meshes. If not already dead they 
are killed by a blow over the nose [with a club], for to leave a fish to slowly die in 
he bottom of a boat spoils its flavor. 
As Wilcox observed it, the nets are “laid out” at nearly right angles, 
or diagonally to the river’s course, so that they will intercept the salmon 
that are running in. Drift-net fishermen set their apparatus only on 
high water slack, or what they denominate u on the turn of the tide.” 
The gill nets are put out about an hour before high water and generally 
drift until an hour after. As a rule salmon fishing with drift gill nets 
can not be profitably prosecuted at other times. The nets are allowed 
to float with the current for a time specified, when they are hauled into 
the boat and the salmon are removed. As the fish are gilled they gen- 
erally die in the net. The mesh determines the size of the salmon, and 
no small ones are taken in the gill nets, the catch of which is almost 
entirely large fish of the Chinook species. When the fishing is finished 
and the nets have been hauled into the boats sail is set, and each starts 
for a scow or cannery to land its catch. 
As soon as the fish are disposed of the boats (unless they are at a 
cannery) run into some shelter and anchor until the conditions are again 
suitable for fishing. On Saturday, however, all of the men go home 
and stay there until Sunday afternoon, since fishing is prohibited by 
law from 6 p. m. Saturday to the same hour on Sunday. It is a beautiful 
sight to see a thousand or more boats starting for home on a Saturday, 
their white sails dotting the river for miles. 
The nets set farthest down the river are often (if not generally) most 
successful. This leads to much competition in getting the best berths, 
and causes the fishermen to take great risks in venturing near the bars 
upon which the ocean waves always break heavily. The ebb tide runs 
so strongly at the mouth of the river that the boats can not make way 
against it; and if the fishermen wait too long before hauling their nets 
they are sometimes carried upon the bars, where their boats are imme- 
diately swamped. Many lives have been lost this way, and a season 
never passes without its dismal record of disasters. 
The catch of the gill-net fishermen varies considerabiy with different 
seasons, and, as will readily be understood, there is generally a mate- 
rial difference in the results obtained by individual boats. It may be 
stated, on the authority of the Fishermen’s Union, that the average 
catch per boat in 1888 was about 500 fish, for each of which the canneries 
paid $1.25. In the early history of the fishery it was not uncommon for 
a boat to catch four or five times that number. 
Set nets are moored in the river so as to intercept the migrating 
salmon. The same rule applies to these as to the drift nets, so far as 
clear and muddy water is concerned. If conditions are favorable, fish- 
