Tributaries to the Columbia River above Grand Coulee Dam 



1» Tne San Foil River enters the Columbia at approximately 17 

 miles above the Grand Coulee Damsite, and 612 miles above the mouth 

 of the Columbia River o The stream is approximately 75 miles long 

 and formerly supported good runs of chinook salmon, the early settlers 

 reporting the runs to have been huge in some years. A decline was 

 evident around 1890, but Dro Wo H. Rich observed a good run in 1915 

 when he reported that the Indians were taking salmon near the town 

 of Republic, Washington, some 60 miles above the mouth of the river o 

 Mr. Jack Euchon, now of Astoria, Oregon, reports that he fished in the 

 stream in the late 30 's and that the stream was then very small during 

 the summer months and fev; fish were reported in the stream at that 

 time. L« Ao Fulton and H. A. Gangmark report that kokanee now ascend 

 this river at least 50 miles to spawn. 



2. The Spokane River originates at Coeue d'Alene Lake in 

 Idaho, and enters the Columbia at approximately 42 miles above 

 the Grand Coulee Dam. Salmon formerly ascended to the impassable 

 falls near Spokane, but never could ascend above this point or 

 reach the Lake. Lyman shows pictures of the falls before and 

 after their development for power, and states that the total 

 fall in the Spokane River is 146 feet. Dr. Livingston Stone 

 reports that salmon and steelhead ascended to the Little Spokane 

 River, which enter*: at about 50 miles up the Spokane River, and 

 were quite abundant in 1882 both there and in the vicinity of 

 Spokane below the Falls. He found a large camp of Indians on 

 the Little Spokane who were engaged in putting a trap of withes 

 and poles across the river, and from them learned that large 

 numbers of spawning salmon entered that stream about the first 

 of September. A white man living in the neighborhood thought 

 that on October 1, 1882, about 40,000 to 50,000 fish were dying 

 at one time. Dr. Stone hired a man to check the runs in 1883, 

 (a much poorer year) who estimated the Indian catch at about 

 2,000 fish. Cutthroat trout and whitefish were also reported 

 as being abundant in this river system. Gilbert and Everman 

 report that the Spokane River below the falls contained large 

 spawning beds, and that large numbers of fish were present prior 

 to 1882 but had declined since, until by 1894 the numbers were 

 very few, although steelhead still occurred in considerable 

 numbers. In 1899 the Monroe Street Dam, one of the oldest power 

 dams in the Northwest, was built at Spokane Falls, In 1909 the 

 Little Falls Dam was built at 27 miles above the mouth. This 

 dam was 60 to 70 feet high, had no fishway, and totally blocked 

 salmon runs from the main spawning areas above. The dam is owned 

 by the Washington Water Povrer Company, which in the same year built 

 the 60 foot Nine Mile Falls Dam some 19 miles farther upstream, and 

 just above the mouth of the Little Spokane River. The impassable 175 

 foot Long Lake Dam vras built in 1915 four miles above the Little Falls 

 Dam. By 1918 the chinook, silver and steelhead runs had practically 



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