Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania. 99 



true or not, the waters were suitable for this great game and king of 

 table fishes, and as early as 1871 it was decided to try the experiment 

 by planting some fry. A number of gentlemen in Baston and Phila- 

 delphia, interested in fish culture, accordingly raised a sum of money 

 and purchased 10,000 salmon eggs of a Mr. Wilmot, of New Castle, 

 Canada, then in charge of the government hatching house of the British 

 Dominion. These eggs were placed in charge of Mr. Christie, a pisci- 

 culturist, of Duchess county, New York. He hatched them successfully, 

 and the fry, when about an inch and a quarter long, were taken by the 

 late Henry A. King, a conductor on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, 

 to Easton, which was reached on Decoration day. Although carefully 

 attended by Mr. King and Mr. Christie, who also accompanied the 

 young fish on their journey, the weather was so hot that only about 

 2,500 survived, and these were in a very weak condition. A portion of 

 the fry were placed in the spring of Paul Rader, on the Bushkill, about 

 four miles above Baston, and the remainder in the springs of Benjamin 

 Lerch and John Lerch, on the same stream, a tributary of the Delaware 

 river. 



In the following year, the same gentlemen made a purchase of 13,000 

 more eggs. Mr. Thaddeus Norris took charge of these himself, and un- 

 dertook to have them hatched under his own supervision at a spring 

 about a mile from Easton. Notwithstanding the hatching boxes were 

 of the rudest description, Mr. Norris succeeded in successfully incubat- 

 ing 11,000. These were also placed in a tributary of the Delaware. 



Noting the efforts of these gentlemen Prof. Baird, the United States 

 Commissioner, presented the state with 40,000 salmon spawn taken at 

 Buckport jon the Kennebec river, and a like number to the State of 

 New Jersey in the early spring of 1873. Mr. Norris again put the 

 hatching boxes at Baston into service and brought forth 27,000 young 

 salmon, while Dr. Slach incubated 33,000 of the 40,000 eggs given 

 New Jersey, at his private hatchinsr house at Troutdale in that state. 

 Eighteen thousand of these were deposited in one of the tributaries 

 of the Delaware along with those hatched by Mr. Norris, so tha,t in 

 three years no less than 58,500 salma salarweve planted in the Delaware 

 river. 



In the meantime while this work was being done in the Delaware, 

 attempts were being made to stock the Susquehanna with another 

 species of salmon, the California. In 1873, six thousand of these fish were 

 presented to the state and deposited in the Susquehanna, near Harris- 

 burg, and in the fall of the same year 21,000 more were placed in dif- 

 ferent cold springs, rivulets and creeks emptying into the same stream. 



These two efforts naturally excited much interest and a close watch 

 was kept for results. The young fry were soon heard from, a number 

 of those placed in the Delaware in 1871 and 1872 being caught by igno- 

 rant fishermen and killed under the impression that they were trout. 



