XXXV.-REPORT OF SALMON-HATCHING OPERATIONS ON ROGUE 

 RIVER, OREGON, 1877-78. 



By K. B. Pratt. 



Mr. Livingston Stone : 



Dear Sir : In accordance with your request, I will endeavor to give 

 you a report of tlie proceedings at the salmon hatchery at EUensbm^gh, 

 Oregon, mouth of Eogue Eiver. 



During the summer of 1877, Mr. E. D. Hume, who had just comi)leted 

 a salmon cannerj" at Ellensburgh, ^dsited the United States fishery on 

 the McCloud Eiver, California, and examined the hatching-house and 

 the work being done there, and decided he would have a hatchery of his 

 own upon Eogue Eiver, iu order to keep ui? the supply of salmon in 

 that stream. 



For nearly twenty years salmon had been taken in large numbers and 

 salted, ansl there was a visible decrease in the number of fish returning 

 to the river each year. 



On returning to Ellensburgh, in September, Mr. Hume set about put- 

 ting up a hatching-house, building it only a short distance from the 

 mouth of the river. About 250 salmon were placed in a fresh-water 

 pond, which had been dug close by the hatching-house, there to be kept 

 until they were ready to si^awu, but as there was an insufficient supply 

 of water in the pond, many of the fish died, so that by ^he time they 

 commenced spawning there were only about 100 left. Of these, 57 

 were females, from which about 215,000 eggs were taken. Just be- 

 fore spawning time a large cage, with three comx)artments, was built 

 and sunk in the j)ond ; then the pond was dragged with a net, and the 

 fish j)laced in the largest comi)artment of the cage. From there the fish 

 were caught in dip-nets and examined each day, the ripe females put in 

 one division of the cage, and the ripe males in another. Mr. Hume's 

 idea was to handle the fish as carefully as possible when spawning tliem, 

 and to at once return them to the river, so that they could return to salt 

 water as soon as they chose. With this idea in view, a contrivance for 

 holding the fish while spawning was made, consisting of two pieces of 

 light board fastened together on one side with hinges, and straps ex- 

 tending around the other side at the ends. In this the females were 

 placed on their backs, the straps extending around the shoulders and 

 tail, and v\'ith a little care they could not escape. The males were held 



by one of the men in his arms; so the necessity for taking the fish by 



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