PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 192-1: 413 



the lake about June 1, 1924, and will aid greatly in making egg 

 collections and in transporting fish to the more distant parts of the 

 lake. 



SARATOGA (WYO.) STATION 



[O. N. Baldwin, Superintendent] 



At the beginning of the fiscal year this station was carrying 393,000 

 young brook trout from the hatch of the preceding year. These were 

 distributed in the Nos. 2 and 23^2 fingerling stages, some of them being 

 supplied to applicants and the remainder planted in the national 

 forests of the region, employees of the Forest Service cooperating in 

 the work. In addition to the brook-trout eggs secured during the 

 fall from the station brood stock, amounting to 376,000, eggs were 

 collected between October 12 and November 15 from wild fish taken 

 in Big Creek Lakes and transported by truck and pack horses to the 

 station for incubation. Upward of 400,000 v/ere thus obtained and 

 hatched with a total loss of only 8 per cent. All of the fry 

 resulting from this stock were distributed with the exception of 

 318,000, which were on hand at the close of the fiscal year. 



The Big Creek Lakes property was formerly under the control of 

 the Big Horn Cattle and Improvement Co., but suit to cancel its 

 rights thereto was instituted three years ago by the Government. 

 A decision having been rendered in favor of the Government, ail 

 fishing privileges were vested in the Forest Service, and as that serv- 

 ice desires the development of the lakes from a fish-cultural stand- 

 point, the bureau has undertaken to build up a field collecting station 

 m that region by making annual plants of fish in the lakes. 



During April and May operations connected with the collection of 

 rainbow-trout eggs were in progress in the Sage Creek, Lost Creek, 

 and Canon Creek fields. The season's total — aggregating 953,450 — • 

 shows somewhat reduced results as compared with previous collec- 

 tions. All eggs obtained were of superior quality, however, owing 

 to the more experienced help available for the work and also to the 

 improved water conditions, the amount of sediment carried in the 

 supply being unusually small. The falling off in numbers is attrib- 

 uted in part to the flooding of the creeks consequent to the rapid 

 melting of the heavy snows of March and early April, permitting 

 many of the brood fish to escape. The brood fish at the station 

 furnished 26,000 additional eggs of this species. At the close of the 

 year a fair proportion of the fry produced from the field collections 

 were being reared, with the view of returning them to their native 

 waters as fingerlings during the late summer months. 



From the station brood stock of Loch Leven trout 18,000 eggs 

 ■were obtained, and 403,000 eyed eggs of this species were transferred 

 from the collections made in the Meadow Creek (Mont.) field. On 

 account of the crowded condition of the Saratoga hatchery at the 

 time of receipt, 100,000 of these eggs were turned over to tlie State 

 hatchery at Laramie, Wyo., to be incubated for the Forest Service. 

 Five hundred thousand eyed black-spotted-trout eggs received from 

 the Yellowstone Park field were hatched with practically no loss, and 

 the resulting fry and fingerlings were used to stock streams at a high 

 altitude in various national forests. 



The mountain streams in the vicinity of Pinedale, Wyo., were 

 investigated during September with the view of finding a suitable 



