TWENTY-NINTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 



35 



of dams in the Klamath River or other obstructions that would inter- 

 fere with the free passageway of the migratory fishes that ascend the 

 river on their way to the spawning grounds and to the egg-collecting 

 stations on the upper reaches of the Klamath River and tributaries. 

 The pollution of the streams tributary to the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin rivers by mining debris in the pioneer days and later, destroyed 

 the spawning beds of the salmon and steelhead trout and thus broke 

 up their runs in many of the streams. Then followed the erection of 

 high dams by hydro-electric power companies and the dams used for 



Pig. 6. Some Mackinaw trout from Lake Tahoe secured at a depth of 350 

 feet. During the past seasons large catches of Mackinaw trout have been 

 made in this lake. Although originally planted in May, 1895, and taken 

 occasionally since that time, these fish are being caught in increasing numbers 

 in recent years. 



diversion and storage of water for irrigation. All this had a damaging 

 effect on the migratory trout and salmon until approximately 90 per 

 cent of the spawning areas in these two river systems have been cut 

 off from the salmon or destroyed. 



From reliable data that we had obtained we were satisfied that it was 

 for the best interests of the general public that the Klamath River 

 should be set aside as a fish refuge from which a large number of 

 salmon and trout eggs could be collected each season to furnish a supply 

 of eggs to maintain the run of salmon in the Klamath River as well as 

 to furnish trout eggs and salmon eggs for many of the rivers, lakes 

 and streams in the state. This could be done without injury to the 

 industrial development of the state. The promoters of the projects of 

 constructing high dams for power development were actuated by a 

 desire to promote these plans without consideration of the great loss to 

 the state of the wonderful run of anadromous fishes in the Klamath 



