REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. LXIII 



Leadville Station, Colorado (E. A. Tulian, Supekintendent). 



At the beginning- of the fiscal year the stock of fish on hand was as 

 follows: 



The fish were held in the troughs and rearing-ponds until fall, when 

 tlie following distribution was made: Brook trout, 94,000; Loch Leven 

 trout, 500; black-spotted trout, 42,200; native or yellow- finned trout, 

 7,031 ; rainbow trout, 25,500. 



Besides caring for the fish on hand, the employees of the station 

 were engaged during the summer in making a number of improve- 

 ments, embracing the construction of a fiume between the middle and 

 lower lakes, installing troughs in the northern half of the hatchery, 

 which had not previously been in use, and making a number of minor 

 repairs to the various cabins and log buildings. 



Brook trout. — Prior to the opening of the spawning season arrange- 

 ments were made as usual with the owners of LTneva, Wellington, 

 Young, and Decker lakes. Gale and Smith ponds, for the collection of 

 eggs on shares. Lower and Middle Evergreen lakes were also drained 

 and the fish belonging to the Commission removed and placed in ponds 

 near the hatchery. The first eggs were obtained from them on October 

 7 and the last on December 24, the total take aggregating 418,000. The 

 large loss on these during incubation, amounting to 174,000, or nearly 

 42 per cent, was attributed to the removal of the fish from the lakes to 

 the ponds too early in the season. The eye-spots api)eared within 50 

 days and the first fry hatched at the end of 93 days. The season at 

 Uneva Lake extended from October 21 to December, and resulted in a 

 collection of 180,000, per cent of which were lost in hatching. The 

 spawning season at Gales Pond covered the same period, and 281,900 

 eggs were secured. The loss during incubation was 34 per cent, which, 

 tliough large, was smaller than that of the previous year, when the fish 

 were overfed. In addition to this, a sjiawning house had been provided, 

 so that the eggs were not subjected to intense cold, as heretofore. 



At Smith Pond the collections aggregated 109,700, and the loss in 

 hatching was 11 per cent. At Ridgeway the fish had to be stripped 

 out of doors during very cold weather, and as a result only 74,000 eggs, 

 of very poor (luality, were obtained. 



The season at Wellington Lake opened !N'ovember 5 and continued to 

 t he middle of December. The difficulties previously encountered at that 

 l)oint were largelj^ overcome by the erection of suitable shelter and the 



