ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF PACIFIC SALMONS. O 



spring runs ascend to extreme headwaters. They have been seen 

 crowding up rivulets forming the headwaters of the Sacramento 

 and Columbia Rivers with nearly half their bodies exposed above 

 water. No matter how far the headwaters are from the ocean, some 

 of the run will proceed till forced to yield to an impassable obstruc- 

 tion. On reaching their goal the early fish remain several weeks in 

 deep, quiet holes before going on the spawning grounds. The rate 

 of ascent varies with climatic conditions, the season, and the condi- 

 tion of the rivers, which are affected by melting snow during the 

 spring and summer and by rains in the fall months. They proceed 

 very slowly at low-water stage, sometimes lying for weeks or months 

 in deep pools, and rapidly when the water is at a moderate stage ; but 

 at extreme high or flood stage they remain quiet until the water 

 begins to fall and clears, when they resume their journey. 



When they first come from the ocean the sexes are very similar in 

 appearance, but as the time for spawning approaches a difference is 

 noted between them, becoming more pronounced as the season ad- 

 vances. The developing ova of the female produces a round, plump 

 form, while the male becomes thin, his head flattening, and his upper 

 jaw curving like a hook over the lower. His eyes sink; large, power- 

 ful, white, doglike teeth appear on both jaws; and the fish acquires 

 a gaunt and savage appearance. From the time they reach fresh 

 water their appetites decrease, and their throats and stomachs gradu- 

 ally shrink, until, at the near approach of the spawning season, they 

 have become entirely incapacitated for food, and the desire and the 

 ability to feed has left them entirely. The great reserve of flesh and 

 oils brought with them from the ocean enables them to keep the vital 

 organs active until their mission is accomplished. After reproduc- 

 tion they die on or near the spawning grounds. This singular fact 

 has been disputed, but its truth has been proved conclusively and re- 

 peatedly. After they are entirely spawned out the}^ remain on the 

 beds, deteriorating rapidly, the flesh shading off to a light, dirty pink, 

 and they become foul, diseased, and much emaciated. Their scales 

 are partly absorbed and, in the males, wholly enveloped in the skin, 

 which is of a dark-olive or black hue ; blotches of fungus appear on 

 their heads and bodies; and in various places there are long, white 

 patches where the skin has been partly worn off. Their tails and fins 

 become badly mutilated, and in a short time the fish die. 



They are found feeding in Monterey Bay in any month of the 

 year when food is there. On their way to the spawning beds they 

 reacli this body of water about the second week in January and may 

 be caught with hook and line. In February they may be observed 

 in numbers in the Sacramento River. In the Columbia River they 

 appear in March but are not abundant until April or May. They 

 arrive in southern Alaska in May and farther north in June, while 

 it is probably still later before they ascend the Yukon, where the 

 running season is short and may not exceed a month or six weeks. 

 The early runs in the Columbia River are usually from one to three 

 weeks in passing from the mouth of the river to Clifton, a distance 

 of about 20 miles. They first arrive at The Dalles, 200 miles up the 

 river, in the middle of April, and are found in numbers at this 

 point about the middle of June, two months after appearing in 

 larger numbers at the river bay, thus covering a distance of about 



