10 



and car No. 2 in charge of W. A. Dunningtou, and the whole work 

 Tinder the supervision of Geo. H. H. Moore, Superintendent Dis- 

 tribution United States Commission. The cars were those u.sed 

 by theUnited States Commission in their distribution of Shad and 

 White fish. They are similar in size to a large passenger coach, 

 and are fitted up with reservoir tanks, for carrying water, ice, 

 etc., in main body of car, the tanks extending along each side. 

 Into these were placed, for our distribution, boxes holding from 

 80 to 100 gallons of water, and these carried the fish for distribu- 

 tion. Each car had a crew of four men, and a cook. The cars were 

 provided .with air brakes, and were, in every respect, first-class. 



The fish were gathered by gangs of men with seines, and put 

 into a large flat boat, 25 feet long by eight feet wide and four feet 

 deep, arranged so as- to form a live box when necessary, or could 

 be used as a flat-boat when in tow of steamer. A steamer of 

 ;about five tons burthen, was used to shove the barge up or down 

 stream, towing the small boats and crews and towing the 

 barge or live box, back to port when filled with the fish. 

 When l)oat was landed at wharf, the gates were closed and 

 b)ox pumped out, and the fish transferred in carriers to the 

 car. This was attached to a passenger train and taken to 

 its point of destination. The crew of car by use of dip- 

 pers, aerating the water constantly, until they were planted. Thus 

 we have been enabled to place in every stream, crossed by the 

 railroad over which we were transported, a good and sure supply 

 of breeding fish, at a cost small in comparison with that of 

 methods j)reviously used by us, viz.: Transportation of fish in 

 tanks, placed in baggage cars and in charge of messengers. The 

 cars, when empty, were returned to Quincy by passenger train, 

 again filled and the same process repeated. In this manner 26 

 trips were made. Each car load contained from 4,500 to 6,500 

 fish. These fish were from three inches to 14 inches in length, 

 mainly mature or breeding fish. We consider the work of this 

 season, in this branch, to be of more practical benefit than that 

 ^ of many previous seasons combined, as the fish were large enough 

 to reproduce next spring, and in waters almost depleted by past 

 unfavorable seasons, this w^ll give at once a stock of greater numbers 

 and under more favorable conditions than could have been accom- 

 plished by planting hundreds of thousands of young fry. That 

 this method of rescuing and distributing native fishes originated 

 by our commission, and carried on by us as for the past few years 

 with such success, meets the approbation of the United States 

 Commission, is evidenced by the fact that daring the past season 

 the United States Commissioner has had similar work done "in 

 several States under the direction of the United States Commis- 

 sion, and, we understand, intends devoting one branch of the Com- 

 mission to this work in the future. We consider this a compli- 

 mentary endorsement of our method, and appreciate it accord- 

 ingly. 



