SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF SWIFTSURE BANK 
715 
locations for intercepting the salmon runs, and before they learned to build their 
traps sufficiently strong to withstand the storms that occasionally swept all exposed 
locations. 
The first traps consisted essentially of a barrier, or “lead” of webbing hung from 
a row of driven piling, which diverted the passing fish into a pen, or “crib,” similarly 
constructed. Although patterned after the pound nets of the Great Lakes, with a 
crib, heart, tunnel, and lead, they were built with much heavier piling which was usu- 
ally strengthened by having the pilings bound together with a capping of timbers, 
lashed on with cables. At first the heart was merely two rows of piling that formed 
a V with the lead pointed toward the bottom of the V. The fish followed the lead, 
which usually extended out from shore, until they found themselves between the 
lead and one of the outstretched arms of the heart. Continuing farther they swam 
through a narrow opening, or tunnel, into the crib. 
By 1895 the traps were much improved. The heart was often partially closed 
at its base, so that if the fish failed to enter the tunnel into the crib, they would, on 
circling back, find themselves in a semienclosure pointing toward the tunnel. A few 
traps had double hearts to minimize the chances of escape, and some had a leadlike 
extension, the forerunner of the “jigger” often employed on later traps. The jigger 
was essentially a supplementary lead consisting of a row of pilings connecting at about 
a right angle with the arm of either side of the heart, depending on the direction from 
which the fish usually approached the trap, and extending out toward deeper water, 
with the pilings driven to form a hook on the far end. The purpose of the jigger was 
to direct back to the lead such fish as passed the opening into the heart. 
The cribs in several traps measured by Rathbun were rectangular but not always 
square in shape, ranging from 35-80 feet on a side, and were driven in water from 
3-9 fathoms in depth. The catches were sometimes much larger than could be han- 
dled by the canneries at once and, while a large catch might be held in the crib for 
several days, such accumulation prevented continuous fishing during a period when 
the salmon might be running best. To meet this contingencjq an adjunct to the 
crib, called a “spiller,” was devised and appeared to be coming into general use. It 
was, in fact, an additional crib, square in shape, and connected with the first by means 
of a tunnel, through which the surplus fish of any catch could be driven. 
The netting on the earlier traps was cotton twine, usually of 3-inch mesh in the 
crib and heart and from 3%-4 inches in the lead. Galvanized wire netting, in place 
of cotton, was experimentally used for the hearts and leads at Point Roberts in the 
late 1890’s, Rathbun (1899). 
The modern fish trap differs from the majority of those described by Rathbun 
in several respects. All of the trap, except the lead, is now customarily capped. 
If no capping is used the piles are tightly connected with a heavy wire cable to which 
the netting is attached to prevent sagging. All netting, except the spiller, is of gal- 
vanized wire which is cheaper and much more easily kept clean of seaweed and floating 
debris. 
All traps use a spiller of tarred cotton web. As a general rule the spiller is 40 
feet square, and the pot is usually the same. If a trap fishes very well a second spiller 
is sometimes driven on the opposite side of the pot to take care of the surplus fish. 
