386 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



tion to be incubated. Between September 21 and November 26, 

 6,000 adult silver salmon were taken in the trap used for the sock- 

 eye work. This number does not by any means represent the stock 

 available, but owing to the limited capacity of the Birdsview hatchery 

 and the necessity for making all transfers thereto by pack horses, the 

 trap was closed on the last-mentioned date, and the remaining fish, 

 numbering several thousand, were permitted to spawn naturally in 

 Baker River, the trap and its leads effectually barring them from the 

 lake. Of the fish captured 2,619 were females, and from them 

 7,350,000 eggs were obtained during the period from November 6 to 

 December 15. After the eyespots had developed practically all of 

 these eggs were forwarded to Birdsview, 12 trips with pack horses 

 being necessary to make the transfer. 



No important run of chinook salmon has occurred in the Baker 

 River since the inauguration of the bureau's work in that region, but 

 it has always been the policy to secure for propagation all available 

 eggs of that species. Between September 21 and October 25 a small 

 number of brood chinooks entered the trap, 8 of them being females. 

 From this stock 40,000 eggs were taken, fertilized, and placed in 

 process of incubation. 



Birdsview ( Wash.) substation. — The extensive lumbering operations 

 prosecuted in the vicinity of the Birdsview substation are proving a 

 serious detriment to the work in that region. The effects of the de- 

 forestation that has occurred are made evident by the extreme turbid- 

 ity of the hatchery water supply after rains, even very light ones, and 

 by alternating periods of drought and flood. Quite frequently the 

 propagation work is materially hampered by one and sometimes by a 

 combination of these destructive influences. During the past year 

 they were unusually aggravated. The Grandy Creek tributary of the 

 Skagit River, on which the substation is located, carried, during 

 a portion of the winter, enough sediment to completely overwhelm 

 the settling tank and filter in the space of two or three hours, and a 

 thickness of 2 to 3 feet of the material was deposited in the rearing 

 ponds within the course of two days. 



Aside from the losses of stock and the extra work entailed through 

 the presence of such conditions, another factor, and one having a more 

 direct bearing on the success of the work, was the extended period of 

 low water in the streams at the time brood fish of various species 

 were running. For instance, while the number of brood humpback 

 salmon ascending Skagit River was estimated to be larger than for 

 the past 10 years, the water stage in Grandy Creek was so low as to 

 leave an area of practically bare ground at the point of its junction 

 with the Skagit. Of course, this made it impossible for the fish to 

 enter the creek, though in the past it has been a favorite resort for 

 spawning humpbacks, and no eggs of this species were available. The 

 fish spawned naturally in the main channel of the river and in such 

 of its tributaries as they could ascend. 



Similar conditions obtained while the cliincok and chum salmons 

 were spawning, and the results were the same, no eggs of either being 

 available. However, 1,000,000 eggs of the chinook salmon were 

 received at Birdsview hatchery from the State hatchery at Kalama, 

 Wash. These were successfully incubated and the resulting finger- 

 lings distributed in suitable locaUties. Brood silver salmon, running 

 as they do at a somewhat later date than the other species mentioned. 



