42 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



NOTES ON EXPLORATIONS OF LAKE ALEKNAGIK, ALASKA, ITS TRIBUTARIES, AND THE 

 SALMON SPAWNING GROUNDS, IN 1908 AND 1909. 



In 1908 the Bureau of Fisheries, jointly with two of the salmon-packing 

 companies, began the series of annual counts of red salmon escaping up Wood 

 River into Lake Aleknagik, in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska.^ Incidental 

 to this project the lake shores and the tributary streams were examined in some 

 detail in relation to the spawning migration of the salmon and possible future 

 salmon-hatching operations in the region. IMany of the observations concern 

 the physical conditions only, and the rather desultory notes are chiefly of local 

 value, to be interpreted on the ground covered. The lake is the first of a 

 chain comprising a spawning basin of great extent and carrying a large quota 

 of spawning salmon, and itself receives, besides its main inlet, nearly 40 large 

 and small creeks, most of which are typical spawning grounds, some of them 

 suitable for hatchery sites. It is the nearest large field to the Nushagak 

 region for the study of the spawning grounds and the spawning fish upon them. 

 Since it is accessible to small craft from tidewater, it is the more available as 

 a resource for hatchery operations. For prospectors in either field these notes 

 are likely to be of some assistance. Claudius Wallich, at that time field 

 superintendent, participated in 190S in some of the trips up the lake and ren- 

 dered valuable assistance. 



The foot of Lake Aleknagik consists of a nearly circular body of water about 

 a mile in diameter. This is referred to throughout the text as the " lagoon." 

 On its north shore is a native village. Its junction with the main body of the 

 lake is marked by two distinct gravel spits making out from shore on either 

 side. The distance between their tips was rather more than 200 yards, and it 

 was here that the tally rack, through which the fish were made to pass for 

 counting, was stretched in 1908 and 1909. This place was the base for the 

 expeditions up the lake and the point of departure for the enumeration of the 

 streams and all the observations. 



There is, of course, great variation from year to year in the correlation of the 

 calendar with the water temperature, the lake level, the disappearance of ice, 

 the seasonal run-off, etc. Besides the observations recorded for particular 

 creeks the following few notes and readings were made for the lake itself : 

 Temperature at surface — June 7, 1909, 1 mile above lagoon, 9.30 a. m., 38° F. 

 (head of Nushagak Bay, 44.5° F.) ; June 16, 1909, head of lagoon, 39.5° F. 

 Lake level, 1909 — highest seasonal level at lagoon June 19, when it was 20 

 inches above the level of June 7. The fall, beginning June 21, was about 41 

 inches during the next 49 days, when observations ceased. The tidal influence 

 affected the lagoon level (June 7) not more than 1 to 3 inches. The current 

 at the site of the rack at this date was 1.6 miles per hour. Several soundings 

 were made in the lake, the deepest of which was 57 fathoms. 



The earliest record is of May 31, 1908. Ice was encountered about 1 mile 

 above the lagoon. As far as could be seen it covered the whole of the rest 

 of the lake as a continuous sheet only a few inches thick and much honey- 

 combed. It would bear no one's weight and was easily broken up, but only a 

 large vessel could have made way through it. Many wet places could be seen 

 indicating cracks through which water welled up on the ice. On June 12 of 

 the same year the lake was open to the main inlet and carried a small amount of 

 drift ice. From the inlet to the head of the lake the thin sheet of honeycomb 

 ice still persisted. 



Only a few tributaries to the lake can be recognized from craft traversing 

 the lake without following closely the shore. Thus, the map of the lake ap- 

 pearing on page 200 in Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 

 1901 ^ showed but 9 of the 36 streams here recorded as flowing into the lake, 

 the majority of which carry at least some salmon and constitute spawning 

 grounds. There are many tributaries unsuspected until the observer approaches 

 within a few yards of their mouths. Probably there remain a few still 

 unnoticed. 



As most of the creeks are not named and as any value of the observations 

 depends on identifying them they have been numbered. A few have been 

 named. The exact dates are usually given as of use in comparing the two 



2 Excepting the Interruption of one season (1914), these yearly tallies were continued 

 for 11 consecutive years. „ ^, t. ,, . 



3 .\laslia Salmon Investigations in 1900 and 1901, by .Jefferson F. Moser. Bulletin, 

 V. S. Fish Commission, Vol. XXI, for 1901 (1902), pp. 173-398. Washington. 



