REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FLSH FRIES. XCIX 



the various substations aud transferred to Clackamas, 10,029,796 fry 

 and fingerling fisli were liberated in tributaries of Clackamas River. 



A noteworthy experiment Avas tried during the season with one basket 

 of eggs. A lot of 20,000, collected October 30, were placed in a basket, 

 aud on the following day 208 dead ones were taken off. The basket 

 was then covered so as to exclude light, and left undisturbed until the 

 twenty-first day, when the eggs were i)icked over again aud .'>()5 dead 

 ones removed. During the undisturbed period the top layer became 

 covered with sediment so thick that the eggs were not visible beneath, 

 but the lower side, owing to the current of water through the basket, 

 was perfectly clean. A larger percentage than usual of these eggs 

 hatched, and the fry were api^arently good. This method, if it proves 

 practicable on a large scale, will effect not only an economy of time and 

 labor, but probably the saving of many eggs, as these are often killed 

 by picking over during the critical stage, between the ages of 9 and 

 15 days. In November, owing to the overcrowded condition of the 

 hatchery, it became necessary to provide additional room for the fry, 

 which were hatching rapidly. Fifty new troughs, 21 feet long, were 

 constructed and placed out of doors near the Hume leading from the 

 spring. This afforded ample room for holding the fry until they had 

 arrived at the proper stage for planting. Two hundred thousand fry were 

 held until April, and when liberated in Clear Creek they were between 

 2 and 3 inches in length. 



In December 10,000 Loch Leven trout eggs were received from North- 

 ville, Mich., for the Oregon Fish Commission. These were hatched and 

 planted at the request of Hon. H. D. McGuire during the months of 

 March aud April in Sucker Lake, Crystal Lake, and Clackamas River. 



Upper Clackamas. 



This hatchery was built in the spring of 1895 by the Columbia River 

 Packers' Propagating Comi:)any of Oregon, at the headwaters of the 

 Clackamas River, in the Cascade Mountains, about 50 miles from 

 Clackamas, and operated by them for two years. At the suggestion 

 of Hon. H. D. McGuire, fish commissioner of the State, it was turned 

 over to the United States Fish Commission with the understanding 

 that it would, be ojierated to its full capacity during the fall. The 

 hatchery is very inaccessible, and all supplies needed for the work 

 have to be carried in on the backs of mules or men, as wagons can be 

 used only over the first 20 miles, the last 30 being only a rough moun- 

 tain trail. A trip to the station is difficult, requiring from two to 

 three days, and as the country is entirely uninhabited it is necessary 

 to camp en route. But the site is especially valuable from the fact 

 that it is the spawning-ground of the earliest run of chinook salmon in 

 the Clackamas River, and, except Salmon River, is the only place in 

 the Columbia River Basin where eggs from this run can be secured as 

 early as July. The station was first visited by the superintendent on 

 June 16, and arrangements made to commence work under direction 



