THIRTY-SEVENTH BIENNIAI. REPORT 17 



thought possible that suitable temperatures might be found, particularly 

 since higher temperatures had been so effective in producing rapid 

 growth. After some searcli a satisfactory well was found on the Kaweah 

 delta near the town of Visalia. Temporary arrangements were made and 

 two circular tanks installed. The test showed the water satisfactory in all 

 respects save the amount of dissolved oxygen and this was increased in 

 amount to about 8 ppm. when the water passed through the jets in the 

 supply pipes over the tanks. During the summer of 1941 a permanent 

 installation of 10 circular redwood tanks 14 feet in diameter was made. A 

 new well was drilled and equipped with gas engine power as well as elec- 

 tricit}^, two small houses were built for the employees and a feed room 

 was constructed in the same building housing the pump. The cost of the 

 project was greatly reduced by making arrangements with the owner for 

 use of the property without charge in return for the use of the pumped 

 water for irrigation. 



Fingerlings are transferred to this Sequoia Station in July of each 

 year and about 100,000 fish are reared to a size of four inches in time to 

 be planted in the fall. More extended use of this plant during the coming 

 year will be made by taking in fall-spawned Rainbow eggs and rearing 

 them to good planting size before the summer quota of fingerlings is 

 brought in. These 10 tanks will therefore produce about 150,000 four-inch 

 fish per year. 



The only other major construction project carried on during the 

 biennium was the rehabilitation of the Mt. Shasta Platchery. This 

 hatchery was first started in 1888 and growth over a period of years 

 finally brought it to consist of five large hatchery buildings and a number 

 of ponds. For many years it was the largest hatchery in the State in 

 numbers of fish produced, and salmon and trout from it were distributed 

 by railway car throughout the State. Unfortunately, it is now ill 

 adapted to present needs both from the standpoint of the size of fish it is 

 possible to rear there and the distribution of trout to rather distant areas 

 where they must be planted. However, repairs were urgently needed to 

 keep the plant in operating condition until a more thorough and complete 

 solution could be worked out for supplying the areas it serves from other 

 new stations. The foundation and floors of hatchery E were rebuilt and 

 a new head pipe installed, hatchery A w^as remodeled, a new garage was 

 built from salvaged material from older buildings and five new raceway 

 type ponds were constructed for the handling of brood stock and the 

 rearing of fingerlings. One of the important products of the Mt. Shasta 

 Hatchery is eggs for use at that station and other hatcheries in the State. 

 A fall spawning stock of Rainbow brood fish has been established, which, 

 together with those at Hot Creek and Mt. Whitney gives us a supply of 

 early Rainbow eggs taken in October and November that is an absolutely 

 essential element in the present program for rearing larger fish for 

 planting. 



It can be seen that the new hatcheries with extensive pond systems 

 have been established first in those areas where angling pressure is 

 greatest, and further extension should be determined largely by the same 

 factor, together with that of abundance of satisfactory trout water for 

 the planting of larger fish. Among these is the North Coast area where a 

 hatchery should be built to replace the Cold Creek Hatchery destroyed by 

 flood in 1938 and the old Fort Seward Hatchery which is obsolete. A 



2 — 25467 



