SALMON HATCHING ON m'cLOUD KIVEE, CALIFORNIA, 1B78. 755 



and Newcastle. As Mr. Wilmot's eggs were handled at the McClond 

 Eiver fishery in precisely the same way, were packed in the same way, 

 were shipped in the same way, and, in short, received precisely the same 

 treatment that the other eggs received, from the time of their leaving 

 the parent fish on the McCloud till they were unloaded from the ice-car 

 at Chicago, and as all the other eggs went safely, it does not seem pos- 

 sible that the injury to the eggs could have occurred west of Chicago, 

 because if it had, the same disastrous agency which destroyed his eggs 

 must inevitably have affected some of the other eggs, which was not the 

 case. It will also be seen from Mr. Wilmot's letters that the injury could 

 not well have occurred after the eggs reached Newcastle. The obvious 

 inference then is that the mischief must have taken place between Chi- 

 cago and Newcastle. 



Newcastle, October 9, 1878. 

 Prof. Spencer F. Bated, 



United States Commissioner of Fisheries, tf'C, Gloucester^ Mass.: 

 Dear Sir : 1 hasten to inform you, as mentioned in my telegram of 

 yesterday, of the loss of the California eggs that you were kind enough 

 to have sent to me from the McCloud Eiver. The real cause of their 

 death I cannot fully comprehend, but I am inclined to believe that they 

 must have got overheated on the road. 



I got a letter from Mr. Stone in September, stating that half a million 

 of eggs would be sent me, and that they would be shipped on or about 

 28th September, from Redding to Chicago in a refrigerator-car, thence 

 by express to their destination, and that the express company would 

 notify me by telegram when the eggs left Chicago. I also got a postal 

 card from Mr. Stone, dated 23d September, notifying me that 5 per cent. 

 more than the number of eggs ordered would be added to the shipment. 

 The express agent here, on the morning of the oth instant, informed 

 me that five crates of eggs had arrived by the morning train and that 

 they were at his office. (This was the first and only notice I received of 

 their coming since receipt of Mr. Stone's letters.) I immediately sent 

 my assistantsTor them, giving them instructions to handle them carefully 

 and walk the horses slowly from the office to the fishery (about a mile) ; 

 in the mean time I had my men clean out the hatching-troughs, through 

 which a full flow of water had been running for some time, and also 

 rinse off the trays, to be in readiness for the coming eggs. I was pres- 

 ent at this time, and when the eggs arrived I saw them carefully taken 

 off' the wagon and carried to the end of the fishery. I then opened the 

 first crate myself. Before doing so I examined the manner in which it 

 was arranged, which was most satisfactory. The outer covering of the 

 inner boxes was well packed with fern leaves, and there was a center 

 chamber dividing the two inner boxes, in which a quantity of fresh ice 

 still remained. This ice must have been put in only a short time before, 

 as some of the pieces were quite large and almost filled up the entire 

 width of the chamber. 



