MIGRATION OP SALMON IN COLUMBIA RIVER. ^145 
The steelhead number 125, which was caught only 70 miles up, shows a salt-water 
history similar to that of number 98, which had gone 210 miles up the river. 
MIGRATION SPEED. 
The speed of the total migration is unquestionably divided into two periods, first, 
the migration through the various stages of tide water, and, second, the migration up 
the river when once quite within fresh water. This preliminary experiment was launched 
in the tide-water zone, hence can not directly solve either speed period. In discussing 
the three groups of fishes a number of instances have been given to show that these 
fishes spent much time in brackish water after their marking. One may assume the broad 
working hypothesis that salmon travel at an average speed that is apparently uniform 
for different individuals under similar conditions. Table v shows the days out, total 
distance traveled, and the average speed made for the time. A glance at the table 
suffices to show either that the hypothesis is unsatisfactory or that a number of the 
salmon have not made direct runs upstream. 
Table V. — Marked Fish Arranged in the Order of the Average Time Taken to Travel the 
Distance Covered Before Recapture. 
Species. 
Silver. . . . 
Do. . 
Do. . 
Do. . 
Do. . 
Steelhead. 
Do. . 
Do. . 
Chinook. . 
Silver. . . . 
Chinook. . 
Do. . 
Steelhead, 
Tag 
number. 
Days out. 
Distance 
traveled. 
Average 
speed 
per day. 
76 
28 
M iles. 
210 
Miles. 
7 - 50 
75 
29 
210 
7. 24 
89 
30 
210 
7. 00 
79 
33 
210 
6.36 
97 
33 
210 
6. 36 
124 
33 
210 
6. 36 
98 
52 
210 
3 - 85 
125 
±35 
70 
±2.00 
80 
1 1 
is 
1. 36 
87 
57 
70 
1. 23 
123 
3 i 
15 
.48 
11 3 
6 
a 4 
. 66 
1 1 6 
O 
a 4 
24. 00 
a Downstream. 
Rutter® branded a number of salmon on the Sacramento River in September, 1900, 
at Rio Vista, which is above the salt-water tides of the river. Three of these fish were 
retaken, two at the Mill Creek hatchery and one at Battle Creek. They covered the 
distance in an average speed of 4 to 5 miles per day. This speed was exceeded by six 
of the marked fish in the present experiment, these six making an average individual 
speed of from 6.36 to 7.50 miles a day with a general average of 6.8 miles. 
The observations of the commercial fishermen on the Columbia River make it 
quite probable that the highest speed shown in table v is low for the migration rate of 
Columbia River salmon under favorable conditions of the river. 6 The statistics of the 
a Rutter, Cloudsley, op. eit., p. 124. 
Mr. Frank A. Seufert writes me as follows: “Usually it is from 7 to 9 days from the time a run is reported entering 
the river in July or August when we get the effects of it here.” Seufert Brothers’ fishery is 210 miles up the river, which 
would give a speed of 23 to 30 miles a day for a heavy run. 
48299° — Bull. 29 — 11 10 
