better coverage of the river at places 

 where heavy concentrations of spavmers were 

 found. Surveys were made of all salmon 

 streams in the system and usually extended 

 from the mouth of the stream to a barrier 

 to migration. Figure 6 illustrates the sur- 

 vey methods eind figure 7 shows a pair of 

 spawning chinook salmon. 



Attempts to locate the steelhead 

 spawning areas by boat and air survey were 

 unsuccessful. During spring months when 

 steelhead spawn visibility was too poor. 



The distribution of spawning salmon 

 in the streams of the Wenatchee River sys- 

 tem for 1955, 1956, and 1957 is shown in 

 figure 8. The density of dots indicate the 

 comparative abundance of spawners within 

 each stream. The lengths of the streams 



SPRING CHINOOKS 

 SUMMER CHINOOMS 

 eLuEBAC" 



have been drawn to scale but the widths 

 have been exaggerated to indicate the dis- 

 tribution of the spawning salmon. Peak 

 spawning ground counts (greatest number 

 counted on any one survey) and the time 

 period for the peak of spawning for the 

 different streams are given in table 2. 

 Note that the large escapement of chinook 

 salmon counted at Tumwater in 1957 is re- 

 flected in the increased abundance in each 

 of the spawning streams that season. 



Tabl« Z Wen&tcbee Blv«r •yBt«B (pavnlBg ground surrvys for 



193^-1957. Peak covuits (11t« and d«ad) of Chinook 

 and ^luebaek salaon 



Figure 8. --Areas of salmon spawning In the 

 Wenatchee River system, 1955-1957' 



y Part peak of epavnlng, no neihlllty at tUM of ipavnlng peak. 

 2/ Dates for upper areas of streea. 

 ^ Dates for loner area of rtraaa. 



The spring chinook and summer chinook 

 escapements into the Wenatchee River system 

 are characterized by their area and time of 

 spawning. Spring chinook spawn in the tri- 

 butaries of the Wenatchee River and Lake 

 Wenatchee, and in the upper reaches of the 

 main Wenatchee River. In the main river 

 they spawn mostly from the lake down to 

 Plain. The spawning period of spring chi- 

 nook extends from early August until about 

 the end of September. Summer chinook spawn 

 exclusively in the main Wenatchee River. 

 They extend from near the mouth of the Chi- 

 wawa River to the Columbia River with the 

 main concentrations located from Leavenworth 

 to the Columbia River. There is some over- 

 lap of the two runs between the Chiwawa 

 River and the upper end of Tumwater Canyon. 



