The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-05-11
A SUGGESTION TO sPORTsMEN.

III " " IOCA VIC 6oobCu oAHoA bAASh IN
attributed to the fact that their food during
the winter had consisted largely Of salmon
caught late in the fall, when the fish were no
longer fit for food. Those fish were the real,
Pacific ocean salmon, Of the kind put up in
the Oregon canneries, and kept on sale in the
grocery stores of Montana. To sOme OF our
readers may have occurred the query, upon
reading the account of the Moose creek trag-
edy, sIf salmon are found so close by as Moose
creek, how is it that they do not abound in
the rivers of Western Montana ?" a question
affecting an important food supply, and one
which we shall endeavor to answer. To the
west of our Territory runs the Occur D'Alene
range, separating Montana from Idaho. From
the summit of this range, if We descend the
western side, we reach the Clear Water, ST.
Joe, Moose creek, or some other tributary OF
the Lewis Fork of the Columbia, better
known as Snake river, and in all these streams
we find salmon in countless thousands. So
plentiful are they near The source OF the
Clear Water, where the country is Wild and
unsettled, that the cinnamon bears have we'll
beaten trails along each side of the streams
where UIley COuuuCI uSIllbS Z oh GiiSi
W account, subsisting as they do principally
on fish.
But if, instead of descending the western
slope of the Occur D'Alene, we take our way
down the eastern, we find no salmon in any
of the streams rising in that range and flowing
into Clark's Fork of the Columbia. We find
streams in NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. whose trails
parent waters flow over pebbly bottoms, and
so plentifully Astounding in fish OF inferior
kinds that one of them bears the name.ot Fish
creek, but not a salmon do we find in any of
the tributaries of Clark's Fork. There are no
salmon, then, in the Clark's Fork or any OF
its tributaries, although there would be were
it not for one obstruction by which the fish
are arrested on their way from the sea 10 the
upper waters, which instinct prompts them to
seek at the approach of the spawning season.
But where is Clark's Fork?" asks the
re ader. Clark's Fork is within sight of Butte,
where it is known as Silver Bow Creek.
Further down stream it bears the name of
Deer Lodge river. Still further it is known
as the He'll Gate, the Missoula, the Pend D.
Oreille, and we know not how many more
names before it finally loses itself in the
mighty Columbia. Now we know where
Clark's Fork is, and it would be well for the
West Side press to give the stream its proper
name in speaking of it. Well, we could have
salmon in this stream and all its tributaries,
in Yankee Doodle gulch, close to Butte, or
IN Lincoln gulch, and other branches of the
Big Blackfoot, within half a days drive of
Helena-salmon would abound in all those
streams, were it not for the barrier interposed
by the Kettle Falls of Clark's Fork, just west
of the western boundary of Idaho, by which
the fish are arrested on their way from the
sea. Year after year in obedience to that
mysterious prompting Of their nature which
We style instinct, the salmon ascend the river
until they reach the falls. There they stop,
their numbers continually increasing until
the water seems fairly alive. 1t would need
no coaxing to bring them on up to the very
source of the highest mountain stream, If
they could but pass those falls, but that they
cannot do without human aid. The need of
such aid has long been perceived and for
years past there has been talk of an appropri-
alton to blast out a portion of the Kettle
Falls, but as yet nothing has been done.
Now, a salmon doesn't need as much water
as a tow-boat for his navigation and since
there is but u slim chance of getting right
away all appropriation sufficient to blast away
the wall of rock, it may be worth whilea ask
ing if there is no cheaper and easier method
of getting over the difficulty.
In this we may profit by the example of the
Eastern States. In New Hampshire, when
cotton spinning began, the migrations Of the
fish were at first entirely arrested in every
stream where the entire body of water was
thrown over an overshot wheel. For a time
it looked as if the fish were bound to become
extinct in the smaller streams, until a mill
owner onceivedt the fortunate idea ofproviding
a steep water chute or through" with wings
projecting from the sides here and there, so
that dead wafer would he formed, to give the
fish a chance to rest on their upward passage.
This continuance, afterwards known as a "fish
LADDER was put in with no great faith in its
practical utility, but never before had any one
seen such a getting up stairs as was witnessed
as soon as the eager fish found the means OF
continuing the journey they were SO anxious
to make. This plan was very successfully
improved on in course Of time, until finally
its adoption was made obligatory by law. To-
day it is a penal otfense in any of the New
England States to employ all the waters of a
stream without providing a fish ladder. So
much for Yankee fish, which, Of course, are
not to be compared with our mountain fish in
smartness. If We want salmon all we have
to do is to put in a fish ladder, at a cost of a
few hundred dollars when we shall have cal.