CALIFORNIA

DEPARTMENT OF
FISH AND GAME

REPORT
1870-1873

California. I • <*£%?* ^
Biennial a • 1870-1873.

(bound volume)

DATE DUE

California. Dept. of Fish and Game,.
Biennial Report 1870-1873.

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(bound volume)

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ISSUED TO

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California Resources Agency Library

1416 9th Street, Room 117

Sacramento, California 95814

CAL1F0RHIA RESOURCES AGENCY LIBRARY

Resources Building, Room 117

1416 -°th Street

Sacramento, California

95814

REPRINT FROM

California Fish and Game

"CONSERVATION OF WILD LIFE THROUGH EDUCATION."

Volume 19

SACRAMENTO, JANUARY, 1933

No. 1

Report of Commissioners of Fisheries

of t lie State of California Cor the

Years 1870 and 1871

CALIFORNIA STATE PRINTING OFFICE

HARRY HAMMOND, STATE PRINTER

SACRAMENTO. 1933

E— 2013

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 41

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES OF THE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE YEARS 1870 AND 1871

REPORT

To His Excellency, H. H. Haight, Governor of California :

The Commissioners of Fisheries for the State of California, appointed under
an act of the Legislature, entitled "An Act to provide for the restoration and preser-
vation of fish in the waters of this State," approved April second, eighteen hundred
and seventy, respectfully submit their first biennial report.

REPORT

California has a seacoast extending through ten degrees of latitude, and a
shore line of nearly eight hundred miles. The Coast Range of mountains, which
adjoins the coast line for the greater part of this distance, creates by its western
watershed nearly one hundred streams and rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean.
These streams and rivers vary from twenty to sixty miles in length. The drainage
of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, through seven degrees of latitude, forms
several hundred streams, whose united waters make the Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers — the first navigable for a distance of one hundred and eighty miles, and the
last navigable one hundred miles from the ocean. The waters from the eastern
slope of the Sierra Nevada flow into brackish and salt lakes, in the State of Nevada,
having no outlet into the ocean. Pyramid, the largest of these lakes, receiving the
waters of the Truckee River, is forty miles long and twenty miles wide. The inland
bays and fresh water lakes of California cover more than six hundred and fifty square
miles — an area half as large as the State of Rhode Island.

These few statistics are given that it may be clearly understood how extensive
is the field over which, under the law, the Board is expected to prevent the wanton
destruction of fish and required to compel the owners of dams to permit the free
passage of fish to their native spawning beds. When it is further understood that
- the members of the Board neither receive nor expect compensation for their services
other than the satisfaction of doing something towards the preservation of the fish
now in our waters and adding to the food supply of the people by the introduction
of new varieties, it will be acknowledged that if but a beginning has been made in
this work, at least public attention has been called to the importance of the subject.
If a few men of intelligence, living on the banks of each bay, river, and lake, will
inform themselves of what has been done in other states and countries for the propa-
gation and preservation of fish, they will create a public opinion that will cause the
enactment of proper laws and compel their enforcement. The result will be that
after a few years our river fisheries will be largely increased, giving employment to
a large number of men, and furnishing a cheap supply of nutritious food to many
more people.

2 — E-2013

IL' mi:

I I -II WJ

;i of the li-.li ii"1.-. in cur r
r rill «l.

few .-ii' l t.»

! Bah, after

irticolai rivulet in which th<

< h the particular spot and the parent bed of
able dai

ad leap by th<' hour ti the

led by which the fish can i

mi will be without fish. A fish

iffair that it would ieeng that men

would, if infori rithout Hi'1 requirei of a

ladder for u intain streams is made

in ii both ends, four feet wide and thi

i i ed .-it ill'' top "f tlf dam, the other end oded

in the center of the poo] below the dam. In the inside <>f the boi

• if plank about four feet apart, placed trans-
Ued "riffles." Bach riffle i^ about a font high. 'I files '1<> not

iy about two-thirds 'I'" illustrate:

if tl ide "f I he bOI :it :i right angle t'i

it v. '1 thirt; '. four feel above, will be fastened

ii<l thirty inchi it : and so on. alternately,

until thi I. The water passing into the top of thi ight by

erted right and left by them until it reaches the stream below.

ming up th" stream to the dam seek and explore every crevice and

viriL' wh< -. If tli'- lower end of the fish way is placed near the

center of the pool below the dam, they readily find it. and immediately enter it.

o if the ladder is placed at g at an angle as forty-five degrees, the fish have
no difficulty in % through it; they will jump through almost any current a

four feet, ;i;. i each riffle gives them a resting place behind which they
recover for the next jump. At one dam on a tributary of the Truckee a mill owner
ed to put in a fish way, at the earnest solicitation of one of the Commis-
sioners, and to prevent the expenses of a suit. He said the law was an infringement
of his rights, and when the Legislature passed an act to compel him to spend money
in such foolish bu hey should have appointed a schoolmaster to teach the

trout how to use the contrivance; he did not believe a fish could be coaxed to go
near it. The ni • ning after the fish way was placed in position the fish were

pas very few minutes; the mill owner became a convert to the practical use

of fish ways. He soon tore away the cheap and temporary affair built to comply
with the law under compulsion, and has erected in its place a substantial ladder
that will last for years. A fish ladder is but an artificial imitation of the means by
which river fish in their annual migration pass up rapids. After reaching the foot
of a rapid the fish rest ; they will then suddenly dart up the stream and seek shelter
in the slack water behind some rocks ; here, after more rest, as if to recover strength
for the next great exertion, they will dart again and get behind another rock ; and

•>n, until the rapid is passed. From the description given of an ordinary fish
ladder, it will be seen that they are easily built and that the cost is but a trifle.
The average cost of all fish ladders in Maine, including permanent stone structures
over manufacturing darns, does not reach two hundred dollars. Many statistics have
been kept showing the increase of fish as a result from the construction of fish ladders,
especially in Great Britain. As an illustration, I quote from the report of Charles
G. Atkins, Esq., Fish Commissioner of Maine. In comparing the salmon fisheries
of Europe with those of Maine, he says : ''Their fisheries were nearly exhausted
through excessive fishing and the erection of barriers, and by a careful management,
including the construction of fish ways, have been made to yield large returns. I will
instance the river Galway in Ireland. The salmon fisheries of the Galway are owned

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 43

by Thomas Ashworth, who came into possession of them in eighteen hundred and
fifty-two. They were in an exhausted condition. Mr. Ashworth had good* fish ways
built over the dams, of which there was one at the head of the tide; had fishing
restricted and protection given to the fish on their breeding grounds. What success
attended his efforts is shown by the annual catch as exhibited in the following table :

fear Salmon

Eighteen hundred and fifty-three 1,603

Eighteen hundred and fifty-four 3.15S

Eighteen hundred and fifty-five 5,540

Eighteen hundred and fifty-six 5,371

Eighteen, hundred and fifty-seven 4,857

Eighteen 'hundred and fifty-eight 9.03!)

Eighteen hundred and fifty-nine 9.240

Eighteen hundred and sixty 3.177

Eighteen hundred and sixty-one 11,051

Eighteen hundred and sixty-two 15,43]

Eighteen hundred and sixty-three 17. 995

, Eighteen hundred and sixty-four 20.-112

"Thus the produce of this fishery rose in twelve years from one thousand six
hundred and three to twenty thousand five hundred and twelve, and this in spite of
a dam at the head of the tide, where five-sixths of all the water is used by mills and
canals, only the one hundred and sixtieth part running through the fish way, where
all the salmon must pass; in spite of civilization, in spite of the disappearance of
forests and the cultivation of land. The fish way through which pass all the salmon
that ascend this river is supplied with water I>y a gate two feet square, and through
this aperture forty thousand salmon are estimated to have passed in one year."

The law, so far as it relates to fish ladders, appears to operate satisfactorily.
Thus far all mill owners on the Truckee and its tributaries, whose dams obstruct
the passage of fish, have, with om- exception, constructed fish ways. The Commis-
sioners have furnished many mill owners with plans for the construction of fish ways.
From our experience during the past two years, it would seem that as a rule the
mill owners, with but few exceptions, are a body of intelligent men, who only require
to have made clear to them the fact that the construction of fish ways does not
interfere with their business, while it adds to the public good, to induce them to
place fish ways over their dams.

SALMON

The salmon is the most important visitor to our rivers. It has appropriately
been called the "king of fish." The richness of its flesh, its large size, the certainty
of its annual return from the ocean, the rapidity with which, under favorable condi-
tions, it is multiplied, all render it an important article of human food. It has
probably been the chief source of subsistence to more people than any other fish.
The question as to whether the number of salmon is gradually decreasing in the
Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers seems difficult to be answered. Some of the
fishermen contend that it is, and others point to the catch of eighteen hundred and
seventy in proof that it is not. There are no fish weirs to trap them, and but few
dams on the tributaries of these streams to prevent them from reaching their spawn-
ing beds. The weight of testimony is on the side of those who believe the quantity
to be decreasing ; and the most intelligent of the fishermen are so firmly convinced
of the fact that they ask that a law be passed and enforced to prevent, for a certain
period, the catching of fish while they are filled with ripe spawn. But there is no
concurrence as to when this "close time" should be. The fishermen in one part of
the river say it should be at one time, and the fishermen in other parts say it should
be at others. When the great army is passing by Rio Vista, it would be, in the
opinion of the fishermen of Rio Vista, a proper season for a close time at Sacramento
and Tehama ; and when this army has reached Sacramento, it would, in the opinion
of the Sacramento fishermen, be a proper season for a close time at Rio Vista and
Tehama. What would be just to all the fishermen, and give the next generation a
chance to eat this delicious food, would be to prohibit, by strict law, rigidly enforced,

it I AND GAME

Mm of salmon .rim; twenty-four hours each week; say,

midnight of Saturday to midnight of Banday. Probably 1 1 » « - most seriou

for ' ir rivci from mining. It li the most Berious,

qoI 1>'- i ilmon were plenty and largely canghl

by tli>" Indians ii. Feather River, in the Tuba, and in tin- American; but of bite

•. isit these rivers, it i» not because the waters of these
re muddy. All migratory fish thai seek rivers In which to deposit i h<i r
spawn, <i" so i» the season when the I the water to !»• muddy. They

will rough muddy water, if beyond they find clear water .* 1 1 n 1 clean gravelly

t>. .r t <■!:;- . The gravel beds thai formerly existed In these streams arc now covered
with :i deposit of mud, washed down from the mines; and on 1 1 * i ^ the eggs of ill"
s;ilni"ii will not batch. Neither will t! of the salmon or trout hatch in water

taining any considerable quantity of Bediment. A small quantity of the dj
sedimenl deposited on the <-^^^ prevents it from hatching.

