They walked over to the river and Bill and Bob were astounded at the sight. There were thousands of fish working their way upstream. It looked as if a person might walk across the river on fish.
“What happens to all these fish?” asked Bill.
“In the bygone days the Indians used to spear them as they came upstream to spawn,” said Earl.
“If you went downstream a ways you would probably find people spearing them now,” interjected Sam.
“After they spawn the large fish die,” continued Earl. “The banks of all the streams in the Northwest are literally covered with dead fish after the run is over.”
Earl led the way to the racks where the fish were caught. The racks were so arranged that the fish could get upstream through the bars, but could not get downstream. Inside this large area there were thousand of salmon which soon enter the hatchery to have the roe removed.
They then went into the hatchery and saw pool after pool so arranged that there was a continuous stream of fresh water running through each one. In some were the eggs. In others there were fish of various sizes. It seemed to Bill that there could not be that many fish in the entire world. The small fish just hatched out were so small that they looked more like young tadpoles than fish. Outside in the racks the salmon were of various sizes, from three feet in length up to four or even five feet. Some of them were tremendous. It was hard to realize that just a few years before these giant fish were as small as the minute wiggly things in the pools in the hatchery.
“Have you seen enough?” asked Earl after a while.
“I think so,” replied Bill.
“Come on, then, and we will go fishing.”