246 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, [10] 



Eiver. Some places supply some of the requisite conditions, others 

 furnish what these have not, but none of them, with this one exception^ 

 combines all the needful conditions. 



It seems surprising at first that this should be so. It seems surprising 

 that there are not many points along the hundreds of miles of the Colum- 

 bia and its northern fork where plenty of salmon eggs could be obtained 

 and distributed, but nevertheless there are not. As this presents such 

 a curious and interesting question, let us glance for a moment at the 

 conditions that are required for the operating of a large and successful 

 salmon-breeding station; and in order to bring out the subject with 

 more distinctness, I will enumerate these conditions and consider them 

 in regular order. Taking them in the order of their relative importance 

 they seem to present themselves nearly as follows : 



1. Abundance of breeding salmon. 



2. Accessibility of location. 



3. An adequate supply of water. 



4. Convenience of location for obtaining water. 



5. Availability of location. 



6. Facility for catching parent fish. 



7. Facility for arresting the upward progress of the breeding salmon. 



8. Security from high water and attendant dangers. 



1. Abundance of BREBDma salmon. — This first condition, viz., of 

 the presence of an abundant supply of salmon, is such an obvious one 

 that nothing more need be said about it. Of course there must be plenty 

 of salmon, for a salmon-breeding station \^ithout the salmon would be 

 like the play of Hamlet without the part of Hamlet. The XJmatilla and 

 Walla Walla Rivers are examples of rivers possessing all the conditions 

 just enumerated, except this one — an abundance of salmon. 



2. AocESSiBiLiTY OF LOCATION. — Hardly less indispensable than the 

 abundance of salmon is the accessibility of a salmon-breeding location. 

 If it is so far removed from the traveled thoroughfares that the station 

 could not be built, nor the eggs distributed, except at a cost that would 

 practically be a prohibitory one, the location is of course of no value, 

 no matter how abundant the salmon are or how favorable the other 

 conditions may be. Several places on the great bend of the Colum- 

 bia, between Priest Eapids and Lake Pend d'Oreille, which cannot be 

 approached within 50 or 100 miles, except by very bad roads and trails, 

 are illustrations of the absence of the essential element of accessibility. 



3. An ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLY. — Kext in rank of importance 

 seems to come the presence of a»sufficient and suitable supply of water 

 for hatching. Where this condition is lacking it is hardly worth while 

 either to go to the expense of putting up hatching works or to make the 

 attempt to collect a large number of eggs; for although, provided there 

 is a considerable water supply, a correspondingly large number of eggs 

 may often be matured for shipment or hatched, nevertheless an inade- 

 quate supply of water is not only always a source of care and uneasiness, 



