FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
201 
The Chinook salmon (0. chouicha) is by far the most important species. 
It averages 22 pounds in weight and attains a maximum size of 05 
pounds or more. Formerly it was the only kind used for canning, and 
even at the present time constitutes three-fourths of the pack. The 
growing scarcity of the species in recent years has, however, made it 
necessary to utilize other varieties of salmonida3, and now more or less 
is packed of other kinds. This fish runs up the following tributaries of 
the Columbia: Cowlitz, Lewis, and Lake Rivers, in Washington, and 
the Willamette, Young’s, and Lewis and Clark Rivers, in Oregon. It 
also enters many other streams. It is well known that it runs up the 
Clackamas, a branch of the Willamette, where the hatchery of the U. S. 
Fish Commission is located. 
The blueback salmon (0. nerka) is in favor for packing, its flesh hav- 
ing a bright red color. Its average weight here is about 4J pounds. 
It enters the river with the chinook. 
Gardner’s trout (S. gairdneri) averages 8 to 10 pounds. * It is less 
highly prized for canning, because the flesh is light in color and the 
bones hard. It is a good market fish. 
White salmon (0. kisutch) ordinarily weigh from 8 to 60 pounds ; the 
average is about 20 pounds. The common name of this species is due 
to the light color of its flesh, a characteristic which decreases its market 
value notwithstanding its excellent flavor. The white salmon, accord- 
ing to Jordan, is identical on the Columbia with the silver salmon, or 
“ silversides,” as Wilcox heard it called. The u silversides ” come only 
in fall ; they constitute the last run of the season, but receive compara- 
tively little attention. 
The dog salmon and humpbacked salmon enter the Columbia, but 
the latter is so rarely seen There — coming only as an estray — that the 
term u lost salmon ” has been applied to it. The dog salmon is not 
considered commercially important. 
have been taken as a basis for claiming that many more species enter the Columbia 
than really exist. Wilcox was told that there were at least 12 species. In a report 
on the “Salmon Fisheries of the Columbia River” (Ex. Doc. No, 123, Fiftieth Con- 
gress, first session, page 16) W. A. Jones, major of engineers, U. S. A., has published, 
on the authority of Mr. G. W. Williams, a list of 12 names of salmon that “ run in the 
Columbia River,” as follows : 
Chinook (Salmo quinnat). Leather (not classified). Weak-toothed (Salmo paucidens) 
Blueback (not classified). Silversides ( Salmo argyreus). Gairdneri ( Salmo gairdneri). 
Steelhead (Salmo truncatus). Large white. Hybrid (uot classified). 
White ( Salmo tsuppitch). Dog salmon ( Salmo canis). Humpback ( Salmo proteus). 
Professors Jordan and Gilbert, the well-known ichthyological authorities on west 
coast fishes, state that there are only “5 species of salmon ( Oncorhynchus ) in the 
waters of the North Pacific.” The salmon, particularly the male fish, changes its 
appearance materially in the breeding season, and it is difficult for any but an ichthyo- 
logical expert to determine the species correctly at such times. 
Mr. Williams has apparently made 2 species of Gairdner’s trout (which is not a 
salmon), for he calls it “ Gairdneri,” its specific name, and in another place classifies 
it as “steelhead,” its common name. In the latter case a scientific name is applied 
which is not now recognized as properly belonging to the steelhead. 
This matter is referred to in order to remove a quite common error. 
