OPERATIONS IN CALIFORNIA IN 18/3. 403 



and the attempt was made to raise water from the river by a wheel 

 placed in the current. This method, which worked to our entire satis- 

 faction, will be more particularly described hereafter. 



Previous to my arrival, I had dispatched my foreman, Mr. Woodbury, 

 together with Mr. Green and Mr. Anderson, to the McCloud, with in- 

 structions to move the camp and hatching-works to the river-bank, and 

 to make preparations for using the river-water for hatching. 



When I arrived, on the 6th day of August, I found things in a very 

 satisfactory condition. The house had been moved in good order, and 

 was now placed just at the water's edge a few rods from the junction of 

 the stage-road with the river. The large hatching-tent had been erected, 

 a considerable number of salmon had been caught and corraled, and every- 

 thing promised well. I was soon after waited upon by a deputation of 

 the McCloud tribe of Indians, who, at the time of their visit, expressed 

 themselves friendly and well-disposed. 



Our camp now consisted of John G. Woodbury, foreman; Myron 

 Green, head-fisherman; Oliver Anderson, man of all work; George 

 Allen, carpenter ; Benjamin Eaton, steward ; A. Leschinsky, fisherman; 

 J. Leschinsky, fisherman; Livingston Stone, in charge; Indians, Lame 

 Ben, Uncle John, One-eyed Jim, and others. 



The eggs in the parent salmon at this time showed an advanced state 

 of development, indicating that the spawning-season was not far dis- 

 tant. As there was a great deal yet to be done to get ready for the two 

 million salmon-eggs which I hoped to take, no time was lost in pushing 

 the preparatory work to completion ; and we were so well prospered in 

 our labors that by the evening of the 19th of August we had the water 

 running through the hatching-troughs, and were ready for the first 

 installment of eggs. 



1.— CATCHING THE PARENT SALMON. 



I will now leave the chronological order of events, and will speak of 

 some of the branches of our work, beginning with the capture of the 

 parent fishes and confining the parent salmon. I was very undecided 

 whether to capture the salmon this year with a seine, or to construct a 

 large trap in the river which would take advantage of their instinct to 

 ascend the stream. As the result proved, I think it would have been 

 easier and cheaper to build the trap, but I decided to use the seine, and 

 continued to use it, and nothing else, through the season. My reasons 

 for doing this were — 



1. I had tried the seine-fishing, and knew it could be depended upon. 



2. I had not tried a trap on any extensive scale, such as would be 

 necessary in this instance, and was not certain that it could be relied 

 upon. 



3. The building of the trap would be an expensive undertaking, and 

 the means at my command were such as rendered economy a primary 

 consideration. 



