ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1926 259 

Estimated number of red salmon 
Spawning in Nushagak River below Koliganek__--_------____-__-------- 120, 000 
Spawning in lower 30 miles of Nuyakuk River_____----_-___-_-_-_-- pales is 80, 000 
ana egttO NU VaRUK ua Ke. Oe 2 Ee eas ee tt eo 900, 000 
Bann intorMalchathe River. = 20. Yee. SE Sih ne 40, 000 
Passing up Nushagak River above Kolicanel 4 See ne ee Le 50, 000 
Spawning in tributaries of the Nushagak between the Mulehatna River and 
IRGH osiriek ean ee ee EF re PAGS st ae ee 10, 000 
SRD eon Ua te ee ee ee peppers ye) = 3. | eee , 200, 000 
I respectfully suggest that you have an observer on the Tikchik waters 
during 1927, and that during both 1927 and 1928 you arrange to have finger- 
lings taken at various points along the Nushagak River, this for the purpose of 
checking my report of the number of ascending red salmon during the present 
season aS well as for scientific study. I believe that examinations of scales 
from the descending fingerlings and the ascending mature fish, taken over a 
series of years from well above tidewater, within the Nushagak River, may add 
not a little to the known facts regarding red salmon. Such a study might also 
confirm the belief that the salmon originating in the distant Tikchik waters are 
much superior in size, color, and flesh to the Wood River salmon. 
With regard to the run of humpbacks, I hesitate to put on paper my esti- 
mated figures. I have never seen in any part of Alaska anything to equal the 
numbers of dead and dying salmon in the water and stranded along the shores, 
islands, and bars of the Nushagak and Nuyakuk Rivers from August 23 to 
September 5. At any time prior to September 1 many ascending humpbacks 
were to be seen. I shall content myself with stating one fact concerning the 
present year’s run of humpback salmon. For any given mile of shore line of 
the Nushagak River, from Koliganek to Portage Creek, a distance of approxi- 
mately 95 miles, over 5,000 humpbacks were stranded. This, you will under- 
stand, is for one shore line only of the channel or of the islands; some of the 
island bars were literally covered with the carcasses of the spent humpbacks. 
The above figure of 5,000 per mile was arrived at by actual count of the fish 
for distances of 1,000 feet at various points along the river and by many 
observations and counts over shorter distances. At the same time many 
floaters were in the river. Even larger numbers were to be found in 65 out of 
the 70 miles length of the Nuyakuk River. Conditions in the lower 30 miles of 
the Nuyakuk River were similar to those on the channels and islands of the 
Nushagak. While the upper end of the Nuyakuk is chiefly one channel, the 
number of dead fish per mile was probably in excess of the number per mile 
in the anastomosing part of the Nuyakuk. 
It would seem that if the descending fingerlings from this run of humpback 
salmon at all coincide with the descending red fingerlings from the run of 1925 
or 1926, then the probable great number of humpback fingerlings would be a 
potent factor in increasing the number of red fingerlings that will escape their 
natural enemies while en route to the sea. 
EXAMINATION OF THE SNAKE RIVER LAKE SYSTEM 
The Snake River Lake system is the smallest of the four important 
lake systems tributary to Nushagak Bay. It consists of a small 
glacier-fed lake almost surrounded by mountains, known as the 
Snake River Lake, and the Snake River, which flows through an 
extensive swamp, known as the Snake River Marsh, into Nushagak 
Bay. An attempt was made by Warden A. T. Looff, in August and 
September, 1925, to explore this water system; and again in Febru- 
ary, 1926, he set out for the Snake River Lake, traveling by dog team 
direct from Dillingham to the lake. Warden Looff’s reports on 
ihese two trips are as follows: 
In making the trip to the Snake River district by boat the writer left Nu- 
shagak with a power skiff at 9 a. m. on August 29, 1925, and arrived at the 
edge of the Snake River flats at noon. After waiting two hours for the tide 
the flats were crossed and the mouth of the river entered at 3 p. m. Camp 
was made at 10 p. m. at a point about 60 miles up river, as it was too dark 
to see further. The following day the trip was continued. At 1 p. m. clear 
water was reached, and about a mile farther shallow water was encountered 
