810 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IJult 27, 1882. 



JUisffCttlture. 



THE ACCIDENT TO THE CURRENT WHEEL 



AT THE U. S. SALMON BREEDING STATION ON THE M'cLODD 

 B1VEB, CALIFORNIA, SEPT. 18, 1881. 



EVERYTHING went on smoothly till packing time, and 

 we had no accidents with one exception. Tin's exception, 

 however, was one of the gravest character, and consisted of 

 an accident to the water wheel, which tilled us all with con- 

 sternation and alarm. It happened tho 18th of September, 

 on a remarkably quiet and pleasant Sunday morning. The 

 white men employed at the iishery were scattered over the 

 grounds, and there were three or four Indians about. No one 

 had the slightest expectation of any disaster. Everything 

 connected with the. hatching of the eggs seemed to be going oh 

 with the utmost success and safety, when suddenly in the 

 direction of the current wheel which lifts the water for the 

 hatching house an ominous sound of a blow was heard, fol- 

 lowed by a crash like the breaking of a board; then another 

 and another, and those who happened to be in sight of the 

 wheel saw that it had begun to break up and was rapidly 

 going to pieces. A moment before hardly half a dozen men 

 could be seen, a moment after more than' twenty men, white 

 and red, were gathered on the bar opposite where the wheel- 

 was stationed. It seemed at first as if the wheel would be 

 torn to pieces in a few moments. It was revolving at the 

 rate of hve revolutions a minute in a very rapid and powerful 

 current. But the injury itself was the cause of its own 

 cessation. 



Though no one knows positively the cause of the accident, 

 it is suppose! that it was occasioned by driftwood coming 

 down the river and catching somewhere about the wheel so 

 as to obstruct it. The momentum of the current here being 

 so great that it forced the wheel around notwithstanding the 

 obstruction, there could be but one result, viz., the breaking 

 up of the wheel. But, of course, after five or six paddles 

 were broken off on one side of the wheel there was a large 

 space on the circumference of the wheel where it did not 

 reach the water at all. When this pari of the wheel came 

 around again toward the surface of the water, there being no 

 paddle to reach the current the wheel stopped of its own 

 accord. As soon as the accident was discovered not a mo- 

 ment was lost in establishing a line of buckets, from the river 

 to the hatching house to supply water to the eggs. Every 

 white man and Indian that could be pressed into the service 

 was employed, and in less than ten minutes we had three 

 lines of eight or ten men, each bringing water from the river 

 in buckets, tubs, watering pots, and anything that could be 

 found that would hold water. 



This being accomplished and the eggs relieved from imminent 

 danger, we gave attention to the wheel. It appeared that 

 seven paddles were broken off with a portion of each arm 

 attached. The question now was whether the men could 

 hold out bringing water till the wheel could be repaired. I 

 do not know what we could have, done in this emergency 

 without the Indians, but I do not think we could have saved 

 many of the eggs without their help. They worked splen- 

 didly, most of them from eleven o'clock in the morning, 

 when the wheel broke down, until four o'clock the next 

 morning, when the wheel was sta ted again— seventeen hours 

 of continuous work, when I allowed them, three at a time, 

 to run to the house to get something to eat, During all these 

 seventeen hours some of them were carrying buckets of water 

 that weighed sixty or seventy pounds each. They did not 

 work as if they were wo king merely for pay, but they 

 worked with genuine enthusiasm. They kept kfgood spirits, 

 too. till an hour or two after midnight, but about two or 

 three o'clock in the morning it was evident that it was all 

 they could do to keep at it. I do not think they could have 

 held out much longer. I have seen white men look as tired as 

 they did, but I never saw such a tared look on Indians' 

 faces before as there was on the faces of those red heroeswho 

 saved our seven million salmon eggs. When it is remembered 

 that we consider ten thousand gallons of water an hour 

 necessary to keep all the eggs in good condition, an idea 

 may be formed of the labor that was involved in brhvina- 

 the water to the eggs. 



I must not forget to say here that the white men worked 

 as heroically a3 the Indians, though their work was not as ex- 

 hausting, and I must especially mention Mr. J. B. Campbell, 

 Who took charge of repairing the wheel, and who worked 

 with all his might at it from the time it broke till it was re- 

 paired. At four o'clock in the tnorning the wheel was a -am 

 making its accustomed revolutions, and raising the regular 

 supply of water to the hatching house. When this was ac- 

 complished, the rest of us, leaving one man to watch the 

 wheel till breakfast time, i otired to sleep the remainder of 

 the night. 



