REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 93 



of August and continued steadily to October 19, when the rack was 

 carried away by high water and all the fish escaped. 



The indications are that Rogue River will prove a valuable field for 

 salmon work. There is no doubt but that double as many eggs 

 would have been collected this season had not the rack been carried 

 away. The day it was swept out 264,800 eggs were collected and 

 there were numbers of green fish in the pool. The water of this 

 stream is of the very best quality for hatching operations, the high- 

 est temperature recorded being 53°. The following illustrates what 

 may be accomplished in water of this character: A basket containing 

 8,000 eggs was placed in a trough in the river and left undisturbed 

 for 21 days, when they were found to be perfectly eyed, and only 80 

 dead ones were picked out; a total loss of 1 per cent. 



The take for the season was 4,364,800, of which 1,800,000 were sent 

 to Mr. Hume's hatchery at Wedderburn, Oreg., near the mouth of 

 the Rogue River. The first shipment of 800,000, although two weeks 

 en route and hauled about 100 miles over a wagon road, reached des- 

 tination with a loss of only about 10 per cent; the second lot carried 

 much better, the loss being only about 1 per cent. They were hatched 

 at Wedderburn and the fry held until they were 3 or 4 inches long, 

 being fed entirely on canned salmon. They were then liberated in 

 the Rogue and its tributaries. The balance of the eggs were hatched 

 at the station, producing 2,156,000 fry, which were liberated in Elk 

 Creek and Rogue River. 



Efforts were also made to collect silver-salmon eggs. A rack was 

 placed across Elk Creek on November 19, and on the 27th, when it 

 was carried away by a freshet, 200,000 eggs had been secured. They 

 were of fair quality, and 150,000 of them were eyed, but as the hatch- 

 ery was overcrowded with quinnat salmon they were shipped to 

 Clackamas. 



As numbers of steelhead trout had been observed in Elk Creek it 

 was decided to establish "an auxiliary station on that stream, and a 

 point about 10 miles above the station, known as Elk Creek 'Falls, 

 was selected. Here the stream forks at almost right angles, the falls 

 being in the east branch. By February 1 an effectual barrier to the 

 ascent of the fish up the west branch had been completed in the form 

 of a solid log dam a short distance from the base of the falls, thus 

 compelling the fish to ascend the east branch. A heavy log was then 

 placed across the creek at the upper edge of the falls and pinned to 

 the bed-rock, forming so sudden an ascent that the fish were unable 

 to jump over it. A deep natural channel, with almost level bottom, 

 about halfway up the falls formed an excellent place for a trap, and 

 here the greater portion of the fish were secured. Many fish were also 

 captured on the north side of the falls, where a channel 40 feet long, 

 2 feet deep, and 4 feet wide was blasted in the solid rock. A small 

 shed 15 by 38 feet, without sides, was erected, and two hatching- 

 troughs set up, the water supply being conveyed to them by means of 



