[3] EXPLORATIONS ON COLUMBIA RIVER. 239 



he had caught salmon in Lake Pencl d'Oreille, but finally admitted that 

 he had caught but one salmon, and the admission was made in such a 

 way as to make the catching of the one salmon appear doubtful. At all 

 events it is certain that no point on or above Lake Pend d'Oreille would 

 I furnish salmon enough for obtaining any considerable number of eggs. 

 I The cause of the absence of salmon from a lake which flows directly 

 into one of the greatest salmon rivers of the world is supposed by the 

 local inhabitants to be the falls, mentioned above, which occur on the 

 jriver about 15 miles below the outlet of the lake commonly known as 

 [the Falls of Seniakwoteen. I will add here that these falls are not 

 jproperly called Seniakwoteen Falls, for the word means "a crossing," 

 |and, although there is a crossing a few miles below the mouth of the 

 lake, the falls are much farther and are neither near nor in any way 

 connected with the crossing or " Seniakwoteen" proper. The residents 

 on the lake think that these falls prevent the salmon from coming up 

 the river, but the writer thinks that it is quite as likely that the salmon 

 are all or nearlj^ all stopped by the falls at the mouth of the Pend 

 d'Oreille River (Clarke's Fork) where it empties into the Columbia. A 

 white ("squaw man") fur-trader lives at the crossing (Seniakwoteen), 

 but I am informed that there is not another white settler along the whole 

 course of the river from this point to its mouth. It is consequently very 

 difl&cult to get any information concerning the run of salmon in the 

 iriver, but the few persons that know anything about that region, who 

 iwere consulted, could not remember having seen or heard of any salmon 

 there, and the probability appears to be that very few, if any, salmon 

 get past the falls at the mouth of Clarke's Fork and the intervening 

 cascades between there and the falls below Lake Pend d'Oreille. 



However this may be, the falls of Seniakwoteen (so-called) would 

 'not be a suitable place for a salmon-hatchery station, for three reasons; 



1. It is too far from the railroad, being 30 or 40 miles by the nearest 

 trail to a railroad station. 



I 2. The region through which the railroad passes was one of the 

 wildest portions of the United States till the railroad was built through 

 it, and is now only very sparsely settled and very poorly furnished 

 with supplies. The expense and inconvenience of building and carry- 

 ing on a salmon-hatching station anywhere in this region would con- 

 sequently be very great ; so great, indeed, as to render the undertaking 

 virtually impracticable. 



3. The Indians on the Pend d'Oreille River, or, more properly speak- 

 ing, the Pend d'Oreille "division" of Clarke's Fork, have always held 

 undisputed possession of their wild and rugged canon, and are extremely 

 jealous of the intrusion of white men. 



i I am informed that they have driven out all white men who have come 



'in there to settle, a -prima facie evidence of which is found in the fact 



that there are no white settlers there at this day except the fur-trader 



just mentioned. I need not say that this would be a serious objection 



