8 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF PISH AND FISHERIES. 



These salmons are the most imj)ortant group of fishes entering the 

 rivers of North America. The steelhead {Salmo gairdneri), technically 

 a trout, but popularly regarded as a salmon, also inhabits the waters 

 of the Pacific coast and adds to the importance of the salmon tribe. 



In recent years the average annual catch of salmon in the Pacific 

 States and Alaska has been about 100,000,000 pounds, with a first 

 value of about $2,800,000 ; as placed on the market, in a fresh, salted, 

 or canned condition, the value is about $5,700,000. The yearly catch of 

 about 25,000,000 pounds of salmon in British Columbia, having a value? 

 when prepared, of $2,500,000, raises the approximate annual value of 

 the Pacific salmons to $8,200,000. 



THE QUINNAT SALMON. 



The quinnat salmon {OneorhyncJms tscliawytsclia) is known by a 

 number of other common names in various parts of its range ; among 

 them are chinook salmon, king salmon, Columbia salmon, Sacramento 

 salmon, tyee salmon, and saw-qui. The quinnat is the most important 

 of the salmons. It is not only superior in food qualities, but attains a 

 vastly larger size, has a wider geographical range, and has greater 

 commercial value than all the others. When fresh from the ocean it 

 is a very handsome, resplendent, well-formed fish, greatly resembling 

 the Atlantic salmon {Salmo salar), although its form is less symmet- 

 rical and its outlines less graceful. The flesh is of a uniform rich red 

 color, becoming paler or streaked at the approach of the spawning 

 season. The great value of the fish for canning purposes is largely 

 due to the persistence of the red color of the meat after cooking. 



In size no other salmon in the world compares with it. In the 

 Yukon River, Alaska, it reaches a weight of over 100 pounds, and in 

 the Columbia Eiver there are well-authenticated cases of its weighing 

 more than 80 pounds. Farther south it runs smaller, although in the 

 Sacramento individuals weighing 50 or 60 i^ounds are not rare; 22 

 pounds is a fair average weight in the Columbia River, and 16 pounds 

 in the Sacramento. 



The known range of the quinnat salmon is practically from Monterey 

 Bay (latitude 36^) to Yukon River, although individuals have been seen 

 in Norton Sound, somewhat north of the Yukon, and as far dowu the 

 coast of California as Ventura River. Since it thrives well in very cold 

 water it is likely that its range extends to and possibly within the 

 Arctic Ocean. 



While in the sea quinnat salmon probably do not wander very far 

 from the mouths of the rivers they have left, and for this reason usually 

 return to spawn in those rivers in which they were hatched. They 

 prefer the larger rivers, like the Sacramento, the Columbia, the Nusha- 

 gak, and the Y^ukon. They are very persistent in ascending the rivers 

 to spawn; the first fish take up the first available spawning-sites and 

 force the newcomers farther up stream, until finally the highest points 

 are reached. They have been seen crowding up the rivulets which form 



