112 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISU COMMISSION. 



The tstecl-la'ud tsalmou, or more ])roperly tlic large salmou trout, coui- 

 meuce.s its ruu Iroiti the lirat to the middle of October, and begins spawn- 

 ing about tlie 1st of May. 



The run of the dog salmou commences in November, and they begin 

 to spawn soon after coming. 



The salmon above named, including the blueback, are all the species 

 of salmon that come from the ocean up the Columbia and then into the 

 Clackamas. 1 am thus careful to enumerate all the species to show you 

 that we have them all, and cannot be mistaken. It certainlj^ would be 

 strange if the people who have lived here for years, many of them since 

 1845 and 1850, should be mistaken as to the species of the salmon, in 

 view of the fact that many of the men who live on the Clackamas go 

 down to the Columbia during the canning season to work at the can- 

 neries, and see and handle the salmon caught in the Columbia; and I 

 have heard such men declare that they have caught as fine and as large 

 Chinook salmon in the Clackamas as ever they had seen caught in the 

 Columbia. 



Of course the salmon are not so plentiful now as they were, for some 

 years ago the river was literally alive with Chinook salmon ; yet, while 

 they are not very abundant now, if a rack should be put across the river 

 early in the season, say in February, there would be no doubt that more 

 than enough salmon could be jn-ocured for hatching purposes. Such a 

 rack must be put in early in the season, for I have seen a considerable 

 number of salmon caught in the Clackamas before the fishing com- 

 menced on the Columbia. 



I have been on all the rivers and tributaries of the Columbia from 

 above the Cascades to Priest's Eapids, to which the Chinook salmon go; 

 in fact, was along these tributaries considerably during three years of 

 Indian campaigning; and I do not hesitate to say that the Clackamas 

 Eiver, with its clear, cold water, its rapids, and its long, shallow gravel- 

 beds, is the most natural and favorite region for salmou spawning. 



I am certain that a permanent dam could be built on Clear Creek (a 

 tributary of the Clackamas, about 15 or 20 miles from its mouth), near 

 enough to make it convenient for water for hatching puri^oses. There 

 are three dams across Clear Creek now ; one was put there in 1852, at 

 Harding's Mill, 3 miles above the hatchery; one at Viola, built in 1848 

 or 1850; and one at Springwater, built in 1865. They have all stood 

 floods, time, and wear, and another could readily be built which would 

 furnish suitable water for a hatching house. 



Oeegon City, Okeg., December 20, 1885. 



