[3] OPERATIONS AT m'CLOUD RIVER TROUT PONDS. 1081 



to dig out the lower pond. No screens or nettings availed anything, for 

 they became completely clogged up in a moment. This went on for 

 eight nights and days, and so great was the accumulation of earth in 

 the creek channel where the slide occurred that it was two weeks before 

 the mud subsided so as not to require constant attention. 



The direct mischief which it caused, of filling up the ponds, was bad 

 enough, but the ulterior injury resulting from it was worse. This arose 

 from the mud getting into the gills of the trout and producing an 

 inflammation in them. Some were killed from it immediately, others 

 survived for some weeks and even months, but succumbed at last. The 

 total loss was very great, for when summer came there were not over a 

 thousand fish left of the magnificent collection which the ponds con- 

 tained in the fall. Those, however, which were left alive, on the 1st of 

 June were all healthy, and no more deaths occurred after that time from 

 inflamed gills. 



During all this trying time of the floods, there were only four white 

 men at the trout-pond station, and the labor and hardships entailed upon 

 them were very great. These four men were Mr. Myron Green, Mr. 

 Loren Green, Mr. Kobert Eadcliflf, and Mr. George Hume. The energy 

 and courage with which, for two weeks, in the solitude of these mountains 

 and with the rain pouring down in more than torrents, they combatted 

 with an enemy wholly unknown to them before, and which could neither 

 be overcome nor successfully resisted, entitles them to a great deal of 

 credit. They certainly showed no hesitation in encountering hardships 

 and exposure which could not be expected of them for any mere pecuniary 

 compensation. 



By the end of the month of February the rainfall had very much 

 decreased, and, though there were times when great vigilance and care 

 were necessary, no serious trouble occurred after the 1st of March. 



It so happened that the trout began to spawn just before the time of 

 the highest water. The spawning season opened very auspiciously, and 

 Mr. Myron Green, who had charge of the trout ponds, sent to the rail- 

 road station at Eedding on the 26th of January 75,000 trout eggs for 

 distribution at the East.* 



At this time Pit Eiver, 7 miles south of the trout ponds, was very high, 

 though not quite impassable, and Mr. Green succeeded, at considerable 

 risk, in getting the eggs across the Pit. By the time they reached the 

 Little Sacramento at Reid's Ferry this river had become all but impas- 

 sable, and no one could be found who was willing to venture to cross 

 it. The eggs consequently lay there several days. In the meantime 

 the floods had spread over the whole country, and the California Pacific 

 Eailroad for a hundred miles below Eedding was more or less under 

 water. The consequence was that the trout eggs spoiled in the crates 

 long before they could be started on their eastern journey. I know 



* These eggs were directed as follows: T. B. Ferguson, Baltimore, Md., 25,000; B. F. 

 Shaw, Anamosa, Iowa, 25,000; N. K. Fairbanks, Geneva Lake, Wis., 25,000. 



