Washington sentinel., 1899-02-04
The saImon's Leap.

Morris. writing in F0yeSt and
Stream we were discussing the
height to which a salmon could
leap, and an Englshman stated
that he had known salmon to make
a clean leap of twenty feet perpen-
dicularly. This was questioned
by a Scotsman present, who said
that he had been on many salmon
river, and had never yet seen the
salmon that could clear ten feet
perpendicularly Several different
views were expressed upon the
subject, and since that time l have
taken occasion to measure falls IN
several rivers where salmon were
leaping, tor the purpose of deter
mining how far a salmon can leap.
The question allows of some e.ab-
Grafton, and several important fac
tors must be taken into COnsidera-
ton. First, the character OF the
take off," or, in other words, the
water from which the salmon starts
below the falls. II he can start
from a quiet, deep pool or eddy
lust below the falls, he can make a
much higher leap than If he must
start from broken water or shallow
water. In some rivers salm On are
much longer and slenderer than in
others, aud the slender salmon
make much higher leaps than the
more robust ones. A fresh run
salmon may be so fat that he is
clumsy, and not able to do his best
at leaping, but alter three or four
weeks spent in the river, he may
perform some remarkable aero
batic teats,
In the Washecoocai River l have
seen salmon thrown back time and
again from a 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 Oiomana River l have seen
salmon thrown back repeatedly
from a leap Of ten feet, but having
been fOiled several times in success
sion these hsh jumped approx
matelY fourteen feet on two Occa-
sions, and sixteen feet in one in
stance, while / was watching them.
On the Kegashlla River l have seen
salmon leap about twelve feet, but
in this river the leaping place was
not where l could measure the
height of the chosen spot. On the
Coal River, in Newfoundland, sal
mon seem 30 have difficulty in
clearing eight feet Of the fall, and
this is due probably to the charac-
ter OF the rocks beneath the fall,
but as the water from which they
leaped was white water, l 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 the falls similar in character
to those oil the Coal River. The
highest leaping 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
and have tremendously broad tails.
measured the height to which
the salmon were leapIng, approxi-
mately, by standing above the
falls and letting my line run
from the top OF the falls into
the pool below, and this line
WAS marked with knots three feet
apart, so that, while the distances
were 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 W ould
occasionally leap far past this |
chosen spot into another chosen
spot, which was approximately |
eighteen ieet from the pool below. |
Reducing the question to one Of !
mechanics, we may estimate that !
a salmon Of ten pounds weight
leapIng from a still pool requires
an initial velocity at the moment
OF leaving the water OF eighteen
miles an hour in order to have
momentum sufficient to carry him |
twelve feet perpendicularly. A
velocity Of twenty three miles an |
hour is required for carrying this |
same FISH eighteen feet perpendlc. |
ularly.