TWENTY-SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 67 



ticular river would be destroyed. It is possible under ordinary condi- 

 tions to keep the young salmon out of diversion ditches by means of 

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

 ways on dams so that salmon and trout in their up stream migration 

 may pass. But within the past few years we have been facintr con- 

 ditions in this state which are not ordinar}-. Dams 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 fishway which ha.s so far 

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

 in tributaries where, although their ett'ect on the salmon has l)een 

 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 whicli are- 

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

 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 young after hateliing 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 V)e one 

 of the things which still belong to the people of the state and it is ve:y 

 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 government. 



The state should not permit the extermination of these fi.sh just 

 because more money can be made out of the 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 liow 

 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 Ije an actual demonsti-ation 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 shoidd also 

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

 If hatcheries are operated to offset the damage caused by one <>f these 

 dams the company should not only build and eciuip the hatclu^ry 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 l)e called our SHcraniento sahiu)n, 

 coupled with a corresponding falling oft' of tlie number oF sahnon which 

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



