STONE ON THE SACRAMENTO SALMON. 171 



•were this year, will thus be saved. Last fall, when the works were put up, 

 I did not know enough about the McCloud Kiver to risk the proposed ar- 

 raugeuient of the works, but I am satisfied now that it is both safe and 

 very desirable. By this arrangement other advantages are gained be- 

 sides compactuess and convenience, for water will be obtained in unlim- 

 ited quantities, of an even temperature, not varying over live degrees 

 for two months. The water is as clear as crystal, and is 7iever roiled from 

 any cause whatever so as to deposit dangerous sediment; and lastly, 

 this cold water of the McCloud, with a temperature of 48° to 53° F., will 

 not grow the insidious fungus which continually showed itself in the 

 warm water of the hatching-works of this last .seasons With these 

 changes nine-tenths of the trouble and dangers of the past season will 

 be avoided, and I see no obstacles in the way of very large success in 

 obtaining salmon-eggs at this station in the future. 



4. — WHY MORE SALMON-EGGS WERE NOT OBTAINED IN 1872. 



The simple reason why more eggs were not obtained this season was 

 because the salmon had spawned at the head-waters of the Sacramento 

 before it was possible to get ready for the eggs. A subsequent effort 

 might have been made at Tehama, but the lateness of the season, the 

 uncertainty of the results, and the reduced condition of the appropria- 

 tions, were sufficient to discourage it. 



Although so small a return in the actual number of salmon obtained 

 has been derived from the outlay attending this enterprise, the money 

 can hardly be considered as unprofitably spent, for another and very 

 adequate return is to be found in the actual preparations made for future 

 operations and in the information and experience which have been ob- 

 tained, and which, in the writer's opinion, are worth all they cost as a 

 guide to future labors. 



5. — CONDITIONS OF HATCHING SALMON IN CALIFORNIA COMPARED 

 WITH SIMILAR OPERATIONS AT THE EAST. 



The conditions of hatching salmon-eggs in California are wholly dif- 

 ferent from those vrhich present themselves in similar work at the Ease. 



At the East you have to gnard against cold ; in California you have to 

 guard against heat; at the East you can usually find a good spring in a 

 favorable locality ; here it is out of the question ; at the East a brook will 

 usually answer the purposes of hatching- water in the absence of a spring; 

 in California the brooks, as a rule, are wholly unsuitable for hatching ; 

 at the Eastthe*eggs are hatching in the winter; in California the salmon 

 spawn in the summer; and, finally, most of the hatching work is done in 

 California before the Atlantic fish begin to spawn. 



6.— CATCHING THE SALMON IN THE M'CLOUD. 



I tried three ways of capturing the parent salmon ; first, by the In- 

 dian trap ; second, by a stake-net and pound ; third, by a sweep-seine. 



