PACIFIC SALMON o

various kinds, which sweep them in in millions night
and day as long as the “run” is going on. Further
up they encounter all kinds of ingenious traps, of which
the most diabolical are the so-called “‘salmon wheels,”
large mill wheels where wire baskets take the place of
paddles. As the wheels are turned round by the river
current, the salmon are automatically shovelled up
into long shutes that lead to some “Cannery” on the
shore, where, by the help of Chinamen and ingenious
machinery, they are transformed into that staple
article of export of the West Coast, “Canned Salmon.”’
Higher up the river the fish that have succeeded in
eluding all these dangers have to run the gauntlet of
the Indians and their long salmon spears, and various
other contraptions.

During its travels the salmon forces its passage up
strong rapids and waterfalls, and the leaps they make
are simply incredible. I have personally had the oppor-
tunity of watching such a run in the famous salmon
creek of Ketchikan, Alaska.

About a hundred yards or so from the sea the creek.
forms a waterfall, which is divided into two parts by a
ledge, each fall being some eight or ten feet in height.
In the pool below the falls the fish (Cohoe salmon)
were massed so thickly that I could not have thrown a
stone in anywhere without hitting a fish. Every other
moment one or more salmon would make frantic leaps
to get up the falls, but as often as not the strong
current would sweep them back into the pool again.

Now and then some fish succeeded in clawing itself
fast to some out-jutting stone on the midway ledge,
and with this half-way pause, it finally succeeded in
getting over the top in the next leap.