Before leaving the subject of the accident to the wheel I 

 will mention a contrivance which we adopted for furnishing 

 water to the eggs, which, though very simple, saved an enor- 

 mous amount of labor, and is st'ongly recommended for any 

 hatching house that may be unfortunate enough to have its 

 water supply cut off for any length of time. The device was 

 simply this, viz. : A long, large, tight trough was placed under 

 the outlet of the hatching troughs so as to catch and hold the 

 water that flowed from them. In addition to this a Jine of 

 raised spouts was erected from the outlet end of the hatching- 

 house to the filtering tank at the other end. sufficiently ele^ 

 vatad to deliver into the filtering tank the'water that was 

 poured into it at the other end. 



Several men then went to work at the outlet end of the 

 house to dip the water up in buckets from the trough just 

 mentioned, and to pom- it into the head of the elevated line of 

 spouts. The water so dipped up flowed down the elevated 

 trough into the filtering tank, and hence over the eggs again 

 into the long trough at the outlet that it was originally taken 

 from. In this way a constant circulation was kept up through 

 the hatching troughs by the small stationary force or men dip- 

 ping and pouring at the elevated spout. This with the water 

 that was also being brought from the river formed an ade- 

 quate supply, and the eggs were kept in perfect condition all 

 night, and strangely enough, there was no perceptible loss of 

 eggs during the whole time of the stoppage of t e wheel, 

 although there were seven million live hundred thousand 

 salmon eggs in the hatching house, Livingston Stone. 



CANADIAN REPORTS. 



WE have before us "Supplement No. 2 to the Fourteenth 

 Annual Report of the Department of Marino and Fish- 

 eries, for the year 18S1." Also the "Report of Samuel Wil- 

 mot, Esq., on Fish Breeding Operations in the Dominion of 

 Canada during the year 1881, with Remarks on the Decline of 

 the Salmon Fisheries." The reports are very interesting, but 

 so voluminous that our space will allow but few extracts. 

 We find that the total value of the fisheries of the Dominion 

 of Canada for 1881 was $15,617,162.7$, an increase of over »ne 

 million three hundred thousand dollars above the previous 

 year. There are then given tables of the product of each 

 Province, in detail as to kind of fish, cuaniity and value. 

 The total expenditure for hshculture was $,3 1,530.02 for the 

 year ending June 30, 18S1, divided among eleven hatcheries, 

 Mr. W. H. Rogers, Inspector of Fisheries of Nova Scotia, 

 reports that salmon are still decreasing, but he looks for a 

 return of the former abundance from the fry which have 

 been planted. Mr. W, H, Venning. Inspector for New- Bruns- 

 wick, announces a more marked decline in the numbers of 

 salmon than previously reported, and that the fisheries have 

 fallen off full fifty per cent, below former years. In all the 



estuaries and rivers the number of nets is excessive, and for 

 years this fishery has been pursued bevond the power of the 

 fish to multiply. The same falling off is reported from the 

 north and south shores of Quebec, which is attributed to the 

 backward spring, The fly-tisnermen laid their want of suc- 

 cess to the low stage of water and its clearness, rather than 

 to lack of fish, In Anticosti the salmon fishery was a com- 

 plete failure, but twelve barrels being taken. From Prince 

 Edward's Island the same condition obtained and no salmon 

 angling was had, while from British Columbia it is reported 

 that the cannors have had a good season, although the spring 

 run was light. The largest fish caught weighed sixty-five 

 pounds. 



In the report of Mr. Wfimot we find that a new hatchery 

 has been built at the foot of Lake Mennpreniagog, Quebec, 

 where fish can be hatched oil a large scale. One has also been 

 completed at Sidney, Cape Breton, of the same dimensions 

 as the above; while at the Indian House, Restigouche River, 

 the latest and most expensive one is now under erection by 

 Overseer Morvat. This will be 100 feet long by 30 feet wide, and 

 one and a half stories in height. The fry turned out of the 

 eleven hatcheries in the spring of 1881 numbered, salmon, 

 3,540,000; lake trout, 2.000,000; California salmon, 40,000; 

 brook trout, 00,000; "pickerel" (wall-eyod pike), 12,200.000; 

 white fish, 22,040,000. We will take up the remarks on peri- 

 odical fluctuation of the salmon fisheries at a. future, time. 



THE EDINBURGH FISHERIES EXHIBITION. 



"WJ E have received the second annual report of the Scotch 

 V T Fisheries Improvement Association, dated May 1882. 

