Salmon Industry, Columbia River, Oregon

Categories
Special Collections > Keystone Slides
Type
tiff scanned file from original glass slide
Description
One kind of salmon lives entirely in the sea, another lives entirely in fresh water. Still another kind-such as you see here-lives part of the time in the sea and part of the time in fresh water. It is a beautiful fish with a large, shapely body covered with shiny scales. Its average weight is less than 10 pounds, but some have been caught that weigh as much as 80 pounds. Just before spawning, salmon leave the salt water and seek out fresh waters in which to lay their eggs. They swim past swift rapids, and leap falls of considerable height in order to reach a suitable place in which to hatch their eggs. Pacific salmon have been known to travel as far as 2250 miles from the sea. When they come to a place that is suited for hatching ground, the female salmon scoops away gravel with her tail. Here she lays her eggs which are about 1/4 inch in diameter. The eggs hatch in 90 to 120 days. The young fishes are about a half inch long. As soon as they are able to swim they start down stream. They reach the Pacific Ocean, and travel perhaps thousands of miles in its waters. When they are about four years old they are full grown. Then they start back to the place where they are born. On these trips to the spawning grounds the fishes travel in great schools, many thousands together. Sometimes the river seams to be one living mass of jumping, leaping fishes. This is the time the fisherman reap their rich harvests. You are here shown one method of catching salmon. Great nets are spread across the river. You can imagine how many fishes are caught in these nets, when you consider that the nets are hauled in with teams of horses. Note the horses in the background hitched to the nets. Keystone ID: 13624 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.
Rights
Copyright by the Keystone View Company. The original slides are housed in McConnell Library's Special Collections.