788 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tlie reserve of spawning salmon lost, and no time left to retrieve, things 

 had a very gloomy outlook. 



Several other circumstances added to the general discomfiture. It 

 was reported that the mouth of the Clackamas was entirely closed by 

 a trap which had been put in to catch the fall salmon ("Silversides"). 

 The roads had been made so bad by the heavy rains that every one of 

 the lumber-teams had broken down, and an entire embargo from this 

 cause placed on our lumber supply. Lumber was still wanting to finish 

 the flume and boats, without which, of course, the hatching-house was 

 useless, and that portion of the flume which was completed was so 

 soaked by the incessant rains that it could not be covered with the in- 

 dispensable coating of asphaltum. The prospect was disheartening 

 enough, but before night I resolved to redouble my exertions to secure 

 spawning salmon and to push the general work forward regardless of 

 discouragements. 



I sent to the United States salmon-breeding station in California for 

 eggs enough to replace those that were lost. I hunted up the corral 

 containing the reserve of spawners and found it on a bar a mile and a 

 half below, with the fish in it all alive and well. I detailed seven men 

 to run the seine, with instructions to spare no pains, day or night, to 

 secure all the spawning salmon possible. Agreeably to the proverb 

 ^''Fortuna juvat forteSj''^ circumstances seemed to favor our unequal 

 struggle with misfortunes. My men, when they ascertained my deter- 

 mination to push forward, took hold, much to their credit, with an 

 enthusiasm which, I believe, was entirely independent of their compen- 

 sation. Before night the rains ceased, and the sun came out for the 

 first time in fifteen days. The roads soon improved ; the lumber-teams 

 started up again ; the flume became dry enough for the asphaltum; the 

 spawning salmon seemed to remain about where they were, though they 

 were now free to ascend the river. In two days we began to take more 

 eggs, and in less than a week affairs at the -fishery wore an entirely dif- 

 ferent aspect, and there seemed to be a chance left yet of hatching some 

 salmon on the Clackamas. 



The general work being now well under way again, my special anxiety 

 was concerning the wheel and the elevator for raising the water, which 

 were being built on flat-boats opposite the upper end of the flume. 

 The wheel furnished the power for raising the water, but being only 12 

 feet in diameter could not raise the water to the height of the flume on 

 shore, which was 20 feet above the low-water level of the river. An 

 elevator consequently had to be attached to the wheel in order to lift 

 the water to the flume. This elevator had at first nineteen buckets, 

 holding five gallons each, and was geared on to the wheel by an 8-inch 

 rubber belt. On the 23d of September the work was sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to start the wheel, which was done ; but before a single revolu- 

 tion was made, the belt flew off the drum, showing that although the 

 wheel had power enough to lift the water the belt had not sufficient 



