A RECLAMATION PROJECT. 



of the upper section of the Eraser basin, for the reason that the river's 

 channel at Hell's Gate was blocked by a great slide of rock following 

 the construction of the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway through 

 the canyon of the Fraser. A tunnel was driven through the rock cliff 

 that overhangs the narrow channel immediately above Hell's Gate. 

 During the spring of 1913 the action of frost caused a section of that 

 cliff, including a portion of the tunnel, to slide into the river's channel, 

 which formed an obstruction that the main portion of the run of fish 

 could not get over. After frantic and continued efforts to surmount 

 the obstruction the fish became exhausted, and were swept downstream 

 by the rapid current, where they died in the channels below without 

 having spawned. 



The British Columbia Fisheries Report for 1913 states that the 

 number of sockeye that escaped capture on the fishing-grounds, and 

 that later reached Hell's Gate that year, was fully as great, if not 

 greater, than in the four preceding big years. The conditions created 

 at the principal spawning-beds of the Fraser by the obstruction is told 

 in the following excerpt from the report of John P. Babcock, in the 

 British Columbia Fisheries Report for 1913 : 



" I feel fully justified from my investigations in concluding that the 

 number of sockeye which passed above the fishing limits was as great 

 this year as any preceding big year of which we have a record, and I 

 think even greater. The sockeye made their appearance in the canyon 

 above Yale in June, and during the high waters of that month and 

 July large numbers passed through to Quesnel and Chilko Lakes. The 

 greater proportion of the run of sockeye in late July, and in August 

 and September, was blockaded in the canyon by rock obstructions 

 placed in the channel, incident to the construction of the Canadian 

 Northern Pacific Railroad, so that few were able to pass through 

 during that time. No humpbacks succeeded in passing through the 

 canyon. The blasting of temporary passage-ways enabled a large 

 proportion of the sockeye run of October and November to pass 

 through the canyon. In August sockeye were seen drifting down- 

 stream, between Hell's Gate and Yale; the movement was very 

 pronounced in September, and continued until the middle of October. 

 The streams which enter the Fraser between Hell's Gate and Agassiz 

 were filled with sockeye from the middle of August until the end of 

 October, while they had not been observed in those streams in previous 

 years. Very few sockeye spawned in any of these streams and most 

 of them died without spawning. Great numbers of dead sockeye, 

 which had died without spawning, were found on the bars and banks 



