that they may find the original stream. But undoubtedly many fall salmon ascend, or try to ascend, streams in which no salmon were ever hatched.
Commercially speaking, the two principal species of Pacific salmon are unquestionably the most valuable fishes in the world. The market value of the entire salmon catch on the West coast of the United States, including Alaska, has reached nearly $20,000,000 annually, and this vast amount is represented chiefly by the two species, the Chinook and blueback, the catch of the four other species being in comparison insignificant. The annual catch of salmon in Puget Sound has reached to more than $4,000,000, and consists chiefly, as in Alaska, of bluebacks. The run of quinnats begins in the Columbia River as early as February or March. At first the fishes travel leisurely, moving up only a few miles each day. As they go farther and farther up-stream they swim rather more rapidly. Those that enter the river first are the ones which will go farthest toward the headwaters, many of them going to spawning beds in the Salmon River in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, more than 1000 miles from the sea. In the Yukon the quinnat ascends to Caribou Crossing, 2250 miles from the sea. Those which go to the headwaters of the Snake River in the Sawtooth Mountains spawn in August and early September; those going to the Big Sandy in Oregon, in July and early August; those going up the Snake River to Upper Salmon Falls, in October; while those entering the small lower tributaries of the Columbia or the small coastal streams spawn even as late as December. Observations made at various places indicate that whatever the spawning beds may be, spawning will not begin until the temperature of the water has fallen to 54° F. If the fish reach the spawning grounds when the temperature is above 54°, they wait until the water cools down to the required degree. The spawning act extends over several days.
It has been often stated and generally believed that the salmon receive many injuries by striking against rocks and in other ways while en route to their spawning grounds, and as a result from these injuries, those which go long distances from the sea die after once spawning. An examination of many salmon at the time of arrival on their spawning beds in central Idaho showed most fishes to be entirely without mutilations of any kind, and apparently in excellent condition. Mutilations, however, soon appeared, resulting from abrasions received on the spawning beds while pushing the gravel about or rubbing against it, and from fighting with each other, which is sometimes quite severe. See illustration under Dog Salmon.
The blueback salmon is found from the coast of southern Oregon northward, especially in the Columbia, Quinialt, and Skagit rivers. It enters the Fraser in enormous numbers, and is by far the most abundant and valuable salmon in Alaska. In the Columbia River it is called ‘blueback;’ in the Fraser it is the ‘sockeye,' ‘sawkeye,’ or ‘sau-qui;’ in Alaska it is the red salmon or ‘redfish;’ while among the Russians it is the ‘krasnaya ryba.’
The death of all the individuals of all the species of the West coast salmon after once spawning is in no manner determined by distance from the sea. The cause is deep-seated in its nature and general in its application, and the same as that which compasses the death of the Ephemera or May-fly after an existence of but a few hours, or of all annual plants at the end of one season.
Other groups within the Salmonidæ are elsewhere considered, under Char, Trout, Whitefish, and certain specific names, as Cisco, Namaycush, etc.
Bibliography. Consult general authorities mentioned under Fish; especially Günther, Cat-Fishes, British Museum (London, 1866); Day, Fishes of Great Britain, etc. (ib., 1896); Jordan and Evermann, Fishes of North and Middle America, part i. (United States National Museum, Washington, 1896); Jordan and Evermann, Food and Game Fishes of North America (1901); Jordan, Science Sketches (Chicago, 1887); Moser, The Salmon and Salmon Fisheries of Alaska (United States Fish Commission, Washington, 1898).
See Colored Plate of Food-Fishes; Plate of Salmon and Trout.
SALMON, sä′mŭn, George (1819-1904). An Irish mathematician and divine, born in Dublin. He was educated at Trinity College in that city, where he became a fellow at the age of twenty. He took orders, and in 1866 became professor of theology. He wrote extensively on theology, his works including an Introduction to the Study of the New Testament (7th ed. 1894); Non-miraculous Christianity (2d ed. 1888); and The Infallibility of the Church (2d ed. 1891). But he is best known for his masterly treatises on mathematics, his text-books being the most advanced that have appeared in English in his generation. These works are: Treatise on Conic Sections (6th ed. 1879); Treatise on Higher Plane Curves (3d ed. 1879); Treatise on Analytic Geometry (1848); Treatise on Analytic Geometry of Three Dimensions (4th ed. 1882); Lessons Introductory to the Modern Higher Algebra (1859; 4th ed. 1885). These mathematical works have been translated into several languages, and the German editions of Fiedler are especially well known.
SALMOND, sä′mond, Stewart Dingwall Fordyce (1838—). A Scotch educator, born at Aberdeen. He was educated at the University and Free Church College, Aberdeen, and at Erlangen University, and was assistant professor of Greek and examiner in classics at Aberdeen University from 1861 until 1867. In 1876 he became professor of systematic theology and exegesis of the Epistles in the United Free Church College, Aberdeen, and he was made principal of the college in 1898. His original works include: “Commentary on the Epistle of Peter,” in Schaff's Popular Commentary (1883); “Commentary on the Epistle of Jude,” in Pulpit Commentary (1889); The Christian Doctrine of Immortality (1895); and he also prepared translations of many of the minor Latin writers.
SALMON DANCE. A dance of the Karok, Yurok, and Tolowa tribes of American Indians, held in the spring when the salmon begin to run up the rivers. The chief actor is an Indian who is deputized to retire into the mountains and perform a two days' fast, while the people dance. On his return, gaunt from fasting, the people hide themselves, believing that to look upon him
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