68 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The natural range of the landlocked salmon in the United States is 

 much restricted. Leaving out of the question the salmon formerly 

 frequenting the rivers tributary to Lakes Ontario and Chaniplain, the 

 extent of whose migration is a matter of doubt, we find them only in 

 four limited districts, all in the State of Maine, namely, the Presumpscot 

 Eiver (including Sebago Lake) in Cumberland and Oxford counties, the 

 Sebec Eiver (a tributary of the Penobscot) in Piscataquis County, the 

 Union River in Hancock County, and the St. Croix River in Washing- 

 ton County. There are some minor differences between the fish of these 

 several districts, of which, perhaps, that of size is most notable. The 

 Sebago and Union River fish are much larger on the average than those 

 of the Sebec and St. Croix. The Sebago salmon average at the spawn- 

 ing season 4 or 5 pounds weight for the males and a pound less for the 

 females, while specimens of 12 and 14 pounds weight are not rare, and 

 there is a record of one of 17.^ pounds. The Union River fish are 

 about the same size. 'The St. Croix fish vary in the matter of weight in 

 different parts of their range, but the average weight of either sex at 

 Grand Lake Stream is a little less than 3 pounds ; specimens of over 6 

 pounds are rare, and none is on record of over 10 pounds. 



After attempts to collect eggs of landlocked salmon in each of the 

 four regions mentioned, it was found that Grand Lake Stream in 

 the St. Croix district aftbrded excellent facilities for this work. The 

 hatching station at that place was operated continuously from 1875 

 to 1892. Since 1892 the station has been closed and the jiropagation 

 of landlocked salmon by the United States Fish Commission has been 

 conducted at Green Lake station. 



The following notes on fish-cultural methods have special application 

 to Grand Lake Stream: 



The landlocked salmon of the St. Croix, though originally well dis- 

 tributed through the lakes tributary to that river and still inhabiting 

 a great many of them, finds in some a much more congenial home 

 than m others, its favorite abode being Grand Lake on the Schoodic 

 River. This body of water is of irregular shape, about 12 miles in 

 length and 4 in extreme breadth, fed almost wholly by short streams 

 that form the outlets of other lakes, and from this cause, as well as 

 from the fact that it drains a gravelly country and is girt with clean, 

 rocky shores, it is one of the purest of the Maine lakes. Its greatest 

 depth is believed to be a little more than 100 feet. Its outlet is Grand 

 Lake Stream, a shallow, rapid, gravelly stream, about 3 miles long, to 

 which the salmon go in October and November to deposit their eggs. 

 Comparatively few of the salmon of this lake resort to the streams 

 tributary to it. 



The operations with landlocked salmon necessarily differ from those 

 with migratory salmon. Being at home in fresh water and having there 

 their feeding-grounds, they continue to feed until the close approach 

 of the spawning time, and hence they could not be penned up in the 

 summer without some provision for an artificial supply of food, which 

 would probably involve a great deal of expense and trouble. More- 



