Table 5.— Continued 



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

 utaries of the Columbia 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 have been numbered for easy location in Literature Cited, pa^es 24-26. 



downstream (Evermann, 1896). Construction 

 of a dam at Swan Falls in 1907 blocked runs 

 of fall Chinook salmon above this point. Al- 

 though the fishway at Swan Falls was improved 

 in 1940, the run was not reestablished. The 

 Hells Canyon damsite now marks the upper 

 limit of spawning of fall- run salmon. 



During the early 1900's, the Fish Commis- 

 sion of Oregon placed a weir in the Snake 

 River near Ontario, Greg, to take fall chinook 

 salmon for hatchery production. Although only 

 a part of the run was intercepted at this site, 

 more than 20 million eggs (requiring 4,000 

 females) were taken in 1 year, indicating the 

 former size of the run migrating into the 

 upper reaches of the Snake River (Parkhurst, 

 1950c). 



Abundance of Fall-Run Chinook Salmon 



Fishing for fall- run chinook salmon did not 

 begin until about 1890, after a sharp decline 

 in production of the more highly prized spring 

 and summer runs in the late 1880's. The fall 

 run made up the major portion of the catch 

 for most years from 1928 to 1966 (table 6). 

 The table does not include catches made by 

 the troll fishery in the ocean, a large portion 

 of which is believed to originate in the Coluna- 

 bia River. 



Landings of fall chinook salmon and the 

 escapement above Bonneville Dam for 1938-66 

 are recorded in table 7. Estimates of the 

 minimum runs exclude catches by the sport 

 fishery (in the river below Bonneville Dam 

 and in the ocean), landings by the offshore 

 troll fishery, and the escapement to tributary 

 streams entering the Columbia below Bonne- 

 ville Dam. The run has declined markedly 

 despite a fairly uniform escapement over the 

 years (fig. 4). Two levels of production (in 

 numbers of fish) are indicated--( 1 ) 550,000 to 

 1,200,000 (1938-50) and (2) 232,000 to 393,000 

 (1951-66). 



Counts of fall chinook salmon at the three 

 main stem dams- -Bonneville, The Dalles, 

 and McNary--are plotted in figure 5. After 

 completion of The Dalles Dam in 1957, the 

 number of fall chinook salmon passing McNary 

 Dam increased considerably. This increase 

 coincided with the end of fishing at Celilo 

 Falls, the historical Indian fishing site that 

 was lost because of backwater from The 

 Dalles Dam. Indians recently developed a 

 set net fishery above Bonneville Dam, and 

 catches in this general area are again sub- 

 stantial. 



Estimates of the fall chinook salmon return- 

 ing to naajor tributaries and main stem areas 

 of the Columbia and Snake Rivers are pre- 



20 



