OPERATIONS IN CALIFORNIA IN 1873. 395 



sitive chemical tests. I believe at the end of the journey we could have 

 detected almost the slightest traces of alkaline mixture in the water, by 

 the taste. 



It was always a matter of great anxiety with us, at every change of 

 water, lest we should get unwholesome water into the cans, and so 

 destroy in a moment the fruits of all our pains and care. It was particu- 

 larly so at first before we had acquired confidence in our judgment of the . 

 qualities of different waters, and the thought that one mistake in all the 

 thousand changes oficater to come would be fatal to the enterprise was appall- 

 ing. It seemed as if it would be a miracle if we should safely run the 

 gauntlet of this thousand changes in passing through a country the water 

 of which for two thousand miles held lime or alkali, and for a thousand 

 miles was frequently so bad that cattle could not drink it. 



We went through it all, however, safely ; and, though we exercised all 

 the caution we could bring to bear on the subject, I think we owed it as 

 much to good luck as to our own care that we escaped the danger of 

 using bad water. 



I forwarded to you at Washington a list of the places en route where 

 we found good water, so that hereafter, with this for a guide, there need 

 not be much danger of going wrong. 



5. — JOURNAL OF THE TRIP. 



As before meutioned, we left the shad-hatching works at Castleton, on 

 the Hudson, for the Castleton railroad-station at 6 o'clock on the after- 

 noon of Wednesday, June 25, with forty thousand young shad packed 

 in eight cans of water, each holding ten gallons. 



On arriving at the Castleton station, we changed the water once, and 

 left Castleton for Albany at 9.15 p. m., the water in the cans standing 

 at 70°. At Albany, we made two changes, and took the westward-bound 

 train for Sacramento at 11.30 p. m. We took on water at Utica, Syra- 

 cuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Dunkirk, Erie, Painesville, Cleveland, Illyria, 

 (well-water, doubtful,) Edgerton, Elkhart, South Bend, (lime-water, 

 bad,) and Chicago, keeping the temperature of the cans very near to 70°, 

 and arriving at Chicago on Friday morning, July 27, with the fish in 

 good order. It was exceedingly hot at Chicago, the mercury standing 

 at 100° in the shade, and it was only with the utmost difficulty, and by 

 constant changes of water, that we succeeded in keeping the water down 

 to a safe point. As it was, the heat made the temperature of the cans 

 rise to 74°. 



On leaving Chicago, the air grew cooler, and by night we had 

 brought the temperature down to 6S°; but approaching Omaha the next 

 morning, it went up again to 70° ; and while waiting at Omaha, which 

 we reached on Saturday noon, July 26, it rose to 73°, though we tried 

 hard to keep it down. Between Chicago and Omaha, we took on water 

 at La Salle, Bellows station, Bureau, Tiskilwa, Eock Island, Davenport, 



