15 



on the McCloud River, has been virtually given up, and we can 

 expect no further salmon supply in that direction. Unless the Legis- 

 lature make an ample appropriation for the erection of a State salmon 

 hatchery, the decrease of salmon will annually continue, and in a 

 short time we will neither have the salmon for a food, nor the can- 

 neries as an industry, and the fisherman vocation will pass away. 



FISH-WAYS, OR LADDERS. 



Not many arrests, up to the present time, have been made for the 

 violation of the law by dam owners, in failing to establish ways and 

 ladders. 



The dams on the headwaters of the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, San Joa- 

 quin, and the upper Sacramento Rivers, are, in our opinion, a great 

 drawback to the salmon interest, as the spawning grounds are, for the 

 most part, above the dams. There being no fish ways at the dams, 

 the fish deposit their ova farther down the rivers, where fishermen 

 are using nets, and thereby disturbing the ova and killing every egg 

 that would otherwise mature. The failure to erect proper fish ladders 

 was one of the causes of the decrease of salmon in the year 1884. 



APPEAL TO THE LEGISLATURE. 



The California Commission call upon the next Legislature to make 

 appropriations for two hatcheries — one for the purpose of hatching 

 trout and keeping the same in proper ponds until they become at 

 least four months old, and a hatchery for the breeding of salmon on 

 the headwaters of the Sacramento River. Without these hatcheries 

 the Commission will be unable to keep up the supply. The demand 

 now exceeds the supply by more than 100,000 matured salmon. The 

 California Commissioners have been dependent upon the United 

 States Commission for all salmon supplies, and we can no longer look 

 for fish in that direction. Because the California salmon do not 

 thrive well in Atlantic waters is the reason why the United States 

 Commissioners have discontinued their work at the McCloud River 

 hatchery. 



AMERICAN RIVER. 



This branch of the Sacramento River is nearly depleted of all kinds 

 of fish, although most of the small streams which empty into it are 

 well supplied with small brook trout. The same can be said of the 

 Feather and Yuba Rivers. The great cause of depletion is owing to 

 the fact that gold mining has been carried on upon those streams 

 from the first discovery of gold to the present time, causing the water 

 to be heavily charged with debris. 



It is the opinion of the Commission that the accumulations of sand, 

 etc., from the mines work great destruction to the ova by covering it 

 with deposit, and also forcing the fish that would naturally breed in 

 these waters to seek other streams where the water is purer. 



SAN JOAQUIN RIVER. 



This is a very good stream for the Fall run of salmon, the ascent 

 being not very steep, and the current, especially the first seventy-five 

 miles, not being very strong. The different branches form fine spawn- 



