Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-31
INSPECTING FISH HATCHERIEs.
Commissioner Mcdonald Tells Of His
Recent Satisfactory Tour.

L
Mr.. NJ. NJ. Mcdonald, the fish commissioner,
has returned to the city from brief tour Of
inspection Of several Of the western fish hatch
cries. He was at his desk at the commissions
building this morning hard at work when q
STAR reporter found him.
Yes" said Mr.. Mcdonald, II was more than
satisfied with what saw when I was away.
| Some time ago Congress made an appropria-
| ton for a white fish hatchery at Put-in-Bay,
Ohio. The hatchery is now completed and in
running order. 1t is located on Middle Bass
Island off from the main land, at the head OF
the lake and in the very center Of the spawn
ing ground Of the white fish. The station is one
| of the most complete and the best equipped i'm
aginable. 1t is fitted out with n steam plant
OF 1000 gallons of water a minute. The sta
ton has room for 1000 jars, each of which can
accommodate 10000 eggs. that in round
numbers the capacity of the hatchery is $780,
100000 of eggs. 1t Is expected to run the sta
tlon to Its full capacity. j mean by this that
while we may never be able to secure enough
eggs to fill the hatchery we intend to cover all
the ground III the lake and in the Detroit river
not already covered by the Canadian and
Michigan people, who are already at work
there. While we may gather more eggs than
We can carry or hatch out, it is the intention to
have them all cleared and developed and dis
tributed to the various state and United States
hatcheries to be Matched.
In its equipment the station represents all
the latest and most approved methods Of fish
culture. The entire cost OF the plant was
about $4,000. The permanent force employed
includes a superintendent q Dachinist and
four men. At the proper season of course
there is a large temporary force for the collec-
ton of eggs.
IAN the eggs are procured from the pound
nets In Lake Erie and are taken from fish that
are on their way to market. So you see they
would all be wasted il it were not for the COM
mission. That is the purpose of the fish COM
mlsslon-not to attempt to interfere with ma
lures work, but simply to supplement it, and
therein, think, lies Its chief value.
THE WORTHWHILE STATION
"while was away 1 also visited the North
vile station. At the last session Congress ap-
propriated $4,000 to purchase this station,
which had been leased before, and to make
some necessary improvements. This station is
devoted exclusively to the breeding of yearling
trout and their distribution to interior waters.
In addition to the eggs that have been collected,
something like l2,O00.000, 200, 900 yearling
trout have been raised and are now being dis
trlbuted. These trout are big enough to look
out for themselves and the majority of them
are likely to arrive at years OF maturity, as they
have passed through the period of measles,
whoopins cough and the other perils OF in
fancy.
Zone Of the most notable and interesting dis
tributions the commission has ever made was
the one made this summer to the waters of the
Yellowstone Park. There is area of l,l00
square miles there. quite a respectable piece of
country, we'll watered, but without fish of
any sort. The reason of this is that it is a
high volcanic plateau and the streams from it
all have high falls. SO that fish have never been
able to make their way up to it. We have
taken ont there over LOG, 00J good sized trout
OF different species and transplanted them
there, assigning each species to separate
river basin. Then we placed 1000 Scotch and
lake trout in the lakes at the head of the Snake
river. in IA volcanic basin where hitherto there
have been no fish. This is a remote place and
We wero obiig d TO pack all the trout over the
Rocky mountain divide on mule back. Ii will
not be many years before this is one OF the
finest fish preserves in the world. We never
could have accomplished all we did, though,
without the hearty cooperation of the rail-
roads, but as 1t was the commission was en-
abled to run its cars backward and forward at
will and to go and come as the exigencies of
tine work demanded.
Did you ever hear about the problem the
fish commission met with in the Yellowstone
Park? Well, il was an interesting one and 80
was its solution. The Yellowstone lake is on a
plateau between 1000 and 5000 feet high and
ITS outlet has some very high falls. and yet the
lake itself Is splendidly stocked with trout OF
the Snake river species, the same as in the CO.
lumbia river system. Now the Yellowstone
lake belongs to the Atlantic system, and the IN
terestlng question at once arises how In the
world did those trout ever get there. The solu-
ton is simple when you know ii. At the head
of the divide or water shed Is big beaver
swamp from which flow two creeks, the Allan
tic creek into the Yellowstone lake and the Pa
citic into the Snake river, and thus into the
Columbia. In the early spring when the snow
melts this beaver swamp is very swampy iu-
deed. in fact flooded, and the way of it all is
that some of the adventurous little fellows
among the trout manage to make their way
from one of these creeks into the other. This
is the only way to account for the presence of
Snake river trout in the various eastern
waters where they are to be found"