ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
405 
propagation in the waters of our rivers. We could then, at a trifling expense, fill our waters with this 
valuable fish. When first hatched and in a condition proper to he transported, one freight car would 
bring over 2,000,000 of them. If, after two years, none should be taken, it would not then be well to 
abandon the experiment. 
Mr. Seth Green’s account of his trip across the continent with the young shad, 
and his opinion of the success of the experiment, are as follows: 
On the 19tli of June, 1871, I started, at 6 a. m., from Mull’s fishery, 10 miles below Albany, on 
the Hudson River, with 12,000 young shad in four 8-gallon milk cans. They had been hatched 
the night before at the establishment under charge of the New York commissioners. I arrived at 
Rochester at 10 p. m. and changed the water, substituting that from the Genesee River without injury 
to the fish. I arrived at Cleveland at 7.45 next morning, put 200 shad in Lake Erie, and changed the 
water again. The fish were then fresh and lively, without any signs of sickness. I again changed 
water at Toledo, and when I arrived at Chicago, at 7 p. m., the fish were still in good order. Here I 
first tried the water from the city waterworks, but found there was too much oil in it, so I went to 
the lake. Having tested the water and found that it would answer, I put 200 fish in Lake Michigan, 
and on June 21 started with cans newly filled, at 10.45 a. in., for California. I carried an extra can of 
water, for before me was a long stretch of almost arid land. Still I was fortunate enough to find some 
places between Chicago and Omaha where I could get a few pails of water and make a partial change. 
The fish were still in good order when we arrived at Omaha, but there I could not find any water in 
which they would live five minutes. The way I tested the water was by filling a tumbler and putting 
a few fish in it. It was easy to tell at once, by the behavior of the fry, whether the water agreed with 
them or not. I did not get a full change until I reached Laramie River. From Omaha I did not find 
any good water for 400 miles, and the only way I kept my charges alive was by drawing the water out 
of the cans into pails and pouring it from one pail to another until purified, this process being assisted 
by my getting a little ice water from the car tanks. 
June 22 . — Bad water all day, with the thermometer 100° in the shade from 9 a. m. to 4 p.m. I 
used ice water the entire day, a very little at a time, and had hard work to keep the temperature of 
the water below 82°. I began to feel blue and doubtful of the result. The fish suffered considerably, 
but the weather began to get cold toward night, and I got the temperature of the water down to 75° 
at 9 p. m., the fish recovering somewhat. 
June 23 . — I arrived at Laramie River at 5 p. m., and got a good change of water, fish doing well, 
and I began once more to feel hopeful and encouraged. We had a frost that night, and next morning, 
at 7, 1 changed water at Green River, where it was in proper condition. At 2 p. m. I got another change 
from a stream in which there were trout, and again at Ogden, where I put 200 fish in the river. 
June 25 . — The water was changed at the Humboldt River. The water was good and continued 
good all the rest of the way. 
June 26 . — I arrived at Sacramento, and took the fish up the river 275 miles from Sacramento, in 
company with Messrs. Redding and Smith, the California fishery commissioners. In their presence I 
deposited the fish in the Sacramento River the same night at 10 p. m. There were about 10,000, in good 
order. 
On the sixth and seventh days out they began to be very busy, looking for food. Whenever I 
changed the water, they would clean up all the food there was in five minutes. They did not suffer 
for food as long as the sac lasted on their bellies — that is, for about five days — then they needed suste- 
nance. If I could get a change of water often enough from running streams, I could carry them a long 
way, as nearly all streams are filled with small insects. With this view I examined the water of the 
Sacramento where I put them in, and found plenty of food for the young fry. I then went down to 
the Pacific Ocean, and ascertained that there were plenty of sand fleas, which are the principal food 
that the old shad live on in the Atlantic. 
And now, m conclusion, 1 can only say, that if they do not have shad in the Pacific Ocean there 
will be but one cause — the roily water caused by washing the mountains down for gold. However, I 
think the fish will get through all right. I examined the river where it looked so roily, and found it 
quite clear on the surface for a few inches down. The tendency of the roil was to settle to the bottom. 
The young shad will find the clear water, and if it does not get very much worse than it was when I' 
was there, they will succeed. But if these do not, more must be sent, for any amount of young fish 
can be taken to California by making the proper preparations beforehand. 
