Forgotten Treasures #22: THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA, PART II

PART II.



ALASKA TROUT.



I am indebted to Professor Tarleton H. Bean for a classification of the
various trout, of which specimens had been duly bottled and labelled, during
our stay in Alaska. I had fancied, from differences in the marking, that I
had five species at the least, but Bean ruthlessly cut the number down to
three, viz.:



Salvelinus Malma, or Spectabilis, or Bairdii.

Salmo Gardneri, and

Salmo Purpuratus, or Clark's trout.



The first named, called commonly by us the salmon trout, was abundant in all
of the streams, from about middle of June until middle of September,
evidently timing their arrival and departure by the movements of the salmon,
upon whose eggs they live. I have noted, on June 1st, "No salmon trout yet
in any of the streams. Several fine, large ones captured by the Indians in
nets set in sea." Ten days after, the streams were full of them, and in the
earlier part of the interim many would run into the pools of the lower parts
with the flooding tide, and out again on the ebb.



When they left us in September, it is probable that they migrated south, for
in a letter to Forest and Stream, dated Portland, Oregon, September 28, a
correspondent states that, in that month, "there begins to appear in the
streams near the Columbia river, a trout," whose description tallies exactly
with that of the spectabilis, except that the correspondent speaks of their
affording fine sport with the fly; this the trout while in Alaska fails to
do. At first, the spectabilis affect the rapids, but after a few days seek
the deep pools, where they gather in great numbers, and bite ravenously on
hooks covered with spawn and sunk to the bottom. Occasionally, when spawn
was out, we used a bit of fresh venison; but at the best they cared little
for it, and when the blood became soaked out, the bait was useless.
Although fairly gamy when hooked, fishing for these trout was but a poor
substitute, for one who had felt and remembered the thrills caused by sudden
strikes of our Adirondack fish. I have often when pool-fishing, seen them
leisurely approach the bait, and nibble at it as a dainty, full-fed kitten
will at a bit of meat, and when one did get the hook, we found it out only
by a slight resistance to the series of light twitches which it was
necessary to give it. They have evidently been taught by experience that
salmon roe is not apt to attempt escape. The usual size of the fish ranged
from six to twelve inches-now and then one larger. The largest taken by any
of us, near Sitka, fell victim to my "salmon spawn fly," and gave my little
Orvis rod half an hour's good work. It measured twenty-one inches, but was
very light for the length, weighing but two and three-quarters pounds. At
the Redoubt river, much larger ones were taken; and two which I shot in
Beardslee river were over two feet in length; how much they weighed I never
found out, for their surroundings of sick and dying salmon, upon whose eggs
they were feeding, prejudiced me against them and I left them.



In shape and color the spectabilis vary greatly, both factors depending upon
the length of time they have been in fresh water. When fresh run, they are
long and lean, shaped somewhat like the lake trout of Adirondack lakes. The
colors are dark lustrous olive-green back, growing lighter as the median
line is approached, and blending into a silvery gray tint, which pales to a
pure white on the belly; the green portion is sprinkled with golden specks;
the flesh is hard, and very good for the table. After a very short sojourn
in the creek, bright crimson specks appear among the golden, which, however,
fade to a pale yellow; the lustre of the green disappears, they become
heavier, but the flesh becomes soft and uneatable, and the skin is covered
with slime. Salmon trout taken late in August and early in September, were
full of ripe ova.



Professor Bean places some fish, that had been taken in salt water, into a
bucket of fresh, and the crimson spots made their appearance in less than a
day.



When fully decked with these, and fattened, they resembled our fontinalis
greatly-the head, however, being somewhat larger, and the tail less square.



Salmo Gardneri. My acquaintance with this species is very limited. The
first one that I saw I took in Sawmill Creek, well up to the head, in
September, 1879. Seeing that it differed greatly from the spectabilis, I
preserved it in alcohol, and it was subsequently identified by Professor
Bean. It measured a trifle over ten inches, and was very plump, weighing
seven and a quarter ounces. In my notes, I describe it thus: "Body, dark
green on back, but in general colors very much like a steel head or quinnat
salmon; covered with round, black spots, from one-sixteenth to one-eighth
inch in diameter; these extend considerably below the median line, and the
tail and dorsal fins are covered with them; the second dorsal adipose, but
less so than that of the fontinalis, having a slight show of membrane, on
which there are four spots; ventral and anal fins, yellowish in centre,
bordered with red; belly, dull white; tail, nearly square; scales, quite
large, about the size of those of a fingerling chub; flesh, firm; and skin,
not slimy. No signs of ova or milt."



