May 2, 1903.] 
FOREST AND ^STREAM, 
SBl 
all of whom got salmon. One salmon captured in this 
lake weighed 14 pounds. 
Mr. J. H. Peavey, of Bangor, has taken several, the 
largest weighing 7 pounds. Mr. R. Provost, of Phila- 
delphia, met with excellent luck on Cathance Lake, and 
is so much pleased that he will build a handsome cot- 
tage there in the near future. 
From Grand Lake the ice is reported to have gone 
out on the i8th, on which date there was a number of 
sportsmen on the ground prepared to try their luck, 
A great influx from all parts of New England is ex- 
pected. Notwithstanding many new camps have been 
built the past year along the shores, it is thought they 
will not be adequate to house the small army of fisher- 
men that will visit this resort. The completion of the 
Washington County Railroad has made the waters of 
this section so easy of access that they have been ad- 
vancing in popularity very rapidly. I understand this 
lake is regarded as the original home of landlocked 
salmon. In this lake this fish has not been planted, 
and the immense hatchery on the lake has rendered 
it the father of all the landlocked salmon in Maine. 
At the Rangeleys all is expectancy. All are anxious 
to see the ice move out. Mr. E. H. Davis, proprietor 
of the Lake Side on Lake Umbagog, received a letter 
from there several days ago in which the writer said: 
"Before this letter reaches you the ice will be gone." 
Many anxious ones are waiting for the word,_"The ice 
is gone!" Their trunks are packed, tackle in order; 
in fact, everything in readiness to take the first train 
after the word comes. 
There may be days, possibly weeks of waiting yet, 
though it is said indications favor an early fishing 
season at the lakes— the Rangeleys and Moosehead. 
Lake Cobbosseecontee is reported to have opened 
early to fishing, April 6, and many trout from 2j4 
pounds to 5 pounds have been taken, as well as some 
salmon weighing over 5 pounds. 
Reports of successful fishing have also come from 
Maranacook and Annabessacook lakes. Commissioner 
Carleton says: "We are planting millions of finger- 
lings yearly and the fishing is constantly improving." 
In general, this is not unlikely, but the improvement 
is doubtless more noticeable in some lakes than in 
others. 
The resolve for a hatchery at Rangeley Lakes has 
been signed by the Governor, but its exact location 
has not yet been determined. Several sporting camps 
in this region have changed hands, and in all improve- 
ments are being made, additions and new buildings are 
going up, furnishing more and better accommodations 
than ever before. It will be fortunate if owners and 
proprietors shall receive enough increased patronage 
from anglers to ofl[set the losses likely to be incurred 
as the result of the non-resident license law during 
the hunting season. In these days of fast trains New 
Brunswick and Canada are not so far away as they 
used to be, and the people of those provinces are al- 
ready showing genuine Yankee enterprise in making 
known the attractions thej' afford for anglers and hunt- 
ers of big game from the States. It is not unlikely 
that many Megantic Club members will look for large 
game on the portion of their preserve which lies on the 
Canadian side of the line, where they will not be re- 
quired to take out a license. But, luckily, there are no 
such restrictions on fishing, which affords just as good 
an opportunity to enjoy the ozone, the sunshine and 
the aroma of the pines, as hunting. 
Everyone hereabouts who has ever wet a line has the 
fever on now, and it is near reaching a climax with 
the trout and salmon fishermen, who go to Maine or 
New Hampshire. 
The Clearwater Club, under the leadership of Dr. 
Bishop, is to start next week; which reminds me of 
a verse of a poem inscribed to the Doctor on the oc- 
casion of the club dinner last winter, written by Dr. 
Payne: 
"About this time of yeai' we take our fishing tackle down; 
A feeling strong comes over us that we must shake the town. 
The lakes and streams are calling us ; we've got the fever sure, 
We're off to old Clearwater, that lake so deep and pure. 
Chorus — , j [] 
'' 'Tis in the springtime, 'tis in the springtime, 
The fishing fever catches j'ou and me; 
So we're off again, boys, to the State of Maine, boys. 
With our good friend, the Doctor Heber B." 
Whether the party will go to Clearwater this year 
or to Grand Lake, is not yet settled, and will depend 
on the conditions yet to be reported from the former 
lake. I *,:3»««s>^ 
Several Boston sportsmen have recently shown their 
friends evidences of their skill. One of these is Mr. 
