28 



FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



for distribution througliout the entire State of California. The con- 

 struction of the proposed high dams in the lower reaches of the 

 Klamath Eiver ^dll break np the run of these anadromous fishes so that 

 the egg-colleeting work on this river vriW soon be a thing of the past. 



During the last two seasons, the experimental work on the South 

 Fork of Eel Eiver near Branscomb, where several traps were located 

 and temporary egg-collecting stations established in an effort to collect 

 a large number of steelhead trout eggs and sufficient number of salmon 

 eggs to stock Eel River, has proved futile as the uncertainty of the flow 

 of water in Eel River, caused by extremely low water in periods when 

 the fish should be running, or great floods, has proved that the upper 

 reaches of the South Fork of Eel River where our experiments have 

 been carried on is not a suitable place to attempt to collect eggs of 

 either salmon or steelhead trout. The lower reaches of Eel River are 

 subject to such extreme conditions of water from the minimum to the 

 maximum flow that it is not dependable. The lower reaches of the 

 South Fork of Eel River, near Garberville, or in the vicinity of Lane's 

 Redwood Park, probably would be a suitable site for the collection of 

 steelhead trout eggs ; but, until practical experiments have been made 

 in attempting to collect these eggs, no positive statement can be made 

 whether this work can be carried on successfully in Eel River or any of 

 its tributaries, except the Cape Horn dam on the South Eel River, which 

 is now badly affected by the water heing held back by the Gravelly 

 Valley Dam during the season of drought, thus preventing the fish 

 from ascending this fork of the river to the egg-collecting station 

 located on Cape Horn dam. During the season just past, the dam did 



Fig. 10. A Klamath River king salmon. Photograph by H. C. Bryant. 



