210 
England, most of the large rivers were noted as 
salmon rivers and the salmon ascended the 
rivers every year to lay their spawn in fresh 
water but since the rivers have been dammed to 
make power, the fish have been unable to ascend 
and it was only a few years after the dams were 
built when our salmon were all gone. 
Since the salmon stopped running up the 
rivers very few people have had a chance to get 
them and there are but a few lakes and streams 
in all New England where salmon can be taken 
to-day. So scarce have these fish become that 
many men spend large sums of money each year 
to go to lakes in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova 
Scotia and Newfoundland. It is no wonder then 
that much interest has been displayed by sports¬ 
men all over the country in the experiments that 
have been carried on with the Pacific salmon 
known as Chinook salmon, in our lakes of New 
England. 
Since 1873 the Government has been experi- 
meeting with these fish but not until they were 
introduced into Lake Sunapee was the work 
successful. Millions of them have been planted 
with very litle success. 
It is possible that the many years of failure 
by the Government were due principally to two 
causes: First, the fish were planted in lakes and 
ponds that were not properly screened and, sec¬ 
ond, most of these were planted when small. 
Year after year the results were the same and 
instead of going to the bottom of the trouble the 
same plan was carried out by the Government. 
Small fish were planted in lakes without screens 
and the fish allowed to run down stream, never 
to return. After these salmon were well estab¬ 
lished in Lake Sunapee the Government made a 
faint attempt to study their habits when raised 
in fresh water but their efforts were never finish¬ 
ed and they know very little to-day as to the 
habits of these beautiful fish when confined to 
Two Massachusetts Products. 
resh water. They do not know whether or not 
hese fish will spawn, or whether they spawn 
n the fall or spring. It is known that in France 
hey have been kept in confinement for many 
generations and that they do reproduce. After 
roing to the expense of introducing them and 
jetting them well established in Lake Sunapee it 
ment work should use some endeavor to get all 
the information possible. 
It is the plan of the Massachusetts Commis¬ 
sioners to study these salmon as much as pos¬ 
sible and try to learn more as to their habits 
when they are confined to fresh water. It is be¬ 
lieved by many fish culturists that these fish will 
reproduce under certain conditions in fresh water 
and by careful observation it may be possible to 
determine this question and to learn much more 
in regard to their habits. 
There has never been a fish introduced into 
our eastern waters that has appealed to our 
sportsmen as much as has this species of salmon 
and when it is known that the Government is 
in a position to furnish millions of these eggs 
from the fall run of Chinook salmon without in¬ 
jury to the commercial interests and by taking 
eggs that will not be otherwise used it is no 
wonder that our people are interested in having 
the eggs sent to New England. No activity of 
the Bureau of Fisheries has been more success¬ 
ful from the angler’s point of view than has the 
work done with these salmon. 
Thousands of anglers have been going from 
Massachusetts to the other states north of us to 
secure salmon fishing but with our own lakes and 
ponds stocked with these fish it will make a large 
amount of money kept here at home each year. 
It will also mean that the fishermen will build 
camps and bungalows around our lakes and will 
increase our taxable property. 
If these salmon are to be introduced we must 
first have a body of clear cold water with a 
screen at the outlet to keep the fish from going 
out. Smelt should be planted to serve as food 
for the salmon as it will be readily seen that a 
fish that grows four to five pounds in less than 
two years consumes an immense amount of food. 
The fish should not be liberated until late in 
— m r,™ P rn-fflthe fall when they are four to five inches long. 
