890 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



requested us to cause to be hatched, at his expense, and placed in 

 streams that do not reach the ocean, a half million of Sacramento salmon. 

 One-half of these we determined to put in Kern Eiver, which empties 

 into Buena Vista and Tulare Lakes, and the other half in the Truckee 

 Eiver, which empties into Pyramid Lake, in the State of Nevada. The 

 quarter of a million of eggs sent to Kern Eiver, where their hatching 

 was to be completed, unfortunately were lost. At the point of the river 

 selected for hatching the water contains too much alkali, it is supposed, 

 and all the eggs died within twenty-four hours from the time they were 

 placed in the hatching troughs. The other quarter of a million, sent to 

 the Truckee, were successfully hatched out and turned into that stream. 

 They will go to Pyramid Lake the present season. They should return 

 during the summer of 1878, and we are confident they will be taken in 

 the Truckee weighing five or six pounds. Pyramid Lake is a body of 

 water forty miles long, and averaging ten miles in width, and has no 

 outlet. It contains an abundance of food. This experiment will dem- 

 onstrate how large the Sacramento salmon will grow, with plenty of 

 food, when confined entirely to fresh water. 



8. Since the orgo.nization of the commission, we have caused to be 

 hatched and placed in the streams of this State 8,350,000 young salmon. 

 These include 1,000,000 paid for in 1875, and presented by Ex-Governor 

 Leland Stanford. As the salmon is our most important food-fish, we 

 deemed it of the most importance to keep up the supply. The numbers 

 of fishermen are yearly increasing, as are also the numbers of persons 

 who are consuming the fish. As railroad facilities are increased, and 

 reach new points, the market becomes extended. The sea-lions and 

 seals at the outlet of the bay, being preserved and protected by law, are 

 also increasing. They now number thousands, and as each requires 

 from ten to thirty pounds of fish daily, it was a serious question whether 

 we could keep up the supply by the addition of 2^ millions artificially 

 hatched each year. Since our last report, a salmon "cannery" has been 

 established on the Sacramento, at Collinsville, and another opposite the 

 city of Sacramento. This Collinsville canning establishment reports as 

 having canned this year 8,542 cases, of four dozen cans in a case, equiva- 

 lent to 31,168 fish, weighing 540,688 pounds. 



Under the enlightened superintendence of Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 

 United States Fish Commissioner, the Sacramento salmon is being widely 

 distributed to streams throughout the United States. The government 

 establishment on the McCloud Eiver annually hatches from six to ten 

 million eggs. These are distributed to all States having appropriate 

 waters, whose legislatures have appointed fish commissioners. From 

 this source the State of Cahfornia has received, as a donation, a half 

 million fish each year since ] 874. In addition, we have expended a large 

 l)art of our api^ropriation annually, in payment for the hatching of one 

 or two million young fish, which, through the kindness of Professor 

 Baird, have been furnished at the actual cost of hatching. The intro- 



