XXXVIII.-DO THE SPAWNING SALMON ASCENDING THE SACRA- 

 MENTO RIVER ALL DIE WITHOUT RETURNING TO SEA? 



By Horace D. Dunn. 

 [Witli notes by Livingston Stone.] 



A. 



[Communication from San Francisco, Cal., Sejitember 26, 1876. 



Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 



Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution^ Washington, B. C. : 



Sir : I am the author of the article lately x)ublished in the San Fran- 

 cisco Bulletin on fish-culture, which was sent to you by B. S. Bedding, 

 esq., fish-commissioner of the State of California. Mr. Bedding has 

 kindly loaned me his copy of the United States Fish Commission Beport, 

 1872-'73, and at his suggestion I write you. I have been a resident ot 

 California since January, 1850, and during the last ten years have taken 

 great interest in its fisheries. As a consequence I have been much in- 

 terested in the article of Mr. Livingston Stone on the Sacramento salmon 

 in the report. In some particulars my experience differs from that of 

 Mr. Stone, and on this account Mr. Bedding has asked me to write to 

 you. 



On page 180, Mr. Stone states that all the Sacramento salmon die 

 after spawning. No doubt great numbers do, but a very large portion 

 of the run return to sea again, as before the close season between 

 August 1, and November 1, was established it was a common occurrence 

 to find spent salmon in market between the dates named. These salmon 

 were very much emaciated, had no scales, and varied in color from a 

 rusty black on the backs to a faded brown on the belly. Some were of 

 a dirty white color all over, as if they had been parboiled. 



In regard to the quality of the Sacrameitto salmon, I think they com- 

 Ijare favorably with those caught in Maine. The mode of treatment 

 here of salmon is simply barbarous. The fish are caught in drift-nets 

 in the Sacramento Biver, near Bio Vista, about eighty miles from this 

 city. They, as a rule, lie in a boat for several hours exposed to the 

 sun before being brought to the steamer's wharf. There they lie in large 

 heaps for several hours more, and are dragged on board and put in large 

 heaps again. At Sen Francisco the fish are dragged ashore and roughly 

 thrown into wagons, and on arrival at the markets experience the same 

 treatment again ; as a consequence, the salmon have been dried and 

 heated and much bruised before they are sold to the consumer, and their 



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