PLANTING FISH IN AN ALKALI LAKE. 



By Alfred Eastgate, 

 St. John, N. D. 



The line of work on which I shall report was begun five years 

 ago by the Biological Station of North Dakota in the effort to 

 find the proper means of restocking the lakes of this state. In 

 former years these lakes were full of fish of various kinds, weighing 

 up to thirty-five pounds. 



In the latter eighties there was a very dry year and the water 

 was greatly lowered, resulting, of course, in greater concentration 

 of the salts. At the same time the fishermen continued their 

 operations on the restricted water area and eventually the entire 

 fish supply of Devils Lake was exterminated. This lake, which 

 comprises about forty-five thousand acres at the present time, for 

 several years furnished fish dealers contracts calling for three to 

 seven carloads of fish a week. In 1886 I saw a great haul made 

 with a net so large that four horses on each side were required to 

 land the catch. The fish were shoveled into great tanks and 

 shipped in refrigerator cars. That is the way in which the supply 

 was exhausted. 



After a few years the cry went up that fish could no longer 

 live in Devils Lake on account of the salt water. The water, of 

 course, is what we commonly call alkali and it contains about 

 thirteen per cent of solids, with a mixture of several salts. 



Prof. M. A. Brannon, of the State University, took up the 

 work of finding out why the fish did not live in Devils Lake. He 

 went at it systematically and studied the water and all its contents, 

 with the plant and animal life, but could find no reason. About 

 ninety-seven per cent of the fish introduced from fresh water died 

 immediately. 



Dr. Brannon worked on this problem about five years before I 

 was called into the service. My work was simply to do what he 

 laid out for me, to carry on the practical work in accordance with 

 his suggestions. The state fish commissioner at that time did not 

 think much of scientific work along fisheries lines and would not 



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