SALMON HATCHING ON m'cLOUD RIVER, CALIFORNIA, 1878. 743 



nets of the Sacramento fishermen and bad already fally stocked the 

 ui)per waters of the McCload with spawning fish. 



The bridge and rack were hardly completed before the salmon in im- 

 mense quantities made one of those fierce raids on the rack which I 

 have described in previous reports. For two or three hours thousands 

 of them threw themselves against the rack with all their strength in 

 their fierce but useless attempts to effect a breach in the dam. Finally, 

 finding their efibrts ineffectual, they desisted and fell back into the deep 

 pools below. 



In the mean time, while the dam was being built, work had progressed 

 very satisfactorily in other directions. On the 20th of June, by the aid 

 of a Spanish windlass, we returned the current wheel and boats to the 

 river. By the 10th of July the post-oflBce building was finished, and the 

 fences, flumes, doorsteps, and most of the smaller thiugs that had been 

 injured or destroyed had been repaired or restored. By the 1st of August 

 the west i)iazza of the large dwelling-house was finished, together with 

 an additional room. All the buildings had been whitewashed or painted. 

 The large corral for confining the spawning fish was put in jdace at the 

 fishing-ground, the solid water-wall of rock to protect the fishery-build- 

 ings against future floods was nearly finished, the first line of troughs in 

 the hatching-house was laid, the current- wheel and flatboats put in com- 

 plete repair, the i^acking-boxes were made, and a new fishing-boat had 

 been built. 



During the first twenty days of August we gave our attention chiefly 

 to finishing up the hatching- house and hatching apparatus, building 

 the spawning-house at the fishing-ground, making the smaller nets to 

 catch and confine the parent salmon in while taking the eggs, and in 

 general to perfecting every x^art of the preparations for taking eggs ; 

 and I may add here that never since the United States Fish Commission 

 began work on the McCloud River have the appointments of the fishery 

 and all the arrangements for carrying on operations here been so com- 

 plete and entirely satisfactory. From the bridge and rack, which are the 

 first steps taken towards securing the season's supply of salmon-eggs, 

 to the minutest points connected with the taking and hatching of the 

 eggs, there was hardly a thing left to be wished for, thanks to the liberal 

 allowance made by the United States Fish Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries for the operations of this station. 



On the 20th of August we took the first eggs of the season, number- 

 ing 30,000, and from that time till the 5th of October, when the last ice- 

 car was loaded with salmon-eggs for their eastern destinations, our 

 time was taken up with spawning the salmon, taking care of the eggs, 

 preparing the moss for i)acking, and making the crates for shipping the 

 eggs in. 



Having now given a general resume of the work which was done at 

 the McCloud Fishery in the season of 1878, I will mention a few inci- 

 dents which came under my observation, some of which may be worth 



