Every year from 1911 until 1959, McKenzie residents installed fish racks in the spring and then removed them in the fall. During the summer months, fishing was prohibited for the two miles down river from the fish racks. Migrating spring Chinook were harvested traveling upriver to spawn. The salmon stalled below the racks, would be pulled out, and stripped of their eggs. The eggs were raised at the McKenzie Fish Hatchery.