Salmon, after tin- Becond year from being hatched, pa^s the greater pari of
t li« • time in the ocean; they there find their principal food. While in fresh water
their growth is slow, in snl t water they increase in size mid weight with great
rapidity. Tiny can only breed in shallow streams of cool, fresh water, such as they
find in the tributaries of our river- ding from die mountains. To roch pit

they annually resort; and to reach them, they will make the most extraordinary
■dons. Salmon are caught hy the Indians in the small streams that empty into
the Sacramento from the sides of Mount Shasta, at an elevation of more than four
thousand feet above the level of the sea: to reach which they must have passed
through at least fifty miles of almost continuous rapids. Bishop Farr states that
salmon are also caught in the headwaters of Snake River, east of Salt Lake. As
Snake River is a tributary of the Columbia, these fish must annually make a journey
into the interior of more than c thousand miles from the ocean.

Some breeding fish enter our rivers (luring the summer, but they do not deposil
their eggs until late in the autumn. During the time they remain in fresh water
they lose in weight, and the quality of their flesh deteriorates ; its color becomes
nearly white, and it ceases to he firm. The great army arrives in our rivers after
the first heavy rains. Upon arriving they seek the brackish water in the vicinity of
where the salt and fresh waters meet. Here they remain for several days, or
perhaps weeks. It is supposed that the brackish water kills the small parasites which
attach to them in the ocean. It is this instinct that retains them in brackish water
that gives to Rio Yista its prominence as a fishing point.

The salmon, like most other fish, reproduces its kind from eggs which are
extruded from the female fish in an undeveloped and infeeund state. The male fish
performs his office of fecundation after the eggs are in the water. It is a remark-
able fact, that the salmon will return, year after year, to deposit its spawn in the
particular stream in which it was hatched. Salmon hatched artificially in Scotland
and kept in breeding ponds, were, for several years, marked before being dismissed
to the ocean ; the salmon, thus marked, invariably returned to the stream in which
they passed their infancy, and, so far as is- known, these marked salmon have never
been taken in any other river. The pair having arrived in their parent stream,
find a gravel bed, where the water is clear and cold. The female burrows a hole
in the gravel about four inches deep, and of a diameter nearly equal to her length,
then pressing her body against the upper edge of the hole, the eggs are extruded
and fall into this nest. The male, who is in close attendance, extrudes his milt into
the water which flows over these eggs, and they are thus fecundated. The female
immediately busies herself in covering the eggs with the gravel. This process is
again repeated in a few days, as more eggs become ready for extrusion, until the
season's work is over, when the fish return, poor and thin, and, after remaining for
a short time in brackish water, leave for unknown places in the ocean, to return
the following season, largely increased in weight. The only condition requisite for
the hatching of the eggs is that cool, pure water, free from dirt or sediment, shall
constantly pass over them. In from ninety to one hundred1 and thirty days the
young fish are hatched. For the first twenty or thirty days they require no food,

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 45

other than the yolk sac which is attached to them. The young fish remain in the
river from one to two years before leaving for the ocean. It has been observed in
Scotland, where the artificial breeding of salmon was first largely practiced, that
of a given quantity of eggs hatched in one season, about one-half the young fish
would leave for the ocean the same year, while the other half would remain until
the following season. This has been found to be the unvarying rule. No reason
has been assigned why this migratory instinct should control but about half the
young fish in the year in which they were hatched, other than that Providence, while
apparently not caring for the individual, makes stringent laws for the preservation
of the species.

The preservation of our salmon fisheries is a subject of great importance.
Salmon were formerly as abundant in the rivers of New England as they are now
in California and Oregon : but traps, weirs, ponds, seines, gill nets, and the erection
of darns without fish ladders, at last nearly exterminated them. Now these sta
are making appropriations for the artificial hatching of these fish, and the rivers are
being successfully restocked.

So much more is known of the habits of the salmon than formerly, that it is
not difficult to determine what may be done to increase the number of fish, and at
the sum time increase the quantity that may be caught. The men who pursue the
business of fishing for salmon, appreciate the necessity for their preservation and
acknowledge the propriety of laws requiring a "close time," as well as laws against
pounds and weirs, and laws regulating the size of gill nets. We believe the time
has arrived when the present and future interests of California require careful and
just legislation. We would, therefore, recommend that a standing committee be
appointed in both houses of the Legislature on coast and inland fisheries. These
committees could visit the fishermen, and, after learning their views, so amend the
ent law and frame new laws as to protect legitimate fishing, and at the same
time provide for an increase of fish in the future.

TEOUT

This fish is found in nearly all of the streams that discharge into the Pacific
Ocean from the Coasl Range of mountains and in the greater number of the mountain

streams of the Sierra Nevada. They vary greatly in size und appearance in different
waters and at different seasons, but so far no variety is exactly similar to any of
the brook trout of the New England state-. The large brown and silver troul of
Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River are pronounced by Mr. Seth Green — who is con-
sidered to be an authority in such matters — not to be trout, but species of the sebago
or land-locked salmon. These fish make annual migrations from Lake Tahoe to the
brackish waters of Pyramid Lake. Many of the fishermen of Tahoe insist that the
so-called silver trout does not leave the lake, but as they are occasionally caught in
the river, it is probably they also migrate, but perhaps at an earlier or later season.
The habits of the trout are similar to those of the salmon. It seeks a bed of gravel
or coarse sand in clear running water, near the head of a stream, burrows a nest
and covers its eggs. In the streams of the ('oast Range of mountains the trout
spawns in November and December; in the streams of the Sierra Nevada in March
and April. Trout will also spawn and the eggs will hatch in lakes which are sup-
plied by springs that rise in the bottoms. In this case they will deposit their eggs
among the gravel where the spring rises, the motion of the water from the spring
having the same effect in bringing the eggs to maturity as the water. It has been
observed that there are no trout in our mountain streams above large falls. The
trout will migrate from one part of a stream to another. If there were ever trout
above these falls they would pass below them in their migrations, and the falls
prevent their return. In many places a very little work would create a passage for
the fish, which would have the effect of greatly increasing the numbers of this most
delicious species. The reports of our assistants, from which we have largely copied,
will show how rapid has been the destruction of the trout in this State. It is to be
hoped that the dissemination of intelligence as to the construction of fish ladders
and the enforcement of the law against trapping and illegal fishing, as well as the

i \ pish a mi:

h no trout were found, and the restocking
which they hi red, will have the effect to repair the waste

ing been noticed that on man; streams on which

mills, the tri.ii' ppeared, ii i that

nnw killed the fish, but as in other on

•ill trout to Im- found, tli"

• . (I much ii i ound

that trout ; ■ and ue> rr seemed lit.

where the mills elow the gravel spawning I

till plenty, but where the mills were above the fish had
1 red the spawning beds, tli<'

;•. after :i I ippeared, for the trout ha

tin- Balmon it ipawn in the particular stream in which it was hatched.

1 inada, which is in advance of most of our states in her laws for the preserva-
tion of her fisl under | . --ill sawmills from running
into the str< i in a short time it will be requisil imilar laws in this
State, for, in addition to the di >n of trout, the sawdust will cover t J i « - spawn-

tually as the mud from mining 1ms their gravel beds
in the American, Yuba, and Feathers rivers. On the Truckee River, about five
miles above the town of Truckee, the Brothers Comer havi tablishment for

the artificial hatching of trout been engaged in this business for the

M,l have successfully hatched and have in their ponds more than
half a million of fish. Their business is a success in every respect except financially.
There is not in this State, as yet, a large demand by individuals for the young trout

:ock streams, and the feeding of so large a number of fish kept in small ponds
requires a considerable outlay. The commissioners have been n pend

some portion of the appropriation at their disposal in purchasing a part of
oung fish to be placed in streams that are now without trout. It would
be an appropriation of money within the spirit of the law. but there is some
doubt as to whether the wording of the act authorizes this kind of expenditure.
Several of the states have hatching houses in which various kinds of fish
valuable for food are hatched, and distributed to all who desire to stock lakes
and streams. The destruction of our native fish has not gone so far that a similar
plan is required in California, but we believe it will be found that the drought of
the past two years will have had the effect of materially decreasing the trout in all
the streams. The sand and gravel beds at the heads of streams where they deposit
their spawn must, to a great extent, have been bared by the receding water before
the eggs came to maturity. If authorized, we will expend a portion of the appro-
priation in purchasing young fish to be distributed to restock stream dace in
streams and lakes which have no trout in them.

The Comer Brothers procure their eggs for hatching from the fish caught in
the small streams that discharge into Lake Tahoe. Their plan of operation is
similar to that of other breeders of trout. Having caught a number of trout, male
and female, at the season when they commence to go up stream, they are kept in a
small trap or pound until the females are found to be ready to deposit their eggs.
This can be readily told by an examination of the fish. The first operation is to
procure a tin pan or other shallow vessel of water, a male trout is then taken from
the pound and his belly placed in the pan, a gentle pressure of the hand will express
a few drops of the milt ; he is then returned to the pound ; a female trout is then
taken, and by the same process her eggs are also expressed into the same pan. The
water in the pan is then gently stirred so as to insure all the eggs coming in contact
with the milt. In a few minutes the water containing the milt is washed away and
replaced by pure water. These impregnated eggs are then placed in the hatching
boxes, which are a series of shallow wooden boxes nearly filled with fine gravel, over
which a stream of pure cool water is slowly but constantly passing. A trout yields
from five hundred to four thousand eggs, depending upon its size and age. A salmon
yields an average of a thousand eggs to each pound of its weight. The eggs are
spread upon the gravel, and after the water has continuously passed over them for

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 47

from forty to eighty days, depending upon its temperature, the young trout make
their appearance. They require no food for the first thirty days, the yolk sack of
the egg, which is attached to them, affording nourishment during this period. After
this. the Messrs. Comer feed them on finely chopped liver until they are sufficiently
large to be turned into the ponds, where they are fed upon any kind of coarse meat
or fish, finely chopped. Trout will live and thrive in water of a temperature between
forty and sixty-five degrees. This is about the only question to be settled by persons
who desire to stock streams with trout. If the water in summer does not get
warmer than sixty-five degrees, the experiment may be tried with every probability
of success. The quality of the water does not seem to be material. They live and
thrive in water that is impregnated with minerals, and in salt water, and in artesian
well water, provided only the temperature is not too warm. Persons who live near
small lakes and streams, now without fish, and containing water of the proper tem-
perature, could, at trifling expense and care, provide themselves with a constant
supply of delicious and healthy food by hatching a few eggs, or by turning in a few
of the young fish. Both eggs and young fish aiv readily transported almost any
distance. Salmon eggs have been taken from Scotland to Australia and hatched,
and the Acclimatization Society of San Francisco has successfully imported the eggs
of the Eastern brook trout and hatched them in this State. It has been estimated
that an acre of water can be made to yield as much food as four acres of average
land.

