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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1888)
fi26 THE WEST 8H0RE. ries, the Snake rirer just above and below Bruno rap ids being their favorito place. They gather in deep holes below rapid places in a stream, and go on the bar of the rapid place- only in the night, for the first few dayi, for the pnrpoao of digging holes for their neati, which they do with their tails and ventral fins, always throwing the gravel down stream, causing a little mound, to keep the eggs from being carried away by the current After the first few days they all go to the bar in pairs, and remain day and night, unlcHi frightened away by an enemy. The female tak"s her position above the nest, and with a wrig- grows weaker, until, unable longer to stem the car rent, it drifts away and soon dies. " In water of the same temperatura as the Seal river, the eggs hatch in abDut seventy days, those spawned the middle of August being hatched by the last week of October or first of November. By the last of the following January the little samlet h grown to the length of two or three incnes, and by the last of March, when it disappears from the Upper Snake, it has reached the length of four or five inch, es, and takes bait as voraciously as the trout, which it has sometimes been mistaken for on account of some if MM K OK A N'tMV J l-ll gling motion moves up btrearn, striking the ground and at the aamo tirao extruding a number of eggs. Tho mato immediately follows with exactly the same motions and deposits tho milt, a portion of which fer tili.ea each egg, which then sinks into the graveL This proem is repeated until the female has deposited from six thousand to seven thousand eggs. The par ent then carefally covers them, apparently knowing that within a few days they will bo deprived of their natural protectors; for, after spawning, the Chinook salmon gradually turns to almost a black color, then become blind, then covered with white spots, its flesh turns white, its teeth grow long, and it gradually when. m:k '.c,r. 52!. resemblances. The shoals descend tho stream, drift ing close to shore, a little more slowly than the car rent, with heads always up stream, stopping often for days in one place. By calculating their rate of mote' ment, it is concluded that they pass the cascades on their way down stream about one year after their par ents pass up, and are from six to seven inches long, and that they enter the salt water in less than one year after they are spawned, not to return to frcsH water until they are full grown. I have never cng& a female Chinook of less than fifteen pound weight" What is the history of the salmon from tho time it enters the sea until it returns as a fall grovn
