274 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
relative abundance of bluebacks during any given season may be with certainty 
predicted. In this respect the blueback resembles the humpback (0. gorhusclia). 
The greatest abundance of the blueback salmon in the Columbia Eiver corresponds 
with the even years, The catch in those seasons so far exceeds that during the odd 
years as to clearly establish the contention of a biennial run. The following statistical 
data, based on the book records of canners and others, show that in 1890 and 1892 the 
catch of bluebacks was more than three times larger than in 1889 and 1891. Complete 
figures are not available for the years 1893 and 1891, but the information at hand 
indicates, and the testimony of the canners and fishermen bears out tlie statement, 
that in the former year the run was small, and in the latter was larger than for five or 
six years, and probably larger than ever before known. 
Statement of the numher of hluebaclc salmon caught on the Columbia Biver from 1889 to 1892, inclusive. 
Tears. 
Niimlier of 
fish caught. 
1 1889 
324, 532 
994, 471 
287, 826 
1, 064, 358 
1 18(10 
1 1891 
1 1892 
As a matter of related interest it may be mentioned that the run of bluebacks in 
the Fraser Eiver is similar to that in the Columbia in its periodicity, the difference 
being that the fish are most abundant in the odd years. An examination of the official 
reports of the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries shows a well-established 
biennial feature of the run. In the year 1893 the run whs extraordinarily large, corre- 
sponding with the very small catch in the Columbia, and immediately preceding the 
phenomenally large run in the Columbia in 1894. Whether there is anything more 
than a mere coincidence in this alternation in the abundance of the fish in these two 
great rivers remains to be determined. It is not impossible, however, that the fish 
entering these streams belong to the same general body, and that a large run in one 
river is more or less at the expense of the other. 
Condition of the water as affecting the catch . — As in the case of all river fisheries, 
there is in the Columbia a certain relation between the abundance of fish at a given 
time and the resulting catch on one hand and the condition of the water on the other. 
The following notes are a meager contribution to the subject of the dependence of the 
catch on the water. The unprecedentedly high water which prevailed in the Columbia 
basin in May and June, 1894, interfered to some extent with fishing with all forms of 
a])paratus, although the damage done was much less than was at first anticipated and 
reported. The most serious injury resulting from the freshets was done to the wheels 
located at the Cascades and The Dalles, rvhere the rise of the water was greatest. 
Owing to the expensive character of the wheels the financial losses were very heavy. 
Of 19 scow and 8 stationary wheels in operation at the Cascades at the time the 
freshets began, 7 of the former and 4 of the latter Avere either entirely lost or seriously 
damaged. 
Up to June 20, 1894, the reported shortage in the salmon i>ack of the Columbia 
Eiver was due almost entirely to the loss of time and apparatus occasioned by the 
floods. With the subsidence of the high water the run of bluebacks and Chinooks 
became so numerous, and the catch of bluebacks in wheels and pound nets and of 
