396 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Kellogg, Casey, and Avoca. Mr. Welsher left us at Omaha, and re- 

 turned to Bochester. 



"We left Omaha on the Union Pacific road at 3 o'clock on Saturday, 

 with the fish in excellent order. Through the courtesy of Mr. C. B. 

 Havens, the Union Pacific train-dispatcher, I was permitted to stop the 

 train at the Elkhorn Biver, where the aquarium-car accident happened, 

 to take on a reserve of river-water at that point ; the little experience I 

 had had in it leading me to think that it would be good for the shad. 



The country west of Omaha for fifteen hundred miles is, as is well known, 

 very poorly supplied with good water. It therefore seemed necessary 

 to have a larger reserve of water on board than the 10 gallons which 

 served our purpose east of this point. I accordingly took on at Omaha 

 a 30-gallon tank, which had been rescued from the aquarium-car wreck, 

 which, with our pails and spare can, gave our reserves a capacity of 50 

 gallons. 



On arriving at the Elkhorn Biver, the train stopped, and we took on a 

 full reserve of 50 gallons of the river-water. The river was somewhat 

 roily, and the temperature was 84° to 85°, but the water tasted good 

 and soft ; and, by a singular coincidence, it proved to be the best for the 

 shad that we found on the road. 



The river that had swallowed up so unsparingly the car-load of Cali- 

 fornia fish, thus contributed more than any other toward assisting the 

 shad across safely to that State. 



After taking on the Elkhorn water, we placed a few shad in two turn- 

 biers of it, and observed their movements. They seemed highly pleased 

 and entirely at home in it. Being satisfied from their movements that 

 the water was good, we immediately reduced its temperature with ice, 

 and began making changes with it. The afternoon being very warm, 

 however, we could not get the temperature below 72° till night. It 

 grew cooler after dark, and by 1 o'clock, Sunday morning, we had the 

 temperature of the cans down to 69° and 70°, the air in the car being 

 at 09°. We took on ice Saturday night at Grand Island, Nebraska, one 

 hundred and fifty-four miles beyond Omaha, and water at daylight on 

 Sunday morning, at Big Springs, Nebraska, three hundred and sixty-one 

 miles from Omaha. The water at Big Springs was clear and very good, 

 with a temperature of 58°. The shad placed in a tumbler of it seemed 

 to like it. At 10 o'clock on Sunday, June 29, the temperature of the 

 cans was at 67° to 69°. We were now gradually climbing up the eastern 

 slope of the continent. The air was cool and pleasant, and we had no 

 difficulty in keeping the water at about 68° all day. At 6 o'clock p. m., 

 on Sunday afternoon, we reached Laramie, Wyoming Territory, and took 

 on 50 gallons of Laramie Biver water ; temperature 62° and good water. 

 We were now at an altitude of over 7,000 feet, and as soon as the sun 

 set the air grew very cold. In spite of our best efforts, the water in the 

 cans dropped to 65°. This I considered too rapid a decrease from the 

 72° of Saturday afternoon, so we built a fire in the stove of the express- 



