FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 69 



I have thoroughly looked the ground over, and have studied the matter and came 

 to the above conclusion. There are sites within a few miles of the present hatchery 

 where far greater success could be obtained and with half the efforts and expense. 



During the past summer a few necessary repairs were made at this hatchery to 

 carry it through the coming hatching season. 



Fulton Chain Hatchery, located at Old Forge, in Herkimer county, is in charge of 

 Foreman E. L. Marks, who has had charge of this hatchery ever since it was estab- 

 lished, so by this time he is thoroughly familiar with the surrounding country. 



Since the completion of the railroad to Fulton Chain all of the waters in this neigh- 

 borhood are opened up so that they are accessible to fishermen from all sections of the 

 State, and only by renewed and vigorous efforts on the part of the Commission and 

 the employes of the hatchery can this section hope to retain its reputation for its 

 excellent fishing. This hatchery alone cannot accomplish that end on account of the 

 limited water supply that will carry trout during the summer months. The water that 

 feeds the hatchery, and which is taken from the pond or river which is the outlet of 

 the Fulton Chain of lakes, warms up so during the months of May and June that fish 

 have to be removed to a small spring brook located in the swamp, a short distance 

 back of the hatchery. Here Foreman Marks has constructed several small ponds, and 

 during the past summer he has enlarged and improved them so that it is possible for 

 him to carry more fish than at any time during the past years, but during the dry time 

 even this water supply becomes so very low and warm that two or three thousand 

 breeding fish is the highest number that the ponds will sustain. 



This fall Chairman Babcock of the Hatchery Committee ordered two thousand 

 yearling brook trout sent to Foreman Marks for distribution in waters adjacent to 

 the hatchery. That number was delivered from the Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery, 

 and about five hundred nine-months-old fish that were in one of the hatchery 

 ponds were all liberated under the supervision of Foreman Marks and several of the 

 resident guides. Mr. Marks also had instructions to turn out a number of very large 

 brook trout which he had in his breeding ponds. They were liberated in first, 

 second and third lakes. 



During the coming year I would consider it advisable to send at least 25,000 year- 

 ling brook trout to Fulton Chain Hatchery for liberation in the surrounding waters. 



I consider fry that are hatched and planted from the Fulton Chain Hatchery of the 

 very best quality. 



The output and results at this hatchery, for the amount of money expended each 

 year, are most satisfactory. From April 25 th, the day the Fisheries, Game and Forests 

 Commission, assumed control, up to the present time, 500,000 brook trout. .275.000 



