100 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

 INVESTIGATIONS OF INTERIOR WATERS. 

 COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN. 



The last annual report contains an account of investigations made 

 during the fall of 1892, in accordance with two provisions of the act of 

 Congress approved August 5, 1892, relative to (1) the character and 

 extent of the obstructions to the ascent of salmon in the Clarke Fork 

 of the Columbia Biver, aud (2) the advisability of establishing a 

 hatching station for salmon in the eastern part of the State of Wash- 

 ington. As this work was not completed at that time, it was taken up 

 again during the summer of 1893 by Prof. B. W. Evermaun, assisted by 

 Drs. C. H. Gilbert, O. P. Jenkins, and W. W. Thoburn, of Stanford 

 University, and by Mr. C. Butter, of Long Pine, Nebr. 



The primary objects of this inquiry were (1) to ascertain the location 

 and character of all obstructions, natural and artificial, which seriously 

 interfere with the movements of salmon and other important fishes in 

 the principal streams of the Columbia Biver Basin; (2) to determine 

 the past and present distribution of salmon throughout the basin, as 

 indicating, in a measure, the extent of their depletion ; (3) to locate 

 definitely the spawning-grounds of the salmon and ascertain to what 

 extent the species enters the different streams for spawning purposes; 



(4) to examine all available sites, especially in the State of Washington, 

 with respect to their adaptation for salmon-hatching operations; and 



(5) to make a general study of the fish fauna of the basin. 



In view of the wide extent of the Columbia drainage and the per- 

 plexing nature of many of the problems presented by the salmon ques- 

 tion in that region, it was found to be impossible to cover the ground 

 in one season as thoroughly as is desirable, or to arrive at more than 

 tentative conclusions respecting the special points on which informa- 

 tion is most urgently required. The waters examined were the Snake 

 Biver at many points and 11 of its tributaries; the Pend d'Oreille 

 Biver or Clarke Fork, from Albany Falls, Idaho, to the international 

 boundary; the Upper Columbia at Kettle Falls, aud the Colville and 

 Spokane rivers; and the Lower Columbia Biver in numerous localities 

 from Fasco, Wash., to its mouth. 



The results of this investigation were embodied in a report to Con- 

 gress by the Commissioner of Fisheries, under date of May 31, 1894, 

 the same being supplemented by a detailed description by Professors 

 Gilbert and Evermaun, of the work accomplished during the seasons 

 of 1892 and 1893. 1 According to the Commissioner: 



The area of distribution [of the salmon in the Columbia River BasinJ is approxi- 

 mately 90,000 square miles. This immense tract is drained by innumerable streams 

 of clear, cold water, into which the salmon enter for the purpose of spawning and 



'The Salmon Fisheries of the Columbia River Basin, by Marshall McDonald, 

 United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries; including a report upon investi- 

 gations in the Columbia River Basin, with descriptions of four new species of fishes 

 by Charles H. Gilbert and Barton W. Evermaun. First issued August 27, 1894, as 

 Senate Mis. Doc. No. 200, Fiftv-third Congress, second session, and reprinted in Bull. 

 U. S. Fish Com., xiv, for 1891, pp. 153-207, pis. 13-25. 



