242 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



Of this fish, Capt. William E. Dougherty, United States Army, in charge of the 

 United States hatching station at Hoopa Valley, California, wrote me in May, 1896: 



I am not able to give you an authentic instance in which it can be shown that the steelhead 

 has spawned and reared young in fresh water without going to the ocean first. But it must be 

 remembered that very little scientific inquiry has been made into the habits of the steelhead, or 

 indeed of the salmon on this coast. I have some steelheads in our ponds here, now three years 

 old. We examined them about two weeks ago and found roe in the female and milt in the male, 

 but so microscopic as to be almost rudimentary. It is quite possible that these fish may spawn 

 next year. 



It has been alleged that the rainbow trout is a fresh water modification of the steelhead. 

 Recent investigation, however, supplies evidence that the two fish are different, and this has been 

 confirmed somewhat by an experience here. It is alleged that the Kamloops trout of Wash- 

 ington is an off-shoot of the steelhead. The Kamloops trout is land-locked and never gets to 

 the ocean ; and so if it is a steelhead, it goes to show that the steelhead will spawn without 

 going to sea. But, again, it must be said that as little is known of the Kamloops as of the steel- 

 head proper. My own opinion is that, if the steelhead will adapt himself to a fresh water 

 habitat, it will spawn and rear young in it without going back to salt water. It should be borne 

 in mind that the natural range of the steelhead in the ocean on this coast is in water that never 

 has any ice in it, and they do not enter the streams in the spring in any considerable numbers 

 until the temperature of the water begins to rise. 



Since Capt. Dougherty's letter was written, United States Fish Commissioner 

 Bowers has informed me that the steelhead has matured in the ponds of the hatching 

 station at East Orland, Maine, and eggs have been taken. These fish were reared in 

 fresh water ponds at the station. Steelhead eggs bear transportation remarkably well, 

 which has not always been the case with the red throat trout. Some steelhead eggs 

 were sent from Capt. Dougherty's station in California to Mr. S. Jarre, the well known 

 fish culturist in Osnabriick, Germany, who wrote me that out of 10,000 eggs, there 

 was a loss of only 720 in transit and hatching, and the fry were vigorous and 

 promised well. 



The Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission, through the courtesy of the U.nited 

 States Fish Commission, obtained a quantity of steelhead fingerlings and some were 

 planted in a Long Island stream and some in a Northern New York lake. Those 

 that were planted on Long Island, when rather more than a year old, rose to the fly 

 of the trout fisherman and made a most gallant fight, but at this time it is too early to 

 tell what the outcome of the plantings will be. That they are a game fish there is not 

 the least doubt, as has been demonstrated at the rearing ponds. 



The steelhead enters the Columbia river in the fall (this I say on the authority of 

 the United States Fish Commission, although it is contrary to what Capt. Dougherty's 

 letter would lead one to suppose from his own experience with the fish) and spawns 

 the following spring from February to May. The eggs are larger than the red throat 

 eggs, being one-fifth of an inch in diameter, and average from 3,000 to 5, 000 eggs per 



