150 Fish Stories 



All the salmon take the hook in the sea, and are fairly 

 game. In the rivers, they will sometimes snap at a hook, 

 baited or not, but never for the purpose of feeding. They 

 strike at it as though it were an annoyance, but they could 

 not swallow it, as after the spawning season the stomach 

 shrinks away till it is little larger than a cherry. 



With the Chinook salmon is seen the greatest triumph of 

 fish hatching. Now that the spawning grounds of the 

 species in the Sacramento have been nearly all destroyed, 

 the fish hatcheries turn millions of young fish into the rivers, 

 after having led them past the period of greatest destruction 

 from their enemies. But more salmon run in the Sacra- 

 mento now than in the days when there was no fishing and 

 no mining. 



With the same treatment, the over-fishing of the Colum- 

 bia, the Fraser and the streams of Alaska could be met and 

 one of the best forms of food would continue to be one of 

 the cheapest. 



The rivers of Alaska, considered in relation to the salmon 

 industry, may be divided into three classes: king salmon 

 streams, red salmon streams and humpback salmon streams. 

 The streams of the first class, from a quarter of a mile to 

 a hundred miles wide at the mouth, have a long course and 

 are fed by melting ice or snow, and the course for the most 

 part is not through glacial lakes. In these rivers the king 

 salmon or quinnat salmon run in the spring, as in the Sacra- 

 mento or Columbia. With them run also a certain number 

 of red salmon, and in the river mouths humpback, dog and 

 silver salmon. The run of the king salmon is, however, the 

 chief characteristic. The species in Alaska is less valuable 

 than in the Columbia because, owing to the shorter run, the 

 fishes are nearer the spawning season and a large percentage 

 have white meat even in June, a larger percentage than the 

 Columbia shows even in August. For various reasons, 

 rough bottom, swift current, high tides, etc., most of these 

 streams are not easily fished. In the Stikine River, for ex- 



