surveyed July 20-23, 1941, for a digtanoe of 19 miles, from Stanley 

 to the Sawtooth Valley ranger station. The river was 120 feet wide 

 and flovrijig about 375 o.f.s. at Stanley. At the upper terndnus of 

 the survey it was 66 feet wide and the flow had decreased to about 

 225 o.f.s. The gradient is moderate, with numerous good shallow riffles 

 and adequate resting pools. There are 160,000 sqimre yards of suitable 

 spawning area, constituting approximately 21 peroent of the total 

 bottom in the portion surveyed. A search wns made for blueback salmon 

 in the Redfish Lakes region during the early part of October, 1942, 

 About 200 of these fish were foUnd spawning in Big Redfish lAke, and none 

 in the other lakes. 



The headwaters of the Salmon River system are easily accessible 

 from nearby roads, and the custom of spearing salmon on the spawning 

 beds, although the fish are in poor condition for food, formerly result- 

 ed in great economic waste and has been one of the principal causes of 

 salmon depletion in this region. The regulation abolishing the spear- 

 ing and snagging of salmon and steelhead trout, placed in effect by the 

 Idaho Fish and Game Commission in 1945, has, been of great benefit. 



The Sunbeeim Dam, located just above the confluence of Yankee 

 Fork, or approximately 360 miles above the mouth, has been another im- 

 portant factor contributing to the depletion of salmon in the headwaters* 

 It was reported that this dam was built in 1913, and stood unused for 

 many years. It was of concrete oonstruction, about 30 feet high, and 

 constituted a partial barrier to salmon. Attempts to ocastruot a fish- 

 way never were satisfactoiy. Steelhead were able to ascend the f ishway 

 during spring high water, but at the time of arrival of the chinook and 

 blueback runs in late summer and early fall the river was too low to 

 enable the fish to enter the ladder. A few fish at times succeeded in 

 passing through a tunnel around one side of the dam. Although this dam 

 interfered with the utilization of a large amount of excellent chinook 

 spawning area, it was especially damaging to the blueback run, which is 

 entirely dependent upon access to the lakes above. Sunbeam Dam vras 

 partially removed in 1934, Bind although no longer such a serious ob- 

 stacle, chinook and blueback salmon still congregate in the pool below 

 the remnants of the dam, where an intense so-called sport fishery is 

 prosecuted against them« 



The only other dams noted were several small, temporary, 

 irrigation wing dajns above Stanley, none of which was a barrier to 

 the upstream migration of salmon. 



There are no important water diversions on the main Salmon River, 

 Three small, unscreened irrigation ditches were in operation above Stanley, 

 none withdrawing more than 5 o.f.s. 



There are no fish hatcheries on the inain Salmon River. (Chinook 

 salmon fry and fingerlings were formerly released into the stream by the 

 U, S. Fisheries Station at Salmon, Idaho, as a result of fish-cultural 

 activities on the Lsmhi River. No salmon have been propagated at this 

 station in recent years, 



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