8 



tively that the mass do not return. That some return is beyond 

 doubt of a reasonable nature. If they all perish, it is certain that 

 many survive long enough to reach the fishing grounds lying in the 

 bays nearest the ocean. But I fail to see why the value of the Cali- 

 fornia salmon is affected by the fact (if it is a fact), that the fish never 

 spawn but once. I have a theory of the salmon of this river. It 

 may not be scientific, but it is mine, and I can give reasons for it. 

 It is this : the female salmon seldom or never spawns but once. The 

 exceptions to the rule, if any, are few, and the second product of 

 these exceptions is found in a salmon differing slightly from the mass 

 of fish found in the river. A goodly, though not the larger part of 

 the male salmon that have assisted in reproduction, return to the 

 ocean and 'live long and grow broad,' and return to the river many 

 times. On their return these fish constitute that class far above the 

 average size. They reach thirty, forty, fifty, and even a greater num- 

 ber of pounds in weight, while the average weight for which our 

 meshes are sized is from sixteen to twentj^ pounds. The female spawn 

 is not ripe for delivery, nor the male fish sufficiently mature for milt- 

 ing, until they have made repeated trips between the ocean and the 

 river. The yearly broods return periodically and in regular cycles ; the 

 youngest fishes arrive earliest in the season, which begins about the 

 first of November, and do not penetrate far the first time. In the 

 order of their birth, the other broods arrive and return to the sea, 

 until in August and September, the great seed run, consisting of 

 mature fish, always on time, always urgent in their movements and 

 purposes, passes up to the headwaters. Salmon of different ages are 

 always coming in and going out to the sea. The older the fish the 

 longer his stay in fresh water. The younger the fish (after he once 

 leaves for the ocean), the more of flirting about the bays and brack- 

 ish water near the mouths of the river, with short excursions up the 

 river. The foregoing is the outline of a theory, though it is derived 

 from, and apparently justified by, known truths in the history of the 

 Sacramento salmon during the last twenty years. I believe it to be 

 correct; that is to say, that in any year representations of the brood 

 of any other year not yet extinct, enter the river, and that not one- 

 fifth of the fish that enter the river in any given year go to the head- 

 waters that year, but that more than four-fifths return to the ocean, 

 and, consequently, that of all the fish that come in to the river each 

 year, but about one-fifth go to the headwaters for purposes of repro- 

 duction." 



The habits of the Sacramento salmon, while on their spawning 

 grounds in the McCloud River, have been closely observed by Deputy 

 United States Fish Commissioner Livingston Stone, and the result 

 of his investigations has been published by Congress in the Report 

 of the United States Fish Commissioner Spencer F. Baird. But little 

 is known of their habits while in the ocean. They probably feed on 

 shoals not many miles from the shore. They are occasionally taken 

 in the nets of fishermen in the ocean not far from the Golden Gate. 

 Many grilse, and a few mature fish, make their appearance in the 

 bay of San Francisco in December and remain several weeks feed- 

 ing upon smelts and other small fish. During this period thousands 

 are taken with hook and bait on lines from the Oakland pier and 

 other wharves. Many more are also taken in the nets of fishermen. 

 After leaving the salt water of the bay they go to the brackish waters 

 where the currents of the Sacramento and San Joaquin meet the 



