SALMON INVESTIGATIONS IN COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN IN 1896. 
59 
Tsiltcoos Lake lias two inlets, 6 to 8 miles long, Maple Creek at the northeast and 
Tsiltcoos Creek to the southeast corner of the lake. In summer these are little more 
than small brooks, but during the rainy season they become much swollen and afford 
a spawning-ground for many silver salmon, and possibly a few others, which enter the 
lake. It is said that about 6 or 7 years ago many more salmon spawned in Maple 
Creek than at present. 
The outlet of Tsiltcoos Lake is quite small, especially so in summer and at low tide. 
Gill nets are put across the outlet at low tide and are so anchored and staked down 
that it is quite impossible for silver salmon, except the smaller ones, to pass them. 
October 17 a number of soundings and temperatures were taken in Tsiltcoos 
Lake. The temperature of the air at 10.15 a. m. was 56° ; that of the bottom in various 
parts of the lake, at depths from 7 to 17 feet, varied from 58.5° to 59.5°. 
Tsiltcoos Creek (Ten-mile Creek), the outlet of Tsiltcoos Lake, is about 5 miles 
long, while the distance from the lake to the ocean in a direct line is about 2 miles. At 
low tide in summer there is barely water enough in the outlet to float a small flat- 
bottom boat. At high tide the water in the outlet for its entire length is brackish. 
There is some commercial fishing, though the fishing season is short (this year from 
October 10 to about November 5). Many silver salmon enter the lake, as is evidenced 
by the number caught in our small gill nets. Fishermen report that salmon are often 
stranded on the beach. About 100 silver salmon, the first catch of the present season, 
were brought to the cannery on October 13. There is no reliable evidence that blue- 
back salmon are ever found in this lake or its outlet, and only an occasional Chinook 
is found. On October 16 and 17 the bar at the mouth of this creek at low tide com- 
pletely closed the outlet. This prevented salmon from entering and none had been 
taken since October 13. The fishermen were watching the surf closely to see if many 
salmon were near shore. Ordinarily, if the bar is closed and many fishes are seen in 
the surf, the fishermen resort to surf fishing until after the bar is opened. 
Tahkenitch, or Five-mile, Lake is very irregular in outline. Its greatest length 
from north to south is about 4£ miles; east to west about the same distance. This 
lake consists of four large arms whose general directions are with the four cardinal 
points. The eastern arm is the longest, the western the shortest, while the other two 
are about equal in length. The width of these arms varies from about one-eighth 
to three-quarters of a mile. In the mouth of the smallest arm is a small timbered 
island. 
Tahkenitch Lake does not lie in the burnt region. The hills surrounding it rise 
abruptly to a height of usually about 100 feet, and are covered by a dense growth of 
tall fir trees of about to 3 feet in diameter. In the extreme end of the arms and 
in a few other places along the shore are found tules and other water vegetation similar 
to that in Tsiltcoos Lake. The bottom of the lake is a soft, black mud, like that found 
in the two other lakes. The depth is very uniform, being from 16 to 22 feet. 
Five-mile Creek, the outlet of Tahkenitch Lake, has its origin in the distal end of 
the western arm, its upper end being about 1 mile from the ocean. Its total length is 
about twice this distance. The sand hills extend almost to the lake. The isthmus 
separating Tahkenitch and Tsiltcoos lakes is rather low and narrow. So far as we 
could learn, the commercial fishing on Five-mile Creek is very similar to that on 
Ten mile Creek. The catch has amounted, according to Hon. A. W. Reed, of Gardiner, 
to an average of 5,000 silver salmon for each of the past three years. 