SHAD

Your Commissioners made arrangements with Mr. Seth Green, the noted pisi-
culturist of Rochester, New York, for the importation of a lot of young shad to be
turned into the Sacramento River. X<> shad proper (alosa praestabilis) are found
in the rivers of the Pacific Coast, while there arc found several varieties of the same
family, such as herrings, anchovies, and sardines. As shad readily enter rivers
while muddy from the spring freshets, and spawn in water of a temperature as high
as sixty-five degrees, there was reason to hope that if the shad could be brought
lure alive and turned into the river they would find suitable food, and in time go to
the ocean and return to propagate their species. As the shad is very prolific, each
full grown female yielding from fifty to eighty thousand eggs, and as the flesh is
'•med to be nutritious and valuable food, it was deemed proper to make the first
experiment of importing new varieties with the young of this fish. The eggs of the
shad are hatched in from two to four days after they are spawned, therefore, if
there were no other reason, time alone would prevent the importation of the eggs.

Mr. Green felt so much doubt as to the possibility of transporting the young
fish for so great a distance that he determined to superintend the experiment in
■ ii. He left Rochester, New York, with an assistant, on the twentieth of June,
with fifteen thousand of the young fish just hatched, contained in eight tin cans
holding about twelve gallons of water each. The water had to be changed at every
convenient opportunity, and as on a part <>f the journey the weather was quite warm,
constant attention had to be given to prevent the water in the cans from reaching
a higher temperature than eighty degrees. At Chicago he lost a few fish from a
film of oil from the machinery of the waterworks with which the water attempted
to be used was covered. At Omaha the river w-ater killed a few ; the cause of this
he had not time to investigate. The water of Bear River (discharging into Salt
Lake) and the waters of the Humboldt and Truckee rivers were found to agree
with them and containing plenty of food. Mr. Green arrived on the twenty-seventh
of June. As it was advisable to put the young fish in the river at as high a point
as was practicable, for the reason that the instinct of the shad is, like that of the
salmon, to return to spawn at the same place where it was hatched, they were the
same day transferred to the cars of the California and Oregon Railroad and taken
to the Sacramento River at Tehama. Here the temperature of the water was found
to be sixty degrees of Fahrenheit. Upon dipping up the river water in a glass and
pouring a lot of the young fish into it, they were found to be lively and the water
to contain large quantities of some minute substance on which they feed. All the
conditions being favorable, they were turned loose in their new home. It is expected

I \ PISH AM' G \mi:

i),r n in ilii intil .-it-'iit January, b>j which time they will be three

. thej will then ~<< t" tl . to return the next yenr weighing

from and a half, read] to commence the increase of their kind.

I . gperimenl b The water of the river la adapted i"

the proper kind <>f food for t li < - i r- young, and the watera of our

led wiih the sand I mall *!■■ the shrimp, on which the lish

bing the salt water, Tl ily tiling to be feared ia thai there may

me kind which maj bo completely exterminate them thai

.<• back and spawn. If after one or two y< en one shad

iken in the river, the result will I"- satisfactory, as it will demonstrate 1 1 1 « •
thai nil the conditi /orable to their ful propagation in the wa

ild then ;it trifling • fill ><nr waters with this valuable fish.

Winn first hatched, and in a condition proper to be transported, one freight car
would bring over two million "f them. it. after two years, none should be taken,
it would col then l"' well to abandon tli" experiment.

h, year after year, shipped impregnated sal a eggs to Australia;

the eggs hatched, and the young fish in due time went to the ocean; but for yeara
none wen found to return. Some fish supposed to be the l><>nit;i destroyed them
alL At last, after repeated experiments, some escaped, and in eighteen hundred and
sixtj fish, returned from the ocean, were taken in the river. Shad were

formerly plentiful in all the rivers emptying into the Atlantic Ocean from Georgia
to the St. Lawrence. They, therefore, frequent warmer waters than the Balmon.
Over-fishing, traps, pounds, weirs, small meshed seines, and dams without fishwaya
at last nearly exterminated them. Through the efforts <>f tho Fish Commissioners
of the several eastern states they are again becoming plentiful. For n Dumber of
years all efforts nt the artificial hatching of tho eggs of shad had been failures. It
was ascertained thai the fish came into the rivers at about the same time as the
salmon, but that unlike that fish, they did nol spawn until the warm summer months.
Their eggs are no! placed upon gravel, but float in the water. Schools of them will
play about the river for days, when, upon some sudden impulse, the milt from the
male and the spawn from the female will be exuded into the water, at times, it is
said, making the water cloudy. In from two to four days the eggs hatch, when
the young fish immediately swim for the center of the river, keeping their heads
against the current. At last Mr. Seth Green, alter much patient investigation and
numerous experiments, invented a box, the bottom of which was covered with fine
wire netting. On this wire netting the impregnated eggs were placed; a series of
these boxes, fastened together by a rope, were allowed to float in the current of the
river. To the sides of each box w^ere fastened, at an angle, pieces of board, which,
floating in the water, caused the wire bottom of the box to be partially turned
against the current. The effect was that the current, entering through the wire
netting, kept the eggs in constant motion. All the conditions of nature were satisfied,
and the experiment became a success. Mr. Green obtained a patent for his invention,
which, as it is largely used, is quite valuable. Within the past four years, under
the direction of Fish Commissioners and hy aid of small appropriations, more than
five hundred million shad have been artificially hatched in these boxes in the rivers
of the eastern states north from Virginia. The result of the first and second year's
hatching in the Hudson and Connecticut is becoming manifest ; more fish have been
taken this year in those rivers than in any year during the past twenty. So many
fish were caught that the fishermen were unable to take care of them, and fresh
shad were sold in the New York City markets as low as ten cents a shad.

These results, from the experiments of enthusiasts, in increasing almost without
expense the food supply of the people, are worthy the attention of statesmen. So
much attention is now being given to the subject that Congress has passed a law
appointing a commission to investigate our river and coast fisheries, learn the habits
of the fish, aud report as to what legislation is required to aid in increasing the
food supply from this source.

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 49

IMPORTATION OF NEW VARIETIES

Your Commissioners have it in contemplation to attempt, at the proper season
next year, the importation from the east of white fish from the Great Lakes, to be
placed in Lake Tahoe ; black bass, a superior game fish, to be placed in some lake
to breed and be distributed; eels, to be put in the Sacramento River; and lobsters, to
be deposited in some appropriate place in the bay of San Francisco. We have also
opened a correspondence with gentlemen in China, with the object of learning what
valuable food-fish can be obtained in that country, and the processes of the Chinese,
who are said to pursue largely the artificial hatching of fish. From the following
extract from one of the letters received it will be seen that the Chinese have not
yet learned how, artificially, to impregnate the spawn, but depend upon catching
the eggs for hatching after they have been naturally fecundated. Our correspondent
says :

"Referring to your letter of May twenty-fifth, inquiring concerning the man-
ner of breeding fish, we would say that we find the Chinese, at certain periods of
the year, spread their cloths across the river at some distance above Canton and catch
the eggs which arc washed down from the smaller streams and ponds higher up.
These eggs have been already impregnated by the male fish at the place in which
they are laid, and when thus caught are placed in ponds, where after a short time
they hatch and are thus raised. There are no breeding ponds near Canton, and it
[g said in be impossible to breed fish in ponds on any large scale, as the eggs are
devoured by the male fish after impregnation unless he be immediately removed,
which is impractical where there are any number. The ponds in which the eggs are
placed for hatching must be running water. We would suggest the plan of sending
two <>r three nun. acquainted with the process of breeding, to California, where they
could experiment on the rivers and lakes, which very much resemble those in the
country where it is at presenl practiced."

I \ i B \' rS FBOM REPORTS

Our field is so extensive and then- is so much to be done in the way of investi-
gation preparatory to intelligent legislation on the subject of inland fisheries, thai
we deemed it advisable to employ two assistants — the first, Captain E3. Wakeman,
to examine and report on the fisheries of the bay of San Francisco and some of the
rivers that discharge their waters directly into the Pacific Ocean; the other, Mr.
George C. Haswell, to examine and report upon the fisheries of Lake Tahoe and the
Truckee River and its tributaries. The following • - from their reports will be

found of .meat interest. Referring to the bay fisheries, Captain Wakeman says:

"Since the date of my commission I have visited with the yacht 'George Steers,'
repeatedly, all the fishing grounds that are frequented by the Italian and Chinese
fishermen in the waters of our bay. The only Chinese fishing station that I find is
Located a short distance north of the 'Two Sisters.' Here, on an extensive mud flat,
are stakes or poles set firmly in the ground, and occupying an area of several miles
in extent, from which poles are kepi constantly set the nets, which are taken up at
each slackwater of the flood and ebb tide. From twelve (12) to fifteen (15) boats
are employed, having three (3) men in each boat. Shrimps are taken here and
cured for the Chinese market by being boiled in large vats in salt water, then spread
out on the cleanly swept ground and dried in the sun, being raked over frequently
during the day. The scales or skin become separated from the meat and looks like
fine sawdust. The meat and refuse is then sewn up in the best quality of bags
and placed on board the Chinese junk of about thirty tons and sent to San Francisco,
from whence it is shipped to China. Scare any class of fish are taken in these nets
but shrimp, and thousands of tons must find their way to China annually. Their
nets are similar to those used by the Italians, with this difference, viz: the middle
of the net, which assumes the character of a bag, is, with the Chinese, opened by
untying a string, and the whole catch is dropped into the boat with ease. The net
is then closed again with the string and put back into the water to remain until next

■. which :ir<' nil of .1 large :ui«l

! i ! bj the Italians, smelt being the principal

i nncho\ • I nothing bat cr

irritate the men bo thai they are inclined to

i i" die; but i bad, in all ca . everything thai was

back into the water. In are the only li-h that are

left upon tl taken out o£ the aeta with tin pans, the

All thai pari of 1 1 » . - catch thai

ad thrown into the h".'it without coming in contact with the sand

aiiii mitted to remain in the water; neverthi arge

I i ring from the fad
that they fa I as it were among so many thousand into the con-

