Table 5.— Spawning areas of coho salmon in the Columbia River Basin— past and present— Continued 



Num- 

 beri 



Stream 



Length 



Distance 

 above 

 mouth* 



Spawning areas 



Present 



Past 



34C2B. Lostine River 



34C3. Catherine 

 Creek 



35. Yakima River 



36. VVenatchee 



River 



48 



317 



216 



536 



37. Entiat River 



38. Methow River 



39, Spokane River 



83 



114 



774 



1,029 



Unknown. 



Upper main 

 Yakima R. 



Main Stream. 



Part of upper main 

 Yakima R.. Cle 

 Elum and Kachess 

 Rivers, and Umpta- 

 num and Taneum 

 Creeks, also Naches 

 R. Other areas 

 unknown. 



Icicle Cr. below Portions of Icicle 



hatchery and main and Nason Creeks. 



Wenatchee R. below 

 Leavenworth. 



Entiat R. 



Main stream down- 

 stream from town of 

 Twisp. 



Reduced somewhat 

 but specific areas 

 unknown. 



Upper Methow and 

 Twisp Rivers. 



Probably lower 80 

 km. of Spokane R., 

 and Little Spokane 

 R. 



Note* 



Reference!* 



Coho salmon sparsely distributed over 26, 33 

 lower 8 km. of stream in 1957. Recently 

 constructed fishway at water supply dam 

 permits fish to use upstream areas also. 

 No information on former runs but now 

 increasing. 



Catherine Cr. reported to have had more 26, 33 

 coho than chinook salmon many years 

 ago. Coho salmon may use stream today 

 but have gone undetected, Coho finger- 

 ling found in downstream migrant traps 

 in 1953, however. 



Small run persists in Yakima water- 2 

 shed, where good runs formerly spawned. 

 Umpianum and Taneum Creeks reported 

 to have had good runs. 



Formerly large runs entered Wenatchee 2, 15. 16 

 system to spawn. Icicle and Nason 

 Creeks were only known productive areas 

 but other tributaries were probably con- 

 tributors. Leavenworth National Fish 

 Hatchery, which reared coho salmon 

 many years ago, resumed the work in 

 1 963 . Restock i ng has begu n . Some 

 returns from plants in Icicle Cr. realized 

 as noted in text. In 1968 most spawners 

 used the main Wenatchee R. downstream 

 from Leavenworth. 



A small run persists in this stream 2 

 after decimation from early years. Some 

 fry have been stocked in last few years. 



Methow R. supported large runs about 2. 15, 16 

 50 years ago. Coho salmon recently rein- 

 troduced from Winthrop National Fish 

 Hatchery; small run returned from 

 initial release. Few return to the hatch- 

 ery. A small run spawns in the main 

 stream below the Twisp R. 



Known to have supported run many 2 

 years ago. Little information available 

 on size of run or where ftsh spawned. 



1 The streams are listed in numerical sequences, proceeding upstream from the mouth of the Columbia. Streams that are direct tributaries of the Co- 

 lumbia are identified by numerals only; subtributaries are designated by a combination of numerals and letters. 



* Location in kilometers above mouth of Columbia or kilometers above mouth of contributing drainage. 

 ^ References are numbered to facilitate location in Literature Cited. 



* Personal communication, C. A. Weberg, Assistant Fisheries Director, Fish Commission of Oregon, June 4, 1969. 



The longest distance that coho salmon are 

 known to have migrated in the Columbia River 

 was to the Spokane River, about 1,126 km. from 

 the ocean (Gilbert and Evermann, 1894; Bry- 

 ant and Parkhurst, 1950). Runs to the Spo- 

 kane River were probably entirely eliminated 

 before construction of Grand Coulee Dam in 

 1939. Dams on the Spokane River and heavy 

 commercial fishing in the lower Columbia River 

 were factors that eliminated the run. The 

 farthest migrations of coho salmon today in 

 the Columbia River Basin are to the Lostine 

 and Wallowa Rivers of eastern Oregon, about 

 965 km. from the sea. 



A search of the early literature shows no 

 evidence of coho salmon in the upper Snake 

 River. Evermann ( 1896a) noted, however, 



that the names "dog salmon," "silver salmon," 

 "silver sides," "salmon belly," "chinook salm- 

 on," and "quinnat salmon," as used in Idaho, 

 all referred to the single species, chinook salm- 

 on. Chinook salmon that arrived at the spawn- 

 ing grounds early were called silver salmon 

 because of their bright, silvery appearance. 



Abundance 



Coho salmon were most abundant in the 

 Columbia River in the early years of the fishery 

 (fig. 2). Peak production was in 1925 when 

 3,600,000 kg. of canned and mild cured coho 

 salmon were processed; the lowest catch on 

 record was in 1959 when only 55,000 kg. were 

 landed. After the peak catches in the 1920's, 



19 



