REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 101 



That the salmon rarely go far away is fairly attested. Schools of 

 king salmon play in Monterey Bay, and others chase the herring about 

 in the channels of southeastern Alaska. A few years since, Captain 

 J. F. Moser, in charge of the Albatross, set gill nets for salmon at various 

 places in the sea off the Oregon and Washington coast, catching none 

 except in the bays. 



Mr. Davis gives an account of the liberation of salmon in Chinook 

 River, which flows into the Columbia at Baker's Bay: 



It is a small, sluggish stream and has never been frequented by Chinook salmon, 

 although considerable numbers of silver and dog salmon enter it late in the fall. A few 

 years ago the State established a hatchery on this stream, and since 1898 between 

 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Chinook fry have been turned out here annually. The fish are 

 taken from the pound-nets in Baker's Bay, towed into the river in crates and then liber- 

 ated above a dike which prevents their return to the Columbia. When ripe, the salmon 

 ascend to the hatchery, some two or three miles farther up the river, where they are 

 spawned. 



The superintendent of the hatchery, Mr. Nic Hansen, informs me that in 1902, during 

 November and December, quite a number of Chinook salmon ascended the Chinook 

 River. About 150 salmon of both sexes were taken in a trap located in the river about 

 four miles from its mouth. At first thought it would appear that these were probably 

 fish which, when fry, had been liberated in the river, but unfortunately there is no 

 proof that this was the case. According to Mr. Hansen, the season of 1902 was remark- 

 able in that the salmon ran inshore in large schools, a thing which they had not done 

 before for years. It is possible that the fish, being forced in close to the shore, came in 

 contact with the current from the Chinook River, which, since the stream is small and 

 sluggish, would not be felt far from shore. Once brought under the influence of the 

 current from the river the salmon would naturally ascend that stream, whether they 

 had been hatched there or not. 



The general conclusion, apparently warranted by the facts at hand, 

 is that the Pacific salmon, for the most part, do not go to a great dis- 

 tance from the stream in which they are hatched, that most of them 

 return to the streams of the same region, a majority to the parent 

 stream, but that there is no evidence that they choose the parental 

 spawning grounds in preference to any other, and none that they will 

 prefer an undesirable stream to a favorable one for the reason that they 

 happen to have been hatched in the former. 



Mr. John C. Callbreath, of Wrangel, Alaska, has long conducted a 

 very interesting but very costly experiment in this line. About 1890, 

 he established himself in a small stream called Jadgeska on the west 

 coast of Etolin Island, tributary to McHenry Inlet, Clarence Straits. 

 This stream led from a lake, and in it a few thousand red salmon 

 spawned, besides multitudes of silver salmon, dog salmon, and hump- 

 back salmon. Making a dam across the stream, he helped the red salmon 

 over it, destroying all the inferior kinds which entered the stream. He 

 also established a hatchery for the red salmon, turning loose many 

 thousand fry each year for about twelve years. This w^as done in the 

 expectation that all the salmon hatched would return to Jadgeska in 

 about four years. By destroying all individuals of other species attempt- 



