596 MAN AS A CONQUEROR 



to deposit their eggs in fresh water. The Chinook salmon of the 

 Pacific coast, which is the species most used in the salmon-packing 

 industry, travels up the Columbia River over a thousand miles in 

 order to deposit its eggs near the headwaters. Several runs of salmon 

 occur at different points along the western coast, different species of 

 salmon entering different rivers to deposit their eggs. The run of the 

 sockeye or blueback salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) on the Columbia 



The romance of the Alaska salmon. After the eggs are laid in the headwaters 

 of the rivers frequented by the various species of salmon, the old fish die. The 

 young, after several months to a year, make their way to the sea, where all traces 

 of them are lost. But when adult, these same fish apparently make their way 

 back to the streams where they were hatched, to complete their life cycle. 



begins in March or April and ends in July or August near the head- 

 waters of the Salmon River in Idaho. The same species begins to 

 run in the Fraser a little later, reaching its spawning ground in August 

 and September, wiiile in Alaska the sockeye has a relatively short run. 

 The Chinook (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) begins to run on the 

 Columbia in February or March, and spawns as late as November or 

 December in the high headwaters of the Columbia. Wherever the 

 spawning beds may be, it has been found that egg-laying does not 

 take place until the water has fallen to about 54° F. The relation of 



