St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1904-06-08
John w. Titcomb Home.
A Brief Resume of his Work in the
Argentine Republic.

Argentine Republic.
John w. Titcomb landed in New York
last Wednesday from Antwerp and went
directly to Washington where he is chief
of the division of fish culture in the
national fisheries bureau. After report
ing at headquarters he started for St.
Johnsbury and reached his old home
here Saturday night. He will spend the
week here and resume his duties in Wash
ington the middle of the month.
He has been nine months in Argentina
introducing and propagating salmon
and trout in the waters of that South
American republic.
Mr.. Titcomb operated mainly at Lake
Manuel Huapi, headwaters of the river
Limay and the Rio Negro, where a
hatchery was built, three hundred
twenty-five miles from the last station
on Southern railroad. For the purposes
of this hatchery the United States gov
eminent had shipped one million white
fish eggs, one hundred thousand Great
Lake trout and fifty thousand each of
brook trout and landlocked salmon.
These eggs had to be carried overland
across the desert, trip occupying eight
days, and two tons of artifcially made
ice required to keep the water cool en-
route; yet the loss on the way was only
ten per cent, the rest of the eggs being
successfully Matched. Mr.. Titcomb's
work was carried on under the auspices Of
A~<v IS sS%a of
hereports much interest on the part ofthat
government in development of fisheries.
E. A. Julian of Colorado, who accom-
panied Mr.. Titcomb as his assistant, is
to remain in the republics service for
five years. The aim is to introduce sea
salmon into the southern waters of
Argentina and stock Lake Manuel Huapi
with lake trout and whitefsh. One
hundred thousand rainbow trout and
fifty thousand steel head trout eggs.
from California and state of Washington,
are to be shipped to Argentina this week,
and a shipment of oysters to Bahia
Blanca, the government desiring to
propagate the bivalves.
Mr.. Titcomb has also recommended
the introduction of both large and small
| mouthed black bass into the streams
and lakes of the warmer zone of Argen-
lila, as lACAC arc uO game ISL III IuG
fresh waters of that country. Mr.. Tit
comb travelled a thousand miles up the
Parana and Paraguay rivers to get a gen.
eral idea of the waters, but made no
special recommendations except as to
future Investigations which he thinks
ought to be made with reference to these
and other waters, with view to develop
ing present resources and propagating
the more desirablet species that inhabit
them whenever an increase of population
or decrease in fisheries make such action
| necessary. He has suggested the intro
duction of shad into some larger rivers
| tributary to the Atlantic. Argentina is
at present handicapped as to sea fisheries
| by lack of good harbors. Fish is more
| expensive in her markets than beef. Mr..
| Titcomb found in Argentina rich coun-
| try and prosperous people who are great
| " interested in the United States and
have high ideas of our strength and
| enterprise.
He was very much pleased by what he
| saw of the republic and its citizens; con-
| siders Argentina as having outgrown
the Revolutionary" stage and settled
| down to diligent attention to CONNER
cial and agricultural pursuits. It is
gratifying to note the large measure of
| success achieved by Mr.. Titcomb in his
special mission, and it goes without say
ing that his wide experience, his fund of
knowledge, and his enthusiastic interest
| in the fisheries question particularly
fitted him for the work which the Argen-
| tina government wanted done.