"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

...Can't think of any references offhand, but I believe that there were at
least strong suspicions even before 1911 that salmon did indeed return to
their natal streams. This belief, on my part, is not very firm, but it is
bolstered somewhat by the sorts of chains of logic and deduction I alluded
to in my prefatory comments. For example, sheer numbers and gross
physical distinctions between regional variations would provide strong
clues. At any rate, I' d be delighted if someone would (and could) find a
definitive answer to the problem......but it ain't likely to be me
(serendipity and coincidence do not lend themselves.....or at least not
readily and reliably.....to promises and deadlines

Well, serendipity and coincidence may not be reliable, but they happen
nevertheless. Copying out a portion of E.T.D. Chambers' "The Ouananiche and
its Canadian Environment" just now, I ran across this:

"...In your letter of the 6th you ask about the obstructions to the passage
of the landlocked salmon of Maine to and from the sea in recent and former
times. Before man's interference, the way was open to all the landlocked
salmon of Maine to go to the sea and to return to their native streams and
the lakes they frequented..."*

Nothing conclusive in that, of course; the reference may simply be to ALL of
the salmons' native streams without necessarily implying that each fish
sought out its own......but, suggestive nevertheless.

Wolfgang
*"The Ouananiche and its Canadian Environment" E.T.D. Chambers, Harper and
Brothers, New York, 1896, p. 6.
Charles G. Atkins who, according to the author, "has charge of the salmon
hatcheries of Maine," in a letter to A. Nelson Cheney.