The Salmon Family 211 



Watertown, and thirty miles west of Milwaukee 

 this road crossed the outlet of Oconomowoc Lake. 

 Within fifty yards or so of the bridge there stood 

 a roadside tavern where the freight wagons 

 stopped at noon on their way from Lake Michi- 

 gan to Watertown. I have been informed by old 

 residents of that section that in the fall of the 

 year, about the spawning period of the cisco, 

 boxes of fresh fish were frequently carried by 

 these wagons, some of which were cleaned and 

 dressed for dinner on the bank of the outlet of 

 the lake, and the offal thrown into the stream. 

 It is not unlikely, inasmuch as the fish were so 

 recently caught, that the eggs and milt of the 

 cisco thus became commingled, fertilizing the eggs, 

 which were subsequently hatched. This opinion 

 is supported by the fact that the cisco is found 

 in that locality only in the chain of lakes com- 

 posed of Oconomowoc, Okauchee, and La Belle 

 lakes, all of which are connected by Oconomowoc 

 River. It is possible that Lake Geneva was 

 stocked in a similar manner from Racine or 

 Kenosha. If it is objected that eggs from dead 

 fish would not be fertilized, there is still a ten- 

 able theory: When the fish are taken from the 

 nets alive, many of them are so ripe that the 



