The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1876-01-20

Mr. Palmer Sr., has also been here to Sc
that everything was started right.
1.-The white fish, trout, and herring in the
waters of Wisconsin are becoming RAPIDLY
| thinned out, occasioning no small degree OF
| alarm among our fishermen and well
it may to US all There is an
immense sum of money invested in the fish.
cries here, and the fishing interest is second
only N Importance to numbering. Our fish.
ermen, to save the money they have already
invested and continue their business, are
year oy year making larger nets, striking
down into deeper water, hoping thus to in
crease their gains, or at least enable them to
make fair living Various devices have
been resorted to by the State to prevent OF
delav the exhaustion of fish, prominent
among these are laws prescribing the mini
mum size of the meshes of gill-nets These
measures are right enough, but they are be.
hina the times. The fact is well established
that but an infinitely small proportion of the
fist. pawn annually deposited in the lakes,
bays, and rivers ever come to maturity The
eggs are mostly devoured by other fish, In
the light of the experience of the present
day, then the true remedy is to hatch the
eggs by artificial means and place the young
fish In the waters of the State The process
has long since passed beyond the limits of an
| experiment. Its success is xed fact The
streams of the East, that were depleted of
shad, have been re-stocked, so that the pres
ent season the fisheries have been more re-
mnnerative than for many years before.
"Pensaukee has been selected as location
| for one Of the Matching houses, for several
| reasons: There is an abundant supply of
water in the Pensaukee River, and the dam is
located so near the shore that the eggs may
| be taken there in few minutes; the fisher
| les at Pensaukee offer abundant facilities for
procuring eggs; and last, but not least, Mr.
F. B Gardner has building suitably Ioca-
ted the use of which he offered to donate to
the Commissioners.
''We visited the hatching-house on Friday
last, in company with Mr.. S. A. Coleman, of
! the Gardner House, Pensaukee, and Mr..
/ hasterson, of Peshtigo. The room employ
| ed is the lower part of the old water-mll,
about half a mile from the bay shore. They
! commenced operatings here October IA, since
which time the room has been fitted up, a
lume built, tapping the dam more than a
! foot below low water mark, and some four G r
/ live feet below the present height Of the
water the necessary troughs have been put
! IN, and 100000 eggs secured. The mill is
directly below the dam, and the tiume enters
at the side of the room. The fume consists
i of one box inside another, the space bl :
+ tween being filled with sawdust to prevent
freezing. Running at a right angle with TIE
] tiume along the upper side of the room and
connected with it is long trough with
Waste-gate at the end. Beneath this are
+ four Matching troughs running crosswise OF
! the room, with faucet from The main water
) trough over the upp,r end OF each; thus tie
quantity of flow of the water may be regu-
,-!ataA ~ '.t t,!, pinr nf tho fa,,aa+s FncIl
! Matching trough Is nine feet long, perhaps
two and half or three feet wide, and FIVE or
six inches deep. They are rough wooden
| boxes, lined with zinc. These are divided
into five equal compartments by partitions
an inch and halt high, and also two smaller
ones, one ut each end. That at the upper
end Is whore the water runs in from the fau-
Get, and at the lower end is the waste pipe.
Under each faucet sponge is placed, which
catches the sediment from the water. Tie
! lower end Of the trough is an inch lower than
the upper end. The process of getting the
eggs Is as follows: Mr.. Palmer goes out on
the bay with the fishing boats, taking with
him some tin pans. When female hsh is
taken containing "ripe' eggs, the fish is
held by the gtlls with one hand, while the
other hand is passed gently down the abdo-
men and eggs run out into the pans. The
eggs are then fructifed by IA similar opera
ton with male fish, producing milky fluid.
The eggs are taken ashore and put in the
| Matching -troughs They being heavier than
the water, lie on the bottom while contin-
uOus stream of water flows over them
After they have lain there a few weeks, a
minute black speck is seen in each egg. This
| is the embryo fish. After the lapse of about
100 days from the time of deposting the eggs,
the fish, mere speck, having absorbed the
egg, has life and begins to shift for itself,
lying in the water with its head constantly
turned up stream. The eggs lie in the trough
about GA to the square inch, from which the
total number may be determined with toiera-
bic accuracy Every day they are carefully
stirred UP with feather, and any dead eggs
that may be found, removed by pair OF pliers,
The living eggs are almost transparent, while
| the dead ones turn white.
at was Palmers intention to put in some
salmon-trout eggs, but in this he has failed.
| The trout caught in the bay this fall have
| been almost exclusively males, and it is evi-
dent that the females have gone to some
other place to spawn. Up TO the time OF our
visit he had secured 100000 white-fsh eggs
and if possible will put in half million or
more. But three of the troughs are in use,
and if possible he will putin million herring
eggs in the fourth one. The first eggs have
now been in the troughs about two weeks
and are looking well. Mr.. Palmer informs US
that the fishermen generally, and Joseph
Levaie in particular, have been very kind to
him and assisted him in every possible way.
The white-fsh are generally done spawning
by about the goth of October, but many have
been found that are not ready yet
GAS TO the disposition of the fish when
hatched, we are told that it is probable that
when few weeks old some of them will be
put into the interior lakes of the State, such
as the Madison lakes, Geneva Lake and Green
Lake, but the majority will be put into Green
Bay Another appropriation should be made
by the State this winter, and should 1t be
made with anything like the liberality that
the importance of the subject demands, 1t Is
likely that permanent buildings will 6e
erected at Pensaukee and the process OF hsh
Matching be carried on to much larger ex
tent. Meanwhile the Commissioners rely OF
the generosity of Mr.. F. B. Gardner.
eve understand that Mr.. Gardner intend:
on his own responsibility, putting IN one
hatching-trough for brook trout"