. and are anable in their m< to rel<

. their peril
"T be found it. tantities, floating upon the water, complete

droi number revive and swim off again. Whereas, heretofore,

the- :i to dump the whole catch upon the beach and. after

all they wanted, the young were invariably left upon the beach, becoming,
in i intolerable nui as residing in the vicinity. A

of things lias been inaugurated this year, which is found to work to tib-
ial benefit of all parties concerned. Five boats are generally to be found in
different parts of this bay; and fish are taken at all times of tide, both day and
night. Two boats are generally employed between the bay and the Golden Gate.
They cast on both shores, north and south, for the same kind of fish; and also in

:.'- Harbor, two and sometimes three boats are found both night and day,
all i the tide. During the night fires are made upon the beach, and frequently

• fires tan be seen, not only on all the different beaches in Saucelito Bay and
aw's Harbor, but also on both sides of Raccoon Straits, giving a most pictur-
le and cheerful aspect during the long and gloomy nights which prevail in n
parts of our harbor at this season of the y<

"These Italians are a singular and peculiar people, always sober and indus-
trious, and. like the Chinese, they pursue their avocations in silence. During the
silent and tedious hours of the night some are found sleeping in close proximity to the
fire, with their harness on, face down, which appears to be the universal practice
among all classes of the different races of people who are accustomed to sleep upon
the ground in the open air. From Raccoon Straits to the Chinese fishing station,
on the north shore, are several favorite places where the nets of the Italians are
. with various success. The same class of fish being taken from the 'Sisters'
up to Petaluma, nothing but sturgeons are found until we come to Vallejo, where
there is a mackerel trap fishery.

"Down on the south shore we find two (2) Italian boats on the San Pablo
flats, and two more at a favorite point to the north of Sheep Island, where there is
another mackerel trap fishery.

"Two boats are employed at Sheep Island. They not only cast upon the bet
but generally fish at night under sail only, pulling round and towing the nets. The
same fish, smelts, flounders, sardines, anchovies, and soles, are taken here.

"Two boats are frequently employed around Goat Island, two at Oakland
Wharf, and two at Alameda Wharf. Large quantities are taken all along the
Alameda Flats, some ten miles to the southward of Alameda, and on the west coast
from Redwood Slough, all along until we come to Baybien where there is a favorite
resort to repair and dry their nets and take out their boats. From there to Long
Bridge boats are generally engaged, and I have in all cases, at each of these points,
impressed upon the minds of these men the consequences that will attend any
infringement on their part of the laws in regard to the fish interest, and especially
of section number six. I have also, in most of these places, made arrangements with
those who live near the beach to inform me of the first infringement, by taking the
name or number of the boat.

CALIFORNIA FISH AXD GAME 51

"I am informed from a reliable source that a most wanton course of destruction
is practiced by the settlers along the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, which
will, if not arrested, be attended with vital consequences, amounting to a total
destruction in these waters of our salmon fisheries, which, to the State, are worth
millions of dollars.

"Perch, flounders, shrimps, and herring spawn in December; smelt, in
August."

From Captain Wakeman's report on the fisheries of some of the coast rivers
we make the following extracts :

"In pursuance with your orders of the sixth instant, I have examined all the
streams from Spanishtown to Pescadero, and herein submit my report in regard to
their character as trout strams, their obstructions, and consequences arising there-
from :

"Pilarcitos Creek — Upon which Spanishtown is located, is a dirty red stream,
of about two feet wide and one foot deep, and empties its waters upon the beach,
about half a mile below the town. There is a steam flour mill here, but no sawmill,
and judging from the thick, muddy water, nothing but cattish can live in it.

"Gobt they Creek — Two miles below Spanishtown, t trout stream,

about two feet wide and a few inches deep, and empties it* waters upon the beach.
There are no mills upon this stream, and only natural obstructions, such as old
decayed trees and their branch

"Purissima, or Pure Water S:r.-am — Is two miles below <!obetkey Creek, and
i* a tine clear water trout stream, about four feet wide and a fool deep. Generally
at this season (February) it has a volume of about tea feet in width and five feet
in depth. It empties its waters upon the beach about half a mile below the Purissima
Hous.-. Four miles up the stream is the sawmill belonging t>> M Boyden and

Hatch. This mill has an overshol wheel, tin- water to run it b( en from

the stream three-fourths of a mile ml carried in a sixteen-inch flume, at the

head of which are four little da le by throwing a short log across and tamping

it tight with a t'ev, I sawdust. This throws all the water into the flume and

only half tills it, which shows that this Stream is very small at the present time.
A siii' tor a new steam sawmill is being located {:■ further up. The sawdust

and blocks of the redwood are thrown into u ,. which turns the water to a

dark red, and. in some plac i inky black; in other plac ile. Thi

poisonous, and kills the fish in half an hour after it is drank, according to the testi-
mony of Messrs. Boyden and Hatch th es. Cattle along this stream are
walking skeletons. I saw »f dead animals lying along the bank,
notwithstanding there is plenl e >od grass. This shi delusively the truth
of all the reports made to me by many of the settlers along the stream. In places
where the water runs fast it is quite palatable: but where it is still it becomes
wholly unfit for use. and not only kill h, but is dangerous to the cattle. At
some seasons of the year the settlers are obliged to sink holes or wells back from the
stream, and even then the water is impregnated with an odor only to be derived
from dead fish.

"Lobetis Creek — Is a clear water trout stream, two miles from Purissima,
about three feet wide, and a foot deep. It empties its waters upon the beach, and
has no mills — nothing but natural obstruction

-Tunis Creek — Is a clear water trout stream, of about the same volume as
Lobetis. It empties its waters upon the beach. Ten miles up this stream is Foment's
steam sawmill, not running now. owing to a lawsuit pending and an injunction
from the court: which last, it is to be hoped, may continue for all time, as the
sawdust, so fatal to the fish and injurious to the farmer, is prevented thereby from
being dumped into the stream.

"San Gregoria — Is a fine clear water trout stream, four miles from Tunis, and
connects with the ocean about one mile below the San Gregoria House. At full
sea, the salmon, of from fifteen to twenty pounds, and the silver salmon, from two
to fifteen pounds, enter this stream during their spawning season, which is from

i.ll ORNIA lisil AND QAME

i • l ii taken several

miles op thi a during the rainy season, when, owing to the strong current,

I had been washed out six miles up this stream is Templeton's

iwmill. and s few miles further up, on a northern branch of this tream, is

till, and a few miles further op the same branch i L I' Pharis'

tie mill. All these mills dump their sawdust and blocks into the stream,

- the water that ii has b tn intolerable nuisance to all the

ream below, and will soon exterminate the trout.

"Potn\ I four miles from Sun Gregoria, and is a clear water trout

mil volume emptying upon the beach. No mills; plenty of trout.
••/•. o stream Is three miles from Pompons Creek, and is n fine clear

water troul stream, empties into the sea aboui two miles below ili«' town, and
connects, one inil<' from the beach, with the Butena River, which is also a fine clear
water troul stream running to the southeast; is about twenty feel wide, and six
fee) deep. For a miles tins makes :t fine resort for the Balmon and silver salmon
from the sea which frequent these waters, with other lesser sea fish, for the purp
pawning. From October to .March a wagon load of these beautiful fish, weighing

from two to thirty pounds, arc taken daily and sold all along the road, .as high up as

tishtown, at seventy-five cents per pound. These fish are only taken during the
spawning season, they being a deep water fish and go out to sea in March. Three
miles up the Pescadero stream which is aboui four feet wide and a fool deep, at
present is B. Bayward's steam sawmill, and three miles further up is Anderson's
sawmill, run by a turbine wheel, having a well constructed dam, built of hewn logs,
well secured right across the creek. The dam is twenty feet long and about ten
feet high, built in eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and all the water from above
passes at present through the sluiceway at the turbine wheel. As the water has
never been half way up to the top of this dam since it was built, no fish have ever
passed. A sluice box with stop waters in it for fish could be introduced through
this dam near its base and outside the sluiceway for the wheel, this being the only
place where the box could reach the -water below, as all the rest of the bed of the
stream is dry. Large quantities of sawdust and blocks are deposited in the stream
below the dam ; fish are found dead, their eyes eaten out by the strong poisonous
acids in the water, and their bodies covered beneath the skin with disgusting blisters,
like the smallpox, whilst the inside is as black as ink. The waters are rendered at
times wholly unfit for use. Eight miles further up this stream is Wolf's steam
sawmill, the lumber from wdiich is hauled out to the eastward, whilst the sawdust
conveyed down the river, fatal to the fish and to the interests of everybody.
There is but one sentiment existing among the settlers along the si ream, .and it is
this: that they have arrived at a point where forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and
have resolved to exhaust all legal measures, by their united efforts and similar
means to protect their interests against the oppressive and persistent practice of the
mill owners in dumping the sawdust into the streams, whereby the whole community
below suffer, some hundreds and others thousands of dollars. The effects of the
sawmills, during eighteen or twenty years, are scarcely perceptible in these almost
impenetrable forests, and the united efforts of many mills for the next twenty years
will be required before the woodman's axe will have waning from the settlers of this
nature's retreat in her solitude that beautiful prayer of 'Woodman, spare that tree.'
"I have communicated with many of the settlers along the banks of all these
streams, and have 'the experience of the oldest settlers in this part of the country,
and there can be but one conclusion in regard to the fish interest of these si reams.
and that is that the redwood sawdust poisons the water, and unless some other
method is adopted to get rid of it, such as burning it or repairing roads with it,
there will not be a breed of trout left in a few years. Where thousands were taken
daily (thirteen hundred by one person), now scarcely a trout can be seen. If there
are laws to protect them I can see no good reason for not enforcing them, and if
this be done every man's table in this district will be abundantly supplied with trout
—a healthy and cheap article of food — while large quantities wTill find their way, as a

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 53

luxury, to the rich man's table at a distance, so long as these streams shall flow
'from the mountain to the sea.' "

From the report of Mr. Haswell on the Truckee River and Lake Tahoe we
make the following extracts. He says :

"Under your appointment, and in accordance with your instructions, I pro-
ceeded to that point on the Truckee River where it crosses our State line on its
way to Pyramid Lake, in the State of Nevada. From thence I followed it up to
its head, in Lake Tahoe. I also examined the California part of that lake; also
Donner Lake and Donner Creek ; but from want of sufficient time could only make
Inquiries about the Little Truckee and its sources, Webber Lake, and Lake Inde-
pendence, though prior to my appointment I had visited them all for health and
pleasure.

