THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



Rivers and Streams of Oregon 



With Some Descriptions of the Country, Fish and Fishing— Part I 



By John Gill. 



(Note. — For a number of years Mr. John Gill has been collecting data 

 concerning the streams of Oregon, the kind of fish that inhabit the different 

 waters, and other material about fishing conditions. The Oregon Sportsman 

 will publish this data in several installments, the first of which appears in 

 this issue. It will be found of considerable interest to anglers. — Editor.) 



THE NEHALEM RIVER. 



This is the largest river of Oregon save those whose sources 

 are in the eternal snows of the Cascade Mountains. The Nehalem 

 from source to outlet is a hundred miles in length. The main 

 stream rises in high mountains in the northeast corner of Tilla- 

 mook County, flowing thence eastward through Washington 

 County and north into Columbia County, where it makes a great 

 semi-circle, and at the mouth of the Fishhawk, on the line between 

 Columbia and Clatsop Counties, turns southwestward, and enters 

 the sea exactly to westward of the source above described. 



Many fine tributary streams swell Nehalem 's waters; one, 

 the Salmonberry, rises on the western slope of the range which 

 forms the head of the main river, and the course of the Salmon- 

 berry is so directly westward that the valley affords a way for 

 the Pacific Railway and Navigation Company on its route from 

 Portland to Tillamook. 



Until the completion of the railroad in 1912, the upper waters 

 of Nehalem were rarely visited by anglers, but the Salmonberry 

 has become a favorite with our fishermen, and furnishes rather 

 meagre entertainment for numerous travelers who cannot resist 

 the beauties of the stream, seen at its best from the railroad, wind- 

 ing down seaward amid magnificent mountains and forests. 



Rock Creek, a large tributary flowing north from the central 

 source of Nehalem, is one of the wildest streams of northwestern 

 Oregon. It is inaccessible by road except from the valley of the 

 Nehalem at Vernonia. Its course is among high mountains and 

 solemn forests, and the stream is deep, clear and strong. The 

 mountain sources of the upper Nehalem carry the winter snows 



Pag-e Pour 



