148 American Fisheries Society. 



sell, with spears in those stretches of the river abutting on Indian 

 reservations. 



The first obstruction to the ascent of the fish is at Kenne- 

 wick, close by the mouth. Here a dam 42 inches in height has 

 been constructed to obtain water for irrigation purposes. The 

 next obstruction is at Prosser, where a dam was constructed 

 some years ago in order to supply power to operate a mill. This 

 dam has a fishway of the pool and fall system. 



At Wapato, on the Yakima River a few miles below the city 

 of Yakima, the United States Indian Service some years ago 

 installed a dam in order to supply water to irrigate land on the 

 Yakima Indian Reservation. A couple of miles farther down, 

 at Sunnyside, the United States Reclamation Service about the 

 same time built another dam to irrigate land outside the reser- 

 vation. In the upper dam was constructed one of the finest pool 

 and fall fishways the writer has ever seen, being made of cement, 

 of ample dimensions, and having an excellent system of control 

 gates at the head. In the other was installed a narrow, shallow 

 pool system, with openings at the bottom of the pools, and with 

 no control gates at the head. As a result there was a steady, 

 regular, and ample flow of water through the Wapato fishway, 

 while in the Sunnyside there was a seething and wild flow, espe- 

 cially when the water was high, which any fish accustomed to 

 jumping would have had much trouble in combatting. 



For a considerable time fish culturists paid but little at- 

 tention to the river, in fact they hardly thought of it, as but 

 little attention or consideration had been paid to them when 

 the dams were constructed, and it is still a puzzle in one or two 

 instances where the builders got their plans for the fishways 

 that were installed. If biologists thought of them at all, it was 

 doubtless to feel that expert advice had been asked and acted 

 upon and that all was well. A few doubting Thomases, how- 

 ever, insisted upon being heard and claimed that the fishways 

 were not doing the work they were installed for. About a year 

 ago Mr. J. W. Kinney, who had assumed office a few months 

 before as State Supervisor of Game and Game Fishes, put the 

 matter of ascertaining the facts in the case up to the writer, who 

 was also authorized to apply such corrective measures as might 

 be needed. 



The first task taken up was the determination of the effec- 



