TWENTy-SEVENTlI HIENNrAT. REPORT. 07 



lieular river Avoiild lie dosti'oycd. It is possible iiiidcr ordinar-y condi- 

 tions to keep tlie youii<4" s;diiioii out of diversion ditclies by means ol! 

 screens, and it is possible under ordinary conditions to construct fish- 

 ways on dams so that salmon and trout in their up stream mij^ration 

 may pass, liut within the |)ast few years we have been faeint^ con- 

 ditions in this state Avhich are not ordinary. Dam« are being con- 

 structed for the purpose of developing power which are far too high 

 for a salmon to pass over by means of any fish way which has so far 

 been devised. Fortunatcdy the first of these high dams have been built 

 in tributaries where, although their effect on the salmon has been 

 serious, they have blocked the salmon from reaching only part of the 

 spawning beds in the watershed. The streams which the salmon choose 

 are those which have a good summer flow, just the ones which are 

 the most valuable for the development of hydro-electric energy. Elec- 

 tric power companies are now seeking to get concessions from the 

 state and federal government to construct high dams on a greater 

 scale than heretofore attempted and these dams they propose to build 

 in the main rivers where they will obstruct most of the salmon and 

 prevent them from reaching their spawning grounds. The attitude 

 of these- companies appears to be: If the spawning migration of. salmon 

 can not be gotten above these dams and the 3'oung after hatching can 

 not be gotten safely down past the dams, the salmon will have to go, for 

 the electric power is worth more in dollars than the salmon. At 

 first thought this seems a reasonable view to a good many people, but 

 a good deal can be said on the other side. The fish happen to be one 

 of the things which still belong to the people of the state and it is very 

 doubtful if the people's right in the fisheries can be taken from them 

 even by an act of the state legislature and it. certainly can not be taken 

 from them by the federal governmeiit. •. ....,.,;% V""-. 



The state should not permit the exterinination of these fish just 

 because more money can be made out of tJie stream if the water is used 

 for other purposes. We are not altogether sure that the salmon can 

 not be gotten over these high dams and the young gotten down again 

 but it is not up to the people to go all the way in demonstrating how 

 this can be done. Those wishing to use the water are the ones to dem- 

 onstrate how the water can be used for power or irrigation without 

 destroying the salmon. This should be an actual demonstration on 

 dams now existing and should not be tried out as an experiment on 

 dams to be constructed in the future. The expense of these experi- 

 ments should be borne by the power companies, and they should also 

 bear the expense of the future operation of the fishways and screens. 

 If hatcheries are operated to offset the damage caused by one of these 

 dams the company should not only build and ec^uip the hatchery but 

 should bear the expense of its future maintenance. 



SALMON INVESTIGATIONS. 



It requires no research by trained men to determine if the salmon in 

 our state are likely to become depleted by overfishing. The greatly 

 reduced commercial catch of what may be called our Sacramento salmon, 

 coupled with a corresponding falling off of the number of salmon which 

 escape the hooks and nets and reach the spawning grounds in the river, 



