Featured Resource
Columbia Slough
Oral History - Berries, Catfish and Carp
There was always something to do in old St. Johns. Fishing along the banks of
the Willamette River, Gatton Lake, the Columbia Slough
and River. In the early summer months one could walk
to the Bybee Dam where you could catch crappies and
bass, some of which weighed in the neighborhood of
two pounds. Catfish were thick along the Willamette,
the best spot seemed to be where Shaver had their
log rafts tied up near Terminal #4. The lakes west
of the flour mills abounded in ducks and geese and
other game.
The
Willamette River was so clean in those days. . .
George Tennant in St. Johns Heritage
We used to fish for catfish in the slough. They were the best! We would carry home strings of catfish we caught out of the slough. There were a lot of house boats along that body of water. Howard Mcpherson, Kenton History
Joe Caldwell crawfished in the slough. He sold them to Jake's Crawfish. Jakes put them in tanks and kept them alive. When I was a kid I fished down there. Old Joe used to live below the tunnel in a houseboat. They moved him out after WWI. They towed him down the slough, under the trestle, down around the river and brought him up in the slough. Earl Stevens, born 1903, Kenton History
I went fishing on Saturdays with my friend, Sam. We had old cane poles and we used our mothers' hairpins and curl[ed] them up to make pole eyes. We were real Huckleberry Finns. We would fish underneath the trestle that went over the slough. It was a wooden trestle then. We caught a lot of crappies. We couldn't fish there on Sundays because the 'townspeople' were under there. They wouldn't let you. Earl Stevens, born 1903, Kenton History
I couldn't describe to you
the amount of ducks that were around East Delta Park.
There were lakes down there year-round. East Delta
Park, in the 1930s, was overloaded with them.
My
dad would shoot ducks when we had the truck garden.
He would shoot them and let them fall, then go home.
About a half hour later he would go back and pick
them up like he was picking tomatoes. We always had
duck. Bernie
Canepa, born 1927, Kenton History
We also rode our bikes to various fishing spots. The Columbia Slough whih was horribly polluted, was a favorite spot. We fished for crappies, carp, bullheads and catfish. We also went to '3-corner' or Smith Lake. We didn't fish in Mocks Bottom but we did explore and build rafts there. Raymond Guimary, born 1928, Kenton History
A wooded ground between
the sloughs ended at Catfish Point [there were three
inlets to the slough near Ramsey Lake]. The current
of the Columbia Slough and the back water of the mud
slough formed a wide space of water. On the down stream
an island with willows and cottonwoods again separated
the flowing current and the still water which ended
at the St. Johns Landfill was called the Blind Slough.
Mud turtles sunned on the fallen treees and dead heads
in this still slough near Smith Lake that had once
connected to Bybee Lake. . . .
My grandmother, Lizzie Cook and
my mother, Nadean Holmes and I caught catfish on throw
lines and angle worms in the Ogden Slough in 1910.
Mr. and Mrs. Dan drove their lively horses from Dan's
Restaurant on Ivanhoe and Burlington Street to the
best fishing places on the Columbia Slough. Bamboo
fish poles were tied to the side of the buggy. Mr.
and Mrs. Dean came home with sixty catfish on a string.
The two bachelor brothers on Oswego and Seneca Street
were fishermen on nice days. Ernie Milhon and "mudcat"
Johnny Jewston lived on the slough, weather permitting.
A fisherman cut down a bee tree on the slough to get
its store of honey. . . .
Evergreen, cedar, yew and fir
were in the uncleared woods along with wild cherry,
maple, alder and ash. Scotland wild roses and blackberry
bushes covered the sunny spots. Violets, starts, johnny
jump-ups, daisies and trilliums were everywhere. Wood
loving birds retreated there - robins, chick-a-dees,
sparrows, blue birds, canaries, blue jays, woodpeckers,
thrushes, sapsuckers, gross beaks, wrens, finches,
Oregon cat birds, hummingbirds and swifts. Swallows
fastned their mud nests on the barn eaves. Bobwhite
quail, whip-poor-wills, pigeons, turtle doves, pheasant,
crows and hawks stayed near the fields.
Skunks and cottontail rabbits hid
in the thickets, but liked to be seen. Pine squirrels
munched in the trees. "Grey-diggers" perched on the
track rails and burrowed in the fields. Bald head
eagles flew above from the coast range to the mountains
of the Cascades. . .
Rising water in the June freshet
flooded the slough and lakes. Pools became spawning
beds for crappies, perch, bass, sun fish, chubs, catfish,
mudcats, carp, suckers, crawfish and rare flying fish.
Sandy Scales said the Columbia was the Sandy River,
one and the same time at an early time.
At daybreak, fish jumped as
far as the eye could see. The hungry fish were catching
ladybugs, snails, earth worms, cut worms, caterpillars,
dragon flies, moths, grass hoppers, butterflies, flies,
bees, mud dobbers, mice, frogs and minnows. Sandhill
cranes stood in Bybee lake waiting to catch a fish.
Kingfishers flew close above
the water. A flying fish skimmed in flight. A flying
squirrel crossed over. The Oregon Fishing Guide advertised
the best bass fishing slough to be the Bybee Slough.
Al Krutsky trapped beaver,
otter, mink and muskrats in Smith Lake to sell the
pelts to fur buyers. . . Owing to its loss of water,
Smith Lake has lost its water fowl. Willow and alder
brush has sprung up in Smith Lake. . .
. Bro.
Holmes O.S.M., St. Johns Resident, St. Johns Heritage