Ward. — Migration of the Sockeye Salmon 417 



result is much the same that must be expected with the de- 

 velopment of any such region. 



Even the Copper River which flows through an area as yet 

 almost unutilized, and drains a region in which the population 

 is exceedingly scanty, has been affected by similar conditions 

 which are already recognizable. This is illustrated by my ex- 

 perience at Chitina. A small creek flows down from two small 

 lakes in the valley a short distance above the town and empties 

 into the Copper River a mile or more below it. The stream 

 is never more than 4 to 8 feet wide and 6 to 10 inches deep. 

 At several points in the town and just above it the course 

 of the creek is nearly blocked so that it was evidently difficult 

 for the fish to work their way up. Indeed, at one point at 

 least it was absolutely barricaded by a mass of brush and rub- 

 bish that had been dumped into the water, and fish no longer 

 spawned in the lake above to which, according to the reports 

 of residents, they had formerly resorted. 



Drip and waste from a large oil tank on the railroad south 

 of the town had at times, according to reports, spread over that 

 part of the stream and must have done real damage to the 

 aquatic life in the small lake which the creek has formed 

 there. This is a serious menace to the salmon fry that hatch 

 in this stream. The salmon run in Chitina Creek is thus 

 threatened at two points in the life cycle of the fish, viz., the 

 spawning of the adult and the growth of the fry, and unless 

 prompt attention is given to the problem this portion of the 

 Copper River run will soon be only a matter of history. The 

 town is very small and of most recent origin, and the incident 

 serves to show how very early the effects of settlement are 

 observable on salmon streams. A rational policy must recog- 

 nize such situations and decide in advance on the action to be 

 taken; otherwise the total destruction of the salmon will be 

 surely though gradually, and perhaps insensibly, brought about 

 by the elimination successively of individual units in the run 

 of a given stream. 



