It’s April, one year later. Each fish is now about the length of a human finger and are called fingerlings. Their parr marks are fading and the young fish are restless. As snow from the mountain above begins melting, the stream rises and the fish move into the swift current. The fish do not swim, they float with their heads pointed upstream. Hydroid travels along with his friends. Their small stream joins Hood River. The fish move down into the water and travel mostly at night to avoid predators. Along the way, they eat worms, flies and larger insects. The fish are growing quickly. Hood River joins the Columbia River. Hydroid and the fish are in the reservoir created by Bonneville Dam. The dam makes enough electricity to heat all the homes and turn on all the lights in Portland. It does this without polluting the air. But the fish are not all that happy with the reservoir. There is no current to tell them which way to go. The slow water is warm. Chinook and other salmon like cold water. Bass, walleye and bigmouth minnows like warm water and they love to eat young chinook. But Hydroid knows the greatest danger lies ahead. Dams produce power by sending water past turbines. The blades are not likely to hurt the salmon, but dropping from the top to the bottom of the dam can. It's like falling from the top to the bottom of a nine story building in less than one second. The current draws the fish to the mouth of a turbine when Hydroid spots a screen wall ahead. Hydroid flattens itself against the screen and cushions the young fish as they ride the screen up, past the turbine into a tunnel within the dam. But the danger is not over. The ride makes some fish dizzy. Gulls and other birds know this. They wait on the lower side of the dam and pick off the stunned fish. Hydroid quickly moves the Hood River chinook low in the river. The fish are growing quickly. They are sleek and silver and almost four inches long. They are becoming smolts. 
By midnight the next
day they pass between Portland and Vancouver. In cities, rainwater hits parking
lots and streets and shoots straight into the nearest storm drain. Along with it
comes water leaking from old garbage dumps, soap from washing machines,
chemicals from gardens and lawns. Someone has recently changed the oil in a car
and poured the oil down the sewer. Hydroid coughs on the oil fumes and quickly
steers the Hood River smolts away.A huge number of fish come swimming in from the left. Most are chinook from the hatcheries of the Willamette River. Fish hatcheries replaced streams that were flooded when dams were built, or were paved over when cities were built. People hoped to replace wild fish with hatchery fish. But hatchery fish are raised in the protection of concrete ponds. Now they are in the stream, they are not as quick to hide from danger or as skillful in finding food. Not as many survive the journey. Among the Willamette fish are some smaller salmon. These are the wild coho salmon of the Clackamas River. A fat fly bobs on the water above. Hydroid notices a shiny spot on the fly and tries to warn the young fish away. Too late. An angler catches a young salmon. The Hood River chinook learn another lesson. |
NEXT: Click here for Part 4
