ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDXTSTRIES, 1922. 47 



milt were ejected, slightly clouding the water. The pair soon repeated this 

 performance. The nest was then examined, and at first no eggs were seen. 

 After picking awaj' the stones at the bottom about two dozen eggs were 

 found, presumably just extruded. Accompanying them were several large 

 nematode worms which had been voided by the salmon. It appears that, at 

 least on occasion, only a few eggs are spawned at the mating juncture, which 

 must be frequently repeated. 



Lake next above Aleknncjik. — July 27. A mere view of a portion of this 

 lake was obtained. From the mouth of Creek 22 it was reached after an hour's 

 walk over a fairly good old native trail. From the point where the trail meets 

 the shore the lake is somewhat more than a mile w^ide and the trend of the 

 10 or 12 miles of water visible is apparently like that of Aleknagik. Opposite 

 this shore of large uniform pebbles the water was very clear. A few salmon 

 were obscurely seen near shore. The vicinity did not appear to be good spawn- 

 ing ground. Heavy shore growths came down close to the water. From Pad- 

 den Bay to the head of the lake there are no streams. 



Creek 25.— July 28, lOOS. At the extreme head of Lake Aleknagik. This is 

 one of its largest tributaries, though much smaller than the main inlet. Op- 

 posite its mouth a gravel bar rises abruptly from deep water and should be 

 cautiously approached in power boats. The creek empties in two channels over 

 shallow flats and wide reaching bars of gravel, sandy mud, or quicksand. 

 Above the delta the mouth was about 75 feet wide. Its water was very clean 

 and clear, with a temperature of 41° F. at 9 a. m., warming rapidly to 51° F. 

 at noon of a hot day. The shallows near the mouth contained small schools ' 

 of 2 to 15 red salmon fry. 



A mile and a half of the creek showed an ordinary meander with swift 

 current and excellent spawning bottom, the gravel getting coarser upstream. 

 There were many willows and alders about the mouth and bordering the banks 

 farther up. Pools and holes four to six feet deep occur. Salmon by hundreds 

 in spawning color were seen migrating upstream, while few were making beds. 

 In a small slough over a mile above the mouth a male humpback salmon was 

 seen at the head of a school of .50 Dolly Varden trout and 2 red salmon. 

 The stream is doubtless many miles long. It carries considerable drift timber, 

 of which a large accumulation was cast up on the lake beach south of the 

 mouth. 



Creek 2Ji. Wallich Creek. — This is the first stream on the south shore, about 

 2 miles below the head of the lake. It was fii-st examined on July 28 by Mr. 

 Wallich with a view to its value as a location for a hatchery. It "is nearly as 

 large as No. 2.3 and offers perhaps more advantages for the establishment and 

 maintenance of a hatchery than any of the other streams. The estuary is long 

 and shallow, with gravel bars. Along the lake shore on both sides of the mouth 

 deep water comes within a few feet of shore, and a steamer could dock at a 

 short wharf. A few hundred yards to the west of the mouth at 30 feet from 

 shore the water was 6 feet deep. It is moreover convenient to the head of the 

 lake and to Creeks 22 and 23 for supplementary egg supplies. On the lake 

 front west of the stream is a tundra-covered plateau, with thin spruce woods, 

 rising quite abruptly from the fiats 'of the creek and bordering these upstream. 

 In the first half mile the stream is from 15 to 60 feet wide and has excellent 

 gravel beds. About 300 or 400 yards above the mouth there is an island 

 between 500 and 600 feet long. From the upper end of this island to the mouth 

 of the creek the levelings made indicated a fall of at least 16 feet. Several 

 feet of this fall occur in the reach along the island. The plateau passes along 

 the le.sser channel opposite the island, standing 10 or 12 feet above the creek 

 bed. This high ground slopes down somewhat at each end of the island to the 

 creek flats, maintaining itself at the lower end as a low, abrupt ridge 4 or 5 

 feet above the flats. Tlie upper end of the island is apparently the best place 

 to dam the stream. From here a flume could be buried by grading along the 

 face of the bluff on the west shore and led to the lake front not far from the 

 creek mouth. Here a hatchery could be placed above the highest lake level 

 and low enough to receive water taken from the creek at the upper end of 

 the island. 



On August 8, 1908, and August 2 and 8, 1909, the salmon in the stream below 

 the first bend above the island were counted and estimated. The result indi- 

 cated at least 500 to 600 on each date, besides a few dead. Thermometer 

 readings showed water temperatures between 45° and .52° F. Observations of 

 the water level in the creek at the upper end of the island showed in 1909 a 

 54940°— 23 i 



