270 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The only other member of the salmon family fhat is a regular factor in the salmon 
industry of the lower Columbia is the steelhead. Ten pounds is usually assigned as 
the average weiglit of the fish. From the following’ table, showing the weights in 
similar form to that exhibited for the chinook and the blueback, it appears that 26,587 
steelheads taken in 1893 had an average Aveight of 10.33 pounds. The fish are largest 
in August and smallest in April, while those taken in gill nets are heavier than those 
obtained in pound ]iets or seines, the seine fish being lightest. 
Statement showing hi/ months the number, weight, and average weight of steelhead salmon taken with gill nets, 
pound nets, and seines, at the mouth of the Columbia River, and landed at a salmon cannery at Astoria,. 
Oreg., in 1893. 
Months. 
(.’aught hy gill nets. 
Caught by pound nets. 
Can 
gilt by seines. 
Total. 
No. of 
lish. 
Total 
■weight 
(pounds). 
Aver- 
age 
weight. 
No. of 
fish. 
Total 
weight 
(pounds). 
Aver- 
age 
weight. 
No. of 
fi.sh. 
Total 
weight 
(pounds). 
Aver- 
age 
weight. 
No. of 
fish. 
Total 
■vveight 
(pounds). 
Aver- 
age 
weight. 
18 
107 
9. 28 
509 
9. 04 
77 
736 
9. 56 
May 
17 
170 
10. 35 
207 
2, 097 
10. 13 
224 
2, 273 
10. 15 
June 
511 
5, <140 
9. 88 
4, 137 
42' 907 
10. 37 
426 
4, 294 
10. 08 
5, 074 
52, 250 
10. 30 
July 
847 
11, 504 
]3. 69 
10, 031 
101, 858 
10. 15 
5, 827 
58, 486 
10. 04 
16, 705 
171,938 
10.29 
August 
647 
8, 735 
13. 50 
2,305 
23, 105 
10. 02 
1, 555 
15, 609 
10. 04 
4, 507 
47, 449 
10. 53 
Total .. 
2, 040 
25, 721 
12.61 
16, 739 
170, 536 
10. 19 
7,808 
78, 389 
10. 04 
26, 587 
274, 646 
10. 33 
Destruction of salmon in the headicaters . — By some reputable persons considerable 
stress is laid on the injurious influence on the abundance of chinook salmon in the 
Columbia River of the destruction of fish in the headwaters. Mr. W. H. Barker, of the 
firm of George «& Barker, of Astoria; Mr. J. O. Han thorn, of the firm of J. O. Hanthorn 
& Co., of Astoria, and other canners, as well as regular fishermen and sportsmen, 
attribute the present relative scarcity partly to the sacrifice in the upper waters, by 
white men and Indians, of large quantities of salmon that have run the gauntlet of 
the lower river and desei’A^e protection when they have reached their spawning- 
grounds. The fish are taken with great facility in the shallow streams constituting 
spawning-beds, and the quantities killed some seasons are said to have been enor- 
mous. The fish taken in such situations are hardly fit for food, being ‘‘ logy,” diseased, 
and emaciated. At times they have been xrsed on the land by Avagon loads. The 
improvident red man often cuts out the eggs and dries them, discarding all the 
remainder of the fish. 
Mr. Barker has observed obstructions placed across narrow streams up which 
fish Avere running in September, October, and November, and has known many hun- 
dreds of pounds of ripe fish to be shipped from a single point in Idaho to places in 
loAAur, Missouri, and other States. 
Mr. Hanthorn has known good spawning-grounds to be destroyed by irrigation 
ditches, the building of which has so reduced the supply of water in the streams that 
the salmon have ceased to resort to them. The irrigation work is also said to 
keep otherwise clear streams muddy or “roily,” and thus impair their usefulness as 
spawning-beds. 
According to the statements of reliable people on the loAver river, blueback salmon 
have had their spawning-grounds restricted by the erection of dams at the outlet of 
certain lakes in the headwaters of the Columbia. Favorite breeding- grounds for the 
small species are now utilized for irrigation purposes, and are said to be dammed 
against the entrance of fish. 