"During this official visit I heard and saw so much that requires the most
stringent legislation in both states thai I scarce know where to commence my report.
But as a preliminary I suggest that carefully drawn laws, precisely similar in all
respects, except the mere verbiage thai is accessary to designate which State enacted
them, be passed by each State, and that, if such a law "is not unconstitutional, each
ait shall authorize the officers of the other Stair, armed with a proper writ from
it, and any citizen of the other State who has seen the offense committed within
its borders, to cross the line and make the necessary arrest, and without further
ceremony take the prisoners back for trial. This seems arbitrary, but if it can be
constitutionally made a law it will be found to be one of the greatest safeguards to
the joint fisheries.

"Trout commence running up the Truckee, from Nevada, with the first sufficient
rise of the river. The date of this, as also that of their return, is of course variable.
Thej retire towards Pyramid Lake as the water recedes in the summer or fall.

•■from the obstructions hitherto placed in this river and the various means
used to tut rap the fish before they reach the shallow, gravelly streams, together with
the wholesale waste of them and die criminal distraction of their spawn, I believe
that in a very few years the great hikes of both states will be entirely without brown
trout, and certainly very few silver ones, unless the two state governments concur
in some such law as that above suggested. But to return to my starting point — the
Truckee at the boundary line.

"The first mill and dam (all the mills on this river are for Bawing lumber) on
the Truckee in California, is that of Pray & Bragg. At presenl i! is little or no
obstruction to tin- free run of the fish, and its owners have agreed that if it becomes
one they will either open the dam itself or construct proper fish ways and ladders.
"The Boca Mill Company CO rt. Mr. Doane, the resident partner, is

about as enthusiastic on the suhject of letting the trout have a clear passage to and
fro between the lake and streams of this State and those of Nevada, as the members
of your body themselves. At this dam there are two good fish ways — one on a plan
recommended by yourselves, and the other built upon a design which Mr. Doane
and the other members of the company think superior to it.

"The dam of the Marysville Company follows, then that of the Geissendoffer
Mill Company, then in succession two others known as Proctor's. Neither one of
these four is an impediment now. The mills have been removed, the sluiceways are
open, and the dams themselves are all so dilapidated that the fish can pass through
either of them.

"Succeeding the upper Proctor mill come five dams belonging to the Truckee
Lumber Company. Four of these are mere dams to catch water when the river is
low. They cause no hindrance whatever. The other one has an excellent and very
efficient passageway, hut a log got entangled in it and carried off a portion of the
crossbars or resting places. The owners said that the necessary repairs should be
made forthwith ; and as they seem to take as much pride as the owners of the Boca
Mill do in giving the trout fair play, I do not consider that it requires any further
attention.

"I am sorry that I can not say the same of the next place — Rusch's Mill.
Here is a so-called fish way which is of no possible use if it was constructed with a

I

I COn( r:ir\ . it w.ms liuilt to be I

Bui the owner baa
• .| be te ible either

1 1 the reqairementa of

Bab ha in the Truckee to

btnenl of Lake Tahi
tractions, I returned from the lake to 1 1 1*> line and
with ii of "ur Bister State about opening

• free way whenever thej
en the fr< ifa waters of Tahoe and the brackisb wa
r pie there took the i in band. The owner of the only

da portion of tl applied to, to either have flshv*

tanner give the fish :i chance. He declined; bul a little gianl
unknown hand, made the condition of things aboul thai dam
>r the troul to indulge their migratory j>r< ■!>•
■ ■ through a creek, also called Donner, into the

Truckee about fifteen miles below where thai river leaves Tahoe. On Donner Creek
mil a dam so constructed thai no fish once leaving Donner Lake on its •
the brackish waters of Luke Pyramid could ever gel back again to breed,
e of this is thai brown trout, which I believe always yearly go or
.•it least stai to the greal Nevada lake, in Donner are extremely scarce, whilst

the silver trout, which I think never, or if at all, bul seldom, go down stream beyond
the lake they first reached from their hatching grounds, are moderately plentiful.
"I may as well remark here that the above is my opinion as to the one kind
coming down stream out of the lakes, and the other not doing bo, at least not as a
ural instinct, though individual exceptions may occur. But it is eon-
tended that there is no distinction in species between the two kinds I designate
silver and brown trout — in fact, that they are the same thing — the apparent differ'
being merely local caused by the nature and color of the gravel in which they were
hatched, and the peculiarities of the water in which they grew or live. Such may
be the case, but I have examined a considerable number of both colors, and caught
a good many trout in the Atlantic States in my younger days, and I consider that
what I here call the brown trout is not the same as what was called the brook-
trout in that part of the country where I was born and brought up and caught fish.
In every trout I have examined here the brown ones have a straight purplish line
on each side of the body from almost the end of its nose to near the tail. This line
is not on the silver ones, and on the brown ones I have never found any of the spots
or dots usual on all trout below the purplish line. They have invariably been above
it. If I remember correctly, the Eastern brook trout have nothing of the purplish
line, but merely spots or dots. Not being an ichthyologist I merely call the attention
of the Board to what I believe, from my own observation, and ask you and others
who read this report to examine this question and another — are there any trout,
either in this State or Nevada, except, perhaps, in the pure mountain streams
further north? Whilst upon the Truckee and the lakes I heard several persons,
who have the reputation of being ichthyologists, say that all the fish that we call
trout, were in reality land-locked salmon, frequently called schoodic trout. But to
return to the trap on Donner Creek. I could not find the owners of this dam, but
learned that they were A. C. Toll and Brothers. I afterwards understood from Com-
missioner Redding that they had promised him that they wrould either remove the
dam entirely or put in satisfactory ways and ladders.

"At the source of the Truckee, i.e., Lake Tahoe, two persons have been and
I believe that, to some extent, they are still in the habit of taking the fish by means
of seines, nets, and traps, on the alleged pretense of catching them for their spawn
to stock lakes, streams, and ponds. But the fact is they catch them at all times of
the year, and sell immense quantities, without reference to either spawn or spawning
season ; and, although I did not see it, and can scarcely believe it, I have been
informed by their neighbors of credibility that fish and spawn were dipped out by

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 55

the bucketful, and either consumed on the place or sold to others for hog feed- Of
course, I notified these men of the provisions of the law, and forbid the further use
of either seine, net, or trap at any season of the year, or for any purpose whatever.
They promised obedience, and the residents of the vicinity said that they would take
care that the law was complied with, and in the event of any violation the parties
should be prosecuted with the greatest rigor to the utmost extent of the law.

'At the mouth of or a short distance up almost every small stream — the trout's
breeding place — that empties either into the Truckee River, or Tahoe, Donner, or
other lakes, fish traps are set in such a manner as to be actual murder to most of
the fish, and complete destruction to their spawn. Taking advantage of the fish's
it-tinct of procreation and continuance . of its race, and of its other instinct, that
that can only be done by going up stream to shallow water and a gravelly bottom, a
trap is made, which is done as follows : A row of stakes is driven across the full
width of the stream. These are nol placed so close as to prevenl the water coming
down, yet are put so near that a trout can not get through to go up. Further down
the stream another row is driven across. This is in every respect Like the first,
ep1 thai in one portion of it — about the center — an opening, say, a foot wide and
two or three feet long, is left under water. The distance between the two rows of
stakes is a matter of option, being from three or four feet to ten or twelve, depend-
ing somewhat upon the number of prisoners the owner expects to take, and how
long, and for what purp o keep them. It will be seen that the fish can

get in through the lower tier but not out through the upper one, yet might escape
by returning; but this they will not do. Fish always return to spawn at the spawn-
ing place of their parents. Here they are. a' aing, nature, instinct, or what-
ever else people may choose to term it, tells the fish that they are of no further use
in the waters of this world unless they get up the stream to spawn and milt. So
in this tra]i thej remain, butting their head- -t the upper stakes until they
are either taken out or the growing ova and milt compels them to violate the laws
of nature and die, when the fish and what should have been their descendants are
dipped out and. as already said, given to the hogs. Trout are frequently thrown out
with their noses absolutely butted off in the vain endeavor to force their way through
the barricade.

"The Indians, and a good many whites, have another distinctive method of
Mapping trout, but it is nothing like so bad as the one described above. Even where
there are good ladders and ways, a large number of fish try to run up the current
pouring over the dam. After repeated efforts to run up on the face of the water
against the impetus with which it is coming down, they become weak and exhausted,
and can no longer keep upon the face of the stream and fall through it into the
vacant space that is always found under the water that pours over a dam. In this
space wicker or other baskets (the Indians use willow twigs) are fastened, and into
these baskets the fish fall in great numbers, and of course can not escape.

"Two facts show conclusively that trout are fast disappearing from the lakes.
One is, that very few, comparatively speaking, are caught now, even in the best
seasons, with the hook and line. As a sample, I may tell of a Sacramento attorney
who is noted as an expert in fishing — a gentleman who can nearly equal Izaak
Walton for patience in wating for a nibble — who spent some four or five days this
summer fishing on Donner. He was out by daylight, and did not return until dark,
and ih" greatest number lie caught in any one day was five. I may also -rate that
every trout that he caught was silver — there was not a brown one in the whole
number. The other fact is, that the so-called chub, the natural, as it would seem,
food for the trout in the lakes, have of late years increased in such numbers as
almost to be a nuisance.

"On the Truckee, about nine miles from Tahoe, Comer Brothers have a large
establishment for rearing trout. I understand that it was started about three years
ago, and that although it has been a success so far as to growing and distributing
the fish, yet, in commercial parlance, it has been something very near a failure. I
was told that Webber Lake was stocked from the Truckee several years ago, and
that it is now well filled with good sized fish, though formerly it did not possess any

' U : \ FISH \M> GAME

trout ! b] which your Board can :n>l these pioneer California
trout I ' rou will

l believe thai I hare nothing to add, except I that during the coming
r Mini nut i 1 people begin to understand the law, and the officer* and courts enfi

it. tli<- entire time "f at an will be required about Lake the

Little Truckee, and the iakea and that f!"\v into them, for the
protect ton of fiah."

I M'l Mil I I

Of the appropriation >>f fii and dollars made bj the Legislature t" :ii<l 1 1 1 « -

ii importing new varieties of fish, and In preserving the native fiah
valuable for food, we ! ended the following amoui

1870

I '. c. 9th _.

