THE FAIRPORT FISHERIES BIOLOGICAL STATION. 397 



PERSONNEL- 



The personnel consists of the director, superintendent of fish culture, four scientific 

 assistants, including two associated with the Homer station, a shell expert, a foreman, 

 two laborers, an engineer, and two firemen. The work of the station is not carried out 

 by these men alone; in the propagation of mussels, which is distributed over a wide 

 territory, it is necessary to engage temporary foremen who, as the heads of local parties, 

 assume no light measure of responsibility. In a later place reference is more appro- 

 priately made to the associated investigators who must contribute so largely to the 

 ultimate usefulness of the institution. 



GROUNDS OF THE STATION. 



The grounds of the station comprise 60 acres and will afford opportunity for subse- 

 quent expansion with the construction of additional ponds. Being intersected by the 

 Rock Island double-track railway, and by the county highway, the grounds are divided 

 into three portions which happen to be somewhat distinct in character. (See map 

 following p. 405.) 



The lower or southern grounds between the railway and the river afford convenient 

 locations for pumping station, boathouse, shops, and ponds, series A (concrete) and B 

 (earth). (PI. Lxxvii, fig. 3.) The lowest parts of the lower grounds are only slightly 

 flooded by the highest stages of the river, but the pond embankments and the floors of 

 all buildings are above the highest recorded flood stage — that of 1892. Technically, this 

 level is 560 feet, referred to the Memphis datum, while "low" water is 541.689 feet. 

 The highest stage attained since the establishment of the station is 555.4, in 1912, the 

 lowest being about 1^4 feet below "low." 



The main grounds north of the railway and south of the highway comprise over 

 30 acres of original meadow and bottoms, mostly suited for ponds. There is a generally 

 moderate slope rising more abruptly to the highway. This region affords excellent sites 

 for the chief buildings, laboratory and tank house, for the storage reservoir (water 

 surface 592.5 feet), and the principal ponds (pi. lxxvi, fig. 2; pi. lxxvii, fig. 4). A 

 small portion, known as the western grounds, is cut off by a natural drain channel, 

 or storm gulley, and is occupied by the barn lot and a field that is not at present utilized, 

 except as pasturage for the station horses. 



Above the highway is a beautiful hillside, somewhat terraced naturally and covered 

 by an original grove of walnut and oak (pi. lxxvii, fig. 5). While the cottages are con- 

 veniently and attractively located upon the principal terraces, yet practically nothing 

 has been done to mar the naturally beautiful features of the grove. Since the hill ascends 

 rather quickly to an elevation nearly 200 feet above the river, it has been easy to find 

 favorable spots where the high and low pressure cisterns could be constructed at a 

 moderate cost and under ground, while still at sufficient heights to give the desired 

 pressures. The water surface elevations of these cisterns are 630 and 705 feet, respec- 

 tively, or at heights of 69.5 and 144.5 f^^t above the floor of the pumping station. 



It will be manifest that the grounds as a whole possess most favorable features in 

 the way of natural drainage, ample space for the construction of ponds, and natural and 

 easy grades for the construction of reservoirs, cisterns, and pipe lines for gravity flow 

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