452 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



the other express was being transferred, I gave the crates a heavy soak- 

 ing by means of a hose. No ice could be obtained at Ogden, but there 

 was enough to last easily till reaching Evanston. On the whole I think 

 it is better to procure ice at unimportant towns or stations en route, if 

 possible, than at large cities and railroad junctions; for the quality of 

 the ice is surely just as good, and other details, as necessary as they are 

 numerous, will use the time at the large places. The trouble of trans- 

 ferring ice does not compare with that of procuring a new lot. Fur- 

 thermore, the new messenger more willingly takes it from the previous 

 messenger than when it is freshly imposed upon him, for certainly it is 

 very disagreeable to them to have their car loaded with melting ice. 



"The Wells-Fargo agent at Ogden informed me that Mr. Tracy, at 

 Sacramento, had erroneously billed the crates, and they could not go 

 , over the routes which I said it was necessary for them to take beyond 

 Omaha. He was in a hurry and unpleasant; as was also the messenger 

 (from Ogden onward) at first, upon seeing seven big, heavy, dripping 

 crates come into his car. It is not so great an evil that the crates of 

 salmon-eggs come under the care of strangers as the fact that they are 

 handled by constantly-changing strangers. There is a need of some one 

 who will be a permanent friend to them, stand by them, and look out 

 for their welfare in emergencies, and when the express messenger on 

 one route or section changes for the uninitiated one who takes his place. 

 There is, then, a need of some person who shall get this new messenger 

 interested in the cause, and willing to put up with extra and unusual 

 arrangements. The presence of a man in charge of the shipment is not 

 merely better, but I think it is absolutely indispensable, judging from 

 the dealings which I have had with express-messengers and railroad 

 employes; who, when rightly dealt with, are a very obliging class of 

 men. The gentlemanly and obliging manner in which I was treated 

 during the whole trip deserves commendation. 



" Toward noon, Friday, October 16, I got some ice at Evanston, Utah, 

 and proceeded for the rest of the day to unpack straw from more crates, 

 .and put in the abundant ice and refilled the crates where the ice which 

 I had previously put in had melted. The temperatures at noon were 53° 

 to 50° ; and at night were 42° to 50°. As I should have stated before, the 

 way in which I took the temperatures, three times a day, was by thrust- 

 ing a thermometer between the slats of the crates into the straw which 

 surrounded the boxes. This, of course, does not precisely indicate the 

 temperature of the eggs inside the boxes ; they may be warmer or they 

 may be cooler. If not attended to, and left to grow warm, the eggs 

 must either increase in heat from the center outwards, or heat from the 

 outside, the center remaining coolest. Now, when care is taken of the 

 eggs, the stratum of cold, damp straw, in not allowing hot air from out- 

 side to touch the boxes, prevents the eggs from heating from the out- 

 side. Hence, when properly attended to, they will heat only from the 

 center outward. This happens by the spoiling of the eggs in the mid- 



