SALMON INVESTIGATIONS IN COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN IN 1896. 
31 
When salmon are plentiful an Indian can earn from $5 to $8 a day. The price 
varies from year to year, according to the supply and demand for salmon by the can- 
neries. This season 2 cents a pound was the standing price for Chinooks and steelheads. 
Indians consider the Chinooks superior to ail other salmon, and it is only when plentiful 
that they are sold to canneries. No part of this fish is thrown away; the ripe eggs 
and even the tail, head, and fins are eaten. 
The dwarf Chinooks, previously spoken of, not being used by canneries, are greatly 
sought after by the women of the tribes, who squat on the floor of the room where the 
fish are dressed, patiently waiting for the small fish to be culled out. They sit for 
hours shivering in the cold, and consider themselves well paid if each receives one 
or two fish. During the fishing season the women and children congregate in the 
dressing-room, waiting for a share of the heads, tails, and fins as they fall from 
the butcher’s knife. 
The ripe eggs of chinook salmon are considered a great delicacy and are gathered 
in large quantities. They are first separated and then dried in the sun, after which 
they are prepared in various ways as food. 
Steelheads swim near the surface and are more easily caught than the Chinooks, 
which swim deep. Clear water influences the catch; if the water be clear the catch is 
less than when it is muddy. 
From September 25 to the 13th of October 2,667 steelheads, 1,402 Chinooks, and 
2,213 silver salmon were examined at Celilo ; 1,010 of the steelheads were males and 
1,657 females; 683 of the Chinooks were males and 719 females; of the silver salmon, 
1,011 were males and 1,202 females; 350 male steelheads and 601 females were in an 
advanced stage of ripeness; also 574 male and 528 female Chinooks, and 843 male and 
1,048 female silver salmon. 
The eggs and milt of the salmon caught during October were somewhat further 
advanced than that of those examined in September at Celilo. A large part of the 
eggs of the chinook on being taken from the fish would immediately separate; this was 
also true of many of the silver salmon and steelheads. A number of the latter showed 
no signs of development, but many were well advanced and some about ready to spawn. 
It would seem that the spawning season of the steelhead extends over a greater period 
of time than that of other species. A careful examination carried on in other streams 
would no doubt throw more light on the subject. 
In the fall, after the close season, a seining “ gang” of twelve to fifteen men goes 
into camp on a long pebbly beach, about a mile below the fishing station at Tumwater. 
This season two seines were operated on the Oregon side of the river and one on the 
Washington side. At times fish will be found plentiful on one side of the river and few 
on the other, when suddenly, without apparent cause, they shift to the opposite side. 
During the fishing season seining is carried on with little or no interruption, hauls 
being mjide in quick succession all through the day. The seines are set from a flat- 
bottom boat, one end of the seine rope being held on shore by horses while the net is 
being thrown out. As soon as the net is set the seine rope on the lower end is picked 
up by other horses and the hauling-in commences. It would be impossible to land the 
net by hand, so swift is the current, and frequently the united strength of four horses 
is barely able to land it. At each haul the fish caught are loaded into wagons and 
taken to the fishing station, where they are weighed, washed, and put into cars. If 
they are to be canned they are thrown into the car in bulk; if shipped east, they are 
