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PAGES 25 TO 32
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PART THREE
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VOL. XIX.
PORTLAND, OBEGON. SUNDAY MOENING, MAY 13, 1900.
NO. 19..
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HE CRADLE of the
Chinook salmon Is
the "waters that rip
ple over the- sand and
gravel bars at the
headwaters of the
Columbia and the
many streams that
unite to swell Its t.de
as It bears onward
toward the sea. This
is nature's cradle,
but man has provid
ed another, a trough through which water
constantly flows, and In which the young
salmon Is hatched from the egg and kept
until able to hunt food for Itself in the
river. Nature's cradle doec not care suf
ficiently for the infant, hence man's solici
tude. The spawning grounds of the Chinook
are many miles from the ocean, some of
them more than 1000 miles Inland, and all
this distance the procreative Instinct of
the fish compels it to go, In order to de
port its eggs where they will be hatched,
loitering the wide mouth of the Columbia,
doubtless attracted and guided by the
current of fresh water pouring from it
some distance into the ocean, the salmon
head up the stream. If they enter early,,
they do not hurrj. but proceed leisurely
along, but if late, they rush with all
their energy, in order to reach the spawn
ing grounds before the eggs bscome ripa.
Once started, nothing stops them, except
some obstacle they cannot surmount, and
against this they beat until they often
batter themselves to death.
By Great Leaps.
They force their way by great leaps up
swift rapids and over low cascades, work
ing their way along where no other fish
would attempt to gpInearly-das the
foot of cascades and high places were
favorite fishing grounds of the Indians,
who caught salmon .there In countless
numbers, using nets and spears. Even
now, the white men take advantage of
the Instinct of the salmon which Impels
them to force their way steadily up
stream, and catch them in great numbers
in traps and wheels.
Having arrived on a bar in the shal
low waters at the head of a stream, the
female salmon digs a small circular pit
in the gravel, by turning round and round,
and In this pit deposits her eggs. The
male salmon then fertilizes the eggs by
exuding milt upon them. Having done
this, the eses are left a prey to other fish,
and the parent salmon, according to tho
theory of pisciculturists, remain about the
vicirity for a time, and then die. This
thcorj is not undisputed, but the scien
tists seem to have the weight of evidence
on their side.
At the o'd hatchery on the Clackamas,
where observations have been taken for
manj j ears, there is a rack in the stream
which prevents the fish from passing
cither way after it Is put in. In years
when the rack ha no; been put in until
mary salmon hae pissed up to spawn,
ro Chinook hae eer been stopped by it
on their way back to the sea. The variety
of salmon known as steelhead has been
stepped on the waj down, but no Chinook.
All other fish, except the salmon, when
taken after spawning, show rudimentary
eggs for another spawn, but of the thou
sands of salmon examined, not one has
teen found to have rudimentary eggs,
thus forcing the conclusion that a salmon
spawns but once.
Eats XotJiiiiK in rrchli "Water.
The salmon eats nothing after he enters
fresh water. The stomachs of many thou
cands of Chinook have been examined,
and not one has been found to contain
food. The theory of sctentists is that the
procreatlve instinct sustains the fish and
forces it on to the final act of propaga
tion, and that it becomes so weak from
lack of nourishment, so battered and ex
hausted by its battles with rocks and
cascades, its flesh &o soft from the change
from cold salt water to the warmer fresh
water of the rivers, that after Its pro
creative Instinct has been satisfied by
spawning, it has neither the phjslcal
v Bor nor the instinct to preserve its life
bi returning to the cold and healing salt
waters of the ocean. It therefore remains
in the warm upper waters of the rivers,
gradually growing weaker and becoming
more and more covered with sores and
ulctrs, until it dies and is cast upon the
bank of the stream, which is literally
cov ered w ith the bodies of dead fish after
the spawning season.
"When the little salmon first develops
from the egg. u much resembles a polly
wog. having a little sack attached to its
head, which supplies nutriment for a
number of dajs As soon as the sack has
been absorbed, then the little fish, less
than an inch long, begins to search for
food, keeping weil hidden under stones
and In other places of concealment, to
escape the trout and other enemies lying
In wait to devour him. How many escape
these enemies, from the time the eggs
are deposited, until the young fry eater
the great ocean, is only a matter of spec
ulation, but it is believed that not more
than 5 per cent of the eggs deposited on
the spawning grounds become matured
fish. Gradually the young salmon works
his way down the many miles that lie
between him and the ocean, growing all
the time, until, perhaps at the ago of
six months, he enters the sea, when he
has attained a size of about six inches
In length.
