The Survey 



12, Ifena tehee River . -- (Surveyed at various times 1935 - 1947, 

 by "Suomela, Brown, Christy^. Shuman, Whiteleather, Burrows, and 

 members of the Grand Coulee fish maintenance project.) Enters the 

 Columbia River at Wenatohee, Washing bon, and extends for 55 miles 

 to Lake Wena tehee » The river is 200-350 feet wide near the mouth, 

 and about 150 feet wide below the lakeo It is mainly fed by rains 

 and melting snow on the high mountains « The discharge in winter 

 and spring is usually between 1,100 and 7,700 OofoSo, and in summer 

 and fall it is 500-3,000 Cof.Soj generally nearer the lower figure. 



The gradient is moderate (62 feet per mile) throughout most of 

 the courseo The steepest and roughest section begins just above 

 the torm of Leavenv/orth, and extends for about 10 miles through 

 Tumwater Canyon. A second section in which the stream bed is 

 composed mainly of large rubble and bedrock with little spawning 

 Area is fo\ind in the 5 miles below the village of Plain, or about 

 9 miles below Lake Wenatchee. With the exception of these tv/o 

 sections, good spawning areas ocoxu* all along the course, with 

 the best riffles in the upper 9 miles below the outlet of the lake. 

 There is more than 700,000 square yards of suitable spawning area 

 in the main stream, and over 400,000 isquare yards additional in the 

 tributaries. 



A fair run of spring chinook salmon reaches the Tumwater Dam 

 in June and proceed to the upper major tributaries, although & few 

 spawn in the main Wenatchee. It has been observed that in the years 

 when moxmtain snow storage is heavy and the discharge is high that 

 the Chinook salmon go farther upstream and into the upper tributaries, 

 while in low water years more are observed spawning in the middle and 

 lower sections of the main river. The run of spring chinook spawns 

 for the most part in August. There is also a summer run of larger 

 chinook that enter the Wenatchee between July and September. These 

 fish often have considerable difficulty in passing the Dryden and 

 Tumwater Dams, and in some years the majority are forced to spawn 

 in that portion of the river below Tumwater Dam. The summer chinook 

 spawn mainly during September and October. 



A large run of silver salmon formerly utilized the Wenatchee 

 River for spawning purposes but they were virtually extenainated 

 many years ago due to the previously mentioned barriers and Qi versions. 

 They were reported to have entered the river during the period September 



- November with the peak of the run in October. Only a few silver 

 salmon now migrate above Rock Island Dam, on the main Columbia River, 

 the greatest recent count being 226 fish in 1947. The majority of the 

 silvers passing Rock Island spawn in the Wenatchee River. 



Virtually all of the bluebacks passing Rook Island Dam spawn in 

 the Wenatchee and Okanogan Rivor watersheds, these t^'o rivers at 

 present being the major producing areas of bluebaok salmon in the 

 entire Columbia system. A part of t|ie spawning run is taken for 



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