1082 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIEkS. [4] 



that some dissatisfaction was felt by the eastern consignees of these 

 eggs, butif they could realize the difficulties which had to be encountered 

 at the other end of the route in shipping the eggs they would not want 

 to attach any blame to any one. 



It was over three weeks before the waters had subsided sufficiently to 

 allow the forwarding of any more trout eggs, and it was not till the 18th 

 of February that Mr. Green succeeded in getting any through to Eed- 

 ding, Cal., which is the terminus of the California Pacific Eailroad and 

 the nearest railroad point to the McCloud Eiver trout ponds. On the 

 18th of February 25,000 eggs were sent to Hon. B. B. Eeddiug, secretary 

 of the California Fish Commission at San Francisco. On the 19th 15,000 

 more were sent to Mr. Eedding, and on the 23d of February 10,000 were 

 forwarded to Mr. K K. Fairbanks, of Chicago, 111., and 10,000 to Mr. B. 

 F. Shaw, of Anamosa, Iowa. From that time until May 1 Mr. Green 

 continued at intervals to ship eggs to eastern points. There were still 

 occasional washouts in various places on the overland roads, so that 

 many of the eggs were sixteen or seventeen days making a journey of 

 five, in consequence of which some lots were lost en route. On the other 

 hand, where no delays occurred, the eggs went through in good order. 

 There will be found appended to this report a memorandum of the 

 distribution of trout eggs from this station. 



There was one result of the land slides that made us a good deal of 

 work, and this was that in many i^laces portions of trails that we had 

 built along the hill-sides slid away entirely, so that not a vestige of a 

 path was left. This often happened where the slide itself was only a 

 small one. There are fifteen miles of trails along the river that we 

 keep in repair, and we had spent a good deal of time and labor upon 

 them in order to facilitate the bringing in of the live trout that were 

 caught for the ponds; and it was a work of no small magnitude to 

 get these trails into good order again after the injuries caused by the 

 rains, 



Wben the rebuilding of the salmon fishery began, about the 1st of 

 June, most of the trout-pond force came down to the salmon-hatching 

 station to assist in the work there, only one or two men remaining at 

 the trout ponds, and their time was chiefly occupied in taking care of 

 the breeding trout, in capturing wild ones, and in making general repairs 

 and improvements about the place. The condition of the trout con- 

 tinued to improve throughout the summer, and on the 1st of September 

 they were all in splendid condition. I may add here that their food in 

 winter is mostly beef, venison, and dried salmon. In summer it is chiefly 

 boiled salmon, with beef and venison, often enough to keep them in good 

 condition. 



I mentioned in my report on the salmon-hatching station that during 

 a short period in July and in August, a large number of salmon in the 

 McCloud Eiver died of a mysterious disease. A good deal of alarm was 

 felt when it was reported one morning that the disease had extended to 



