26 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



remainder were hatched at the station, and the 2,150,000 fry resulting 

 were liberated in the Rogue River. 



As the collection of steelhead-trout eggs on the Willamette the pre- 

 vious year had been very unsatisfactory, arrangements were made to 

 collect on Crystal Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River, about 10 

 miles above the salmon station. This work proved fairly satisfactory, 

 and it is believed, with the experience gained, that large numbers can 

 be secured next season. The eggs were all forwarded to eastern 

 stations, as plants previously made indicate that the steelhead is well 

 adapted not only for the Great Lakes, but for lakes and streams in 

 Montana and many of the Eastern States. 



The propagation of the sockeye or blueback salmon, the most 

 important commercial species on Puget Sound, was undertaken for 

 the first time at Baker Lake, and as a result 10,683,000 fry were 

 planted in Skagit River and the lake. 



On the Great Lakes the white-fish and lake- trout work was the most 

 satisfactory ever accomplished. Arrangements were made early in 

 the fall for the collection of lake-trout eggs at Charlevoix, Beaver 

 Island, and Manistique, Lake Michigan, near which are located the 

 most important spawning-grounds of this species. Over 15,000,000 

 eggs were collected by November 10, but as only about 10 per cent 

 were taken prior to November 1 the work would have been a complete 

 failure under the old law, which provided for a rigid close season 

 commencing on that date. On Lake Superior the season was very 

 successful, over 12,000,000 being taken. The majority of the fry 

 resulting from the total number collected, 27,000,000, were planted on 

 the spawning-grounds of the Great Lakes. The white-fish work was 

 energeticall}^ directed on Lake Erie; large numbers of adult fish were 

 penned, as heretofore, at Put-in Bay, Ohio, and Monroe Piers, Michi- 

 gan, which yielded 235,000,000 eggs. From the three fisheries on the 

 Detroit River, operated as a result of arrangements made with the 

 State commission, over 34,000 white-fish w^ere penned, which yielded 

 224,000,000, making 459,000,000 eggs collected at the two stations. As 

 a result of the year's work over 337,838,000 white-fish fry were liberated 

 in the Great Lakes, more than double as many as in 1899. 



The sjjring proved most unfavorable for the collection of pike- 

 perch eggs on Lake Erie. Ice remained in the lake for weeks later 

 than usual, so that by the time the fishermen were enabled to set 

 their nets the season was actually over in the neighborhood of Port 

 Clinton, Sandusky, Toledo, and the other important grounds. About 

 138,000,000 eggs were collected by the force of spawn-takers employed 

 at Put-in Bay, but these were of poor quality and produced only about 

 57,000,000 fry, which were liberated in Lake Erie and some of the 

 inland lakes of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. The collecting station 

 on the Missisquoi River in Vermont, which had proved so promising 

 the preceding year, was opened in April, but the immense amount of 

 snow in the mountains at the headwaters of the Missisquoi melting 



