THE STURGEON. 179 



Sturgeon arrive in the Columbia early in Feb- 

 ruary, and a little later in the Fraser, although 

 a great number above the Kettle Falls, at Fort 

 Colville, must remain permanently in the fresh- 

 water. They ascend the rivers to incredible 

 distances, in the Fraser as high as Fraser Lake, 

 quite up in the Rocky Mountains. In the Co- 

 lumbia sturgeon have been taken eight hundred 

 miles above the Kettle Falls, which are, speaking 

 roughly, eighteen hundred miles from the sea, 

 and, in accomplishing this, several very serious 

 obstacles have to be overcome. Up the Snake 

 river, at the great Shoshonee Falls (a salmon- 

 station of the Snake Indians), sturgeon are often 

 taken. The Snake river, tributary to the Co- 

 lumbia, is about fourteen hundred miles from 

 the sea. 



One would never imagine a fish clad in stiff 

 unyielding armour could ascend rapid torrents 

 and leap falls that puzzle even the lissom salmon ; 

 but the strength of the sturgeon is immense, and 

 the power it can exert with the tail would be 

 almost incredible to those, who have never seen 

 the rapid twists, plunges, and other performances 

 this fish goes through, when it has a barbed 

 hook in the jaws, or a spear between the joints of 

 its mail. 



N 2 



