72 CALIFORNIA PISH AND GAME. 



to increasing the capacity of the Sisson Hatchery. Commissioner Brice 

 accepted the proposition and laid the matter before Congress, and the 

 necessary appropriation for purchasing the station was made. The 

 eggs collected at this station, as well as at the other federal stations in 

 the state, have been largely turned over to the California commission 

 for hatching and distributing. During the two years that the Battle 

 Creek station was operated by the California commission, Messrs. E. W. 

 Hunt, superintendent of the Talioe Hatchery, and W. H. Shebley, 

 superintendent of the Sisson Hatchery, cooperated in the immediate 

 supervision of the work. 



The salmon have gradually increased as the result of artificial propa- 

 gation and the protection of the spawning salmon on their way to the 

 breeding grounds at the headwaters of the Sacramento River and its 

 tributaries. As an illustration of the Avonderful results obtained, the 

 United States commission collected and shipped to Sisson from the 

 summer run of 1888 but 800,000 eggs, and 2,000,000 from the late fall 

 run. With this small beginning, the great work of restocking the Sac- 

 ramento River gradually increased until, during the season of 1905- 

 1906, the federal Bureau of Fisheries collected 100,000,000 salmon eggs 

 at the three stations — Baird, Mill Creek and Battle Creek. During the 

 season of 1903-1904, there were hatched at the Sisson Hatchery 58,000,- 

 000, and in the season 1905-1906, 96,000,000 salmon eggs. This great 

 work was made possible by the construction of batteries of troughs out- 

 side of the buildings, in which to hatch the surplus eggs, the nurseries 

 being used to rear the fry, as they could not be held in the troughs 

 until large enough to be liberated. 



MILL CREEK EGG-COLLECTING STATION. 



This station is the property of the federal bureau, but was operated 

 in 1912 by the California commission. Theretofore the salmon eggs 

 had been hatched largely at Sisson, and as the prospects were unusually 

 promising for the previous season it was feared the capacity of the 

 Sisson Hatcheiy would be overtaxed. Accordingly, arrangements were 

 made with the federal bureau whereby the state operated the Mill Creek 

 station. 



During the year 1902 a substation was established on Mill Creek, a 

 stream which has its source in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Moun- 

 tains, in the northeastern part of Tehama County, and empties into 

 the Sacramento River from the east about a mile above the town of 

 Tehama. The eggs were retained here until eyed, and then were 

 shipped to other hatcheries. 



REDWOOD CREEK AND KORBEL HATCHERIES. 



Continuing to increase their salmon operations, the United States 

 Fish Commission in 1889 erected a salmon hatchery at Fort Gaston, in 

 the Hoopa Indian Reservation in Humboldt County. An additional 

 egg-collecting station was established on Redwood Creek in 1893, and 

 the same year a new hatchery was built near Korbel, on IMad River, but 

 on account of inaccessibility, all three stations were abandoned in 1898. 



