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Show (G4 TCHINQ TJLACHAN?" The old Indian f turned his face from k the camp fire and 3 fixed his bead-black ' eyes on mine. "Oulachan," I repeated. re-peated. "Why do men call you Oulachan?" ,3- He turned his wrin- kled face to the fire ' jS?1 again and we sat awhile in silence. Then, in the deep gutturals and short, broken words of his native tongue, he told me. . "Many summers ago," be said, the teepees of my father's tribe stood where we sit tonight. The white man was not here then" he pointed up the river toward Kelso "the woods and the open were the Indian's. The Indian hunted and ' fished and was happy. But white men came up the big river in canoes and they brought with them the black death. Warriors, klootchmen, pappooses, all alike sickened. sick-ened. Many died. When the ram and the winter came, no deer meat, no fish hung beside the teepees. For when the frost drove the black death away, the hunters were weak. They could not go to the woods for deer, and the salmon had passed on up the little river. The Indian was very hungry. The klootchmen and the pappooses cried for meat. And when the Indian was ready to fold his blanket blan-ket around him and lie down to the long sleep, the Great Spirit saw and sent food. From the north it came, from under the frozen water. Swimming Swim-ming together. A long rope big-many big-many suns long. Many little fish swimming swim-ming at the bottom of the big water wa-ter "the Pacific "along the bottom of the big river" the Columbia. "They came here to the mouth of the little river" he pointed to the Cowlitz flowing past us in the darkness to the Columbia "and here they came to the top of the water. My father saw The old Indian ( 1 V " -J t - s,-'J f turned his face from f ( I f C ' x .the camp fire and 1 1 ' -( . - U,J 3 fixed his bead-black p w , - , . 7 W 1 z-1 re- f i r:r , - peated. "Why do men I ' ,K 'X" " ' 'V't - 4$A call you Oulachan ?'' I,. , , y , -V 'Vf ' , jMt Ssg 5ed Ice to The flre N ----- ' 4 . - J0f?rilM ' ZpZ? again and we sat , I , , r1fTr4 awhile in silence. j - IV"" Then, in the deep gutturals and short, ( broken words of his native tongue, he I , L TrrJ Zl0) was not here then"-he pointed UP j-dL I VV:W the river toward Kelso-"the woods t . r A ; 2. fit 1 1 and the open were the Indian's. The , P '4 'V?5 XMX J i' ll1 Indian hunted and ' fished and was VJ- , tU I i s ' Cz'Xi V- j Sgiggp? - l haDDV But white men came up the , , ssi sV, 5 ' t r l S lv-' -j?V 5- bigHver in canoes and they brought AS"-T' with them the black death. Warriors, Titll t- ' klootchmen, pappooses, all alike sick- . 1' ViZi ened. Many died. When the ram , j ft& Sij'X', jl and the winter came, no deer meat, j IXIAJ t , U kf no fish hung beside the teepees For 'M Jg' I 1 1 UM4 I " when the frost drove the black death 7Cy? V . away, the hunters were weak. They --r3 i 3 f' - x" ' v Al could not go to the woods for deer, Zy '" f A ' i Til and the salmon had passed on up the A j , ( , ; "i J little river. The Indian was very IT- f,' , 'V ?V ?f '&&JLJ&& . hungry. The klootchmen and the TrOl i & JiJ 1 pappooses cried for meat. And when ,J2) A rt & A . ' ' " A. 1 the Indian was ready to fold his blan- Ufa V -- .fa 1 &" , ket around him and lie down to the V7X? ' T '',,, t fo, '1 1 long sleep, the Great Spirit saw and ;Va S r X n4trf 1 sent food. From the north it came, U ! from under the frozen water. Swim- .JjV T H ming together. A long rope-big- V lC&J&??'f 'Sl&.k 1 jrf ' I many suns long. Many little fish swim- I it '1. P'lV ! ming at the bottom of the big wa- Cr AVf- , 1 . J ':- lr- 1 ter-"the Pacific-"along the bottom I , ' U fa . 1 of the big river"-the Columbia. "They Is. ?2 f sIL came here to the mouth of the little "Ci JyZ W river"-he pointed to the Cowlitz " IjK flowing past us in the darkness to the I s ' V' t ' Jg,? ? j. M i . t S"4(V K ) Columbia-"and here they came to the H"(";Ci'"- X T-i - V-T, v " top of the water. My father saw 15 T - V 1 ' " " "J' . . Ivfltm.,. that is necessary. One 5,000 tons of oulachan, and as the fish average f , If t 'sr I does not even need the about eight to the pound 80,000,000 of them went f ,His - - x v dip net to catch a the way of the market and the frying pan. T" I 1$X 5 ' "mess," for the river is ' The fishing grounds of the Cowlitz are prac- JVS ' rJ'tX i literally alive with ou- tically the only ones where the oulachan can be 1 5 f , r4i' "f y'ti' "'"ll lachan and children oft- caught in paying quantities. On the Columbia , '"T!-" jr? f'L"y' Pn bail them out of the some few are caught by gill netters. But the f - ftr T"ri i J V5"").-" 4 ''iW8'! water with tin cans, get- river is deep and for the most part the fish swim u f 5 .(ftjMtt " ".iw? 