Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania. 55 



CHAPTEE IX. 



The Marietta Hatchery. 



With the formation of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission in 1873, there 

 arose the necessity for a fish hatching house. To have such an edifice the 

 new commissioners looked about them at once for a proper site. In the 

 selection of such a place they were governed by two considerations, first, 

 that of an abundance of suitable water, and second, that of accessibility 

 to railroads connecting the different sections. After visiting and mak- 

 ing inquiries in regard to the numerous springs in various parts of the 

 state, and after thoroughly canvassing the advantages of each place, 

 they decided to locate the hatching house about two miles from Mari- 

 etta, in Lancaster county, on Hoover's spring, one of the group of the 

 famous Donegal springs. The piece of ground selected belonged to 

 Mr. Michael Hoover ; the spring from which the commissioners ex- 

 pected to get their supply of water, bubbled up almost beneath Mr. 

 Hoover's house. The water seemed exceedingly well adapted to the 

 purposes of fish culture, as it rarely varied more than two degrees in 

 temperature throughout the entire year. Coming as it did, from lime- 

 stone, the waters welled forth from the earth clear and sparkling, and 

 of a splendid quality for healthy fish life. The spring, too, had an enor- 

 mous capacity, yielding a flow of water equal to 3,000,000 gallons a day. 



In the autumn of 1873, therefore, the commissioners purchased of Mr. 

 Hoover one acre of ground in the immediate vicinity of the spring and 

 on the banks of Donegal creek, then a well-known trout stream, a tribu- 

 tary of Chiques. With the ground they also purchased the right to use 

 from the spring so much water as they might desire for the use of the 

 hatching house. The price paid for the property, and perpetual right 

 to use the water of the Hoover spring for the hatching house, was 

 $2,000. Beyond a few willow trees this tract of land was bare. 



The spot selected for the hatching house was some 750 feet from the 

 spring, and the contract for its building was let to B. F. Heistand, the 

 lowest bidder, his price including plumbing and fixtures being about 

 $3,700. When the time came for its erection it was found that the 

 ground on which it was to stand, was some two feet above the level of 

 the spring, and to remedy this, while construction was going on, the 

 commissioners enclosed the spring with a tight, compact wall, so as to 

 increase the height of the water in the fountain. 



The new building was one hundred feet long, and thirty -two feet wide, 

 and in it were seventeen hatching troughs, each eighteen feet long and 

 fourteen inches wide. Owing to the highness of the ground, it was 



