220 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
It thus appears that although nature has evidently designed that the quinnat- 
salmon shall not take up its abode on the American shores of the Atlantic, the breed- 
ing of this tish seems to serve a legitimate and very valuable purpose in keeping up 
the supply of its species in its native waters of the Pacific Slope; especially in view 
of the enormous drafts made upon these fish by the canneries and by the yearly 
increasing consumption of fresh and salted salmon. 
The prospect for the immediate future at Baird station is very promising. To begin 
with, it has a valuable and very efficient plant in the way of buildings, apparatus, etc. 
At the upper or northern end of the station there is a large fenced corral or pasture 
for horses and cattle, and inclosed in this corral is a convenient stable and storehouse. 
Just below there is the hatching-house, with a capacity of 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 
salmon eggs. Then comes the engine house, with a good steam engine and pump. A 
few rods below are the foreman’s residence and the comfortable and commodious mess 
house, and nearly adjoining a store and post-office and the residence of the postmaster. 
Other smaller structures near the seining- ground complete the list of buildings at the 
station, with the exception of the superintendent’s residence on a hill 100 feet above, 
which overlooks all or nearly all the other buildings; and last, but not least, a ditch 
1^- miles long brings water from a neighboring creek into the hatching-house. The 
station has still, as it always had, the hearty good-will and cooj)eration of the California 
State Fish Commission, which alone is a most valuable aid to its efficiency. 
Salmon are now very abundant in the Sacramento anti McCloud, and are on the 
increase. The situation of the station and its adaptability to its purpose are almost 
ideal. McCloud Elver, on the banks of which it stands, is not only cold, clear, and 
very inviting to the salmon, but it is almost the only cold tributary of the Sacra- 
mento that has not been roiled by gold mining, in consequence of which the salmon 
come into the McCloud to breed in the summer, not only from choice, but also from 
necessity. The geological formation of the land about the river is not favorable for 
gold, which probably insures its safety indefinitely from gold miners. 
It is also an Indian country. There is not a white family on the McCloud from 
its mouth almost to Mount Shasta, except those who live at the station and at the old 
trout-i)ond station of the Fish Commission. Furthermore, most of the laud in the 
McCloud Canyon is unproductive, which is another i^rotectiou against the advent of 
white men, and as long as white men keep away from the river the salmon in it will 
retain their primeval habits and abundance. The station also is situated in a United 
States reservation, which secures it from intrusion by land-jumpers or evil-minded 
people who might interfere with the salmon and salmon fishing. And, what I must 
not forget to add, it is located just at the junction of McCloud Elver and the California 
and Oregon stage road, which jilaces the station, though in one of the wildest parts 
of California, in immediate touch with the civilized world. All these advantages 
make this station an ideal place for its imrpose, and bespeak for it, for many years to 
come, an efficient and useful career. And it can be further said of this station, with 
justifiable iiride, that after a quarter of a century’s service it still remains the only 
station in the United States that can produce every year a satisfactory quota of eggs 
of the summer run of quinnat salmon. 
