29 



gard to the change of location from Pokagon to Paris, which 

 were developed sometime after the transfer was made, the ab- 

 sence of which seemed to render the abandonment of the old 

 hatchery so necessary. In the first place the superintendent 

 at that time was not an educated fish-culturist, and to his 

 want of knowledge of the work he had undertaken, was un- 

 doubtedly attributable, in a great degree, his lack of success. 

 He had been a Baptist minister, and had waged a continual 

 and unceasing war with the managers of the Methodist Camp 

 Meeting Association from his earliest connection with the 

 work there, which state of things probably made the location 

 distasteful to him. ' 



The water, the analysis of which showed such destructive 

 properties to all fish-life, it has been ascertained was not 

 taken from the spring, but from a pond some distance below 

 the hatching house, which had not been cleaned in months, 

 was filled with a rank growth of weeds and received the refuse 

 from the house and ponds, and it has always been supposed 

 that he took this means of relieving himself from neighbors 

 that were disagreeable to him, and also of the odium of 

 failure in his work. The truth of this seems more than 

 probable, when we look at the present situation at Pokagon, 

 as a private hatching house on a moderate scale has since 

 been successfully operated on the same grounds. But in 

 the light of more recent events, the State of Michigan has 

 never had^cause to regret the desire that superintendent had 

 to shift the responsibility for Pokagon disasters from his 

 own shoulders, and success never crowned the efforts of the 

 Commission until his name was placed in the list of those 

 that had been connected with its work. 



In the removal of stock-trout from Pokagon a large por- 

 tion were lost, and of the amount saved, over one-half were 

 given to the Superintendent in a settlement with him when 

 relieved from charge of the work some time after, leaving in 

 1883 but 900 breeding trout in the four ponds at Paris. 



These with devoted care and attention from our present 



