XXIII— CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO 'I HE SAN JOAQUIN 



RIVER AND ITS FISHES. 



San Francisco, Cal., April 14, 1875. 



Dear Sir : Your letter 39419, addressed to Dr. Thomas M. Logan, 

 has been handed to ine. 



I have made the request of Mr. S. S. Montague, chief engineer, and 

 he has issued the orders for the temperature of the San Joaquin River 

 to be taken at the railroad-crossing from this on. It will be taken aud 

 returned to you as it has been in the case of the Sacramento River. 



I have not much information as to the run of salmon in the San Joa- 

 quin. Some salmon go up the San Joaquin, and, it is said, spawn in the 

 headwaters of the main stream, and some in the Merced, near the 

 Yosemite Valley. This is not from personal knowledge, but report. 



Formerly there was considerable work done in the catching of salmon 

 in the San Joaquin, but of late years it has been abandoned, as it has 

 been partially in the Sacramento, above Sacramento City. The fisher- 

 men here have found by experience, what had been previously ascer- 

 tained in Scotland, that the fish, after they come in from the ocean, 

 remain for a time, and run back and forth from fresh and salt water, 

 probably to get rid of parasites, and then start for the spawning- 

 grounds ; therefore, they fish for them with more profit in the vicinity 

 of where the fresh and salt water meet, than they do above in the fresh 

 water, where they do not remain, but continue as rapidly as possible on 

 their journey to the spawning-grounds. 



I suppose that the fish are still going up the San Joaquin to spawn, 

 but, if taken at all, are only now takeu by Indians on the Merced, the 

 Chowchiila, the Fresno, and the other branches of the San Joaquin, and 

 I have no doubt they continue to do so. Many branches of the San 

 Joaquin take their rise in the highest mountains of the continent, and 

 as the streams are unvexed by miners, they are admirably adapted for 

 spawning purposes. 



Our commission will probably, in another year, put some McCloud 

 River salmon into the Kern River, which empties into Kern Lake and 

 Buena Vista slough, and, so on, into Tulare Lake. We may also put 

 some salmon into the main San Joaquin and its branches. 



I will attempt to obtain positive and definite information as to the 

 present condition of the salmon in the San Joaquin and its branches. ] 

 think that the evidence, when obtained, will show that the San Joaquin 

 is very much warmer than the Sacramento, for if you will look at the 



