CALIFORNIA PISH AND GAME. 85 



FORT SEWARD HATCHERY. 



Owing to the undesirable location of the Price Creek Hatchery, it was 

 decided to remove it to a more favorable site. Price Creek Hatchery 

 was located on Price Creek, one-half mile from its junction with Eel 

 River. The creek has its source in the hills near the mouth of Eel 

 Eiver. The country through which it flows is a loose, friable and dis- 

 organized formation that is constantly sliding and washing away. 

 During the winter months the creek was so full of sediment that it was 

 only with the greatest skill and care that fish could be reared at all. 

 In the spring the water dried up rapidly and became very warm, so 

 that it was impossible to hold the fry later than June. The commission 

 decided, therefore, to remove the hatchery to a more favorable location. 

 The Department of Fishculture was instructed to select a suitable site 

 and to move the station. After a careful survey of the streams on the 

 line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, Fort Seward Creek was 

 selected, a cold, clear stream, flowing into Eel River and about four 

 and one-half miles above old Fort Seward, Humboldt County. The 

 commission purchased forty acres of land near the mouth of the creek 

 and selected a site for the hatchery about one-quarter of a mile from 

 the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. 



Early in 1916 the work of moving the building and equipment to the 

 new site on Fort Seward Creek was begun, being completed and ready 

 for the spring hatch of eggs. A cottage for the superintendent and 

 a cabin for the men were erected and finished in a rough way until 

 more comfortable quarters could be arranged. 



The hatchery building is situated near the creek in a narrow canyon 

 and the superintendent's dwelling on an eminence overlooking the 

 hatchery. As funds were limited at the time the hatchery was estab- 

 lished, only a poorly constructed cabin could be built for the help 

 besides the cottage for the superintendent. During the fall of 1919, 

 two four-room cottages, of plain interior finish and shingled outside, 

 were built, so that men with families could be employed. 



The water in Fort Sew^ard Creek is the only water suitable for 

 hatchery purposes on the line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. 

 There are several streams between South Fork station and Fortuua, 

 but they all have their sources in the same sedimentary formation as 

 Price Creek, where it was necessary to abandon the hatchery owing 

 to the great amount of sediment carried in the water during the winter 

 and spring, when the rainy season was at its height. 



The fry produced at this hatchery are the best reared in any of the 

 hatcheries located in the coast counties. 



YUBA CITY SHAD HATCHERY. 



Early in the season of 1916 the question of propagating shad was 

 taken up by the Department of Fishculture. The heavy fishing for 

 shad in the bays and in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in pre- 

 vious years had caused noticeable falling off in the numbers of these 

 fish, and to keep the supply up it was deemed necessary to resort to 

 artificial propagation. 



About the same time, a request was received from the Massachusetts 

 and Connecticut fish and game commissions requesting the California 



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