46 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



ing fish and a large number of them died before reaching the trap. 

 Likewise trouble was experienced in the holding pens. This epidemic 

 was brought on by the low stage of the water during the season of 1924, 

 which did not allow the spawning steelhead to return to the ocean as is 

 their habit. Many of them were confined in large pools on the lower 

 reaches of the river, where they remained in the warm water during 

 the entire season. Their vitality was greatly reduced, and when they 

 attempted to ascend to their spawning grounds on the upper reaches 

 of the river, they were easy victims to leeches and bacterial infections. 

 The loss was so great that we did not get more than 25 per cent of the 

 eggs that should have been taken had it not been for these conditions. 

 In the spring of 1926, Lake Pillsbury did not fill up in time to allow 

 the steelhead to ascend in their usual numbers and there was not suffi- 

 cient water allowed to pass the dam to provide for the amount necessary 

 for successful operations at Snow ]\Tountain Station. We are hoping 

 that the coming season will ])e one of copious rainfall, so that the fish 

 can ascend the stream early and that arrangements can be made with 

 the company to allow a sufficient flow of water to keep the fish in good 

 order in the tanks as well as to give them free passageway through 

 the fishway to the trap. 



FORT SEWARD HATCHERY. 



There has been a very successful output of fish from this liatchery 

 and considerable repairs and replacement work done. Much of this 

 w^ork has been accumulating, as a shortage of funds did not allow the 

 making of all repairs when necessary. We had to wait until the 

 foreman and his crew could do this work between the period of hatch- 

 ing trout and before the salmon eggs were received. A large fir tree 

 that liad been considered safe, fell and wrecked 60 feet of the hatchery 

 roof, a portion of the loading platform and the tram conveyor system 

 Avhich necessitated immediate repairs. Fortunately this occurred at 

 a time when there were only a few thousand fish in the building and 

 there was no loss. One hundred feet of new flume has been built and 

 perforated zinc plate screens have been purchased, an electric alarm 

 system installed between the foreman's cottage and the hatchery, a 

 new overshot water wheel has been built to operate the liver and feed 

 grinding machine and a holding pond for fry has been built in the creek, 

 but more money must be available for the improvement of this creek 

 pond or a new site must be selected if the fish are to be held any great 

 length of time. Probably a series of tanks could be installed that would 

 give better results than ponds built in the creek, particularly as the 

 many boulders and steepness of the river makes it difficult to install 

 the ponds and care for the fish. When funds are available, tanks such 

 as have been built at Blackwood Creek at Lake Tahoe would give better 

 results. The fish make such a rapid development at this station that 

 it hardly seems necessary to recommend a holding pond system to be 

 connected with this hatchery. 



The grounds around the foreman's cottage have been improved by 

 the construction of a new fence, a new distributing tank has been 

 built and 90 new troughs built and placed in position. Other repairs 

 and improvements have been made, but in addition to all this a bridge 

 should be built between the hatchery and the railroad and a truck 