On the 28th of April, 1880, I made note: "The first salmon of the season
made their début to-day-that is, if they are salmon, which I doubt.



"Five beauties, from thirty to forty inches long, were brought alongside, in
a canoe paddled by a wild-looking and awe-struck Siwash, who, with his
crouching Klootchman and papoose, gazed upon our ship, guns, and us with an
expression that showed them to be unfamiliar sights. He was evidently a
stranger, and was taken in, for he took willingly two bits (25 cents) each
for the fish, and no Sitka Siwash but would have charged treble the price.
Through an interpreter, I learned that he had spent the last seven months in
a shanty on the western side of Kruzoff Island, and that well up, among the
foot-hills of Mount Edgecomb, there was a little lake, from which there
flowed a small stream into the Pacific, and that in the headwaters of this
stream he had speared these fish, which run up the stream in the fall,
remain all winter in the lake, and in early spring spawn in the head of the
outlet."



All of this militated strongly against the theory that they were salmon, and
when, on being dressed, the females were found to be full of ripe ova, said
theory was upset completely. My ten-inch specimen of last September
supplied us with a clue, and it was soon decided that these magnificent fish
were indeed trout; for in every respect except size, and size of spots, some
of which were a quarter of an inch in diameter, the fish were identical.
Whitford, the oldest inhabitant, confirmed the Indian's story, and gave me
in addition the Indiana name for the fish-"Quot," and that of the Russians,
which I forget, but it meant "Mountain Trout," and said that they are found
only in the lakes, high up in the mountains, and that in winter the Indians
spear and catch them through holes in the ice.



We found the flesh to be very delicious-far more so than the best of the
salmon. The processes of cooking, both by broiling and boiling, had a
curious effect, for the flesh, which, when uncooked, was of a very bright
red, blanched to pure white.



The trip to Mount Edgecomb, in the early spring, involved hardship and
danger; and although several of us resolved that we would undertake it, for
the sake of such fish, somehow we never did, and I have thus described all
of the gardneri that I ever saw.



Salmo purpuratus (Clarkii). The most beautiful of the trout family,
although in no way equal to our Eastern trout in any other respect.



The purpuratus is a lake trout, and found only in low-lying lakes. Just
back of Sitka, at the foot of the mountains, and elevated perhaps twenty
feet above the sea, is a little lake dubbed by me "Piseco."



Handy to get at, and its outlet running through the centre of the town, it
became, in early spring, our first resort for fishing. Arriving in June,
1879, many of us had, through days of fruitless endeavor, during the summer
and autumn, grown to disbelieve the tales of the inhabitants, that this lake
abounded in trout; but on the 20th of May, 1880, from somewhere, there
thronged the shallow edges, among the lily pads, great schools of these
trout, and for about two weeks there was no limit to the number one could
take of them. Salmon spawn was the best bait, but a bit of venison would
answer. A fly they would not rise to. In size, they ranged from six to
twelve inches-the latter size being, however, very exceptional; their
average was about eight inches. The description in my notes is: "Specimen,
May 27th. Length, nine and one-half inches; depth, two and three-eighth
inches; weight, five ounces; colors-back, rich, dark brown, growing lighter
toward median line; at which, covering it for a space of half and inch,
there is a longitudinal stripe of rich purple, extending from opercle nearly
to tail; below the median line, bright olive-green, lightening to silvery
white on belly. All of the tinted portion is profusely sprinkled with oval
black spots, which mark also the dorsal, caudal, and adipose fins; the
ventral and anal fins are yellowish bordered with crimson; tail, nearly
square.



"The entire tinted portion has a beautiful golden iridescence, so that when
held in the sunlight, and looked at from the rear, it seems to be gilded."
It may be noticed that, with the exception of the purple stripe and the
golden iridescence, the description of this fish is almost identical with
that of the gardneri. I think it quite possible that they are the same at
different ages, and that later in life these Clarkii may become ambitious
and seek more lofty lakes. None that were taken contained ova.



Where they came from, unless they run up the inlet at night, no one found
out, for although closely watched in the daytime, none were ever seen in it.



After about two weeks the greater portion disappeared, and although sought
in the deep waters of the lake, could not be found. Major William Governeur
Morris, the Collector of Customs of Alaska, assures me, however, that during
the summer of 1882, he found certain places in the lake where he caught them
until August. On July 4th he with a friend caught four hundred and three in
three hours, baiting with a single salmon egg.



I am not sure that we could not have again found them, but the fishing
having grown slack in the lake, and growing daily better in the creeks, we
spent most of our time on the latter.



COMPARISON OF ALASKA WITH EASTERN TROUT.



