What knowledge and skills will Uncle
Cyrus need as a fish trap watchman?
There
were 6 to 8 men on a fish trap crew. One of those men was the fish trap
watchman. He had many responsibilities. The watchman did not need to be
trained before he started his job, but it was important that he did know
how to swim.
The
watchman’s responsibilities started before fishing season began. He helped
to build the wire nets for the traps. The nets were put together on the
beach. The watchman and other crewmembers clamped together two layers of wire
to make a double-mesh net. The wire was 6 feet wide and 200 feet long. The wire
rolls were so huge that it took 7 men to roll them out to a tugboat. They put
the huge wire rolls on the tug. Then the tug towed the wire nets to the
location of the fish trap.
Next,
some divers fastened the wire net to the log piles. They had to dive
under the water to attach the net to the log piles.
The watchman also
had the job of being a “Lookout”. He watched for
schools of salmon coming toward the trap. After the fish had entered the
trap, the watchman stood by the pot tunnel with a rope attached to the tunnel.
After the school of fish entered through the tunnel into the pot, the
watchman trapped the fish inside the pot by dropping the rope.
The watchman helped
to pull up the fish-filled pot or spiller net.
The net was hauled up and down with ropes and tackles.
Sometimes the net
was pulled by hand, but usually it was pulled up by steam, 
when
the trap steamer arrived.
The
watchman was responsible for making sure that the trap lanterns were properly
lit each night. The trap lanterns were used
to make the traps visible at night and for signal lights, so that other boats
wouldn’t run into the traps. The night watchman was also supposed to
protect the fish trap from fish pirates. A
night watchman should be brave and honest, so that the pirates would not be
able to force him or bribe him into allowing them to steal the fish.
Some of the
other fish trap workers:
Two or three of the 8 men who worked on the fish traps were
the pile driver operators. These men worked on a large flat scow that had a
tall crane at one end. This scow was called a “pile driver”. A pile driver
operator had to be skilled and trained. The fish trap
watchman was never asked to work on the pile driver. Before the fishing season began, the pile driver hauled
the wooden posts, called “piles”, out to the location of the fish trap.
The pile driver drove the log
pilings into the seabed. Then the net was hung from the piles, forming the fish
trap.
Photo Credit: the
thumbnails and linked photos on this page are courtesy of the Semiahmoo Museum. The fish
trap model is on display in the museum. Permission to publish these photos was
granted to the Bellingham School District.