480 U. S. BUREAU OP FISHERIES 



over to Forest Service officials to be planted in streams located within the forest 

 reserve. A somewhat smaller number of eggs than usual was realized from the 

 adult brook trout held in the station ponds and were of a lower grade than those 

 of the preceding year, the percentage of hatch amounting to only 67. The 

 unusually poor quality of these eggs is attributed to the fact that it became 

 necessary to confine the brood stock in small concrete pools for an extended 

 period prior to the spawning season. Satisfactory terms for the collection of 

 brook-trout eggs in Big Creek Lakes, under the control of the Big Horn Cattle 

 & Improvement Co., having been effected with the new manager of the company, 

 spawning operations in that field were undertaken on October 8 and continued 

 to December 11, resulting in the collection of 663,050 eggs of excellent quality. 

 An equitable percentage of the fry hatched from this lot will be reared to finger- 

 lings and returned to their native waters. 



By a recent decision of the courts future fishing privileges in these lakes will 

 be vested in the Forest Service, and when the property has been turned over to 

 that service it will doubtless be possible, through the exercise of adequate pro- 

 tective measures, to develop a field station that can be depended upon to yield 

 several millions of brook-trout eggs annually. 



The rainbovz-trout work in the Sage Creek, Canon Creek, and Lost Creek 

 fields extended from April 22 to May 19. When the spawning season opened 

 Sage Creek was at its normal level, the fish appeared to be running well, and all 

 indications pointed to a record egg collection. About the middle of May, 

 however, the work was brought to a sudden close by a heavy rain, which lasted 

 for about 36 hours. In the course of the storm the debris, caused by the break- 

 ing of an irrigation dam a short distance above, came dow^n in a solid body 

 against the upper rack, destroying the trap and liberating a brood stock of ap- 

 proximately 800 fish confined therein. A small stream under natural conditions, 

 Canon Creek usually yields approximately half of the rainbow-trout eggs col- 

 lected in the Wyoming field. During the past season, however, the water was 

 so low as to hardly cover the larger fish in the stream, and the thousands of 

 cranes that annually visit this section inflicted heavy losses on the brood stock. 

 Under existing conditions the eggs collected numbered less than 200,000. Owing 

 to the more favorable water stage in Lost Creek a fairly successful season was 

 experienced, and the total egg collections for the three fields aggregated 1,038,620. 



Loch Leven trout eggs to the number of 201,560 were obtained during the 

 fall from the station brood stock, which included a number of 2-year-old fish, 

 and at the close of the fiscal year there were 155,000 fingerling fish of this species 

 on hand. A shipment of black-spotted trout eggs, received from the Yellow- 

 stone Park late in July, was incubated with very little loss, yielding 320,000 

 fry for deposit in suitable waters of the region. 



Among the many more important improvements made at this station during 

 the year was the construction of a modern 5-room cottage for the use of the 

 foreman and the installation of a Westinghouse 32-volt electric plant for light- 

 ng the hatchery and grounds. 



Spearfish (S. Dak.) Station 

 [D. C. Booth, Superintendent] 



Fish-cultural operations were conducted as usual, though on a somewhat 

 enlarged scale. With the recent extension of the pond system, the stock of 

 brook trout was considerably increased by the capture of fish in neighboring 

 streams. Eggs of this species handled during the year included 365,000 taken 

 from the station brood stock, 295,000 obtained by purchase from a commercial 

 dealer in Massachusetts, and 500,000 transferred from the Leadville (Colo.) 

 field. Fry resulting from this stock, to the number of 874,600, were distributed 

 in the Nos. 1 and IJ^ fingerling stages, and a small balance was on hand at the 

 close of June. 



The station collections included 37,255 eggs of the rainbow trout and 208,250 

 of the Loch Leven trout. Three hundred thousand additional Loch Leven 

 trout eggs were shipped from the Bozeman (Mont.) station and 116,000 rainbow 

 eggs were received from the Neosho (Mo.) and Saratoga (Wyo.) stations. All 

 of these were of excellent quality and produced a good percentage of fry. 



In the way of construction the station accomplished considerable. The ex- 

 tension of the pond area undertaken during the previous fiscal year was com- 

 pleted and a concrete reservoir of 425,000 gallons capacity was built. Water 

 from this reservoir can be successfully used from six to seven times in succession, 

 first in the hatchery and then in each of the ponds on the lower level of the 

 reservation. 