'j. Ifi v linS half fish and half beyond the reach of the widest net. Even when x iEJ'pS'Jl'-''' Iff rV fV'w. water. Where the wa- caught they have to be picked one by one out I " 1 'll ' '"1'','' er is shallow enough of the meshes, so putting the gill netter out of I tK f ' T ' N they can even be caught competition with the Cowlitz man and his greedy, ' ' - " " !" v with the bare hands, as long-handled dipper. The grounds extend but jteb- H ' ' "K " . i their skin is not slimy eight or ten miles in the Cowlitz. Before Kelsc Ft-w jiuJuUu. lL vi. JZS&n. when in the water. was on the map the best location is said to have y . Ti 11111111 -i ii i ii. . ii.ii The run is always been directly opposite where the Northern Pa- v&y -otHmtrr heralded far down the cific depot now stands, but the growth of the Columbia by flocks, of town has driven the fish farther up and the best that is necessary. One does not even need the dip net to catch a "mess," for the river is literally alive with oulachan ou-lachan and children oft-on oft-on bail them out of the water with tin cans, get-ling get-ling half fish and half water. Where the water wa-ter is shallow enough they can even be caught with the bare hands, as their skin is not slimy when in the water. The run is always heralded far down the Columbia by flocks, of 5,000 tons of oulachan, and as the fish average about eight to the pound 80,000,000 of them went the way of the market and the frying pan. The fishing grounds of the Cowlitz are practically prac-tically the only ones where the oulachan can be caught in paying quantities. On the Columbia some few are caught by gill netters. But the river is deep and for the most part the fish swim beyond the reach of the widest net. Even when caught they have to be picked one by one out of the meshes, so putting the gill netter out of competition with the Cowlitz man and his greedy, long-handled dipper. The grounds extend but eight or ten miles in the Cowlitz. Before Kelsa was on the map the best location is said to have been directly opposite where the Northern Pacific Pa-cific depot now stands, but the growth of the town has driven the fish farther up and the best catches are now made two miles above this point Between the small floating docks of the town and the fishing grounds boats ply day and night during the runs, going upstream empty and returning re-turning laden with fish. Over 500 boats are employed em-ployed in the industry, about 75 of them power boats. It seems strange that the oulachan, so far superior to the eastern smelt, has never reached the eastern markets. The fish are packed in 50-pound boxes for shipment and the earlier catches sell in the wholesale market at from $2.50 to $5.00 the box; but in the height of the season the ordinary fisherman gets only about $50 for 200 boxes 10,000 pounds. On the river are several men who buy at these prices from other fishermen, maintain boats of their own and ship direct to retail markets. Portland has wholesale buyers on the ground, and probably the greater part of the retail trade is supplied through them. At Kelso smelt have been shipped as far east as Wisconsin. The fishermen say that with cold storage facilities the output could be greatly Increased. .Canning in the form of sardines has never been tried, though In the opinion of experts the fish so treated would discount dis-count the imported sardine. The market is usu ally demoralized early in the five months' season sea-son by schoolboys, who go out, load up a few boats with fish and become an easy mark for buyers. Often, too, Greeks and Italians come up the river in boats, stay a day or two and sull their fish for whatever they can get. and the men regularly engaged In the trade want to make It a licensed one, on this account. The growing output of the oulachan would teem, on the face of It. to demand a Oifford Pin-chot Pin-chot on the fish commission. But the supply increases year after year with the demand and apparently knows no limit. hast year's run broke all records and the Cowlitz smelt fisher Is looking forward In happy confidence to the coming winter, when the deeps and shallows of the streams will again be filled with oulachan. them and shouted, 'Oulachan.' Hunters and klootchmen went into the water and caught the oulachan with their hands. 'Oulachan,' they shouted. They made potlach and were filled. In that hour was I born. My name is Oulachan." The oulachan still runs in the Cowlitz and every year there Is a feast, but it is a feast for white men; the Indian tribes have vanished from the river. During the early months of winter win-ter Portland and all the cities and towns within reach of the fishing grounds look forward to the feast. In the old days when Portland was the only market fishermen scrambled for the first of the run. A wild race of the deep-laden boats up the Columbia followed, and the first boatload to reach the market sold, smelt for silver, weight for weight. But since railroads and refrigerator cars have put smelt fishing on the basis of a practical industry, the first run