XXIV.-REPORT OF OPERATIONS AT THE UNITED STATES 

 SALMON-BREEDING STATION ON THE MCCLOUD RIVER, CALI- 

 FORNIA, DURING THE YEAR 1883. 



By Livingston Stone, 



Nothing of special interest or importance occurred at the salmon^ 

 breeding station during the winter and spring of 1883, unless the weather 

 might be considered an exception — for during January and February 

 the weather was unusually clear and cold. Although in the rainy sea- 

 son of 1880-'81 the rainfall amounted to over 9 solid feet of water all 

 over Shasta County and the river rose 26 feet, this season so little rain 

 fell that the river for a considerable time was not above its summer 

 level. This was partly compensated for in March and April by a very 

 heavy rainfall for those months, which raised the McOloud at one time 

 to 8 feet above its summer level. About the middle of May the rain 

 ceased and no more of any consequence fell till the next fall. 



During the first part of the year the salmon were observed to come 

 up the river about as usual, but after awhile it was noticed that the 

 number of salmon in the lower portion of the river was rapidly decreas- 

 ing, and it was also soon after observed that no salmon were coming up 

 the river, as they usually do at that season. 



Owing to my having been commissioned to make an exploring trip 

 on the Columbia Eiver, I did not arrive on the McCloud till the 1st 

 of August. I found everything on my arrival in good order. Mr. Ead- 

 cliff had been engaged for the last month or two in getting the place 

 ready for taking salmon eggs, and everything seemed auspicious for a 

 good season with one exception, which was an important one, to be sure, 

 viz., there were no salmon in the river to amount to anything. The 

 racks and bridge which are annually put across the river above the 

 fishing ground were in place, but no salmon had collected below as had 

 been usual in previous years. We unpacked the new seine, which had 

 just come, and rigged it with floats and leads and ropes, and made a 

 haul with it, going over the ground which we have always been accus- 

 tomed to at the fishing season. Instead of catching five hundred or a 

 thousand salmon, we caught but one, and that a small one. This 

 was on the 7th of August. The next day, after supper, I went to a 

 point where perhaps a hundred rods of the river could be seen at once, 

 and. looked for salmon jumping in the river. Instead of seeing from 

 6,000 to 8,000 jumping in an hour, as I have often seen before from this 

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