26 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 
gauntlet of flounders, sculpins, and trout; and in the ocean a larger and greedier 
horde confronts them. There the adults are attacked by sharks, seals, and sea lions. 
Before they have fairly entered the rivers huge nets are hauling them to tne shore 
almost every minute of the day, during six days in a week. When they reach their 
spawning-grounds, bears are waiting to snatch them from the water and devour them 
alive. The salmon, it appears, would have been better off had it never been born in 
fresh-water, where its dangers are cumulative and deadly. 
The King Salmon ( Oncorhynchus cliouicha). Plate n, Fig. 1. 
The largest and finest of the Alaskan salmon is the king, or cliowichee, known also 
as the takou, Columbia River, chinook, and quinnat. This valuable fish occurs in the 
large rivers as a rule, but it runs into some of the small streams also, notably the 
Karluk, and some of the rivers emptying into the eastern part of Cook Inlet. The 
Yukon and the Nushagak are the greatest king salmon rivers. The species is found 
less abundantly in the Ugashik, Kuskoquim, and Kvichuk. Its average weight is over 
20 pounds, and individuals of 100 pounds or more are recorded. At St. Paul, Kadiak, 
in 1880, Mr. B. G. McIntyre stated he had weighed one which registered 87 £ pounds 
without its viscera; he believed the entire fish would have weighed 100 pounds. 
The flesh of the king salmon is paler in color than that of the red salmon, but 
superior to all others in flavor. The salted bellies are considered a great delicacy. 
The principal uses of this fish are as fresh fish and for canning purposes. In Alaska 
it has not yet acquired the importance belonging to it on the Columbia River, chiefly 
because of the distance from San Francisco to the Alaskan king salmon rivers and 
the difficulties of fishing in those waters. 
This species is the first to arrive on the shores in the spring. It makes its appear- 
ance in southern Alaska in May, and Mr. E. W. Nelson found it in Norton Sound, the 
northern limit of its known migration, early in June. The time of its coming into 
Norton Sound corresponds with the breaking up and disappearance of the ice. Mr. 
Nelson observed that u the largest of these salmon run during the few days just pre- 
ceding and following the breaking up of the ice, and thence on until the end of the 
season they decrease gradually in size and quality.” In the Yukon the season lasts 
only about a month. Capt. L. P. Larsen states that the king salmon is the first to 
appear in the Nushagak ; here the run is short, scarcely continuing into August. At 
the Karluk they arrive late in May. Yery few were seined there during August. On 
the 4th of August, 1889, a fine male of about 35 pounds, with the spermaries little 
developed, was seined on the beach. In its stomach I found forty-five capelin. 
Mr. Charles Hirsch states that the species is only an occasional visitor at Karluk. 
The king salmon continues to enter some of the rivers for the purpose of spawn- 
ing until August. The height of the season, however, is reached by the middle of 
July in most localities. This fish travels up the rivers farther than any other species 
except the red salmon. In the Yukon it ascends far above Fort Yukon, more than 
1,500 miles from the mouth of the river. Dr. George M. Dawson records its occur- 
rence in the Lewes River as far as the lower end of Lake Marsh, where it was found 
in considerable numbers early in September. According to Indian authority it pushes 
on almost to the headwaters of the tributaries to the Lewes on the east side. 
The king salmon does not ascend rivers rapidly unless the spawning period is 
close at hand. It generally plays around for a few days, or even a couple of weeks, 
near the river limit of tide- water. After entering the fresh water to begin its journey 