of the oulachan does not bring more than 20 cents the pound in the northwestern retail markets, though the very first to arrive are eagerly sought at prices somewhat some-what higher. Known commercially as the Columbia river smelt, the king of pan fish has several names. Ichthyologists classify it as thlelchthys pacificus, of the smelt family. The Indians of the Columbia Colum-bia river region knew it as oulachan and the pioneer pio-neer fishermen called it the Eskimo candle fish, tn shape it resembles the smelt of the eastern states and Europe, but its rich yet delicate and sweet flavor places it far above them in the estimation esti-mation of the epicures. Indeed, enthusiasts insist that as a pan fish it is superior to trout of any kind. For unnumbered years the oulachan has made the Cowlitz river its spawning ground and of course the Columbia river Indians were the first to use It for food. During the runs they caught the fish In vast quantifies drying and smoking them, and dried, actually used them for light in their teepees. For so much is the oulachan in oil that, with a strip of bark run through it. the dried fish will burn with a clear flame from nose to tail. i In the early months of the northwestern winter win-ter the oulachan gather in uncountable millions at some unknown spot In Bering sea and begin their southward swim. Always close to the ocean bed. traveling in the form of a monster rope miles In length, they pass all the river and fiord openings open-ings along the coast until the mouth of the Columbia Co-lumbia is reached. Then, so closely hugging the river bottom that kill nets are all but useless, to reach them, they make for the Cowlitz. A few miles up from the mouth of that river they strike the shallower water, and come within easy reach of the waiting fishermen. From Indian times until the great catch of Inst season the method of fishing has been the same. A boat or a canoe to fish from, and a dip it ith a long handle for fishing Uxkle, are all l eagles, gulls and hawks, following in the wake of the living rope of fish and picking up the dead as they come to the surface. Then the fishermen fish-ermen gather by hundreds in their boats along the fishing grounds and feel along the bottom with the pole ends of their dip nets. When the pole strikes the small, wriggling bodies swimming swim-ming along the river bottom in solid phalanx, it is simply dip and fill, empty the net into the boat, dip and fill again, until the boat cau hold no more. There is not much sport about it. It Is just about as exciting as clam digging and requires no more skill. Quantity caught, and quickness in dipping one's boat full to the gunwales gun-wales of flapping little fish are the smelt fisherman's fisher-man's ideals of sport. And during the runs fishermen, fish-ermen, fish eaters and even the eternally gobbling gob-bling seagulls alike become sated. When the gulls are at all hungry the fishermen amuse themselves by tossing up smelt for the gulls to catch In the air. A seagull on the wing will grab a fish by the middle or tail, toss and reverse it in air, and gulp It down head first In the wink of an eye. Most of the fishing is done at night. Daylight seems to scatter the fish, but even In daytime during the height of the season the fishermen keep at their work with good results. As a rule, there are two men to each boat and the craft are filled in an incredibly short time. One night last season two Kelso men filled a power launch to its capacity of 2,250 pounds in 45 minutes, or at the rate of 50 pounds a minute, and catches of 10.000 pounds in one day and night were frequent. fre-quent. While the Cowlitz river Is the only constant spawning ground, the oulachan has been known to run up the Lewis and the Sandy. At the time of the run up the Lewis. 14 years ago. there was only a small run of male fish in the Cowlitz, and the fishermen made their season's catch in the Lewis. About once in eight years there is a run up the Sandy, apparently Independent of the Cowlitz run. as Che number in that river is not lessened. At the time of the last run in the Sandy a party of Portland men went out with dip nets. One man lost his dip net but found an old. rusty, discarded bird cage. He tied it to the end of a pole and scored an equal catch with the others. During the same run farmers drove their wagons Into the stream, dipped them full of fish and hauled load after load to their orchards or-chards to use as fertilizer. Pork sold in the Portland market some months later had a distinctly dis-tinctly fishy flavor and revealed the fact that some of the thrifty agriculturists had fed smelt to their hogs. I-ast season the Cowlitz river was the spawning spawn-ing ground of the greatest run of smelt ever known by fishermen who have been in the business busi-ness over twenty years. At the season's close the river r- rielded over 10,000,000 pounds, or |
