THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA. 741 



Of tbese species, the quinnat and blue-back salmon habitually "run" in the spring, the others 

 in the fall. The usual order of running in the rivers is as follows: nerJca, chouicha, Jcisutch, gor- 

 buscha, Jceta. 



The economic value of the spring running salmon is far greater than that of the other species, 

 because they can be captured in numbers when at their best, while the others are usually taken 

 only after deterioration. 



The habits of the salmon in the ocean are very imperfectly known. Quinnat and silver salmon 

 of every size are taken with the seine at almost any_season in Puget Sound. The quinnat takes 

 the hook freely in Monterey Bay, both near the shore and at a distance of 6 or 8 miles out. We 

 have reason to believe that these two species do riot necessarily seek great depths, but probably 

 remain not very far from the mouth of the rivers in which they were spawned. 



The blue-back and the dog salmon probably seek deeper water, as the former is seldom or 

 never taken with the seine in the ocean, and the latter is known to enter the Straits of Fuca at 



i 



the spawning season. 



The great majority of the quinnat salmon and nearly all the blue-back salmon enter the rivers 

 in the spring. The run of both begins generally the last of March ; it lasts, with various modifi- 

 cations and interruptions, until the actual spawning season in November; the time of running and 

 the proportionate amount of each of the subordinate runs, vary with each different river. In 

 general, the runs are slack in the summer and increase with the first high water of autumn. By 

 the last of August only straggling blue-backs can be found in the lower course of any stream, but 

 both in the Columbia and the Sacramento the quinnat runs in considerable numbers till October 

 at least. 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 ascend 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. Such rivers 

 are the Sacramento, Rogue, Klamath, Columbia, and Frazer's Rivers. 



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 will not enter the rivers until fall. It.would appear that the contact with cold 

 fresh water, when in the ocean, in some way caused them to turn toward 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 canners think, and this is probably 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 on. 



As the season advances, smaller and younger salmon of these two 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 tbese 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 Frazer's River, in the fall, quinnat male grilse of every size, from 8 inches 

 upwards, were running, 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 large and 

 small, then in the river, of either sex, had the ovaries or milt well developed. 



