234 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Ill 1870, being then coinmissiouer of fisberies for the State of Maine, 

 I determined to make an effort to find a snpply of eggs in the Penob- 

 scot, and in October and Xoveraber of that year I made two expeditions 

 to those portions of the river where it appeared most probable that the 

 breeding-grounds of salmon lay, exploring with canoe the river from 

 Mattawamkeag up to Ambejegis Falls, on the west branch, and to the 

 Seboois stream on the east branch, or Mattagamou. The result of these 

 explorations was the discovery of many localities where salmon might 

 be expected to spawn at the proper season ; of others, visited at the 

 right date for such a discovery, where their newly-made nests were 

 actually found, and of some where facilities existed for the collection of 

 spawn. That partof the Mattagamon near the Wassaticook and Seboois 

 streams appeared best fitted for the natural breeding of the fish and for 

 the collection of their spawn, and although the number of nests made 

 before November 3 (some twenty-five or thirty being seen in a distance 

 of three miles on the river) was not large, it appeared to warrant the 

 expectation that a considerable number of eggs might be collected here 

 at a moderate expense. But as the number of salmon to be caught in 

 the vicinity at any season is very small in comparison with the number 

 caught in the tidal parts of the river, it occurred to me that if salmou 

 caught in these rivers could be kept alive and in good condition from 

 June and July, when they pass up the river, till October or November, 

 when the3' lay their eggs, operations might be carried on there on a 

 much larger scale than here. Being in correspondence, about this time, 

 with Rev. William Clift, of Connecticut, in relation to the breeding of 

 salmon in some of our rivers, he also suggested the latter plan of opera- 

 tion as the one most likely to give satisfactory results. The co-operation 

 of the commissioners of fisheries of Connecticut and Massachusetts was 

 secured, and it was determined to try the experiment of collecting 

 spawn near the mouth of the river. 



2. — OPERATIONS IN 1871. 



The place finally selected as the site of operations was Craig's 

 Pond Brook, in the town of Oiiand. This stream has its rise in 

 Craig's Pond, a small body of water of exceptional depth and trans- 

 parency, tenanted bj^ trout, smelts, and sticklebacks, and proba- 

 bly some other species of small fish, but entirely wanting in the pick- 

 erel, perch, sun-fish, and cyprinoids that inhabit nearly all of the ponds 

 in the southern part of Maine. The stream runs alternately over coarse 

 sand and ledge for half a mile, and empties into Allamoosook Pond, 

 making in this short course a descent of probably 200 feet. A few rods 

 above its mouth it receives the waters of several large springs of very 

 pure water, having a temperature of 47° F. At this point there had 

 formerly been a dam to supply power to a shingle-mill. This dam was 

 rebuilt, and a pond formed about forty rods in area and 7 feet deep. So 



