In the Kalama hatchery on the Columbia River, Washington, 2000 fry of the quinnat or king-salmon were marked in 1899 by a V-shaped notch in the caudal fin. Numerous fishes thus marked were taken in the lower Columbia in 1901 and 1902. A few were taken at the Kalama hatchery, but some also at the hatcheries on Wind River and Clackamas River. At the hatchery on Chehalis River six or seven were taken, the stream not being a tributary of the Columbia, but flowing into Shoalwater Bay. None were noticed in the Sacramento. The evidence shows that the most who are hatched in a large stream tend to return to it, and that in general most salmon return to the parent region. There is no evidence that a salmon hatched in one branch of a river tends to return there rather than to any other. Experiments of Messrs. Rutter and Spaulding in marking adult fish at Karluk would indicate that they roam rather widely about the island before spawning. An adult spawning fish, marked and set free at Karluk, was taken soon after on the opposite side of the island of Kadiak.
The introduction of salmon into new streams may throw some light on this question. In 1897 and 1898 3,000,000 young quinnat-salmon fry were set free in Papermill Creek near Olema, California. This is a small stream flowing into the head of Tomales Bay, and it had never previously had a run of salmon. In 1900, and especially in 1901, large quinnat salmon appeared in considerable numbers in this stream. One specimen weighing about sixteen pounds was sent to the present writer for identification. These fishes certainly returned to the parent stream, although this stream was one not at all fitted for their purpose.
But this may be accounted for by the topography of the bay. Tomales Bay is a long and narrow channel, about twenty miles long and from one to five in width, isolated from other rivers and with but one tributary stream. Probably the salmon had not wandered far from it; some may not have left it at all. In any event, a large number certainly came back to the same place.
That the salmon rarely go far away is fairly attested. Schools of king-salmon play in Monterey Bay, and chase the herring about in the channels of southeastern Alaska. A few years since Captain J. F. Moser, in charge of the Albatross, set gill-nets for salmon at various places in the sea off the Oregon and Washington coast, catching none except in the bays.
Mr. Davis gives an account of the liberation of salmon in Chinook River, which flows into the Columbia at Baker's Bay:
"It is a small, sluggish stream and has never been frequented by Chinook salmon, although considerable numbers of silver and dog salmon enter it late in the fall. A few years ago the State established a hatchery on this stream, and since 1898 between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Chinook fry have been turned out here annually. The fish are taken from the pound-nets in Baker's Bay, towed into the river in crates and then liberated above the dike, which prevents their return to the Columbia. When ripe the salmon ascend to the hatchery, some two or three miles farther up the river, where they are spawned.
"The superintendent of the hatchery, Mr. Hansen, informs me that in 1902, during November and December, quite a number of Chinook salmon ascended the Chinook River. About 150 salmon of both sexes were taken in a trap located in the river about four miles from its mouth. At first thought it would appear that these were probably fish which, when fry, had been liberated in the river, but unfortunately there is no proof that this was the case. According to Mr. Hansen, the season of 1902 was remarkable in that the salmon ran inshore in large schools, a thing which they had not done before for years. It is possible that the fish, being forced in close to the shore, came in contact with the current from the Chinook River, which, since the stream is small and sluggish, would not be felt far from shore. Once brought under the influence of the current from the river, the salmon would naturally ascend that stream, whether they had been hatched there or not."
The general conclusion, apparently warranted by the facts at hand, is that salmon, for the most part, do not go to a great distance from the stream in which they are hatched, that most of them return to the streams of the same region, a majority to the parent stream, but that there is no evidence that they choose the parental spawning grounds in preference to any other, and none that they will prefer an undesirable stream to a favorable one for the reason that they happen to have been hatched in the former.
The Jadgeska Hatchery.—Mr. John C. Callbreath of Wrangel, Alaska, has long conducted a very interesting but very costly experiment in this line. About 1890 he established himself in a small stream called Jadgeska on the west coast of Etolin Island, tributary to McHenry Inlet, Clarence Straits. This stream led from a lake, and in it a few thousand red salmon spawned, besides multitudes of silver salmon, dog-salmon, and humpback salmon. Making a dam across the stream, he helped the red salmon over it, destroying all of the inferior kinds which entered the stream. He also established a hatchery for the red salmon, turning loose many fry yearly for ten or twelve years. This was done in the expectation that all the salmon hatched would return to Jadgeska in about four years. By destroying all individuals of other species attempting to run, it was expected that they would become extinct so far as the stream is concerned.
The result of this experiment has been disappointment. After twelve years or more there has been no increase of red salmon in the stream, and no decrease of humpbacks and other humbler forms of salmon. Mr. Callbreath draws the conclusion that salmon run at a much greater age than has been supposed—at the age of sixteen years, perhaps, instead of four. A far more probable conclusion is that his salmon have joined other bands bound for more suitable streams. It is indeed claimed that since the establishment of Callbreath's hatchery on Etolin Island there has been a notable increase of the salmon run in the various streams of Prince of Wales Island on the opposite side of Clarence Straits. But this statement, while largely current among the cannerymen, and not improbable, needs verification.