Feb. '.'tli

20th
M rch 27th.
July 8th__.

July 8th_.

July 8th_.
Nov. 25th_.

Paid J. D. Farwell & Co. bill of sundries

! expensi EC. Wakeman, examinations Bay <>f

San Francisco

Paid Bugbey & Sons, drawings of f i — 1 1 ladders

Paid expenses of E. Wakeman, coast rivers

Paid expeo e of Seth Green and assistant in S;m

Francisco

Paid expenses of Seth Green and assistant in importing

L5.000 young shad

Paid fare of Green and assistant, return trip

Paid expenses of G. C. Haswell, examination of Lake

Tahoe, Truckee River, and tributaries

Total amount expended

$40.32

25.00
80.00

43.00

34830
186.60

175.00

$1,137.22

All of which is respectfully submitted.

B. B. Redding.

S. R. Thbockhobton,

J. D. Fakwell,

Commissioners.

E — 2013 4-33 750

REPRINT FROM

California Fish and Game

"conservation of wild life through education."

Volume 19

SACRAMENTO, APRIL, 1933

\u. 2

Report of Commissioners of Fisheries

of the State of California for the

Years 1(572 and 1873

CALIFORNIA STATE PRINTING 0 = FICS

HARRY HAMMOND, STATE PRINTER
SACRAMENTO. 1933

2896 P

I \ l Isii \ ME

REPO 1-" THE « OMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES OF THE

STATE OF « A.LIFORNIA FOB THE FEARS 1872 AND It

REPORT

I '. ii.

' ia:

The Commissioners of Fisheries for the State of California,
appointed under an acl of the Legislature entitled "An acl to provide

the restoration and preservation <>f fish in waters of this state."
approved April second, eighteen hundred and seventy, respectfully
submit their Second Biennial Report.

REPORT

Y"our Commissioners, in pursuance of the plan contemplated in

v last report, proceeded to open correspondence with the most noted
fish culturists in the east, and also with the United States Fish Com-
missioner at Washington City, upon the subject of obtaining an addi-
tions] supply of shad, and also a large variety of other food fishes from
the eastern lakes and sea coast.

By the kindness of the United States Commissioner of Fisheries, the
Hon. Spencer P. Baird, we were allowed to avail ourselves of the serv-
ices of Mr. Livingstone Stone, attached to the United States Commis-
sion, and engaged in transferring salmon eggs from California to the
waters flowing into the Atlantic. Mr. Stone's high reputation as a
successful breeder of fish, as well as a writer upon the subject of
Pisciculture, not only gave us confidence in the success of the enter-
prise, hut also led us to enlarge and amplify the scope and range of the
undertaking.

In this view we made arrangements with Mr. Stone, for him to
proceed to the eastern states, and there collect a supply of shad, eels,
black bass, white fish. Tautogs, striped bass, blue fish, and lobsters.

To carry into effect these plans, we chartered from the Central
Pacific R. R. Co. a special car, to be placed at our disposal at a given
point at the east, and there to await the necessary time for being fitted
up for the purpose, and to receive its freight of living fish. All the
requisite arrangements for the transit of this car over the different lines
of roads, as well as for its necessary stoppages and delays at different
points where fish were to be taken in, had been most completely made
by our colleague. Mr. B. B. Redding, through the agency of the dif-
ferent railroad managers ; and on the seventeenth day of March, 1873,
Mr. Stone left San Francisco, to carry out, if possible, the plan of your
Commissioners, to transport a car-load of living fish from the Atlantic
to the Pacific Ocean.

Referring to this expedition Mr. Stone says :

In accordance with instructions received from the Fish Commis-
sioners of the State of California, I left San Francisco for the eastern

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 143

coast on the seventeenth day of March, 1873, for the purpose of pro-
curing: a stock of the best varieties of eastern fish, and transporting
them alive across the continent, with a view to introducing these varie-
ties into the public waters of California.

My plan of operations for the whole undertaking was : First — •
To collect the fish at some favorable point at the East, where they could
be kept alive until everything was ready for the journey. Second —
To fit up a car with the apparatus most suitable for transporting living
fish. And third — To take this car when loaded. To California, in the
least possible time, and without any transfer of its contents. This
plan was successfully carried into practice up to the time of the acci-
dent just beyond Omaha.

The first installment of living fish intended for the California
car, arrived at Charlestown, New Hampshire, the point of rendezvous,
on the seventh of May. It consisted of eighty-two Black Bass, Grystes
facciatus, Glass-eyed perch. L-ucio perca, and Bull heads, Penrelodus,
and about three hundred thousand of the Perca flauerscurs and

the Lucio />< rca.

These fish were collected at Lake Champlain, and at the Missis-
quoi River in Vermont, and were taken a journey of thirty hours by
rail, before reaching Charlestown. They nevertheless bore their trip
admirably, and arrived at their destination in first rate order.

The next two weeks were spent in fitting up the car which had
arrived at Charlestown, X. If., and making other preparations for the
difficult undertaking in prospect. Arrangements had been previously
made, at the suggestion of Hon. Spencer F. Baird, U. S. Commissioner
Ml' Fisheries, with Mr. Myron Green, at Castleton, on the Hudson, for
a supply of young Shad, and fresh water Eds.

And also, with Capt. Urinal Edwards, of Woods Hole. Mass., for
young Lobsters; and other salt fish. The Eastern Trout, Salmon
fontanalis, were to be taken from the Cold Spring Trout Ponds, at
Charlestown. The large Lobsters were to come from Johnson & Lor-
ings' establishment, at Boston, and Mr. Myron Green was dispatched
to the Raritan River for Catfish.

The equipment of the car having been completed, and every-
thing being ready, the third day of June, 1873, was set for our depart-
ure. At midnight of June 2d, Mr. W. S. Perrin arrived from Boston
with a special car having on board the Lobsters, Oysters, small Lob-
sters, salt water Eels, Tautogs, and reserves of ocean water. "We
began at daylight the next morning, filling the tanks in the car and
loading in the fish, and by one o'clock in the afternoon, everything was
ready, and at a quarter past two on Tuesday. June 3d, the California
Aquarium Car started on its journey.

The car Mas furnished by the Central Pacific R. R. Co., and
was one of their fruit cars, intended for quick trips across the con-
tinent. It was twenty-seven feet long and eight feet wide, and was
provided with a "Westinghouse airbrake and Miller platform, which
enabled us to take it along with passenger trains.

At one end of the car was a stationary tank, built of two-inch
plank, lined with zinc, and occupying the whole width of the car.
and eight feet of its length.

11} I Mil 0BN1 \ I'l-ll a\i> GAME

This tank was two feel and eight inches deep, and held, when
full, aboul ten thousand pounds of water.

At the other end <>i the car \\as ;i large ice box, the reserves of

water, six Large cases of Lobsters, and ;i barrel of oysters.

In the center of the car, and occupying nearly ;ill the room in it.
were tin- other portable tanks for carrying the fish. <>ur beds were on
the top of the ];n-'_r<' stationary tank, which, of course was covered. The
Large tank was ; i N < • .i n-.i 1 1 *_!<■< l so thai we could take on water on ;i Large
scale from the water works ;ii the railroad stations en route. This
proved in be a very great convenience, and was in fad indispensable.

When we Left Charlestown, X. II.. tin' car contained upward of —
Black Bass from Lake Champlain Orystes disdains.

11 <;l;iss-ryrd Perch, from Lake Champlain Lucio perca,
lid Fellow Perch from Missisquoi River Perca flavescens.

BO Young Vdlow Perch from .\Iissis<|imi River Perca flavescens.

12 Bull Heads Horn poutsi. from Missisquoi River Pimelodus.
Iio Catfish from Raritan River Pimelodus.

20 Tautogs from near Martha's Vineyard Tautoga Americana.
1500 s;,lt Water Eels from Martha's Vineyard Anguilla.
looo Young Trout from Charlestown, X. II.. Salmo fontinalis.
102 Lobsters from Massachusetts Bay and Wood's Hole
1 Barrel of Oysters from Massachusetts Bay.

Supplies of Minnows for feed fish.

The Black Bass, Bull Heads. Cat fish, and part of the Lobsters,
were full grown and heavy with spawn.

Besides the fish above enumerated, I took on at Albany—

40,000 Fresh Water Eels from the Hudson, and arranged for
20.000 Shad and Shad Eggs, Alosa praestabilis, from the Hudson, to
overtake us at Chicago.

The receptacles for holding the fish consisted of —
1 large stationary tank, 8 feet square and 2 feet 8 inches deep.
1 round wooden 70-gallon tank.
1 round 50-gallon tank.
3 round 30-gallon tanks.
3 conical-shaped 30-gallon tanks.
6 conical 10-gallon tin cans.

1 conical 15-gallon tin can.
3 round 9-gallon tin cans.

2 thirty-five gallon casks.

6 large cases (containing the Lobsters).

The total capacity of the whole, excluding the Lobster cases,
being about 16,000 pounds of water.

Besides the vessels for holding the fish the car contained the fol-
lowing articles :

1 large 120-gallon cask, filled with ocean water.
1 sixty-gallon cask, filled with ocean water.
1 large ice box.
-| barrel of live moss.
I

2

barrel of water plants.

Curd and meal for feed.

1 bushel of salt for killing parasites.

The aerating apparatus referred to —

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 145

1 alcohol stove.

1 set carpenter's tools.

2 lanterns.

2 hammocks.

2 spring beds.

2 mattresses and pillow.

2 sets bedclothe

1 broom.

1 lot green sod.

2 thermometer-..

Pipes, spouts, and syphons, for taking in and letting off water.

1 long-handled dip net.

2 short-handled dip nets.
Movable steps to door of ear.
Sundry barrels, pails, dippers, etc.

.Maps, with stations marked where we knew the water to be good or bad.
Our trunks, valises, and private baggage.

When the car left Charlestown there were four of us in it —
.Mr. \V. T. Perrin, of Grantville, Mass. ; Mr. Myron Green, of Ilighgate,
Vermont; Mr. Edward Osgood, of Charlestown, X. 11., and myself.
We arrived at Albany at 11.30 p.m. tin' same evening, all the fish doing
well. ;in«l the water in the tanks standing at 45 degrees F. Here we
took mi the 40.000 Iv'ls mentioned above, and half a ton of ice. We
also left Mr. Myron Green here to go to the New York shad Hatching
Works, at Castleton on the Hudson, and 'jet a supply of young shad.