Charles F. Danforth, who brought from Dan Hole 
Pond, New Hampshire, three salmon weighing 6^2, 
45^ and 7^4 pounds. They were on exhibition last 
Tuesday in the window of the Charles C. Richards 
Company (formerly Scott & Richards), 218 Washing- 
ton Street, and attracted the admiration of all who 
saw them, Mr. Joseph Gridley also brought home two 
salmon, taken at Dan Hole. 
Messrs. E. W. Foote, Benjamin H. Bradlee, J. C. 
Paul, Gardner Jones and friends have returned from 
the Cape, bringing a large number of trout, the largest 
pounds. Deputy Warden Thomas Stackhouse, of 
Marshfield, caught about a dozen in a pond near his 
house on the opening day, several of which were pre- 
sented to one of the veteran members of the State 
Association, Mr. E. M. Stoddard, and one of them, 
through the courtesy of Mr. Nat. Le Roy, was deliv- 
ered to the writer in Boston. It was a pound and a 
half fish and made a good meal. 
■ Here are some clippings from Berkshire papers. 
From North Adams Evening Herald of April 20: 
"Fred Crawford took from Green River Saturday a 
trout weighing 234 pounds." 
North Adams Transcript, April 23; "H. H. Heap, 
of Boston, took from Green River a trout i6j4 inches 
in length. This is believed to be the largest trout ever 
taken in this vicinity." 
North Adams Transcript, April 17: "Harry Powell 
and Wm. Garlick, of Braytonville, fished April i. The 
former got so, 23 of which weighed over 12 pounds. 
Garlick got 43j which averaged larger than Powell's." 
In Cummington Deputy Nichols fished 20 mjnutes 
after dinner at the hotel and took three, averaging ^ 
pound. A young lady got one weighing i pound 3 
ounces. 
It is reported that 25 trout caught in Brimfield 
weighed 14 pounds. 
These statements are interesting, from the fact that 
it has been declared that there are no 6-inch trout in 
Berkshire county: there is no legal length established 
in that county. It is claimed that such limitation as 
the law establishes for the rest of the State is not 
needed there. 
Sportsmen froin West Springfield took from Bear 
Hole Brook 62 trout in one day — the largest over a 
pound. Enough has been learned already to show that 
trout are more plentiful and of larger size than usual 
this spring, in the western counties, at any rate. In 
part, this may be due to the abundance of water in the 
.streams for the past few years. In the opinion of 
many it is largely due to more judicious efforts on the 
part of the State Commission in the management of 
the hatcheries and the distribution of fish. 
It is only within the last two or three years that 
the putting out of fingerlings has been done to any 
considerable extent. Then, again, it was only last 
year the plan of sending out some competent person 
with consignments of fry and fingerlings was adopted 
— a special appropriation having been secured a year 
ago for that purpose. 
Commissioner Delano informs me that a million 
trout fry haA^e been planted this month in brooks in all 
sections of the State; also six million shad fry and ten 
million pike-perch fry from the U. S. Government. 
Massachusetts Legislation. 
The Governor has signed the anti-sale law making 
it a permanent enactment on partridge and woodcock. 
Also the deer law, making another five-year close time 
— the bill prohibiting the wearing of birds, feathers, 
etc., for ornament, and so almost everythitig has gone 
well with the legislative work of the sportsmen's clubs. 
The bill to give right of search to wardens without a 
warrant has taken its third reading in the house after 
the life was taken out of it by striking out the words 
"without a warrant." Never mind, we have learned 
"to Avork and wait." We will all be thankful for the 
many good results of our labors the past winter. 
The lobster law is quite sure to remain the same for 
another year. At a meeting to-day of the Twentieth 
Century Club, Secretary Chandler read a letter from 
Prof. W. T. Sedgwick, of the Massachusetts Ins. of 
Technology, in Avhich he wrote: "Disinterested s i- 
thorities from the several New England States ought 
to agree upon scientific and sensible steps for the con- 
servation of the lobster industry. No doubt progress 
will be effected in this direction under the leadership 
of the excellent Fish and Game Association of the 
State." Dr. Field, of the institute and director of the 
Sharon Biological Laboratory._ then delivered an ad- 
dress on the lobster, of which 1 may write in my next 
letter. Central. 
Salmon Culture in America. 