 The appendix contains a list of fishery associations and 

 angling clubs; a Report on the International Fisheries Exhi- 

 bition recently held at Edinburgh, by Archibald Young, Esq.. 

 and other matters, From Mr. Young's report we learn that 

 during the sixteen days that the Waverly Market remained 

 open nearly 140,000 persons visited it, and that the exhibition 

 was a pecuniary success, as well as a satisfactory one in 

 other ways. Angling was well represented by the tackle 

 makers, but the few exhibitors in the lishcultural class were 

 not of a high order of merit. The "Game Fish of the United 

 States," by Kilboume and Goode attracted the attention that 

 such a work deserves. 



From the report of Mr. J. A. Leonard, TJ. S. Consul at 

 Leith, to the Assistant Secretary of State We extract the fol- 

 lowing: 



"The International Fisheries Exhibition referred to in pre- 

 vious dispatches from this consulate was held at Edinburgh, 

 Scotland, opening on the 12th and closing on the 29th of 

 April, 1882. It was, both in the extent of the exhibition and 

 in the attendance it attracted, very satisfactory. Notwith- 

 standing the prevalence of bad weather during much of the 

 time, the attendance was quite large, the number of visitors 

 ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 a day. and aggregating about 

 150,000 for the whole 16 davs. The" visitors were principally 

 from Scotland, and most of them from places easilv accessible 

 to Edinburgh. It was remunerative, taking in about S2O.O00 

 as the proceeds of admission tickets. The number of exhibits 

 was 527, of which 302 were from Scotland, 89 from England, 

 44 from Sweden, 31 from Norway, 21 from Germany, 12 I'rotn 

 Denmaik, 4 each from Ireland, the United States and Italy, 

 3 each from Russia, France and Switzerland, 2 from Canada 

 and 1 each from Holland, Spain, Iceland, China and Africa, 

 It will be noticed that there were very few exhibits from the 

 United States. 



"Messrs. Conroy, Bissett & Mallison, of New York, had on 

 exhibition some samples of fishing rods of th^ir manufacture. 

 Their peculiarity consisted in being made of cane split and 

 joined in such a way as to secure lightness, combined with 

 strength, and they were besides very handsomely finished. I 

 was told by a Scotch manufacturer that the Americans gave 

 their rods a finish that cannot be got in this country, but that 

 the American article costs more than those made here, say 

 about 85 on a thirty-dollar set. A silver medal was awarded 

 to Conroy, Bissett & Mallison for their exhibition of rods and 

 tackle. The Gloucester Isinglass and Glue Company: of Glou- 

 cester, Mass., made an excellent exhibition of several varieties 

 of isinglass and glue manufactured from lish skins. They 

 were awarded a silver medal and a diploma for guano made 

 from the refuse of the company's manufacture. E. G. Black- 

 ford, of Fulton Market, New York, sent from there samples 

 of fresh American fish, striped bass, shad, red snapper, pom- 

 pano, and brook trout. There were some samples of canned 

 rish from the United States exhibited by importers among 

 collections showing their imports from "different countries. 

 A series oi large handsome photographs of American salmon 

 were exhibited by John Clark, of Glasgow, Scotland, for 

 which he was awarded a diploma. A plaster cast of an 

 American black bass was exhibited from the collection of the 

 late Prank Buckland. 



"Pisciculture has not received the attention in Scotland 

 that might be expected from the importance here of the sub- 

 ject; but interesting displays of hatching and feeding appa- 

 ratuswere made from the hatcheries of By rani Littlewood, of 

 Huddorsh'eld, England; Sir James Gibson Maitland. of Stir- 

 ling, Scotland, and Joseph J. Anuistead, of Dumfries, Scot- 

 land. Mr. Littlewood also exhibited oysters produced by ar- 

 tificial contact of the sperm and ova inartificial sea water by 

 a process of his invention. He claims that while an American 

 experimenter has succeeded in hatching the oyster, no one 

 but himself has succeeded as yet in gro wing it beyond on e of 

 the earliest stages of development. "He showed living speci- 

 mens which he had kept in continuous growth from three to 

 live months, which is as long as he has been experimenting 

 in that direction, and expressed full confidence in the practi- 

 cability of hatching aud rearm g oysters abundantly and 

 profitably. Ten thousand fish, about three weeks old'; were 

 on exhibition by Constantine Muszyuski, of St. Petersburg. 

 Russia, which had been transported from there in a large 

 glass bottle of his invention, w.th qoncave sides, without the 

 ioss of more than a dozen of the fry, and in excellent con- 

 dition. 



