21 



creased to an almost incredible extent, if it is jDracticable to employ the 

 artificial method successfully. 



That it is practicable, has been already proved bej'ond a doubt, by the 

 success of the United States Salmon breeding cstablisliment on the Mc- 

 Cioud Iviver, in Shasta Count}', of this State. This station of the United 

 States Fish Commission has now been in operation four seasons, and last 

 year contracted to place in the tributaries of the Sacramento Iliver one 

 million young salmon, at a cost of one thousand dollars, or one dollar 

 per thousand. Eight hundi'ed and fift}' thousand 3'oung Salmon under 

 this contract have been delivered, and the remaining one hundred and 

 fifty thousand will be placed in the river this Fall. At this rate, it will 

 be seen at once that tlie Salmon of the Sacramento can be increased in- 

 definitely, and at a very slight expense. Five million young Salmon 

 could be placed in the Sacramento River, any year, at a cost of five 

 thousand dollars. A comparatively small annual expenditure would 

 keep the river constantly stocked, so that Salmon would become plenti- 

 ful enough to make it profitable to can them and send them fresh to the 

 East in the Winter. With the river well stocked, instead of the small 

 business that is now carried on in Salmon on the Sacramento River, a 

 lai'ge industry would sj^ring up on the river, employing hundreds of 

 men, and bringing in a large revenue to the State. This increase of 

 Salmon in California could not only be effected at a very inconsiderable 

 expense, but it would, as far as the State Treasury is concerned, be a 

 self-supporting institution, for the augmented business of the Salmon 

 fisheries would, by its revenue to the State, pay the apj)ropriation re- 

 quired; and besides this, there would be the vast increase of fish food 

 to the community, which would ofiset the appropriation many times 

 over. 



The money that is appropriated by the State for fish culture is not 

 invested in a non paying object, like a monument or a building, but in a 

 work that not only paj's an immensely remunerative interest to the 

 State in one way, but actually returns the money to the Treasury in 

 another way. 



1 have spoken particulaidy thus far in regard to the improvement of 

 the regular Salmon fisheries of the Sacramento by artificial propaga- 

 tion, but there are incidental results brought about by this agency which, 

 though not of so much importance, should not be overlooked. Most 

 sportsmen, at least of the State, have heard of the great numbers of 

 Grilse (young Salmon) that were caught by hook and line in the Bay of 

 San Francisco last Spring, and the fish of the same kind that were 

 caught in Lake Merced in the same way. These afforded a great 

 amount of sport to the anglers of the city and the neighborhood, be- 

 sides yielding a veiy considerable amount of excellent fish food. The 

 abundance of Grilse in these waters was the direct effect of the labors 

 of the Fish Commissioners. With so auspicious a beginning, who can 

 say what cannot be accomplished in time in this direction by the Fish 

 Commission, with reasonable encouragement. Such encouragement 

 ought certainly to be given them. Massachusetts, New York, (Connecti- 

 cut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, and many other States, have 

 made ample provision for their Fish Commission, and have considered 

 themselves well repaid. There seems to be no reasonable course left 

 for the State of California but to go and do likewise. 



LIVINGSTON STONE. 



