106 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



mouth of the Bear River and ascend the river from the village situated there . 

 Instead of walking the long distance across flats, creeks, and low ridges between 

 Bear and Sandy Lakes, one should return to the village at the mouth of the river 

 and ascend Cole Creek, which enters Bear River near its mouth. Cole Creek is 

 deep enough to float a boat, but is not as wide as Bear River and meanders more. 

 It is a little longer than Bear River, though not as swift, and probably can be 

 ascended as quickly. From Cole Creek one may walk to Sandy Lake in about 

 three hours. By ascending Cole Creek, it will require only two men to make the 

 trip, and the necessity for an additional packer is obviated. Sandy River is too 

 shallow to be negotiated by boat or canoe, and even though ascent were easy it 

 would be impracticable, as the weather conditions before mentioned might delay 

 landing. 



The weather is fairly reliable during August, but not all the fish are on the 

 spawning beds as early as is convenient for conducting investigations. Late 

 August and early September are the best times for making surveys, as the fall 

 rains deepen the streams, aiding ascent, and the fish are then ripe. A canoe 

 equipped with an outboard motor bracket and capable of carrying about 800 

 pounds without drawing more than a foot of water is the most practicable means 

 of ascending these rivers. 



Bristol Bay district. — Agent Dennis Winn made a trip over the 

 Iliamna and Lake Clark spawning areas during the latter part of 

 August and the 1st of September. He reported that the escape- 

 ment was the poorest in the history of the industry and that the 

 ascending fish were of unusually small size. Natives in the vicinity 

 had been unable to secure enough salmon for their winter food supply, 

 and more than half of their sled dogs already had been killed because 

 of the shortage of food. 



Although the escapement of red salmon to tributary waters on the 

 eastern side of Bristol Bay was poor, the situation was much better 

 with respect to Nushagak Bay tributaries, where investigations by 

 Warden A. T. Looff of the Wood River and Snake River systems 

 showed that there was a good escapement of salmon to the spawning 

 grounds. The reports of both Agent Winn and Warden Looff are 

 printed in full elsewhere in this document. 



HATCHERIES 

 EXTENT OF OPERATIONS 



Salmon propagation in Alaska, exclusive of Territorial activities, 

 was carried on at the Government's hatchery at McDonald Lake 

 and at two other hatcheries — one owned by the Alaska Packers 

 Association at Heckman Lake and the other by the Northwestern 

 Fisheries Co. at Hugh Smith Lake. Operations were resumed at 

 the Government's hatchery at Afognak, also, where red-salmon eggs 

 were collected in the fall. 



Operations of Federal and private hatcheries in Alaska in 1925 



Location of hatchery 



A fognak 



McDonald Lake 



Heckman Lake (Fortmann) 2 . 

 Hugh Smith Lake (Quadra),. 



Total. 



Red or sockeye salmon 



Eggs taken 

 in 1924 



Salmon 

 liberated 

 in 1924-25 



Eggs taken 

 in 1925 



11,000.000 



30, 080, 000 ! 27, 382, 000 • 39, 680, 000 

 11,640,000 I 11,005,000 16,920,000 

 20,050,000 19,430,000 I 20,240,000 



61, 770, 000 57, 817, 000 



87, 840, 000 



1 Shipped 8,645,760 eyed red-salmon eggs on Nov. 20, 1925, of which 5,645,000 went to the bureau's hatch 

 ery at Baker Lake, Wash., and the remaining 3,000,760 to the Oregon State Fish Commission. 



2 At the Fortmann hatchery, 805,000 humpback-salmon fry were released in 1924-25, and 4,680,000 eggs 

 of this species were taken in 1925. 



