BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 231 



recommend it for similar uses in a stream that is free from driftwood 

 during the hatching season, and is not subject to too great fluctuations. 

 I have used a current wheel to supply the hatching-house with water 

 at this station for ten successive seasons without a failure. 



The water supply furnished by the wheel this second season (1ST.'?) 

 was ample and constant, and, being taken directly from the very spawn- 

 ing grounds of the salmon themselves, was eminently adapted to its pur- 

 pose. Words can hardly describe the immense relief it was to be freed 

 from the annoyances and constant anxiety caused the year before by 

 trying to do our work on the little, warm, muddy brook which furnished 

 the water for the hatching-troughs. Not a drawback of any serious 

 character once occurred in the maturing of the eggs this year, but as 

 soon as they were sent off, it now being the beginning of the rainy sea- 

 son, we had to take down the tents which covered the hatching-troughs 

 and remove tents, troughs, and all to higher ground for the winter, to save 

 them from being carried away by the rising river, which soon came up 

 many feet over the rocky bar where they had stood. In the mean time 

 the wheel which was erected on two stationary piers in the river had to 

 be abandoned to its fate, and was soon carried by the swift torrent out 

 of sight. 



The next two years, 1874 and 1875, the water supply was obtained and 

 the hatching of the eggs conducted as in the season of 1873. Both years 

 were a great success as far as the main object of the station was con- 

 cerned, viz, the obtaining and maturing of salmon eggs, but each sea- 

 son^ operations involved the labor and expense of tearing down our 

 hatching apparatus every fall and re-erecting it the next spring, which 

 seemed, and which was, unnecessary. 



The considerations that had caused me to submit to it were these: If 

 a permanent hatching-house were built, it would be necessary to place 

 it, of course, high enough above the water to prevent its being carried 

 away by the rise in the river, which occurs every year during the rainy 

 season. I had thought that a current wheel large enough to raise the 

 water to this height might be unmanageable, but the next year (187G) 

 I resolved to try it. Accordingly, having selected a level spot 15 

 feet above the summer level of the river, I put up a permanent and 

 very substantial building upon it for a hatching-house, and built a 

 wheel 27 feet in diameter, in a current several rods above the house. 

 This raised the water high enough to su]jply the hatching-house, and 

 so far all went very well, but a sudden rise in the river during the next 

 rainy season carried off' the wheel and a new one had to be built the 

 next year. The loss of so many wheels demonstrated pretty effectually 

 that some change ought to be made, so the next year I put the wheel 

 on two large flat-boats, or rather between two flat-boats, with the ends 

 of the shaft resting on standards erected on the boat. This seemed to 

 solve the question of a water supply for the present, and it did practi- 

 cally, although after the salmon-breeding station was carried away by 



