The Alaska prospector., 1903-10-08
Habits of the Salmon


 l.. A. Chase, Il prominent Alasl a sa'n.on packer, who has studi, Il tine habits oi the Pacific coast sal mon for many years. corroi,oraics the finding of the government ex- perIs, who have lately been mak- ing investigations of the habits of tine Alaska salmon. that the fish often do not return to spawn in the streams in which they were matched.
 'ln large rivers" said he. ..such as the Columbia. S,ickeen. Frazer and Yukon. salmon invariably find their way back to their native spawning ground. When the great spawning passion comes u,.on the fish, m company with hundreds of thousands of others moved by similar instincts, it leaves its ocean feeding grounds and starts away to to the Alaskan or Siberian coast :. or to the Puget Sound Inlet. as the case may be. The fish always makes an attempt to get back to the same river or creek in which it was spawned. and guided by blind instinct il unerringly comes back to the mouth of the river or stream let.
 Now, ii this happens to be small creek or gulch stream that flows into Il bay or inlet, and these are to be counted by the thousands along the Alaskan coast. and they are often so numerous as to be con fusing to local navigators, such as natives and miners. the fish may not 20 up the stream in which it was spawned. Not that it gets lost. but when it arrives at the mouth of its home stream. it may not vet be ready 10 spawn. In such case it plays along the coast in the vicin- ity of the mouth of the stream.
 Instinct tells the fish not to go up the stream, because in the space of d few hours it would probably be at the head of the short stream. and its spawning time not arrived, which is fixed by tle irrevocable fiat of nature, it would be compel led to wait. Therefore, when it does come, it may be some distance from the mouth of the stream in which it was spawned, and instead of returning it hastily turns into the nearest streamlet. In such large streams, however. as the Yu- kon, Columbia and Fraser rivers and others, the fish either enters the mouth of the river and plays slowly up it. or else fingers at its mouth without any risk of getting outside of the great flood of fresh water pouring out of those streams.
 Referring to the extermination of game in Alaska and the fur bear ing animals, Mr. Chase says he be- Heres the harm being done bv hunters is overestimated. He says there are approximately 26.OO0 miles of coast line in Alaska and only about 1000 or 5000 miles have been explored by whites, leav- ing vast regions of the territory that have never been traversed. These regions abound with the same kinds of animal life that have ex- isied there for thousands of years past.
 Dr. Lverman, one of the mem- bers of the L. S. Fish Commission, which has been Investigating the salmon industry in Alaska this summer, says: "Nothing in the ] discoveries of this season have tend ed to diSestablish the theory that the mature salmon always dies after spawning. In fact We are more satisfied than ever that this is true. IL is fact that experi- ments this year tend to discredit n theory that has always gone hand in hand with the one 1 have just affirmed. We discovered that the mature salmon does not necessarily return to the parent. stream to spawn or may after entering any