THE SALMON AND SAF.MON FISTIERIES OF ALASKA. 
101 
As it 
lower 
lakes at the head, and that several tributaries to the river have lake sources, 
would have taken several weeks to thoroughly e\])lore tln^ locality, only the 
course of the stream was examined. 
From the mouth of the stream to the 
head of tide water is a distance of about 2^ 
miles. At low water the stream runs a 
winding course through uncovered flats 
and grassy banks, at ])laces separating 
into several channels or sloughs, while at 
high water these flats and banks are all 
covered, and it has the ai^pearance of a 
large bay 2 miles long in a general east-and- 
west direction, with a greatest width of fi ve- 
eighths of a mile, with wooded islets (one 
three-eighths of a mile long) and heavily 
wooded banks. The mouth is contracted 
to a width of about one-eighth of a mile, 
the Hats extending into the outer bay some 
distance outside of the natural banks. 
These flats afford excellent seining ground 
at low water. At the head of tide water, 
where the stream flows between rocky 
banks, it is contracted to a width of 45 
feet, exi>anding as it proceeds toward the 
sea to 120 feet, and about three-eighths of 
a mile down it opens out to 300 yards, 
contracting again about one-eighth of a 
mile beyond, and then opening into the 
large high-water bay. At this point is a 
small wing of rocks and rails and the reni- 
7iant of a wire net, which probably formed 
at one time a barricade. The depth here 
at high water would be about 7 feet. There 
are no indications that the stream has 
been barricaded in recent years. 
The bottom over the Hat generally con- 
sists of gravel and sand; in the narrower 
part it is rocky, and above tide level be- 
comes more so, though for about a quarter 
of a mile above it runs tlirough bottom 
lands between wide, high gravel banks, 
heavily wooded and in some places grassy. 
The fall of the main stream is slight, and 
occasionally there are deep pools. At the 
time of our visit the main stream, above the 
intlueuce of the tide, had an average depth of 18 inches over a riffle 75 feet wide. Half 
a mile below the high-water mark the stream becomes brackish, increasing in salinity 
toward the mouth; yet it is said that humpbacks spawn all over these tidal flats, and 
Sketch of stream at head of Thorne Bay, taken 
at low water. From mouth to head tide water. 
High-water mark in lieavy lines. 
