"My plan of operations for the whole imdertakinG; was: First — To 

 collect the fish at some favorable point at the East, where they could be 

 kept alive until everything was read}'' for the journey. »Second — To fit 

 up a car with the apparatus most suitable for transporting living fish; 

 and, third— To take this car, when loaded, to California, in the least 

 possible time, and without any transfer of its contents. This plan was 

 successful]}' carried into practice, up to the time of the accident just be- 

 yond Omaha. 



"The first installment of living fish intended for the California car, 

 arrived at Cbarlestown, New Hampshire — the point of rendezvous — on 

 the seventh of May. It consisted of eighty-two black bass (gnjstes fas- 

 cintus), glass-ej^ed perch (^lucio perca), and bullheads (^pimelodus), and 

 about three hundred thousand eggs of the perca flavescens and the lucio 

 •perca. 



"These fish were collected at Lake Champlain, and at the Missisquoi 

 Eiver, in Vermont, and were taken a journe}' of thirty hours, by rail, 

 before reaching Cbarlestown. The}^, nevertheless, bore their trip ad- 

 mirably, and arrived at their destination in first-rate order. 



" The next two weeks were spent in fitting up the car, which had arrived 

 at Cbarlestown, New Hampshire, and making other preparations for the 

 difficult undertaking in prospect. Arrangements had been previously 

 made, at the suggestion of the Hon. Spencer F. Baird, United States 

 Commissioner of Fisheries, with Mr. Myron Green, at Castleton, on the 

 Hudson, for a supply of young shad and fresh water eels; and, also, with 

 Captain Orinal Edwards, of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, tor young lob- 

 sters, and other salt water fish. The Eastern trout (salmo fontinaUs), 

 were to be taken from the Cold Spring Trout Ponds, at Cbarlestown. 

 The large lobsters were to come from Johnson & Loring's establishment, 

 at Boston, and Mr. Mj^ron Green was dispatched to the Earitan Eiver 

 for catfish. 



" The equipment of the car having been completed, and everything 

 being ready, the third day of June, eighteen hunered and seventy-three, 

 was set for our departure. At midnight of June second, Mr. W. S. Per- 

 rin arrived from Boston with a special car, having on board the lob- 

 sters, oysters, small lobsters, salt water eels, tautogs, and reserves of 

 ocean water. We began at daylight the next morning filling the 

 tanks in the car and loading in the fish, and b}^ one o'clock in the after- 

 noon everything was ready, and at a quarter past two, on Tuesday, June 

 third, the California Aquarium Car started on its journey. 



"The car was furnished by the Central Pacific Eaili'oad Company, 

 and was one of their fruit cars, intended for quick trips across the con- 

 tinent. It was twenty-seven feet long and eight feet wide, and was 

 provided with a Westinghouse air brake and Miller platform, which 

 enabled us to take it along with passenger trains. 



" At one end of the car was a stationary tank, built of two-inch plank, 

 lined with zinc, and occupying the whole width of the car, an'd eight feet 

 of its length. 



"This tank was two feet and eight inches deep, and held, when full, 

 about ten thousand pounds of water. 



"At the other end of the car was a large ice box, the reserves of sea 

 water, six large cases of lobsters, and a barrel of oysters. 



"In the center of the car, and occupying nearly all the room in it, 

 were the other portable tanks for carrying the fish. Our beds were on 

 the top of the large stationary tank, which, of course, was covered. 

 The large tank was also arranged so that we could take on water on a 



