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REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 20 
the nearest railroad station of the applicant, who generally attends 
to. the planting of the fish. It has, therefore, been the aim of this 
department in the last two years not to increase the output of fish from 
the Mount Shasta Hatchery. Indeed, during the current season we 
have reduced the output slightly in the interest of economy of operation 
and efficiency of distribution. At the present writing, this arrange- 
ment promises to be as satisfactory as we had anticipated. Under the 
new arrangement, the territory covered in the distribution from Mount 
Shasta Hatchery is that section from Ventura County on the coast 
north to Sonoma County, and inland from Fresno to the Oregon line, 
except the local territory therein covered by the distribution from the 
smaller stations. 
The territory composed of what is generally termed ‘‘southern Cali- 
fornia’’ and the San Joaquin Valley north to Fresno is taken care of by 
the Mount Whitney Hatchery, supplemented by the distribution from 
Bear Lake Hatchery in San Bernardino County. 
On February 2, 1917, the Mount Whitney Hatchery, located on Oak 
Creek near the town of Independence, Inyo County, was turned over to 
the Fish and Game Commision by the Department of Engineering, 
under whose supervision the hatchery was constructed. The building 
is a beautiful structure of granite and gabro, and the coloring of the 
rubble walls blends harmoniously into the background of giant peaks 
that form the west wall of the valley. While the hatchery building 
itself was completed at the time it was turned over to this commission 
by the Department of Engineering, there still remained a great deal to 
be done to prepare for fishcultural operations. All of the hatchery 
equipment and apparatus necessary to handle the eggs that were to be 
hatched at the station, was made by the employees of the hatchery 
department. All of the essential equipment was provided for the oper- 
ations, which commenced with the receipt of steelheal trout eggs from 
Snow Mountain Station on May 31. Later, shipments of black-spotted 
trout eggs were received from Tallac Hatchery, and during July rain- 
bow eggs were received from Rae Lakes Station. As a matter of 
necessity, the first season’s output was comparatively small, but the 
1,285,000 fish distributed in the waters of southern California, the 
Lower San Joaquin Valley, Inyo and Mono counties, were an exeception- 
ally fine lot of fish. The ample supply of pure water in Oak Creek, that 
gushes from the granite rocks of the basal slopes of the Whitney 
Range, has proven to be excellent for the propagation of trout. The 
fry advance very rapidly, and are strong and vigorous. The distribu- 
tion of the fish was very satisfactory in every particular. 
Distribution Car No. 01 was taken off the Mount Shasta Hatchery 
distribution during the latter part of September, and sent to Mount 
