MANUAL OF FISH -CULTURE. 31 



EARLY SALMON- CULTURE ON THE PENOBSCOT RIVER. 



The movement for the reestablishment of the fisheries for salmou, 

 shad, aud other anadromous species in American rivers originated in 

 the action of the legislatures of Kew Hampshire and Massachusetts, 

 having- in view primarily the fisheries of the Merrimac and Connecti- 

 cut rivers. The course of the Connecticut lies partly in the State of 

 Connecticut, while many of its tributaries are in the State of Vermont, 

 and these two States were therefore early interested in the project, and 

 their action soon led to a similar movement on the part of Ehode Island 

 and Maine. The rivers within the borders of these six States are the 

 only ones in the United States known to have been frequented by the 

 seagoing Salmo salar, except possibly the Hudson and certain rivers 

 tributary to the St. Lawrence, in the northern part of 'New York. 



The commissioners to whom the governments of the above States 

 confided the task of restocking the exhausted rivers turned their 

 attention at once to the two most important of the migratory fishes, the 

 salmon and the shad. The utter extermination of salmon from most 

 of the rivers compelling the commissioners to consider the best mode of 

 introducing them from abroad, eggs were obtained for a time from the 

 spawning-beds in the rivers of Canada and hatched with a measure of 

 success. After a few seasons permits for such operations were discon- 

 tinued, and it became essential to look elsewhere for a supply of salmon 

 ova. In 1870 attention was directed to the Penobscot Eiver, in the 

 State of Maine, which, though very unproductive compared with Cana- 

 dian rivers, might yet, perhaps, be made to yield the requisite quantity 

 of spawn. The fisheries are all in the lower part of the river and in 

 the estuary into which it empties, Penobscot Bay, and there the supply 

 of adult salmon could be found with certainty, but they must be obtained 

 from the ordinary salmon fisheries in June and held in durance until 

 October or jSTovember, and the possibility of confining them without 

 interfering seriously with the normal action of their reproductive func- 

 tions was not yet established. 



This plan was finally adopted, and in 1871 this method of breeding 

 salmon was first attempted. For the purpose of the experiment, a 

 point at the mouth of Craig Brook, which is by water nearly 9 miles 

 distant from the mouth of the Penobscot Eiver, more than half the 

 route being through brackish water, was selected as the most conven- 

 ient fresh-water stream which offered facilities for confining the salmon 

 and maturing their eggs. After some unsuccessful trials means were 

 found of safely conveying a few live salmon in floating cars from the 

 lishing-grounds to the station, where they were held till the spawning 

 season, when their eggs were taken and impregnated. 



From 1872 to 1870 operations were conducted on a larger scale, with 

 a fair degree of success, and, after a suspension, were resumed in 1879 

 at Craig Brook hatchery, while the retaining inclosures were located 

 in Dead Brook, about "2 miles distant. The disadvantage of this 



