Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvarda. 57 



The commissioners at that time did not think it advisable to go heavily 

 into brook trout culture. They argued that as there were far more 

 fruitful fish it was better to devote their best energies towards increas- 

 ing the river supply with such fish as the black bass, and shad, leaving 

 the work of trout culture as an extensive operation together with the re- 

 stocking of trout streams to future commissioners. 



In order, however, that future commissioners might have a basis on 

 which to work, trout ponds were built on the grounds of the hatchery, 

 and Mr. Duffy, one of the commissioners who had some ponds of his 

 own at Marietta, gave the state commission the privilege of stripping 

 his trout of their eggs. 



This was done, and something less than one hundred thousand trout 

 fry were thus obtained. This, when compared with the production of 

 trout from the two trout hatcheries in the state in 1891, 2,508,000, seems 

 ridiculously small. But few as the numbers seem at this time, after the 

 commissioners had used as many as they needed to stock their own 

 ponds, they had great difficulty in disposing of the remainder. The 

 work of the commission was not yet known, and, therefore, no applica- 

 tions were sent in, not even of the unintentionally humorous kind such 

 as are now often received, like the following, for instance, received some 

 time since by Mr. Ford, from a colored man in the heart of Philadelphia. 

 ''Dear Sir: Pleas send me some of them trout fry I hear of as I am 

 fond of fried trout." Most of the young fish hatched were deposited the 

 first year in various waters by the commissioners themselves. Nor was 

 this an easy task for the cans in which they were then carried held fifteen 

 gallons of water — double what those now in use do — and to the tired 

 men who had to carry them they seemed as one of them said recently, 

 to "weigh a ton." 



The work was hard, much harder than at the present time, especially 

 since, sometime after the erection of the hatchery, it was found that the 

 enclosure built around the spring which supplied the water failed to 

 work properly. During the seasons that were wet, the water would 

 rise to the desired height, but as soon a dry spell came on the water 

 would sink to the level it held before the enclosure was built. For 

 some time this was inexplicable, but at length it was discovered that 

 there were cracks in the limestone rock above the normal level, through 

 which the spring water found an outlet as fast as it flowed, except in 

 long-continued wet weather. 



In consequence of this lack of water, the trout eggs were placed in 

 floating boxes in the ponds and kept there until they had been brought 

 to a certain stage of incubation and then were shipped to Corry, where 

 a second hatchery had been established, and there fully hatched. The 

 fry were then shipped back to Marietta for distribution. 



With Mr. Creveling at Marietta as assistant was William BuUer, now 

 superintendent at Corry, and for two or three years their lives during 