Victoria, B. C, April 21. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your issue of April 11 contained a communication from 
"The Old Angler" in re salmon culture in America, in 
which he makes some comments regarding my note on 
salmon propagation in Pacific waters, and which he con- 
cludes as follows : 
"Though residing in Victoria, B. C, it is significant 
that Commissioner Babcock has not a word to say about 
salmon hatching on the Eraser and Skeena rivers ; nor 
does he drop a hint as to the overcrowded state of these 
rivers ; nor does he express an opinion about the wisdom 
of taxing the whole people for the benefit of a score or 
two of rich canning concerns who also are trying to 
achieve the feat of 'eating and having their cake.' Would 
Mr. Babcock tell an interested public what he thinks of 
these things?" 
Certainl}': though so far as "an interested public" on 
the Pacific Coast is concerned, I do not believe that they 
are in doubt with regard to my views on these questions. 
There is, so far as I know, but one opinion on this coast 
as to the success and desirableness of salmon propaga- 
tion ; but for the benefit of the "Old Angler" I submit the 
following with reluctance : 
I have the honor to be the Fisheries Commissioner of 
the Province of British Columbia, and have been since 
November, 1901, at which time I reseigned as the execu- 
tive officer of the California Fish Commission — a position 
I had held for ten years — and came to this Province at 
the request of the Government "to become familiar witli 
the conditions aft'ecting the great salmon fisheries of the 
Province, and particularly with the conditions existing 
upon the spawming grounds of the Eraser River, with the 
view of determining, as soon as possible, upon a compre- 
hensive system of salmon propagation and to locate, build 
and operate salmon hatcheries for the Provincial Govern- 
ment." 
In a former note I made no reference to "salmon 
hatching on the Eraser and Skeena rivers" because (i) 
I do not believe that any fair deductions can yet be made 
of -the work carried on for the Fraser, and (2) because 
there has been no hatchery propagation conducted on the 
Skeena River until the past winter. The Dominion 
Government has conducted a hatchery on the Fraser 
River since 1885, and in 1901 began the operation of an 
additional and somewhat more extensive hatchery on the 
Thompson River, the main tributary of the Fraser. From 
the earliest records there has been a recognized periodicity 
in the run of salmon in the Fraser. There are years of 
abundance and years of scarcity, which reach the maxi- 
mum every fourth year and the minimum in the three 
years follo\ying. This will be better understood from the 
following line of figures of the salmon pack, by cases of 
48 one pound cans each, on the Fraser in British Colum- 
bia, the pack for comrenience being given in round 
numbers : 
1893 457,500 
1894 363.900 
1895........ ....395,900 
1896 356,900 
1897....,,.,.... m,m 
1898 256,100 
1899 480,400 
1900 316,500 
IBOl 990,252 
1808 .....327.000 
Since the "King George men" and the "Boston men" 
first came to this wonderfully beautiful country there has 
been much speculation as to the causes which produce 
this irregularity and periodicity in the runs of salmon in 
the Fraser River. Many theories have been advanced to 
account for so remarkable a feature — one that has no 
counterpart in any salmon river on the Pacific Coast of 
America — but none of them have been generally accepted 
as conclusive. 
A part of October and November, 1901, I devoted to 
the investigation of a limited portion of the spawning 
grounds of the sockeye salmon (O. nerka) of the Fraser 
River. During the entire sockeye spawning season of 
1902 I devoted as much time to the examination of the 
extensive spawning grounds of the Fraser and Thompson 
rivers as the limited season would permit, paying particu- 
lar attention to the points visited the previous year. At 
all the points visited in 1901 spawning fish were seen in 
great numbers, while during the past season compara- 
tively few were seen, and at some points none at all. 
