412 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



destroy onr stage-communication or take us away from the river. There 

 was but one alternative left, and that was to take the water-supply from 

 the McCloud. To accomplish this, a ditch was commenced from a point 

 about fifty rods above the new hatching-house site, and was continued 

 for about two hundred feet, when it was abandoned ; the obstacles in 

 the way of its successful prosecution making it practically useless. 



We were now left without any water-supply whatever. There were 

 salmon in abundance at our very feet, but no water to hatch the eggs 

 with. 



The wheel-pump. — In this emergency, the idea of raising the water from 

 the river itself by a wheel was suggested, and immediately put into 

 practice. From this time till it was finished, the wheel was the central 

 object of interest at the camp. So much depended upon it and its suc- 

 cessful working, and the project was so novel and unprecedented, that 

 the progress of the work on it was watched with the greatest solicitude ; 

 and, at last, when it was completed, and actually revolved and lifted its 

 G,G0O gallons of water an hour higher than our heads, and poured it 

 down the flume into the hatching-troughs, our relief and enthusiasm 

 were unbounded. I celebrated the occasion by raising at sunset a large 

 American flag over the camp. 



I consider this device for raising water for hatching-purposes one of 

 considerable importance, as by this method a water-supply can be ob- 

 tained on any similar salmon or trout stream when all other resources- 

 fail, and in regionswhere no other water-supply is available. On account, 

 therefore, of its possible value to future operations, I will be more ex- 

 plicit in describing the wheel than might otherwise be thought appro- 

 priate. The wheel was placed in the rapids, just below the hatching- 

 house, on our side of the river ; the shore-pier resting on the river-bank. 

 The other pier was built at the required distance out in the water, and 

 was constructed by fastening heavy timbers together in the shape of ai 

 triangle, and filling the inclosed space with large rocks ; the timbers form : 

 ing the triangle being 12 feet long on the hypotenuse, and those on the 

 sides being 8 feet long. The shaft was 11 feet long and 9 inches in 

 diameter. The journals were 9 inches long and 7 inches in diameter. 

 The journals were of pine and the boxes were of oak. The wheel was 

 12 feet in diameter, 8 feet wide, and had 16 paddles, each 15 inches wide. 

 The buckets, containing between 4 and 5 gallons each, were arranged 

 around the circumference of the wheel, on the shore-side of it, and were, 

 of course, so constructed as to fill at every revolution, and discharge their 

 contents just at the right moment. 



A margin of several inches was allowed for raising and lowering the 

 wheel in the water, so as to regulate its power at pleasure. The velocity 

 of the current in which it was placed was such that, with my utmost 

 exertions, I could just hold our fishing-boat against it with a good pair 

 of oars. 



At last, after many trials and discomfitures, and renewed efforts in 