"The purification of the water, which after use in factories 

 is returned to the streams in a condition fatal to fish, is a sub- 

 ject of great importance in connection with the preservation 

 of the salmon and trout of this country. There, wore models 

 of apparatus and samples of water exhibited, showing the 

 success that had been attained at several places in England 

 and Scotland in separating the impurities in a condition suit- 

 able' for re-use or merchantable for manure and returning the 

 water to the streams purifled. The Native Guano Company 

 exhibited living fish surviving in water from the factories of 

 Aylesburg, England, which had been purified by this process. 



"A machine for fish-cleaning, the invention of John Ross, of 

 Stonehaven, Scotland, was exhibited. It is claimed that by 

 its use five girls can clean a hundred score of haddocks in 

 three hours, and that the fish are less liable to be injured 

 than by hand-cleaning'. It consists of a series of stiff brushes 

 revolving on a cylinder. Among the nets, Thomas Davidson, 

 of Aberdeen, Scotland, exhibited one called the jackal net, 

 a long narrow net, by dropping which from a boat it is 

 claimed that it may be seen whether there are any herrings 

 under the boat and at what depth." 



thousand of the fry having been in its waters long enough to 

 respond to a "line." The bass and maskalonge fishing in 

 Long and the other numerous lakes thereabouts is said to be 

 excellent, in fact Chippewa county acknowledges no superior 

 as a fishing ground, — Badger, 



STRIPED BASS FOR CALIFORNIA. -Oceanic, N. J, 

 July 15.— We have on hand five hundred and twenty small 

 bass for the Pacific waters. Have been detained, but fish 

 are alive and hearty, and under Marks' careful handling he 

 has induced them' to feed in the ears. Think they will be 

 ready for transportation on Monday. I am taking nice messes 

 of kingflsh and weakfish. Make that car of eel8 a can or the 

 Jevseymen will think we are depopulating their waters. I 

 will experiment this summer on the lobster, and if I can get 

 him to remain alive for eight clays then we can add one more 

 product to the Pacific waters. I am quite positive that the 

 small bass we have taken are yearlings. The Hrst six months 

 they do not thrive so well, but after they pass that period 

 they are like a little pig, eating all the time, consequently 

 grow fast. I think in October I can get the fry one and one- 

 half inches in length. Will notify you upon receipt of the ar- 

 rival of the fish, as Messrs. Redding- and Throckmorton, the 

 enthusiastic Commissioners of California, will receive the fish 

 personally and telegraph me full results!— G. n. Wild. 



TENNESSEE NOTES.-Nashvillo. July 12.— Mr. J. E, War- 

 ner informs me that his experiment of hatching and raising 

 brook trout at his establishment, near Craggie Hope, has 

 proved a peifact success. The eggs received a year ago were 

 hatched with a small percentage of loss, and the young fish 

 are growing rapidly. The temperature of the water in his 

 ponds is below 00 deg., and as it never freezes very hard out 

 here in the winter, the fish feed and grow the en i 

 Mr. Warner thinks that brook trout hatched here wiil attain 

 two pounds' weight in two years. If so the industry is des- 

 tined to be very remunerative, although he will not be able to 

 get one dollar per pound for his fish, as growers do in New 

 York. I have made frequent inquiry of "the market fisher- 

 men about here if any shad had been caught in the Cumber- 

 land last spring, and had a negative reply in variably, —J. D. H . 



SALMON IN NEW HAMPSHIRE,— Charlestown. N. H., 

 July 16. — Commissioner Bracket!, of Massachusetts, in i ■ ■■ 

 me on Friday, that Superintendent Hodge had taken twenty- 

 one large salmon at the hatchery at Plymouth, N. H., up to 

 the 13th inst., a larger number than have been secured in any 

 previous ye ir up to the same date. The. efficiency < >f the fish- 

 ways on the Meivimac River is also proved by the arrival of 

 alewives and lamprey eels, at Amoskeag Pail*. In Manchester. 

 The. run ot salmon this year ami last have all be . ■ fish 



from 16 to 20 pounds, and probabl jr of the plants L5?d and 6. 

 In 1877 and 8, only California salmon could be procured and 

 these have not been heard from, but We hope to hear next, 

 year, of the returns from one plant of Penobscot eggs in 1870. 

 and after that look for a heavy increase annually. — Sam 

 Webber. 



Look at this.— W. & C. Scott & Sans' brooch-loa tor, Damascus 

 barrels, top action, rebounding Ipcks, low hammers, larcc siii 

 potent fore-end, doable holt, pistol grip, horn heel pla If, in a square 

 leather case, with crimper, loader, powder and shot measure and 

 cleaning rod for 805.00. a ml same gun with extension rib for S76.00, 

 Each gun is warranted in the. ilrst place to be a genuine gun by these 

 celebrated makers, secondly to shoot to satisfaction, audthiid'if any- 

 thing should not suit will make it right on gun or exchange for 

 another if within thirty days from purchase. CHAKLliS L RJTZ- 

 MANN, 943 Broadway, New York.— Adv. 



