see it clearly

Fish Wheel

Here is an ingenious minnow trap in the form of a fish wheel that will get them if there are any to get. In a word, it is a wheel made of wire screen and turned by the current.

The minnow that comes near it will be scooped up and will fall into the trough in the center and thence into the box at the side. In the past, in the northwest, there was one with paddles thirty feet wide and probably three times as long. The gigantic wheel was submerged partly and literally scooped up the salmon by the ton when they were running good. Now this trap wheel is to be a counterpart of that monster device and will work on the same identical principle. Whether or not it scoops up minnows and other fish depends on the kind of stream you place it in. If it abounds with finny life and has a strong enough current you may depend upon its success.

To make the central part we first cut out two wedge-shaped pieces of one-inch board and split them halfway, as shown in A and B, Fig. 2. This work can all be done with a saw. First mark out a diagram of the whole thing and then saw on the lines. When finished the two parts are fitted together and nailed. We then fill in with four wedges having no slit, C, in Fig. 2. The hub when finished will have the appearance of Fig. 3. Each of the four troughs should have an incline of two inches. This is important, as it is intended to precipitate the minnows into the box. You can now nail curved pieces of wood, preferably heavy hoops, to the hub and stretch your wire netting over same. This is plainly shown in Fig. 5. If you use common fly screen I think the water will turn the paddles, but if there is not enough current to do so, add some solid substance at the end that the water cannot pass through. It need not turn rapidly, one or two complete revolutions in a minute will be plenty. You can experiment with it and will soon be able to rig it up so it will go at about that speed.

The bearing or support of the axle consists of two posts driven into a shallow place or a narrow neck of water that has considerable fall. In a small creek or ditch you can easily construct such a strait by filling in. For an axle use iron pipe or a couple of heavy bolts. The bearing posts should be of hard wood. Bore one-inch holes a little down from the top of each and saw out the intervening piece. Make the resting place of the axle very smooth and smear it liberally with lard or wagon grease. Make the top of the posts level by using a carpenter's level on them. If one is even slightly higher than the other the wheel will not turn freely. You must do your work accurately and carefully here-just as any place else-if you expect to get results.