266 ie OREGON £€PORTSMABWX 
from this stream with hook and line would only be to guess. It is 
known that before Oregon bore a state title the salmon annually headed 
eastward up this stream to battle with the rapids and falls, spawn their 
eggs and spend their last days of useless efforts trying to overcome the 
tumbling waters. 
In the early days they were met by Indians, who relied on marvel- 
ous skill and accuracy with the spear and gig in securing fish, which 
they cured and smoked for future use. The anglers of today take many 
salmon from these same waters, though by an entirely different method. 
The upper Nehalem was a popular trout stream long before Elmer 
Colwell built his first shingle mill on the upper stream, it being situ- 
ated where now stands the little town of Jewel and was built along 
about the summer of 1879. Today this stream continues to hold the 
reputation given by our forefathers, ‘‘A good trout stream,’’ although 
the anglers whipping its waters have increased over twenty fold within 
the last few seasons. 
' Not many years back the Southern Pacific Co. completed a railroad 
from Portland to Tillamook City, building through the Coast Range 
mountains then following along the course of The Nehalem to the coast. 
Were my pen more fluent I would attempt to describe the scenic views 
visible from this winding and twisting trail of steel as it enters the 
Willamette Valley foothills of the Coast Range mountains, and spirals 
its way westward to the summit of the Coast Range mountains up 
among the dense evergreen forest at an elevation of eighteen hundred 
feet, then descends down the Salmonberry river, crossing and recrossing 
it many times before reaching The Nehalem, which is followed closely 
until reaching the white sea sands and balmy breezes of the Pacific. 
Pitch camp where your fancy suits, there are stations and stops at 
close intervals and good accommodations can be found at nearby 
ranches, making it an easy matter to find a suitable camping place and 
an ample supply of provisions. 
From a commercial standpoint The Nehalem bay is a very profit- 
able body of water. Located at the live little town of Wheeler isa large 
cannery and packing plant, with an annual output of many tons of both 
salted and canned salmon. Perchance today some of us dined on 
Nehalem Chinook which we caught at the corner grocery with a two-bit 
piece. 
Though there is commercial fishing in the bay it does not eliminate 
the angler from some rare sport, trolling in the bay. It is there many 
a noble warrior has struck, leaped, tugged and fought on the end of a 
silken line to finally be conquered by skilled human hands, while many 
a nobler one, seizing the spinning metallic coaxer has determinedly 
fought a battle for freedom and left the would-be captor sitting in a 
boat on the rippling surface to tell the threadbare story of ‘‘the big 
one that got away.’’ 
Early in the spring the little speckled trout of the lower river and 
its tributaries are awaiting the bait fisherman, and soon as the weather 
warms and the insects begin to fly, the cutthroats (Salmo clarkii) are 
eager to rise to a well placed winged lure. This signifies the beginning 
of the fly fisherman’s happy days, and this stream is an ideal one for 
this popular art. To the fly casters this stream never fails to yield 
many speckled trout each season. Some of the large ones if mounted 
would be trophies fit to adorn the most discriminating fish curator’s 
den. 
Later in the summer, following the first heavy rain, the big lusty 
sea trout enter the river, They are taken from the pools and deep 