The principal differences between the Alaska and Eastern trout are, first,
all Alaskans have hyoid teeth, the eastern trout have not.



No Alaskan trout will take a fly. All Alaskan trout, I think, spend a
portion of their lives in salt water. Length being equal, the Alaska trout,
with the exception of the Gardneri, or mountain trout, are lighter than
those of our eastern streams.



Using as a standard the average weight of a number of ten-inch Adirondack
trout, the following table will show this:



Fontinalis-Adirondack-length 10 inches, wt. 6 oz.

Fresh-run Spectabilis, " 10 " " 5 oz. 20 grains

Crimson-speckled " " 10.3 " " 5 oz. 106 "

Salmo Clarkii, " 9.6 " " 5 oz.

Salmo Gardneri, " 10.1 " " 7 1/4 oz.



In conclusion, I must again request that this contribution shall not be
considered and judged as an attempt to scientifically describe the fish
treated upon, but rather as what it really is, a condensation of the
field-notes of an amateur angler.



I have, in giving sizes, weights, and other data in regard to the Alaska
salmon and trout, depended almost entirely upon my personal knowledge and
experience; it may not be out of place to add to them some data gathered
from reliable authorities.



In his report on the resources of Alaska, Major Wm. Governeur Morris writes:
"Sixty thousand Indians and several thousand Aleuts and Esquimaux depend for
the most part upon dried salmon for their winter sustenance."



The Hon. Wm. S. Dodge, formerly Mayor of Sitka, states in an official
report: "And additional testimony comes to us from numerous persons, that at
Cook's Inlet the salmon average in weight sixty pounds, and some of them
reach a weight of one hundred and twenty pounds, and Mr. T. G. Murphy only
last week brought down from there on the Newbern a barrel full, containing
only four fish." Surgeon Thomas T. Minor, who some years ago visited Cook's
Inlet, in connection with business of the Smithsonian Institution, makes
statements which confirm the foregoing.



In the vicinity of Klawack a cannery is established. A catch of seven
thousand fish at one haul of the seines is not unusual, many weighing over
forty pounds.



Mr. Frederick Whymper, artist to the Russian Overland Telegraph Expedition,
says in his well-written and interesting account of his adventures: "The
Yukon salmon is by no means to be despised. One large variety is so rich
that there is no necessity when frying it to put fat in the pan. The fish
sometimes measure five feet in length, and I have seen boats whose sides
were made of the tough skin."



And a writer who, if disposed to strain the truth would not do so to say
anything in favor of Alaska, says in an article in Harper's Magazine, Vol.
LV. page 815: "the number of spawning fish that ascend the Yukon every June
or July is something fabulous..It would appear reasonable to anticipate,
therefore, the adoption by our fishermen of some machinery by which they can
visit the Yukon when the salmon begin to run, and while they ascend the
river catch a million pounds a day, for the raw material is there, of the
largest size, the finest flavor, and the greatest number known to any stream
in the world."



My general views about Alaska differ widely from those of the writer, but on
the salmon question, I indorse all I have quoted, excepting only the word
flavor.



I do not think the Alaska salmon equal in this respect to those of the
Atlantic coast, and far behind those of the Rhine; they are, however,
superior to those of the Columbia River.



In speaking of the salmon, I find I have omitted to mention that in early
spring, before the arrival of the salmon trout, and after their departure in
fall, great quantities of fingerling salmon pervaded the streams, and bit
eagerly at any kind of meat bait.



While the spectabilis were present, these little fellows kept out of sight
and notice.



Since the body of this paper was written there has been on exhibition by Mr.
Blackford, of Fulton Market, New York, a number of trout, pronounced to be
the salmo irideus, one of which, weighing fifteen pounds, was sent to the
Smithsonian Institution, and there identified by Professor Bean as being
"Salmo gardneri, the great trout of Edgecomb Lake."



I, studying these fish in their glass tank, did not form this opinion, for
Blackford's trout had a broad red band extending from just back of the eye
to the tail, covering the operculum, a marking not existing on any of the
Edgecomb trout I have seen. But the Professor assures me that "color on the
lateral line is not a specific character." On comparing my notes of
description of these fish, I find that in all other respects they did appear
identical, hence that the conclusion arrived at by Prof. Bean, that "the
gardneri and the irideus (or rainbow trout of McCloud River), are identical
seems well founded. If so, and my crude supposition that the Clarkii,
obtained in Piseco Lake near Sitka are also identical with the gardneri
turns out to be correct, there can be a condensation of nomenclature, which
will lead to at least one valuable result from this paper.

_______________________________________



end, THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA



Wolfgang



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