FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
219 
The catch of bluebacks, silver salmon, and steelheads by the wheels 
is proportionately much greater than in the apparatus near the mouth 
of the river. The inference is that the Chinook is much depleted in 
numbers by the catch in the estuary of the Columbia, and that conse- 
quently a smaller proportion of them reach the upper waters or even 
get as far as the Cascades and Dalles. In addition to the salmon, large 
quantities of sturgeon are caught, and these are now increasing in com- 
mercial value and importance. Occasionally a shad is taken while 
attempting to ascend the river to seek a spawning ground. Lamprey eels 
also get into the wheels. The catch of the wheels is sometimes enormous. 
Mr. Gr. W. Williams is authority for saying that on one occasion, in June, 
1886, the catch of a single fish- wheel in one day was 13,935 salmon, 
weighing 85,000 pounds. Tons of sturgeon are also taken in a single 
day. 
A few men, who fish chiefly for the fresh-fish market at Portland, 
and some of the salmon fishermen (after the close of the salmon season) 
fish for sturgeon with trawl lines. Lamprey eels are used for bait; 
these are generally found in abundance at the Cascades and Dalles, 
where they crawl out on the rocks or ledges on the river banks, and 
also at the falls of the Willamette, near Oregon City, where a few fish- 
ermen make a business of taking eels and salting them for sturgeon 
bait. Tbe trawls are hauled at stated intervals. 
The Chinese variety of trawl is not baited. It is set about 8 inches 
to 3 feet above the bottom of the river, so that the hooks may inter- 
cept the fish that are nosing about in the vicinity. When a sturgeon 
comes in contract with one of the sharp pointed hooks it quickly enters 
his body ; stung by the pain, he naturally struggles to free himself, and 
soon he is impaled with other hooks and finally wound up in the gear 
and rendered helpless. The struggles of one fish usually result in catch- 
ing others that may be near, for as he surges the trawl about he is 
almost certain to fasten the hooks into some other sturgeon. 
Clam-digging is followed by 12 Indians who work at Clatsop Beach 
and produce about 1,800 or 1,900 bushels annually. In 1888 they sold 
1,872 bushels. As many more were dug by people living near the beach, 
making a total of 3,744 bushels, worth $4,992. Clams are ordinarily sold 
in boxes holding about 1J bushels, and the regular price per box is $2. 
Dangers , loss of life , etc . — Nowhere else in the regiou between San 
Diego and Puget Sound do the coast fishermen encounter such dan- 
gers or meet with such loss of life as on the Columbia. At times the 
disasters have been appalling, and on the average they exceed all sim- 
ilar losses on the coast within the limits mentioned. The most disas- 
trous season was in 1880, when the fleet of boats was suddenly over- 
taken by a gale when near the mouth of the river; sails were blown 
away, some boats were swamped, and others driven helplesly into the 
breakers, from which there was no rescue. Sixty lives were lost. The 
