408 American Fisheries Society 



may result in the failure of the salmon to reach the spawning 

 ground, but this failure is not the result of injury such as 

 comes from the failure to make the falls at a given leap. It 

 is, then, readily inferable that streams in which rapids form 

 the barrier to migration are on the whole more favorable for 

 the salmon than those which are barred by falls. 



One may even go one step further and suggest that at 

 times a little human labor might greatly improve conditions 

 for the salmon run in a given stream, if the worst natural 

 obstructions were removed or made less difficult by the con- 

 struction of an artificial pathway around the obstacle. The 

 older idea that struggle is essential for adequate production 

 of physical vigor doubtless has its basis in fact, but it is sub- 

 ject to limitations also, and under reasonable conditions our 

 domestic animals, which are protected from dangers and from 

 too great physical effort, yield a much larger return to the 

 human race than ever was secured from range animals. I 

 think it is not unreasonable to look forward to the time in the 

 near future when certain salmon streams, at least those which 

 are peculiarly significant in connection with the spawning of 

 the salmon, shall be so handled as to simplify and expedite 

 the migration of the fish, enabling them to reach the spawning 

 grounds in better condition than they do with the stream a^ 

 it stands. The investigations of Canadian officials have within 

 recent years shown most conclusively how the additional ob- 

 stacles which were inadvertently introduced into the channel 

 of the Fraser River have worked havoc with the salmon run 

 of that stream and have prevented an unfortunately large per- 

 centage of the salmon entering that stream from reaching their 

 spawning grounds. The readjustment of conditions at this 

 point, which was provided for by the action of the fisheries 

 officials, is precisely in line with what I have suggested for 

 the removal of serious obstacles existing naturally in that or 

 other streams. A comparison of the fish in the spawning 

 grounds of Lake Klutina and Lake Tazlina with those which 



