798 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHEEIES. 



reservation, tbey disputed the right of the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion to carry on its fishing operations there. This opened a warm con- 

 troversy, which was carried on for over two years, during which time 

 several unpleasant and rather exciting altercations cook place. I was, 

 nevertheless, able, in one way or another, to maintain the rights of the 

 United States Fish Commission in the matter until the laud was sur- 

 veyed. When this was done, by some accident the disputed territory, 

 to our great dismay, was made to come outside of the limits of the United 

 States reservation. I saw the dauger at once. Mr. Leschinsky now had, 

 to all appearances, a legal right to keep us otf the fishing grounds; and 

 of course, if he did so, no salmon could be obtained for spawning, and 

 the season's labors would be a failure, unless some new plan of opera- 

 tions obviating the difficulty was put into practice. It was this that 

 led to the building of the additional rack just mentioned. Seeing that, 

 in the existing situation, we should be cut olf from securing the salmon 

 when they collected below the usual location of our rack, I immediately 

 proceeded to build a rack higher up the river, at a point which would 

 cause some of the salmon at least to collect on what was unquestionably 

 the reservation premises according to the survey, so that if we should 

 not get any spawning salmon from the usual fishing ground, the season 

 would not be an entire failure. This rack was finished, and the river 

 closed to the ascent of the salmon above this point, on the 11th of July. 

 The leaving out of the fishing ground from the reservation proved 

 afterward to be the result of a clerical error, which was rectified during 

 the summer, and the regular fishing ground having been restored to the 

 United States Fish Commission, I then built the usual rack at its accus- 

 tomed place. 



In the mean time the United States had brought a suit against the 

 Leschiuskys for trespassing on government property, and in a conver- 

 sation with them on the subject they expressed themselves willing to 

 desist from fishing out the spawning salmon which were collecting on 

 the fishing ground. As long as I remained at the McCloud they ap- 

 l^eared disposed to comply with my wishes in this respect. As soon, 

 however, as I left the river they began to fish again, and on my arrival 

 at Portland, Oreg., I received a dispatch from Mr. Green, who was left 

 in charge at the McCloud River, stating that the Leschinskys were 

 fishing again on the reservation and had expressed a determination to 

 continue to fish there as long as they pleased. Under these circum- 

 stances I concluded to do what I had had for a long time in contempla- 

 tion, viz, to apply for a small guard of soldiers to occupy the reserva- 

 tion fishing grounds during the fishing season. My object in doing 

 this was threefold. In the first place, it would secure beyond any doubt 

 the safety of the spawning salmon, and, in the second place, it would 

 impress upon the minds of the community about there the fact that the 

 fishery grounds were United States property, a circumstance which 

 seemed to be very coolly ignored in some portions of our neighborhood. 



