16 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



coats of white U'lul :ukI oil. The shingled roof, which had done duty 

 since the huilding- was erected fifteen years ago, was rotten and leaky. 

 It was torn off and a corrugated iron roof put on. This roof was 

 given a substantial coat of metallic paint, and the exterior of the 

 building now presents a very attractive appearance. The building, 

 owing to the great weight of the tanks and troughs, had settled, so 

 that it was with difficulty that the hatching boxes in the west end of 

 it could be operated. The building was raised, leveled, and a new 

 foundation put under it, which will last for years. A new distributing 

 tank was constructed the full length of the building, 120 feet. New 

 and improved troughs were added to the front half and all the 

 dangerous ones taken out. We have now eighty-four hatching troughs 

 in the interior of the building. All of them were coated with pure 

 asphaltum, a substance impervious to water, guaranteeing absolute 

 cleanliness and protection against spores and wood rot. We also took 

 out the old wooden drains and substitvited new and improved ones. 



We felt it to be good judgment to further protect the west part of our 

 enlarged holdings, and have erected, beyond the present line of ponds, 

 a small but comfortable three-room cottage for one of the regular 

 assistants, who occupies it with his family. It is known as the watch- 

 man's cottage. It is almost impossible for any one to enter the hatchery 

 grounds from the west side without passing in view of this house. The 

 presence of this habitation serves to keep at a respectful distance king- 

 fishers and other birds of prey that have fattened on our ponds for 

 years. Our watchman has killed a sufficient number of predatory 

 animals and birds that have been making regular inroads on our supply 

 of breeding fish, to justify the expense of putting up this building. 



We are now in a position to double our output within the next three 

 years. We have all the land the State will ever require for hatchery 

 purposes in that portion of the State, and have an abundant and never- 

 failing supply of the purest water, sufficient for the continued develoj)- 

 ment of the station for all time. 



All the newly acquired land has been enclosed; the lower half of the 

 land bordering on Spring Creek with a barbed wire fence about 1,200 

 feet long. That portion adjoining the original hatchery land is 

 enclosed with a fence six boards high, which are fastened to extra large 

 cedar posts that will last for many years. On top of the posts on the 

 outside have been fastened arms of wood two by four inches in size and 

 thirty inches long. To these arms are attached three barbed wires, the 

 purpose of which is to prevent trespassers from climbing the fences and 

 getting into the grounds other than through the main gates, which are 

 open to the public every day from 10 A. M. to 4 p. m. The land pur- 

 chased from the Sisson estate as a site for the superintendent's dwelling 

 has also been enclosed by a substantial and neat picket fence. 