Natural propagation was at its maximum in 1901 and at 
its minimum in rgo2. This fluctuation in the abundance 
of fish that reach the spawning grounds has always been 
recognized by the whites" and Indians living along these 
rivers. Thus from the pack and an inspection of the 
spawning grounds of the Fraser we find that the riA^er is 
not always, if CA'er, "oA'er-croAvded," that the salmon do 
not always, if ever, "enter the river in such enormous 
numbers as to stop boat.s," or that "the weaker must suc- 
cimib to the tremendous force of struggling millions, and 
be literally jammed to death." So far as any evidence I 
have been able to obtain from the people living on the 
river the run in the Fraser has never "stopped a boat," 
the fish are never "so jammed together that they cannot 
move at all," or that "a person could cross the stream 
dry shod by placing a plank upon the protruding backs of 
the salmon." And without "some statistics, on which 
alone a sound opinion can be formed," hoAV did "Old 
Angler" ever believe such was the case? That the run is 
enormous every fourth year is proved by figures ; that it 
is comparatively light during the following three years 
is also supported by figures. The conditions on the 
Fraser are such that it will take a considerable period 
to show that the run is or is not decreasing. The t\vo 
hatcheries on the Fraser, and the others in course of con- 
struction, are not being operated because the run is de- 
creasing, but for the purpose of its maintenance and Avith 
the hope that the run in the "poor years" may be in- 
creased. British Columbia is not waiting until the goose 
is dead, but instead, by hatching her eggs, is trying to 
increase the number that yearly lay a golden product 
directly into the hands of 19,000 of her people. 
Now, to "Old Angler's" third and concluding ques- 
tion : "Express an opinion about the wisdom of taxing 
the whole people for the benefit of a score or two of rich 
c irning concerns," or, as he put it in your issue of April 
4, "devoting taxes wrung from the people to stimulate 
artificially a business from which only a few Av^ealthy 
proprietors derive an immediate profit." Such a condition 
does not exist on the Pacific Coast ! 
For the year ending June 30, igot, the fishermen and 
canners of the Province of British Columbia paid, in the 
form of fishing license, the sum of $52,960. For that year 
there Avas spent in the Province for the support and main- 
tenance of the fisheries, including hatcheries, patrol, etc., 
the sum of $17,886. During that time there were 19,787 
fishermen and cannery employes engaged in the salmon 
fisheries. For the year ending June 30, 1902, British 
Columbia fishermen and canners paid, in fishing licenses, 
the sum of $41,178; there was expended for fishery ser- 
vice $18,660, and there Avere 18,942 fishermen and cannery 
employes. Such has been the comparative condition re- 
garding collects and disbursements since British Columbia 
entered the Dominion. Here, then, "the whole people 
have not had taxes wrung from them to stimulate an 
artificial business," but, on the contrary, the fishery inter- 
ests have contributed in the past two years the sum of 
$94,138, as against $36,546, which has been expended for 
their benefit. And in these figures no credit has been 
giA'en the fishermen and canners for the moneys ihey liaA^e 
paid in other ways, from their earnings in the fisheries, 
toward the support of the Government. 
In the State of Washington for the two years ending 
April I, 1903, there was collected from special fishery 
licences, sold the fishermen and canners, the sum of 
|93,939> and the total appropriations of the Legislature 
for the support of and the construction of new hatcheries 
and other fishery service Avas $ii6,4-_i.o, or $22,501 in ex- 
cess of special fishery license collections. The following 
figures from the State of Washington are interesting iti 
this connection : 
1900. 1902. 
Capital employed in fisheries.- $4,362,470 $6,819,218 
Number of persons employed 7,789 10,695 
Earnings of persons employed 2,121,485 2,501,650 
\'alue of products 4,357,753 6,7.31,870 
The figures for 1901 are not at hand. 
The figures for Oregon are not obtainable, but it has 
been the policy of that State to collect sufficient licenses 
irom the fisheries to support the hatcheries. 
In California the annual propagation by the State "for 
the support and maintenance of fish hatcheries" is $10,000, 
and her Fish Commission collects over $5,000 by the sale 
of fishing licenses, all of which is devoted to the 
hatcheries. The bulk of. salmon caught in California 
waters is marketed in a fresh state, the canned product 
being only that portion of the total catch that is in ex- 
cess of the market demand for fresh salmon. The hatch- 
eries in California are run for the benefi.t of "the whole 
people," and not for rich canning concerns. 
"Old Angler," in dealing with "assertions and 
opinions" regarding the true situation on the Pacific 
Coast, does not seem to be alive to the fact that on this" 
coast the salmon fishery is one of the foremost interests, 
and that the construction and operation of the hatcheriesj 
by the State has been brought about by the fishery inter- 
ests which contribute the greater part of tlie moneys ex- 
pended to "stimulate artificially a business" in which 
thousands of persons find employment, in which millions 
are invested, and to Avhich "the whole people" look for a 
cheap and highly prized food. 
"Old Angler" calls attention to the fact that I gave no 
figures for any other section than the Sacramento River 
in California. That is the only section for which I per- 
sonally can now speak, and it is the only section on the 
