82 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



close entirely at hioli stages of the water. Notwithstanding the fact 

 that the racks stood and were carefully attended, it was found, as the 

 season advanced, that the tish ascended the river. This makes six 

 years that the problem of blocking the salmon from the upper river 

 has been tried without success. Some other method of capturing the 

 tish must be devised. 



During the summer lUO new egg baskets were made of wire with 5^ 

 meshes to the inch, and these proved more satisfactory for hatching 

 bhieback-salmon eggs than the former size of 5 meshes to the inch. 



The si)awning season of the l)lueback salmon opened Septem))er 5 

 and lasted until October 26. Low water, which had prevailed through- 

 out the summer, continued, and the run of tish in the lake was the 

 smallest that has been noted. In all, 3,01)4,000 ])lueback eggs and 

 50,000 quinnat-salmon eggs were secured, which hatched with a normal 

 loss of 8.7 per cent. These were all planted as fry in the waters of 

 Baker Lake between February 22 and June 4. 



Silver salmon, as usual, spawned in large numbers in the sloughs at 

 the head of the lake, but no attempt was made to collect eggs from 

 this species because it is not thought })est to allow them to dispute the 

 limited area of Baker Lake with the more valu'.ible blue])acks, and 

 there are no facilities for transporting the eggs from the hatchery to 

 other points for distribution. 



Early in December the auxiliary station at Birdsvicw was opened 

 under the direction of Mr. Henry O'Malley, and preparations were 

 made to collect eggs of the steelhead trout from Phinney and (h-andy 

 creeks. The heavy wintc" rains made the maintenance of the racks 

 difficult on Phinney Creek and they were twice washed out. The tem- 

 porary hatchery erected at this point last year was used as a base of 

 operations, but the greater number of eggs were secured on Grandy 

 Creek, and considerable inconvenience and a heavy loss of eggs re- 

 sulted in transporting them over the .5 miles of rough country which 

 separates the creeks. It is recommended that the temporary hatchery 

 be removed to Grandy Creek. In all, 408,000 eggs were collected and 

 hatched, with a loss of 18 per cent. Of the resulting fry, 110,000 were 

 l)lanted in the tributaries of the Skagit River during the last days of 

 June and 223,815 were on hand at the close of the year. 



