70 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



Hatcliery until fall and then release them in the upper reaches of the 

 Sacramento River during the early fall, before the winter floods. Dur- 

 ing the season of 1913 three quarters of a million salmon fry were held 

 in the ponds at this hatchery and released during October. During the 

 season of 1914, 21,000,000 salmon fry were held in the troughs, nurser- 

 ies and ponds and fed until late in the spring. Of this number, 

 4,000,000 were placed in the large ponds at the Mount Shasta Hatchery 

 in perfect condition, where they were fed daily and looked after by 

 skilled fishculturists until the early fall, when they were released, so 

 that their descent of the river might be less hazardous and a greater 

 number might reach the ocean than is the case with the fry released in 

 the spring or summer. This policy of holding and feeding all of the 

 salmon fry before releasing them, and then only when the flood season 

 is over in the spring, has unquestionably given good results. It is 

 believed that it was the holding and feeding of the fry in the early 

 history of the Mount Shasta Hatchery that increased the run of salmon 

 in the Sacramento River, and that the present run is largely due to 

 these efforts. 



During the year 1913 three new ponds were constructed for the 

 rearing of brood fish, making in all a total of fifty-one ponds and nur- 

 series. With the increasing demand for fish to stock streams, it was 

 found necessary to increase the pond system sufficiently to raise enough 

 stock fish to supply the eggs. 



Located as it is at an altitude of 3500 feet above sea level, on the 

 southern slope of Mount Shasta and in the heart of Strawberry Valley, 

 with a wonderful supply of pure cold water, within a mile of the main 

 line of the Southern Pacific Railroad and but a couple of hours by rail 

 from the rainbow trout egg-collecting stations on the Klamath River, 

 Mount Shasta Hatchery is ideally situated. It not only has a capacity 

 for handling the bulk of trout fry, but is also capable of rearing a 

 sufficient number of salmon fry to maintain the salmon run in the 

 Sacramento River. 



The development of this hatchery from a small salmon hatchery to 

 its present size has been gradual. Each year permanent improvements 

 have been made. From the first small permanent building, 40 by 60 

 feet, containing 44 troughs, erected in 1888, the plant has been enlarged 

 until at the present time it includes seventeen acres of land owned by 

 the state, with a water right of 700 miner's inches; fifty-one ponds and 

 nurseries for the rearing of thousands of fish ; five hatchery buildings 

 containing 450 troughs; a superintendent's residence; three cottages 

 for the foreman and assistants ; a spawning house ; a barn, sheds, garage 

 and other buildings, and an electric lighting plant. The value of the 

 lands and improvements, together with the apparatus and equipment 

 necessary to maintain a station of this size, estimated at the cost of the 

 purchase price and of construction, is $100,000. In addition to this 

 equipment, the commission has leased outside the grounds but within 

 a radius of a quarter of a mile of the plant, three large ponds which 

 are used for rearing salmon fry. The capacity of these ponds is 

 3,000,000 fry. A one and a half-ton truck is used for hauling mate- 

 rials and supplies from the town of Sisson, which is one mile distant, 

 and for hauling fish and eggs to and from the trains. As many as 