<»n my urgenl application '<> the New York Central Railroad
authorities, that road took as with their passenger train, which was
due to leave Albany at 2 l'i a.m. on the same night. We reached
Suspension Bridge about noon and left I'm- Detroit with a passenger
train on the (iiv.it Western Railroad. We took on ice and water at
Hamilton, Canada, and reached the boal at Detroil ferry about 11 p.m.
the same day, Wednesday, dune 4th, all the fish being in good order,
except the Lobsters, which were dying in considerable numbers. The
ferry boat being jusl tilled, without the Aquariam Car. they left us
east of the river all night, and it being very warm, I spent the rest of
the night till daylighl looking up ice, of which I at last obtained a ton
and a half.

Leaving Detroit that morning — Thursday, -Tune 5th — we pro-
ceeded directly to Niles, Michigan, with a passenger train, via the
Michigan Central Railroad. We had now come all the way with pas-
senger trains, and had we known this beforehand we need not have
lost any time in bringing on the Shad ; as it was, however, we expected
to make slow time on freight trains from Albany to Chicago, and I
here arranged to have the Shad brought on by express from Albany
two days alter we left that point. These two days we had now on our
hands, and it was very aggravating to be obliged to lose so much time
when time was so precious. There was no help for it, however, and as
I thought it would be better to wait part of the time on the road than
to spend the whole of the two days in Chicago, I had the car dropped
at Niles, Michigan, and we remained there till 6.10 the next morning —
Friday, June 6th — when we went on to Chicago, after taking on ice

] 16 J H'"KM \ PISH AND Q IME

and w and catching some minnows to feed the Large fish with.

W. d Chicago about 1" o'clock on Friday morning, all the fish

doing well, excepl the Lobsters and Eels.

The temperatures a< which I aimed to keep the different varieties
of fish, were ;i^ follows :

Fahrenhi It

deg.

deg.

-- deg.

Yellow Perch 42 deg.

Bullheads deg.

Gli rch deg.

Trout

Lobsters 34 to 36 d>

Oysters ' deg.

From the experience which I have now had, however, 1 would
advise a change with some of the fish, which would make the tempera-
ture iis follows :

Fahrt nk< it

Catfish 50 6- g.

Fresh Water Eels 'leg.

Bullheads 48 deg.

Glass-eyed Perch 48 deg.

Yellow Perch - 45 to 4* deg.

Black Bass 42 to 45 deg.

Salt Water Eels 42 to 45 deg.

Tautogs 42 to 45 deg.

Trout 36 to 38 deg.

Lobsters 36 to 38 deg.

Oysters 34 to 36 deg.

Mr. Myron Green rejoined us with the Shad the next morning,
Saturday. June 7th, and at 10.15 a.m. the same day, after having: taken
on three tons of ice and three tons of Lake Michigan water, we left
Chicago for Omaha, via the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.

"We took on water again at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and arrived at
Omaha, at 11 o'clock, on the morning of Sunday. Juno 8th. Through
the courtesy of Mr. C. B. Havens, the train dispatcher of the Union
Pacific Railroad, who detailed an engine to take our car to the ice house
at the Union Pacific shops, we were enabled to take on a ton and a half
of ice, and about one o'clock we started westward again. We were now
on our sixth day out, and everything was promising well. All the dead
eels had been removed, and Ave had 20.000 or 30,000 left. The mor-
tality of the lobsters was on the decrease, and we still had over forty
alive and in good condition. All the other fish were in splendid order.
"We had ice and water enough on board to take us, if necessary to the
Sierra Nevada — -certainly with what supplies we could get in the TVah-
satch Mountains, where the water is good. The circumstance of the
fish having lived so well up to this time, gave us a good deal of confi-
dence, and we were encouraged to hope that they would continue to do
well to the end of their journey.

After leaving Omaha we stowed away as well as we could the
immense amount of ice we had on the car, and having regulated the
temperature of all the tanks, and aerated the water all around, we made
our tea and were sitting down to dinner, when suddenly there came a
terrible crash, and tanks, ice, and everything in the car seemed to strike
us in every direction. We were, every one of us, at once wedged in by
the heavy weights upon us, so that we could not move or stir. A

CALIFORNIA FISH AXD GAME 147

moment after, the car began to fill rapidly with water, and the heavy
weights upon us began to loosen, and. in some unaccountable way. we
were washed out into the river. Swimming around our car. we climbed
up on one end of it, which was still out of water, and looked around to
see where we were. We found our car detached from the train, both
couplings having parted. The tender was out of sight, and the upper
end of our car resting on it. The engine was three-fourths under water,
and one man in the engine cab crushed to death. Two men were float-
ing down the swift current in a drowning condition, and the balance
of the train still stood on the track, with the forward ear within a very
U'\v inches of the water's edge. The Westinghouse air-brake had saved
the train. W we had been without it. the destruction would have been
arful.

One look was sufficient to show that the contents of the Aquarium
Car were a total loss No care or labor had been spared in bringing
the fish to this point, and now. almosl on the verge of success, every-
thing was lost.

I immediately telegraphed the state of affairs to Mr. S. W. Throck-
morton, Chairman of the California Pish Commissioners, and to Eon.
spencer I-' Baird, the head of the I S Commission a1 Washington. I
received instructions by telegraph, the next morning to return Eas1
immediately with my assistants, and take on a shipment of young Shad
to California, under the auspices of the United States Fish Commission.

In pursuance of these instructions, I went East, and having
obtained 40,000 young Shad from the New York Hatching

Works, ;it Castleton, on the Hudson, 1 left Albany a s I time, a1

11. :U) p.m. on the I'.'.th of June, 1873, in company with Mr. W. T. P
i-in and Mr. Myron Green, mj assistants on the Aquarium Car. We
were also accompanied as far as < Imaha on this trip by Mr. II. M. Web-
ster, whose experience in carrying live shad was. in this instance, of
the greatest value.

On our arrival a1 Ogden, Utah, I lefl 5,000 of the Shad, in first-
rate order, in charge of Mr. Rockwood Sup< f Fishi ries at
Salt Lake City, to be introduced into Gr< - I Lake, and continued
with the other 35,000 to Sacramento, Cal., where we arrived at
half past one in the afterm ad day of duly — the fish
appearing in every respect as fresh and lively as when they lefl the

I I lldson ;i week liet'ofe.

We deposited them that night, at ten minutes past nine, in the
ramento River, just aboi Railroad Bridge, at Tehama — the

whole undertaking from beginning to end, having been a perfe<

Immediately upon hearing of the loss of the Aquarium we

telegraphed a remittance to Mr. stone at Omaha, and directed him to
repair at once to the Hudson River, and bring out, while yet in time,
all the young shad whieh his now reduced facilities would permit.

Mr. St,, ne at once proceeded East and. communicating, by tele-
gram, with Mr. Spencer F. Baird, U. S. Fish Commissioner, received
from him not only prompt attention but was also furnished by Mr.
Baird. for the California Commission, all of the Shad which the U. S.
Commission could spare, forty thousand in number, which were imme-
diately sent through to California, at the expense of the U. S. Fish
Commission, under the care of Mr. Stone, free of all charges, for

11" I LLIF0RN1 \ FISB ami <; \MI.

win I for the many kind .-< n< 1 valuable aids extended to us by Mr.

Baird, thia Commission i;ik''s ihis public opportunity of returning their
most grateful than!

I': leiving advice of the approach of thia shipment, one of the

I epaired to Sacramento, and there mel the incoming car

with a supply of water and ice The little immigrants were

found to be all alive and in excellenl Bpirits, and after receiving a fresh
supply of i'-'1 and water, proceeded <ui their journey to Tehama, <m
the S River, and there thai same nighl they were successfully

placed in ili«' waters which flow into the Pacific.

In the Spring of eighteen hundred and seventy-two, we opened
londence with Mr. Seth Green for an additional supply of Shad,
Imt the early Summer and excessive heal of the Eastern States al thai
time compelb d us to abandon the attempl for the Beason.

In the meantime, viz., in the Pall of L872, we received advice of
bipmenl made to as by Mr. Baird, of White Fish Eggs, and we
immediately took measures to hatch them and place them in the wafo
• he State.

In view of this we caused an examination of the different Lakes into

which they could be pli d with the besl prosped of success, which

ilted in our selecting Clear Lake as affording most of the necessary
conditions. Among these conditions is an essential one, namely : That it
may be seined without destroying other valuable fish, there being few or
no fish in that lake the destruction of which by seining would be any
loss, or which at any rate would not be most profitably replaced by
the White Fish which can be taken only by seining or trapping. The
climate also of Clear Lake seemed to us to be the best within reach,
remembering always that the eggs of the White Fish are very delicate
and will not bear rough transportation; as it was, in the first attempt
all of the eggs perished, and in the second effort, although great pains
were taken, a very large proportion of the eggs perished on the way.

Having selected what we < Itemed a proper place, we erected a hatch-
in? house under the charge of Mr. J. Gr. Woodbury, of whom we take
pleasure in speaking as a skillful, careful, intelligent, and economical
manager. Mr. Woodbury conducted the hatching of these eggs with
greal success, and closed his labors with putting into Clear Lake twenty-
five thousand living and healthy young White Fish, from which we
may reasonably hope to stock all the suitable waters in the State. It
may be well to state that the great object at first is to get the desirable
fish here and acclimated in' our waters; after that they may be bred
artificially and distributed to any extent.

It is probable, or at least possible, that ten thousand Shad may
return to our waters this coming Spring and forty thousand more in
1876. If such should be the case and they are properly protected by
legislation, it will be no difficult or costly matter to breed from them a
million of young fish, which in three years more will stock the entire
coast and give us Shad as plenty as we have Smelts. But to arrive
at this we require some stronger legislation which will absolutely
prevent the taking for food of the new Shad as they come in ; we
require them all for breeding.

If it shall be the pleasure of the Legislature to continue to aid
this commission, it is our intention this next coming year to renew our

CALIFORNIA FISH AXD GAME 149

effort to bring across the continent the food fishes of the east, and with
the experience which we have had and the additional knowledge we
have gained, we have hopes of not only repairing our loss of last year
but largely to improve upon that effort. "We regret to say that our
loss was large. "We had embarked in it all the remaining funds of the
commission, but no human foresight could have predicted it or guarded
against it. and we can only say that it is worth all that it has cost to
know the fad That an aquarium of living fish, eels and lobsters, pro-
vided with both fresh and salt water, <-an be brought from the Atlantic
to within one 'lay's travel of the Pacific, in good order and in healthy
condition.

