REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF PISH COMMISSIONERS. 51 



October. In the Sacramento the run is greatest in the fall, and more 

 run in the summer than in spring. In the Sacramento and the smaller 

 rivers southward, there is a winter run, beginning in December. The 

 spring salmon ascends only those rivers which are fed by the melting 

 snows from the mountains, and which have sufficient volume to send 

 their waters well out to sea. Those salmon which run in the spring are 

 chiefly adults (supposed to be at least three years old). Their milt 

 and spawn are no more developed than at the same time in others of 

 the same species which are not to enter the rivers until fall. It would 

 appear that the contact with cold fresh water, when in the ocean, in 

 some way causes them to run towards it, and to run before there is any 

 special influence to that end exerted by the development of the organs 

 of generation. High water on any of these rivers in the spring is always 

 followed by an increased run of salmon. The salmon canners think, 

 and this is })robably true, that salmon which would not have run till 

 later are brought up by the contact with the cold water. The cause of 

 this effect of cold fresh water is not understood. We may call it an 

 instinct of the salmon, which is another way of expressing our ignorance. 

 In general, it seems to be true that in those rivers and during those 

 years when the spring run is greatest, the fall run is least to be depended 

 upon. 



As the season advances, smaller and younger salmon of these species 

 (Quinnat and Blue-back) enter the rivers to spawn, and in the fall 

 these young specimens are very numerous. We have thus far failed to 

 notice any gradations in size or appearance of these young fish by which 

 their ages could be ascertained. It is, however, probable that some of 

 both sexes reproduce at the age of one year. In Fraser River, in the 

 fall, Quinnat male grilse of every size, from 8 inches upwards, were run- 

 ning, the milt fully developed, but usually not showing the hooked jaws 

 and dark colors of the older males. Females less than 18 inches in 

 length were rare. All of either sex, large and small, then in the river, 

 had the ovaries or milt developed. Little Blue-backs of every size, down 

 to 6 inches, are also found in the upper Columbia in the fall, with their 

 organs of generation fully developed. Nineteen twentieths of these 

 young fish are males, and some of them have the hooked jaws and red 

 color of the old males. 



The average weight of the Quinnat in the Columbia in the spring is 

 22 pounds; in the Sacramento, al^out 16. Individuals weighing from 

 40 to 60 pounds are frequently found in both rivers, and some as high 

 as 80 or even 100 pounds are recorded. It is questioned whether these 

 large fishes are those which, of the same age, have grown more rapidly; 

 those which are older, but have for some reason failed to spawn, or 

 those which have survived one or more spawning seasons. All these 

 origins may be possible in individual cases; we are, however, of the 

 opinion that the majority of these large fishes are those which have 

 hitherto run in the fall, and thus having spawned not far from the sea, 

 have survived the spawning season of the previous year. 



Those fish which enter the rivers in the spring continue their ascent 

 till death or the spawning season overtakes them. Probably none of 

 them ever return to the ocean, and a large proportion fail to spawn. 

 They are known to ascend the Sacramento to its extreme headwaters, 

 about four hundred miles. In the Columbia they ascend as far as the 

 Bitter Root Mountains, and at least to the Spokane Falls, and their 



