36 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Craig Brook Station, Maine (C. G. Atkins, Superintendent). 



The fishes handled at this station during the year were Atlantic 

 salmon, landlocked salmon, quinnat salmon, steelhead trout, rainbow 

 trout, brook trout, Scotch sea trout. On July 1, 1899, there were on 

 hand nearly a million fish, as indicated in the following table: 





Calendar year in which fish were hatched. 



Species. 



1899. 



1898. 



1897. 



1896. 



1895. 



1894 or 

 earlier. 



A tlnnf.'ir' csnlmon .... . 



658,860 











*408 



Atlflpiitic salmon domesticated 











2 





1 220, 459 



3.887 











Quiniiat salmon . .. 



157 









steelhead trout .. 



1,647 



4,829 



56, 551 



6,800 



287 

 9 



186 







Rainbow trout 









Scotch sea trout . - 







513 



10 



Brook trout . .. -- 























Total *- 



949, 146 



4,183 



157 



186 



513 



420 







* Wild fish inclosed. 



1 130,586 at Grand Lake Stream. 



The large stock of young Atlantic salmon hatched the previous 

 spring were fed as usual upon chopped food, mainly hog-plucks, 

 though the flesh of old horses and other domestic animals formed a 

 very considerable item. They were carried until autumn with fair 

 success, when 542,849 were liberated, over 521,000 being planted in the 

 upper waters of the Penobscot and its tributaries; the balance were 

 deposited near Craig Brook. It is thought that fry liberated well up 

 the river have a better chance of life than those planted below 

 Bucksport. 



In October and November the adult fish impounded at Dead Brook 

 the previous June yielded 1,881,608 eggs. Of these, 1,854 were lost in 

 incubation and 550,0j[)0 were shipped to State fish commissions and 

 other applicants. The U. S. Fish Commission received 1,500,267 

 eggs as its share of the collections at this point, but in April the 

 Maine commission returned its proportion, amounting to 1 87, 533. The 

 hatching was done at Craig Brook, and 1,135,946 strong, healthy fry 

 were produced. They suffered very little during the sac stage, and 

 of the total number hatched only 13,867 were lost. In June 908,073 

 were planted in the upper waters of the Penobscot at Brewnville, 

 Grindstone, and Oakfield, leaving 194,572 on hand at the end of the 

 year, which will be carried until fall and distributed in the same waters. 



The superintendent visited the upper waters of the Penobscot sev- 

 eral times during the year, with the view to determining how many 

 salmon reach the natirral spawning grounds, and whether it would be 

 possible to obtain eggs from this source in sufficient numbers to per- 

 mit the discontinuance of operations at Dead Brook. As a result of 

 these investigations it was decided to reduce the scale of operations 

 materially at Dead Brook and to establish an auxiliary station on the 

 east brancli of the Penobscot River at Mattagamon, in township 3, 

 range 7 west from the east line of the State, by river about 20 miles 