FIXTURES. 



BENdM snows. 



April 3, 4, 5 and (5,1882, Western Pennsylvania, Poultry Society s 

 Fifth Annual Bench Show, Pittsburgh, Pa. Entries for 'the Bench 

 Show Derby, for English setters whelped on or after March 1, 1882, 

 close December 1, 1882. Chas, Lincoln, Superintendent. I. B, Stay- 

 toil, Secretary, Allegheny City, Pa. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



September 4.— National American Kennel Club Field Trials on Prairie 

 Chickens, Fairmont, Minn. Entries for the Derby close July], for the 

 All-aged, Sept. 4. Jos. H. Dew, Columbia, Tenn., Secretary. 



November 17 --Eastern Field Trials Club Field Trials on Quail, near 

 fligh Point. N. C. Entries for the Derby close July 1. For the All- 

 Aged and Members- Slake. November 1. F. N, Hall. P. D. Box 884, 

 New York, Secretary. 



December 4— National American Kennel Club Field Trials on Quail, 

 Grand Junction, Tenn. D, Brvson. Memphis, Tenn., Secretary. 



December 11— New Orleans Gun Club Field Trials or Quail, Opelou- 

 sas, 1,9. Entries close December 11. J. K. Remind, Secretary, Neu 

 Orleans, La, Entries for the Club (.hip close December 1 , 



CALIFORNIA SALMON IN FRESH WATER.— Chippewa 

 Falls, Wis., July 12, 18S3.— Four years ago California salmon 

 fry from the Madison State hatchery were placed in Clear 

 Lake, or Big Pine, as it is also called," being a body of water 

 west of the Chain Lakes, of which "our" Long Lake, twenty- 

 five miles from here, is one. Lately two of them were cap- 

 tured with a spoon hook, one weighing seven pounds and the 

 other a little more. The boys are now going to investigate 

 the Mackinaw trout question in Long Lake, two hundred 



TRANSPORTATION OF DOGS TO THE TRIALS. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



I have been at work sseiug what I could do with the rail- 

 road companies in regard to getting the dogs for the Ea*t- 

 ern Field Trials passed free over the railroads, and it affords 

 me pleasure to say to you that thus far I have been very suc- 

 cessful. Mr. Samuel Carpenter, the Eastern passen g 



of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, office at tii!) Broad- 

 way, writes under date of June 15 as follows: 



"Dear Sir: Replying to your inquiry made recently for tho 

 annual trials at High Point to be made during the month of 

 November of the Eastern Field Club, we will transport the 

 dogs free of charge over our lines. vVheu the time comes, be 

 kind enough to give me ample notice in order that the. proper 

 instructions may be given to baggage agents.'' 



The, general passenger agent of the Associated Railways of 

 Virginia and the Carolines, Mr. A. Pope, Richmond, Vn... 

 writes under date of June 37 as follows: 



''Dear Sir: We never refuse upon proper application to 

 remit or reduce the rate fortiie dogs of sportsmen desiring to 

 use. our lines. I was aware that the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 proposed in this particular instance to charge nothing between 

 New York and Washington for the dogs taken by the gentle- 

 men going to the High Point meeting, "and we will arrange to 

 do likewise between Was lington aud High Point. Appreci- 

 ating the courteous manner in which you bring this matter to 

 our attention, I am," etc. 



The general passenger agent of the Western North Carolina 

 Railroad Company, Mr. J. S, Macmurdo, Salisbury, writes 

 under date of duly IB as follows: 



"Lear Sir: The Western North Carolina Railroad and its 

 connections from Memphis will pass dogs free when in charge 

 of their owners or trainers to the field trial which is to take 

 place, at High Point, and will also put on round trip tickets 

 from High Point to Grand Junction, Tenn., if desired. Please 

 let me know about what time it will be necessary to issue the 

 order as to transportation of dogs, " 



1 am glad to see that the railroads are disposed to treat 

 gentlemen sportsmen iu such a nice manner, and I think we 

 are under obligations for this courtesy. Geo. T. Leacf, 



New York, July 30. 



THIEVES AND POISON.— Onondago Valley, N. Y.-Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Mr. W. S. Barntmi of Danforth has lost 

 two setters by poison and a pointer stolen— all valuable dogs. 

 Mr. J. Glahn's bitch Minnie was also stolen, but he traced 

 the thieves and recovered the bitch. The scoundrels were 

 very willing to settle.— W. M. 