One of the mysteries of the sea Is the
ocean habitat of the salmon. "Where It
goes, what it does, and what It feeds
upon for three or four years, no one has
ever discovered. That It finds some place
where there Is plenty of food is evident
by Its splendid condition when It again
seeks the place of its birth for spawning.
The deep sea work of the United States
Pish Commission has failed to settle this
question, and the salmon is entirely lost
to sight, from the time it enters the ocear
until it returns to the stream of Its nativ
ity. That it does return, a full-grown
fish, to the same stream from which It
departed a little more than a fingerling,
is shown by the fact that the same vari
eties come Into the river, year after year,
and some of them are not found in other
rivers on the same coast.
Another Unsettled Question.
How long the salmon remains in the
ocean before returning is another unset
tled point. It was formerly be ieved that
it returned the fourth year. The general
uniform size of Chinook the great major
ity range from 20 to 25 pounds suggests
that one year's spawning all return at the
same time, yet there are enough large
fish, some of them weighing over
pounds, to render this evidence unsatls
factory.
An experiment inaugurated in 1E35 by
H. D. McGuire. then Tish and Game
Protec'or of Oregon, and "Waldo F. Hub
""bard, at that time superintendent of the
Government hatchery on the Clackamas
has somewhat upset the theories as to the
four-year period and the uniform size o
fish. The adipose fin was cut off from SO.
young fry when they were released from
the "hatchery This Is a little fin at tlu
base of the tall, and is of no particular
utility to the fish. A close watch ha
been kept fbr these fish at tho cannerie
and hatcheries.
The first were caught in 18DS, three year
after being released, somewhat upsettinr
the four-ear theory. These weighed frorr
12 to 37 pounds. The next j ear more were
caught, weighing from 22 to 4S pounds
none havo been reported thus far this
oaason. The total number reported Is 200.
This shows that all tho fish do not come
back tho same year, and that all
not attained tho same growth,
ently proves that salmon vary
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der the same conditions, Just as large
and small men grow up side by side. It
als shows that no special Instinct com
pels all of the salmon of one j ear's hatch
ing to return for procreating at the same
time.
Gratifying Demonstration.
More gratifying than the knowledge
gained on these points is the proof that '
the fish propagated at tho hatcheries live
and return to spawn the same as those
born unOer natural conditions. If COO full-
grown fish out of 5000 flngerllngs put in
the water three and four years before
rL were caught, duo allowance being made
for the number of marked fish that must
have escaped notice, in the hurried and
careless handling at the canneries, the
value of fish hatcheries Is amply demon
strated, and there Is proof that the time,
money and care devoted to artificial prop
agation of salmon for the Columbia River
are not wasted.
The first effort to prevent the extinction
of the salmon in the Columbia took the
form of the establishment of close season?
by law, for the purpose of enabling the
fish to areend uninterrupted to the natural
spawning grounds. The dlfHculty of en
forcing these close seasons, and the utter
Impossibility of protecting the fish while
upon the spawning grounds, rendered this
legislation inadequate to accomplish the
desired object, and the salmon continued
to decrease In numbers alarmingly.
Finally. In 1S75, persons interested in the
fishing industry organized the Oregon &
"Washington Fish Propagating Company
and built a small hatchery on a bank of
tho Clackamas, a few miles, above Its
mouth. It began operations the following
year, and collected 1C0.C00 eggs. In the
next three years It hatched out 2,000,COO
egga annually For some reason the
hatchery was then closed.
In 1SS7. so alarming had become the
Calling off in the run of salmon in the
ers, and the old Government hatchery
on the Clackamas. Last vear the Upper
Clackamas hatchery handled 2,C00,0CO eggs,
but it Is expected by Fish Commissions
F. C. Reed to handle 10.000,000 this jear,
the season being favorable. At the Salmon
River hatchery a special effort Is being
..made to propagate the steelhead. but,
owing to the fact that thl3 fish spawns in
tho early Spring, when the river is at
flood height, It io almost Impossible to se
cure eggs. So far, 100,000 eggs have been
taken this year.
There were put into the water last sea
son 3,200.000 Chlnooks on the Oregon side
of the Columbia, and 23,000,0)0 on the
"Washington side, nearly all being the
late run of fish. This year the output will
probably be much greater. It Is the in
tention of Commissioner Reed to build
hatcheries this year on the Coot! and
Umpqua Rivers. On Rogue River. R. D.
