The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-07-31


The Tuscarora Times Revie,o says
that salmon about thirty-six inches
long and weighing twenty-three pounds
was recently caught by an Indian in
the Owyhee river. The fish was cov-
cred with unhealthy looking spots.
The incident mentioned by the Reviey
is interesting, as showing the persever-
ance Of the salmon to reach the head
waters of the river. The Owyhee river
is branch of the Snake, which in turn
empties into the Columbia The sal
mon described by the Review must
have swan fifteen hundred miles from
the ocean in its journey up stream.
Great as seems this distance it is by
no means the limit of the salmon's ca
pacity as fresh water voyager. We
have the testimony of an eye witness
to the fact that salmon are found in
the Malade river, a branch of the
Snake in Idaho, at point fully two
thousand miles from the sea. They
die there by hundreds, and the banks
of the river are lined by their bodies,
while. the air is tainted by their decay.
The fish push their way up the Snake
to the foot of the American falls, near
the Montana line, about 1900 miles
from the ocean.
The question whether the salmon of
the Pacific survive spawning or not has
been a matter of much discussion.
Deputy U. s. Fish Commissioner Liv-
ingston Stone asserted that the salmon
of the McCloud river in California all
die after spawning. Prof. Baird is of
a different opinion. He thinks that
many salmon return to the sea after
spawning and come again to the fresh
water in the following season. The
Indians of British Columbia maintain
that the salmon of the Fraser river all
die after spawning has been accom-
piisiied. A clergyman who lived many
years in that country, and wrote a
book about it, asserts the same thing
in regard to the salmon. The matter
has recently attracted the attention of
English naturalists, and not long ago
there was an article in the Nature upon
the subject
In order to test this question Of the
survival Of the fish, an important ex-
pertinent has been made in one of the
rivers of Oregon. The result proves
that so far as the salmon of that river
are concerned, a large per cent. spawn
and return again the following season.
X. ID. Hume, who owns a cannery on
the Rogue river, caused two hundred
mature salmon, which had been manip-
ulated at his Matching establishment,
to be marked and returned to the river.
The mark was deep V shaped notch
cut in the dorsal fin of each fish. OF
those two hundred salmon twenty were
recaptured at the same place early this
season. and their condition proved that
they had but recently arrived from the
sea. The result of the experiment is
of scientific Importance AS the pop
ulation of the earth increases, fish will
come more and more into use as an ar
ticle of food. Any light that can be
thrown upon the natural history Of
food fishes is of economic value.
The natural history of the salmon is
of peculiar interest. 1t has been es-
tablished that they eat nothing after
leaving the salt water, during their
stay in the rivers. Thousands of fish
have been examined at the cannsries
on the Columbia, and at the United
States hatchery ON the McCloud, and
in no instance was any food found in
their stomachs. The fish has great
adaptability. When salmon are pre-
vented from reaching the sea they
adapt themselves to fresh water ex-
istence, and become what are called
''land-locked" salmon. They thrive
and reproduce their kind, but are
dwarfed in size. The California fish
recently placed in the Truckee river,
having no outlet to the sea, will in
time stock the stream and both Tahoe
and Pyramid lakes with land-locked
salmon. They afford excellent sport
for the angler, making gallant fight
when hooked