There is a good book called "Dams and other Disasters" written by an old USACE employee. I has some interesting things to say about how the USACE (Unites States Army Corps of Engineers) has not so accidentally wiped out more than a few runs of fish. It was published in 1964 I think. Certainly makes this discussion far form new. Few know that the Corps expected several of the NW anadromous fish runs to go extinct before it could become a political issue. Damn (pardon the pun) things seemed unwilling to give up and die.

I have heard all kinds of disgusting tales of what happened to the fisheries and what has been lost. Here is some depressing trivia for you..

Grand coulee dam destroyed a run of fall chinook dubbed "bluebacks". The run was composed of fish that had a median weight of about 80lbs. Some bigger some smaller. They aparently filled the pool below the dam after it was completed. Some agency tried to "save" them by transplanting some of them to smaller columbia tributaries. Primarily the Eniat river near Whnatchee. Unfortunately, this river had no native population because it was naturally to warm to support good numbers of fish. As you might guess, most of the plants failed. The reminants do remain (some larger fish can bee seen in the creek in the fall), and there is now a hatchery (I do not know if it is the same stock or not, but the ones I saw were really small = 5-8lbs).

Last but not least, recently (in the last 10 years or so) some bones were excavated near the mouth of the Wenatchee river, at a native american fishing site. These bones were vertibra from a Salmon. Extrapolation based on the size indicated a salmon of some 250 lbs. Not unrealistic given the historical potential, even in modern times fish over 120 lbs have been trapped. These giants may have disappeared with the advent of the "fish wheel" that was in wide use on the Columbia at the end of the last century.

Gotta go back to work