Hume has maintained a hatchery for a
number of jears, and this year he will
probably be given the license money cor
lected In that district to continue the
work. S
Method of Propagation.
The method, of propagating fish arti
ficially is comparatively simple, although
requiring a great deal of care and an In
timate knowledge of the scientific prin
ciples Involved. The fish are usually
caught by placing a rack across the
stream selected for that purpose. The
object of this rack is to detain the flsn
and to prevent them from ascending to
the spawning grounds. As ealmon will
not turn about and go down stream, even
when meeting an obstruction, this rack
Is sufficient to detain them.
They are kept in this way until the sal
mon roe is ripe and ready to be exuded.
packed In other places. The Puget Sound
"sockeye" approaches the Columbia Chi
nook more nearly in this respect than any
other, and the next in quality is the king
salmon, of Alaska. The Chinook Is the fish
which the United States Fish Commission
propagates, and it has steadily declined to
handle any other kind of salmon on the
Columbia.
In Accord "With Commission.
The packers of the Columbia River are in
full accord with the commission In this
Idea of hatching nothing but this va
riety of salmon, and they were not well
pleased at the Importation from California
'of the eggo taken from the Sacramento
River, because the qulnnat In that stream
Is smaller in size and Inferior In quality to
the Chinook of the Columbia. It is be
lieved that It will never again be necss--sary
to import salmon eggs from other
streams to be deposited In the Columbia.
The steelhead salmon Is the variety
shipped fresh to Eastern markets during
the Fall and "Winter, and the desirability
of propagating it at the hatcheries Is now
recognized, although the early season ren
ders It v erj difficult to do so.
It Is the Intention of Commissioner Reed
to mark 5000 more young Chinook this year
by cutting off the adipose fin, thus repeat
ing the experiment of 1S35. Special effort
will be mad by the canners to make this
experiment effective by carefully watching
the fish brought to the canneries.
Art of Hatching Fish.
It Is only within recent veare that the
art of hatching fish through the artificial
production of the necessary conditions has
been practiced Since the human race
first began its contest with animals of
when they are caught for the purpose dtj. lower orde- for existence upon the earth,
obtaining the eggs. This Is sometimes fish has constituted one of its most un
done by seining them out, and sometimes portant foods. In a savage state, mm
by the use of traps, the latter being pref- had to rely largely upon the foqd pro-
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FROM PHOTO BY E. C 6REIHAN.
Columbia, the Legislafure appropriated
$12,090 to put tho hatchery In repair and
operate It. That year 1.500.030 eggs w'cre
taken. The United States Fish Commis
sion took charge of the hatchery the next
year, and during the next five years 21,
00COO eggs were taken, 90 per cent of
which were hatched and deposited in the
stream.
Upper ClacUaruas Hatchery.
Owing to the failure of the state to en
act protective legislation desired, the Gov
ernment declined for several years to op
erate the hatchery, although It Is now
running again on a small scale. This led
the packers, through the earnest efforts
of Sir. .SIcGulre, to organize the Columbia
'River Packers Propagating Company. In
1S5. and a hatchery was located on the
Upper Clackamas. Since then both Ore
gon and "Washington have enacted more
satisfactory legislation, and have provided
for hatcheries, a number of which have
been established, and the general Gov
ernment has also built a large one on
Little "White Salmon, on the "Washington
sdc of the Columbia. Besides that one,
there are three maintained by the State
of "Washington, supplying Chlnooks for
the Columbia the Chinook, near the
mouth of the river; one on the Kalama,
and one on the upper waters of the Coj
lumbla.
On the Oregon side are two state hatch
crlM, cs, tie Clackamas ad- Salmon Blv-
eraNe because the fish may then be taken
out only as fast as they can be handled.
The salmon are taken from the trap one
at a time, the female salmon being laid
In a box called the midwife, for the pur
pose of hold'ng the fish stllL "With a lit
tle pressure of the hand the ripe eggs are
then pressed out Into a little galvanized
iron tray. The milt of the male ealmon
la then scattered over them, and after a
short time clean water Is put upon them
until they are thoroughly washed.
Laid in Trays.
They are then laid In trays In a series
of boxco, so graduated that fresh water
runs through them continually, main
tained at the temperature of runnirg
streams. "When the eggs hav e eyed, which
means when a little black spot appeam
upon them, showing they are Inoculated
and are in the process of incubation, it is
then safe to transport them, and they may
be carried any distance If properly han
dled. For shipping purncses, egge are
laid in little trays one tray above an
other, in a stout wooden box, divided into
two compartments, with a space between
the compartmento for Ice.
