The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-05-30

The cradle Of tho Chinook salmon is
the waters that ripple over the sand
and gravel bars ut the hcadwatars OF
The Columbia and the many streams
that unite to swell It's tide as 1t bears
onward toward the sea, This is ma
lures cradle. but man has provided
another, trough through which water
constantly flows. and In which the
young salmon Is hatched from the egg
and kept until able to hunt food for IT.
self in the river. Natures cradle does
not care sufficiently for the infant,
hence mans solIcitude.
The spawning grounds OF the Chinook
arc many miles from the ocean. some
Of them more than 1000 miles inland
and all this distance the Instinct OF the
fish compels 1t to go n order to deposit
Its eggs where they will be Matched
Entering the wide mouth of the Column
bia, doubtless attracted and guided by
the current of fresh water pouring
from it some distance into the ocean,
the salmon head up the stream II
they enter early, they do not hurry, but
proceed Ielsurely along; but II late,
they rush with all their energy, in or
der to reach the spawning grounds.
Leap the Swift Rapids,
Once started, nothing stops them, ex-
cept some obstacle they cannot sur
mount, and against this they beat until
often they batter themselves to death.
They force their way by great leaps up
swift rapids and over low cascades
working their way along where no 9TH
err fish would attempt to go. In early
days the foot of cascades and high
places were favorlte fshing grounds of
the Indians. who caught salmon there
in countless numbers, using nets and
spears. Even now the white men take
advantage of the instinct of the salmon
which impels them to force their way
steadily UP stream, and catch them in
great numbers in traps and wheels,
says a writer in the Portland Oregon
ian.
Having arrived on a bar in the shall
low waters at the head Of stream, the
female salmon digs small circular pit
in the gravel by turning round and
round, and in this pit deposits her eggs.
The eggs are left prey to other fish.
and the parent salmon, according to the
theory Of pIscaeulturists, remain about
the vicinity for a time. and then die.
This theory is not undIsputed, but the
scientists seem to have the weight Of
evidence on their side.
At the old hatchery on the clacka-
mas. where observations have been ia
ken for many years, there is a rack in
the stream which prevents the fish
from passing either way after 1t is put
In. In years when the rack has not
been put in until many salmon have
passed up to spawn. no Chinook have
ever been stopped by It on their way
back to the sea. The variety OF sal
mon known as steelhcad has been
stopped on the way down, but no Chi
nook. All other FISH, except the salmon.
when taken after spawning. show rud-
lrnentary eggs for another spawn, but
Of the thousands Of salmon examined
not one has been found to have rudl-
mentary eggs, thus forcing the con-
rlusiOn that a salmon spawns but once.
Eat Nothing in Fresh Water.
The salmon eats nothing after he en-
tiers fresh water The stomachs Of
many thousands of Chinook have been
examined, and not one has been found
to contain food. The theory of scIen-
lists is that the fish becomes so weak
from lack of nourishment, so battered
and exhausted by its battles with rocks
and cascades, its flesh so soft from the
change from cold salt water to the
warmer fresh water of the rivers, that
It has neither the physical vtgor nor
the instinct to preserve its. life by re-
turning to the cold and healing salt wa
tiers Of the ocean. 1t therefore remains
in the warm upper waters OF the rivers
until It dies and is cast upon the bank
Of the stream. which is literally cover
cd with the bodies Of dead fish after
the spawning season.
The little fish less than an inch long