10 



ing in November and ending in July, and having its greatest strength 

 in May. Under the most favorable conditions the months of Novem- 

 ber and December might be classed 'very scarce;' January and 

 February, 'scarce;' March, 'not scarce;' April, 'plenty;' May, 

 'very plenty;' June, 'not scarce;' July, 'scarce.' Under unfavor- 

 able conditions, November, December, January, and February would 

 have almost none at all; March, 'scarce;' April, 'not scarce;' May, 

 'plenty;' June, 'scarce;' July, 'almost none at all.' In defining the 

 terms here adopted, let them be applied to the product of the labor 

 of two men with their boat and net per day: 'Almost none at all' 

 would mean two fish per week; ' verj'' scarce,' two fish per day; 

 'scarce,' six fish per day; 'not scarce,' eighteen per day; 'plenty,' 

 thirty-six per day ; ' very plenty,' seventy-two per day. There are times 

 in the hight of the run, when a greater number than is here named 

 might be caught with ease, but these are exceptional. In the great 

 run three years ago, three hundred salmon per day might be caught 

 with ease ; but in no other year, since the Anglo-American occupation, 

 has there been such a run. It must not be understood that salmon 

 can be caught at all times by fishing for them, even in the most 

 limited numbers above stated. There are times when one could not 

 be caught in a month, if life were at stake upon it. I only intend 

 to give a fair idea of the average business. You will readily deduce 

 from it that there are not more than two months, during the spring run, 

 when fish can be caught in excess of the demand for home consump- 

 tion. After the subsidence of the spring run in July they are often 

 found in great numbers near the confluence of the I eather River with 

 the Sacramento. They have a taste for variety, it would seem, and the 

 marked difference betw^een the cool, muddj^ water of the former and 

 the warmer, limpid and clear stream of the latter, afibrds them great 

 satisfaction. During the first half of August the mature seed fish start 

 for the spawning grounds. All along the line, from the ocean to the 

 most advanced posts along the river, the word (if fishes have words — if 

 not, then wag) is onward and upward. They are on business, and on 

 time ; they do not shy much, nor stop for trifles ; they rush at a drift- 

 ing gill net determined to do or die, and of course generally die, if 

 the net is sound. The run of August and September I have before 

 described. As for the few belated fellows that are about in October, 

 they might as well be caught as not — and so, my year is out." 



At the time our last report was made, Mr. Charles Crocker had 

 requested us to cause to be hatched, at his expense, and placed in 

 streams that do not reach the ocean, a half million of Sacramento 

 salmon. One half of these we determined to put in Kern River, 

 which empties into Buena Vista and Tulare Lakes, and the other 

 half in the Truckee River, which empties into Pyramid Lake, in the 

 State of Nevada. The quarter of a million of eggs sent to Kern 

 River, where their hatching was to be completed, unfortunately were 

 lost. At the point on the river selected for hatching, the water con- 

 tains too much alkali, it is supposed, and all the eggs died within 

 twenty-four hours from the time they were placed in the hatching 

 troughs. The other quarter of a million sent to the Truckee, were 

 successfully hatched out and turned into that stream. They will go 

 to Pyramid Lake the present season. They should return during the 

 summer of 1878, and we are confident they will be taken in the 

 Truckee weighing five or six pounds. Pyramid Lake is a body of 

 water forty miles long and averaging ten miles in width, and has no 