"When the little fish have all been
hatched, they are kept for a time in tanks
until they are big enough to look out for
themselves, and "are then deposited n the
stream, where they remain several
months, gradually finding their way down
the river to the ocean. During this pe
riod they are subject to the ravages of
predaceous fish, and to what extent they
are dcttrojed in this way Is uncertain.
In any event, the loss is much les3 than
the destruction of naturally spawned flch,
because they are larger and stronger when
first exposed to these ravages.
It is estimated that not more than 5 per
cent of the eggs raturally spawned In the
streams are hatched, and that a large pro
portion of the joung fry of this small per
cent are aleo destroyed. By artificial
propagation fully 95 per cent of eggs are
hatched. The superiority of this method
over the natural one Is therefore very
apparent.
Varieties of Salmon.
There are a number of varieties of sal
mon entering the streams of the Pacific
Coast from the ocean. They come in at
different times during the season, the
run of one variety generally overlapping
the run of another, so that during certain
times two or more varieties may be run
ning at the same time. These fish vary
considerably In their value for food.
By far the best In every respect is the
quinnat, known by various names in dif
ferent localities. This fish is more widely
distributed than any ether variety, and
enters all the leading streams of the Coast
from California to Alaska. It forms the
bulk of the pack In the Sacramento River,
the Columbia, Puget Sound, Fraser River
and the Alaska streams. However, there
Is a wide difference in the quality of this
fish In various sections.
It has Its highest perfection In the Co
lumbia River, where It is known as the
Chinook. It Is larger in size, darker red
In color, and oilier than in other streams,
and consequently Is In higher demand in
the market, at an advance price over any
otliex kind cf-salmon. ox ihe same variety
duced by the unassisted operations of Na
ture, and naturally fish constituted a very
important part of it. The races today en
joying a low degree of clv.llzation also
depend largely upon the gerterous boun
ties of Nature for their sustenance, and
all those who live near the sea, or near
inland streams and lakes, make fish a
very large portion of their diet.
Cultivation of the soil as civilization
progressed, and the discovery of means for
converting numerous things into food
products, have rendered it less necessary
for man to rely upon fish for food. Yet
the Increase in facilities for capturing fish
and for transporting it in a fresh condi
tion to places far remote from the watera
in which it is taken, has In the past few
decades wonderfully Increased the con
sumption of fresh fish, while the art of
preserving it In cans has made It a com
mon food the world over at all seasons.
No longer is fish confined to the tables of
those who live along the sea coast or
bordering inland streams-. There Is scarce
ly a place in the civilized world whero
fresh and salt water fish are not now to
be had In the markets at a reasonable
price. Great as has been the Increased
demand for fish, there Is no danger that
the myriads of the finny tribe swarming
in the depths of the ocean will ever be
reduced In numbers by the raids made
upon them by fishermen.
Xot So XnmeronR.
This is not the case, however, with the
finny inhabitants of our rivers and lakes.
In the very nature of things they are not
so numerous and their pursuit by fisher
men Is much keener. In many streams
the food fishes have practically been ex
terminated by this war made upon them
In the Interests of the market, as well as
by the po'.ution of the water through man
ufacturing enterprises carried on along tha
banks of rivers. Thus the advance o
civilization and the increase of population
have worked In both ways to destroy the
supply of food In the rivers.
No less than CO years ago salmon liter
ally swarmed In all the streams of this
region. As they passed up the larger
rivers on their way to the spawning
grounds each year, and from those entered
smaller and shallower streams, it was
easy to obtain an Idea of the Immensity
of their numbers. Photographs have been
taken of such streams during a run of
salmon, in which the fish are shown
packed so closely together that there
scarcely seems to be water between them.
Stages have been prevented from fording
streams because of the immense number
of fish passing up. The excessive fishing
of the past two decades, the lack of suf
ficient legislation for the protection of tho
salmon during the spawning seacon, and
the poor enforcement of such legislation
as w as directed to that end. have resulted
In such a depletion of the salnion as to
serious'y threaten the extinction of that
fish in the waters of this region. Such a
result could not be contemplated with any
degree of complacence In view of the
fact that the salmon-packing industry in
Oregon and "Washington represents an In
come annually of from 55.000,000 to J6.O0O 000
and that salmon constitutes an Important
item ot food in this region. In value ag
gregating at least ?l,O0O,00O mora.
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