314 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
caught while on their way out to sea, with fine nets in the shal- 
low waters of San Francisco Bay. The Quinnat salmon is fat 
when it enters the fresh waters from the ovean, but gradually 
grows lean, and the color, which is light yellowish-red, changes 
to a deeper shade as it ascends the rivers. The meat becomes 
leaner, poorer in flavor, and redder in color in proportion to 
the length of time that it remains in fresh water; but the 
little ones, which have never seen the salt water, have a more 
Gelicate meat than the larger ones fresh from the ocean. No 
attempt has yet been made to breed fish for our rivers, though 
it might evidently be done to a profit in many of the streams; 
but whether in the Sierra Nevada, where the mud abounds, is 
doubtful. Yet the probabilities of success are sufficient to 
justify the trial. Fifteen years ago the salmon regularly as- 
cended all, or nearly all, the mountain streams to points above 
any of the present mining camps, where the waters are as clear 
now as they were in 1847. The rule is known to be general 
and supposed to be universal, that the salmon leave the ocean 
in the stream from which they entered it; and it is supposed 
further that they go to the very branch or brook in which they 
‘were born. It is well known that there is a salmon in the Kla- 
math River never seen in Humboldt Bay, and various species 
in the Columbia never found in the waters of California, and 
salmon in the Quiniault River, Washington territory, not found 
yet in any other stream; and the Indians of Oregon say that 
certain tributaries of the Columbia have species never caught 
in any other place. If then a million of eggs were hatched at 
the head-waters ofthe Sacramento River, there would be reason 
to hope that they would return to spawn there. 
The legislature has passed an act in regard to the salmon 
fishery. It provides that the run of salmon shall not be ob- 
stracted by any dam, weir, fence, or fixed stop-net; and that 
no person shal! catch with a net in the San Joaquin River, or 
any tributary, in August, September, and the first half of Oc- 
tober; or in any other salmon stream of the state in August, 
October, Decemb:r, and January; nor shall any person, save 
