The stream is not easily accessible except by boat from the 

 mouth to the confluence of Big Creek, 18 miles above. In this section 

 the course extends through a narrow bedrock canyon, and offers practi- 

 cally no suitable spawning area. The tributaries in this lowermost 

 section are small, have very steep gradients, and are of no value to 

 salmor - 



The gradient is moderate throughout most of the course, having 

 a rise of 21-22 feet per mile between the confluence of Big Creek and the 

 confluence of Camas Creek, 1? miles above, and gradually increasing up- 

 stream until it has a rise of slightly more than 50 feet per mile in the 

 uppermost 10 miles. 



The best appearing spawning area was found between Big Creek 

 and Camas Creek. The entire stream has many extensive shallow riffle 

 areas, but the bottom is composed mainly of rubble that is too large 

 to be of best use to spawning salmon. There were 380,000 square yards 

 of sviitable spawning area, constituting approximately 5 percent of the 

 total bottom in the portion surveyed* 



The only obstacle to migratory fish on the Middle Fork is 

 Sulphur Creek Falls, located approximately 96 miles above the :.ioath, 

 or about 2^ miles above the confluence of Sulphur Creek. This consists 

 of two cascades, neither having a fall of more than 8 feet. They are 

 located in a narrow box canyon, and are passable with difficulty at 

 high water, due to the velocity of the confined flow in the narrow, 

 rocky channel, Salmon and steelhead trout have alv/ays spawned above 

 this point, however, and the falls cannot be considered a barrier. 



The Chinook run reaches the Middle Fork in June, and spawn- 

 ing is usually completed late in July or early in August. .A large 

 portion of the fish entering the Iliddle Fork apparently utilize it 

 chiefly for its larre resting spools, and when spawning time approaches 

 ascend the principal tributaries, where the best spawning beds are lo- 

 cated, Vfliy few sal-non had moved out of the resting pools and onto the 

 spawning beds at the time of the survey, and consequently only a few 

 were seen, as the water was slightlynturbid from continued rains, and 

 visibility was poor in the deep pools. In the lower part of the sur- 

 veyed portion of the stream there is a fairly good run of chinooks into 

 the larger tributaries through Camas Creek, 35 miles above the mouth. 

 In the headwaters, where several excellent spawning streams flow to- 

 gether to form the Middle Fork, the salmon population has been bad^-y 

 depleted. The run was very small in this upper section in I9UI, and 

 was reported by both the U.S, Forest Service personnel and private 

 guides to have been progressively smaller for a number of years pre- 

 viously. The headwaters are only a short distance from Stanley, Idaho, 

 and are easily accessible to sport fishermen, who fonnerly took 

 saloion on the spawning grounds. Because most of its course and many 

 of its tributaries are seldom frequented ty man, the Middle Fork as a 

 whole is still of value as a salmon producer. However, it is capable 

 of supporting many times its present salmon populations. A good run 

 of steelhead trout appears in the river in April and May and ascends 

 most of the tributaries. These fish have apparently suffered much less 

 depletion than the Chinook salmon. 



12 