Since our lasl report the Commissioners have given somewhat of
their attention to placing in ^>me of the streams and lakes different
kinds of native and other fish, although they have not been able to do
bo much as they would desire to do were the means at their command.
There is no cheap way of doing this work; everything pertaining to it
requires dispatch and care. We are handling a delicate and perishable
material, under circumstances in which the painstaking and expense
of the mosi careful preparations may, in a momenl of neglect or
accident, be lost entirely. Consequently, we have refrained from any
expensive experiments, and confined ourselv< the introduction of

food fishes fully known to be profitable in other States, and the dis-
semination of such domestic fish ;h can be easily and cheaply trans-
ferred from on,- part of the state to another. In this way we have,
during the past season, placed some ten thousand Lake Tahoe trout
in the South Yuba River; Troul from the mountain lakes have been
placed in the north fork of the American River; we have purchased
from the breeders of Tahoe Trout, also, six thousand Trout, which have

I n placed in Lake Merced. We have also purchased two thousand

Eastern Red Speckled Trout Salmo fontanalis — which we placed in
the north fork of the American River, near the summit. Two thousand
of the same and six thousand Tahoe Troul we have placed in the head-
waters of Alameda ('reek, and two thousand more Eastern Speckled
Trout in San Andreas Reservoir, near this city.

The Commission feels greatly encouraged in its efforts to preserve
and increase the fish of California by the jreneral interest taken by the
people in this Aery interesting subject. On all occasions we have had
the most ready aid, and in many cases gratuitous services from those
with whom the operations of the Commissioners have brought them in
contact, and we would respectfully suggest that we believe that the
people are now willing to incur a moderate expenditure in order to
have this work continued. This Commission does not believe that any
large appropriation for this purpose is now necessary. Time is
required to develop and perfect the successful propagation and pres-
ervation of foreign varieties of fish. We have yet a great deal to
learn in regard to this subject, and undue haste and lavish expenditure
are by no means the most certain way to success. It is now three
year- since the first attempt to bring shad across the continent was
commenced. We now know that some of the shad brought here in 1871
have lived and grown to good size. The shoal of shad are not due in
the rivers of California until June, 1874, but we have had in our hands
three specimens, which are, of course, exceptional, and we have heard

150 tA FI8H AND GAME

two otl ei - Tl •■ incoming fish will be breeders, and we shall require

funds to enable us to establish br lin'_r stations on the Sacramento

and San Joaquin rivers, and, above all, we require proper laws to pre-
serve this season's arrivals. It will be seen by the i mpanying itate

iiiriit that the entire expenditure of the Commission sine- its last report,

lias been less than sis thousand dollars, and during the existent f the

Commission four years bul seven thousand. With this a greal deal
has been done, and the foundation laid for the accomplishment of much
more.

The work is bul commenced, and as we have before remarked time
in this business is a more importanl elemenl than money. The mosl
in importance is the means for preventing the destruction of the fish
we already have. The Commission find it almost Impossible to prevail
upon the people to refrain from destroying fish in the Localities whi
they abound. It seems as if human invention is taxed to its utmosl
in thr desire for wholesale destruction, and the reluctance which men
to complain of their neighbors, renders i1 almost impossible to
enforce the laws in such cases. If the Legislature should see fit to
make an appropriation sufficienl to allow the Commissioners to employ,
at times, a proper person to Look after such violations of the fish laws
and see to their enforcement, we think this evil could readily be sup-
pressed, as the people at Large show a great interest in having the law
enforced, but no one is willing to make himself obnoxious by being an
informer. All this would be cured by placing the means of remedy
in the hands of the Commission.

The Commission already have the power to do this, and have done
it with most hopeful results, so far as their limited means have allowed.
It will be necessary, during this session of the Legislature, to have

ssed a full and comprehensive law7 relating to all kinds of fishing.
Tn the first place, the whole system of fish-traps, seins. fykes, etc.,
should be abolished by law. Secondly the meshes of the nets used
should be regulated by law. The time of fishing for salmon should be
properly limited. There come from all parts of the State constant
complaints of the destruction of fish by saw-dust, and refuse from saw-
mills thrown into the streams: and petitions for the enactment of la
to prevent it are now before the Legislature. This Commission will
be aided by many citizens interested in these matters, in passing a law
covering the piscatory interests of the State, which we hope will be
favorably acted upon by the Legislature. The Commissioners have
taken pains to ascertain the season of the year during which the taking
of salmon should be prohibited by law. We have caused careful
observations to be made of the time at which the salmon ascend to the
heads of the rivers to spawn, and from all the information we have
been able to obtain in that way. and by consulting with persons well
qualified to afford advice from the results of practical knowledge of
the subject, we would recommend that the taking of salmon be pro-
hibited by law from the first of August to the first of November. It
should be observed that the having in possession, or offering for sale,
of salmon during the close term so prohibited, should be punished the
same as of the taking of them.

In conclusion, vour Commissioners, with much diffidence, would
ask the aid of the Legislature for the means of carrying on the work

CALIFORNIA FISH AXD GAME 151

which they feel they have just commenced. There will be necessary
for the coming season funds to erect hatching-houses at such stations
as shall have been discovered as the spawning-grounds of the Shad,
now soon to be expected in our waters. The renewal of our effort to
bring the fish and lobsters across the continents, so nearly successful
last year, is an earnest wish of the commission. Our work at large
remains unfinished at the time that we are best qualified to prosecute
it. The amount of appropriation necessary to carry the commission
over to the next session of the Legislature is not large, and. when we
consider the object to be attained, we feel that we may safely ask
for a moderate sum without laying a very heavy additional burden
upon the people. The money already expended is but a trifle com-
pared with the benefits to be derived from a like expenditure in the
immediate future.

When we entered upon the duties of our office the whole subject
of fish-breeding had but lately been lined on this coast. The

ground was new. and the field of operations opened to the commis-
sion covered a Large extent of country and marked varieties of climate.
We have been compelled to educate ourselves to the work in hand,
and to move as cautiously and as economically as possible. We are
willing to admit thai we take '_'Teai it • in the continuance of our

operations; we know that we have learned a greal deal about fish cul-
ture thai will lie useful to the state. We believe that we are now on
the road to success. We are willing to give our time to it. and per-
haps ii is not amiss for us to make this reporl the means of saying
that, which may not be generally known, our services are without
charge of any kind to the state. We have no individual interests to
subserve, and we only ask aid from the State in order that we may
serve her, and carry ou1 to completion the objects for which this com-
mission was created.

152 JJFORNl \ FTSH and <; \.mi

i'l NDITUR]

At the lasl □ of the Legislature an appropriation of two

isand dollars was made to aid the commissioners in prosecuting
their work, and, Bince our lasl biennial report, we have expended the
loll' amounl

$22 ::.

Troul ah Yuba 300 00

ph 50

of hat .'.m:. i ■ i, and examini

E I I

r Sp< ckli 'i Trout placed In Si

100 00

Ma; ilimatl* ty for S Troul placed in the

f Alameda Creek

■ ward for the first Shad taken

veling expenses of Commissioners 44 00

Ju; of R. H. Elam as Fish Warden, to

Cruz 60 00

June i Haight and Temple for legal services 50 00

June Paid Bugby for drawing for fish ladders

June 3. Paid Cleveland for fittinp up breeding troughs 77 2^

Jun< I T. H. Selby & Co. for lead pipe 09

June 12. Paid Expenses of defending Salmon Laws 48 25

June 12. Paid Acclimatization Society for Trout placed in American River 120 00

July 2. i Henses of Commissioner to Sacramento to meet Shad 8 75

Julv 10. Paid Comer and Frazer for Tahoe Trout placed in Lake Merced,

8000 in number 120 00

Julv 14. Paid J. G. Woodbury for services, enforcing the Salmon Laws — 1 r'4 50
Julv 14. Paid Acclimatization Society for 6000 Tahoe Trout placed in

Alameda Creek 120 00

July 14. Paid expenses of placing the same 51 50

Julv 14. Paid total expense of the Aquarium Car bringing fish, eels, and

lobsters from the Atlantic Coast to California *3.912 18

Total amount expended $5,84" 56

* A part of this amount will he restored by a settlement now pending with
the railroad companies.

RECAPITULATION"

Amount of appropriation of 1870 $5,000.00

Amount of appropriation of 1372 2.000.00

Total $7,000.00

Expenditures as per report of 1870 and 1871 $1,137.22

Expenditures as per report of 1872 and 1873 5,845.56

Cash remaining on hand Dec. 31. 1873 17.22

All of which is respectfully submitted.

S. R. Throckmorton,
B. B. Redding,
J. D. Far well,

$7,000.00

Commissioners.

CALIFORNIA FISH AXD GAME 15'A

APPENDIX

ONERS OX FISHERIES

UNITED STATES

Prof. Spencer F. Baird Washington, D. C.

MAINE

E. M. Stilwell Bangor

Henry 0. Stanley Dixfield

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Thomas E. Hatch Keene

William W. Fletcher Concord

W. A. Sanborn Wiers

.M. ( '. Edmunds Weston

.M. Goldsmith Rut hind

MA — A' Mi

Theodore Lyman Brookline

lv A Bracketl Winchester

Asa French South Braintree

William II. Hudson Hartford

Roberl G. Pike Middleton

James A. Bill Lyme

RHODE l-I.AXD

Newt mi Dexter Providence

Alfred A Reed, Jr Providence

John II. Barden situate

NEW YORK

I I'U-atio Seymour Utica

Robert B. Roosevelt New York City

Edward M. Smith Rochester

NEW .TERSEY

R. P. Howell Woodbury

J. H. Slack Bloomsbury

PENNSYLVANIA

H. J. Reeder Easton

B. L. Hewitt Holidaysburg

James Duffv Marietta

154 CALIFORNIA ] LND GAME

VIUlIM \

William B. Ball Mid Lothian

Asa Wall. Winchester

\i \r. \ma

Charles S. G Doster Montgomery

Montgomery

D. II. Hundley Courtland

CALIFORNIA

I '• I'. Redding Sacramento

S R. Throckmorton San I4' i;i misco

•i I). Parwell San Francisco

MICH!'

Governor J. J. Barley Detroit

< Seorge II. Jerome Niles

( Seorge < !lark Ecorse

OHIO

•In] m Hussej' Loveland

John II. Klippart__ Columbus

Dr. Elisha T. Stirling Cleveland

• - -

2896 F 5-33 500