[7] . EXPLOEATIONS ON COLUMBIA RIVER. 243 



The comparatively few tliat succeed iu ruuuing the gauntlet of the in- 

 numerable nets in the main river would, if they could be gathered to- 

 gether at one spot, still be enough to supply a great many million eggs; 

 but those which ascend the river above the nets, instead of all goiug to 

 one place, separate and divide uj) among the hundreds of tributaries, 

 large and small, that help to form the great Columbia. Consequently 

 a very small percentage, indeed, of the few salmon that get b3^the nets 

 are to be found in any one manageable stream, unless some peculiar 

 natural causes exist at some specified place to make that point an ex- 

 ception to the general rule. It is accordingly useless to look now to 

 small streams which are subject to ordinary conditions for a large supply 

 of salmon eggs, however abundant the salmon used tc be in them in the 

 former and better days of these salmon rivers. 



The same objection which applies to the Walla Walla applies also to 

 the Umatilla, * which is the next river entering the Columbia from the 

 south. This river is much larger than the Walla Walla, but is not 

 large enough to induce many salmon to leave the Columbia and ascend 

 its current. In 1877, 1 was told that this river would be a good one for 

 salmon-breeding, but a thorough investigation of it proved the con- 

 trary. I built across the river, about half a mile from its mouth, a rack 

 similar to that which we are accustomed to put across the McCloud Eiver 

 iu the spawning season in order to arrest the course of the salmon, and 

 had it watched for two or three months iu order to ascertain the mag- 

 nitude of the salmon run. The result was that the run proved to be 

 wholly inadequate for the collecting of a large number of eggs. So the 

 Umatilla was abandoned. 



Willow Creek comes next to the Umatilla, but is even smaller than 

 that river, and consequently may be considered entirely out of the 

 question. 



The John Day Eiver,t which comes next, rises in the Blue Mount- 

 ains and, swollen by many tributaries, empties into the Columbia about 

 65 miles below the Umatilla. This river is large enough, but there are 

 no accessible places on any part of it where fishing for breeders could 

 be successfully carried on. At some future day, when railroads have 

 become more abundant in Oregon, a suitable place may be found on 

 the John Day which would also be accessible, but there are none at 

 present. 



Seventeen miles below the John*Day Eiver, the Deschutes | empties, 

 splashing and foaming over the rocks, with a rapid current, into the 

 Columbia. This river heads in the Cascade Eange, at Mount Theilsen,, 

 nearly as far south as the forty-third parallel, while a more eastern 

 branch arrives from as far east as the southwestern spurs of the Blue 

 Mountains. The Deschutes is a model salmon river, cold, large, and 



* Three hundred and two miles from the mouth of the Columbia. 



t Two hundred and thirty-eight miles from the mouth of the Columbia. 



t Two hundred and twenty-one miles from the mouth of the Columbia^ 



