Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-06-09
THE SALMON'S LEAP.
REMARKABLE AcRoBATlC FEATS PER.
FORMED BY THIS FISH.

One Observer Recorded Spring of Eight
cen Feet-The Height That Can be At
tanned Depends Upon the Build of the
Creature-Speed Required at the Start.
A few years ago in a fisherman's
nook in London, we were discussing
the height to which q salmon could
leap, and an Englishman stated that
he had known salmon to make q clean
leap of twenty feet perpendicularly.
This was questioned by Scotchman
present, who said that he had been
on many a salmon river and had never
yet seen the salmon that could clear
ten feet perpendicularly. Several diff
ferent views We're expressed upon the
subject and since that time | have
taken occasion to measure falls in
several rivers where salmon We're leap.
ing. for the purpose of determining
how far a salmon can leap.
The question allows of some elabora.
ton, and several important factors
must be taken into consideration.
First, the character of the "talle-oT,"
or, in other words, the water from
which the salmon starts below the
falls. If ne can start from quiet.
deep pool or eddy just below the falls
he can make a much higher leap than
if he must start from broken water OF
shallow water. III some rivers salmon
are much longer and slenderer than in
others. and the slender salmon make
much higher leaps than the more ro
bust ones. a fresh run salmon may
be so fat that he is clumsy, and not
able to do his best at leaping. but
after three or four weeks spent in the
river he may perform some remark
able acrobatic fcats.
In the WashecOotal river | have seen
salmon thrown back time and again
from leap of about six feet, and do
not remember ever having seen a
salmon make more than an eight-foot
leap in that river. On the Olomana
river | have seen salmon thrown back
repeatedly from a leap of ten feet,
but having been foiled several times in
| succession these fish jumped approx
matcly fourteen feet on two occasions,
| and sixteen feet III one instance, while
| | was watching them. On the Kogash-
ka river | have seen salmon leap about
twelve fee, but in this river the leap
ing place was not where | could meas
| urc the height of the chosen spot. On
! the Coal liver, Newfoundland. salmon
seem to have difficulty in clearing
/ eight feet of the fall. and this is due
probably to the character of the rocks
| beneath the fall, but as the water
! from which they lcapcd was white
water | could not see the character of
| the "take-off.' on the north branch
of the Humber river salmon were leap
| ing very much higher with ease over
| falls similar in character to those OF
the Coal river.
The highest lcaping that l have ever
seen was on the first falls of the White
Bear river. in Labrador. The salmon
in this river are not large and the
adult fish weigh quite uniformly from
eight to ten pounds; but they are very
slender ana have tremendously broad
tails \ photograph of one of those
salmon of ten pounds weight placed by
the side of sea trout of four and a
half ponds weight shows the breadth
of tail and the more graceful outlines
of the salmon of this river. | measur-
ed the height to which the salmon
were leaping. approximately, by stand
ing above the falls and letting NV line
run from the top o. the falls into the
pool below, and this line was marked
with knots three feet apart, SO that
while the distances We're not measured
accurately, | was able to determine
that most of the salmon leaping in
the falls at this point were making a
leap Of about twelve feet. Salmon
would occasionally leap far past this
chosen spot into another spot, which
was approximately eighteen feet from
the pool below.
Reducing the question to one OF
mechanics we may estimate that q
salmon of ten pounds weight leapina
from a still pool requires an initial We
locity at the moment of leaving the
water of eighteen miles an hour in
order to have momentum sufficient tC
carry him twelve feet pcrpendicularly
\ velocity of twenty-thrce miles al
hour is required for carrying this
same fish eighteen feet perpendicu
larly..