REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXIX 



mission. A number of gentlemen, of wliom Mr. J. M. K. Southwick was 

 spokesman, offered to furnish the requisite buiklings, and also the use 

 of a suitable wharf, and otherwise to encourage the selection of the 

 station. The Navy Department also gave the Commission a i)rovisional 

 invitation to establish itself on the northern end of Coasters' Harbor 

 Island, which was not required for the purposes of the training school. 



The great difliculty in the way of Newport, however, was found to be 

 in the comparative impurity of the water, Narragansett Bay receiving 

 the drainage of a number of large cities, such as Newport, Fall River, 

 Bristol, Providence, &c., and also having extensive mud bottoms and 

 flats. The experience of the year 1880 showed that the abounding im- 

 purities would settle as a sediment upon the eggs of the fishes to be 

 hatched and materially impair their development, as was found to be 

 the case at Gloucester. 



A totally different condition of things was found at Wood's Holl, 

 where the water is exceptionally pure and free from sediment, and 

 where the sudden tide rushing through the Wood's Holl passage keeps 

 the water in a state of healthy oxygenation especially favorable for 

 biological research. The entire lack of sewage, owing to the remote- 

 ness of large cities, and the absence of large rivers tending to reduce the 

 salinity of the water, constitute a strong argument in its favor, and this 

 station was finally fixed ui)on for the purpose in question. 



The quarters occupied by the Commission at Wood's Holl, furnished 

 by the courtesy of the Light-House Board, are too scanty for the ex- 

 pected work of the Commission in the future, and measures were im- 

 mediately instituted to obtain foothold on the Great Harbor. Here a 

 point of land constituting the neck of the upper harbor was fixed upon 

 as a suitable location, affording the advantage of pure and very deep 

 water, accessible to vessels of quite unusual draught, and immediately 

 adjacent to the rapid tide of the passage. 



Negotiations were opened with the owners of the ground, Messrs. 

 Isaiah Spindel & Co., and a provisional agreement made as to the price 

 and conditions of the purchase, the details of which will be given in 

 the next Report. 



Work of the year 1881 at Wood^s Holl. — Pending the permanent es- 

 tablishment of the Commission at Wood's Holl, as explained in the 

 preceding section, that station was selected for the work of 1881, and, 

 by the renewed courtesy of the Light-House Board, the old quarters on 

 the Light-House wharf were secured and fitted for occupation. 



As the Government wharf was unable to furnish a berth for the 

 steamer Fish Hawk, tlie private wharf of Isaiah Spindel & Co. was 

 leased for the purpose. The requisite accommodations for board and 

 lodging for the party were obtained with considerable diflQculty, but 

 finally the necessary arrnngements were com])lcted. 



I reached the station on the 8th of July, being joined soon after by 

 the remainder of the party. 



