PART 3 

 SUB-AREA GRANDE RONDE RIVER SYSTEM 



Introduction 



The Grande Ronde River joins the Snake River at Roger sburg, 

 Washington, approximately 170 miles above the mouth. The stream 

 extends through the southeastern corner of Washington for the 

 lower 36| miles, and then through northeastern Oregon for approxi- 

 mately loO miles* Its drainage area comprises approximately U,000 

 square miles, and includes the northern slope of the Wallowa 

 Mountains, as well as a portion of the Blue Mountains, 



The Grande Ronde River system was formerly an important pro- 

 ducer of three species of salmonj chinook, blueback, and silver, 

 as well as steelhead trout. The value of the system to these 

 species was recognized at an early date by the Oregon Fish Commis- 

 sion when suitable locations were being sought for the establish- 

 ment of salmon hatcheries. In the annual report of the Oregon 

 State Department of Fisheries for the year 1901 the Grande Ronde 

 is referred to as "One of the greatest salmon breeding feeders 

 that the Columbia ever had* * # * While the river is frequented 

 apparently so generally by the salmon for spawning purposes, 

 still it is a very hard stream to contend with and offers few de- 

 sirable locations on the lower river, where fish cultural work 

 could be carried on successfully,' 1 This observation was proved 

 correct, for the early records of hatchery work on the Grande Ronde 

 River and its principal tributary, the Wallowa River, recount the 

 terrific difficulties encountered, such as trouble installing and 

 maintaining racks to stop the fish, and hatchery water supplies 

 freezing during the winter months* As a result of such operational 

 difficulties these hatcheries never produced the number of fish 

 that the size of the runs would cause one to expectj the largest 

 egg-take was about U million chinook from 709 spawners and 7^ 

 million silvers from 2,655 spawners, taken in the year 1902 on the 

 lower Grande Ronde near the mouth of the Wenaha River, 



The runs of salmon into the Grande Ronde River have been 

 greatly depleted in recent years and artificial propagation of 

 salmon has been practically discontinued* 



Despite its present depleted condition, the Grande Ronde River 

 system is capable of supporting large runs of salmon, and is of 

 great potential value to migratory fish. The greater portion of 

 the main stream and many of its tributaries extend through sparsely 

 settled, almost barren areas where there is little possibility of 

 agricultural or industrial developments that would interfere with 

 the runs of fish. 



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