REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. iat 
with a dam, and in 1900 would probably have yielded three or four 
million eggs. 
At times from July to December, 1900, Mr. F. M. Chamberlain, 
assistant of the Commission, was engaged in an investigation which 
had its origin in the continued reports of a periodic mortality among 
the fishes of the Sacramento River between Keswick and Redbluff, 
this mortality being chiefly noticeable among the salmon at the time 
when they were ascending that part of the river in abundance on their 
way to the spawning-grounds. These reports were current topics of 
conversation among the citizens of Redding, Anderson, and neigh- 
boring communities, and, owing to the undoubted veracity of the 
people who claimed to have personally noted this mortality, it became 
necessary for the California State Fish Commission to take the matter 
in hand. Asthis remarkable death rate had not been noticed previous 
to the extensive operation of the copper works at Keswick, and as 
those works are known to dump their waste into an affluent of the 
river, popular rumor at oace assigned the mortality to this cause. 
During the summer of 1899 Mr. N. B. Scofield, an assistant of the 
California Fish Commission, was detailed to make an examination of 
the conditions existing in the river at the affected point. He carried 
on a series of experiments mainly directed to the effect of the drain- 
age from the works upon the salmon fry. The matter of the supposed 
injurious effect of the smelter refuse was first officially brought to the 
attention of the U.S. Fish Commission by the superintendent of the 
Baird station in 1899. As this was a matter that ordinarily comes 
wholly within the province of the State authorities, and affected the 
government only through the diminution and eventual destruction of 
the hatchery operations at Baird and Battle Creek in case the notice- 
able decrease of the salmon run was traceable to the alleged causes, 
no investigation was then undertaken by the U.S. Fish Commission 
and the matter was dropped for the time being, though verbal reports 
of numbers of dead salmon in the river continued from time to time 
to reach the station. In June of the following year, however, the 
testimony of reputable citizens of Redding so strongly substantiated 
reports of a remarkable and unnatural mortality among the salmon 
then ascending to their spawning-grounds, that the superintendent 
was impelled to again lay the matter before the Washington office, at 
the same time suggesting that an investigation be made. Accordingly, 
Mr. Chamberlain was directed to begin an examination of ‘‘the phys- 
ical, chemical, and biological conditions of the various parts of the 
river where the fish are affected.” 
Personal inspection of the river in the vicinity of the copper works 
disclosed (1) the presence of many dead fish, not only salmon, but 
trout, suckers, carp, ete., either in the water or on the banks near the 
water line, and (2) the discharge of particles of slag and chemicals 
into the Sacramento from the turbid creek on which the smelter is 
