The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 12, 1898, Page 25

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 1898. SALMON JUMPING A TWELVE-FOOT WATERFALL. THE FISH IS TEN FEET IN THE AIR—TIME OF ASCENT 62 SECONDS. Sketched from a Snap-Shot Photograph. only about one out of fish hatched g g in 100 hatch, be helped out or our sh would soon fail to fc An 4 Itural socic ment g fish 1d lakes of the country. Ten years ago rted States Ge n who w amine her la out why the the be f bee le to discover the c M A. V. La Motte w chc He examined the waters, but they we all right, and the theory is that earth- quake shocks were responsible for the death of fish. The agitation of the water bottoms destroyed the e the asked to s Mexico nment END OF THE Mr, La Motte is now ni charge of a hatchery at Ukiah. He has studied fish and their habits for forty Last Januar the upper wate gan his arrange eggs. A cabin for the trays of eggs and a fish trap were built. The trap is made by placing a close picket fence, built in the shape of a wishbone, having the two ends about twelve inches short of joining and ending in flexible bars over the opening into the box beyond. The fish go through the aperture, but can- not return,and arelifted out of the trap and transferred to the tanks in the cabin. sars. Mr. La Morte went to f Eel River and be ents for collecting fish The eggs are extracted and fertilized in pans. Then they must stand in the trays for about two weeks until the black speck, which becomes the eye, ap- pears; they are then ready to be shipped. “It was a tedious work, though re- lieved by a great deal of excitement, eaid Mr. La Motte in deseribing how the fish come up. “Milesaway from any human being, two men and myself spent four months collecting the eggs. The scarcity of rain made the creek very low, 8o the fish could not come up. Nature tells them away down in the ocean that it is time for them to pre- pare for reproducing. When the rains raise the creeks the fish, which during most of the year live in salt water, start on their long voyage to the shal- low, pure waters for spawning. Noth- ing will stop them; they will jump cas- cades and push through strong eddies in their mad race. No one believes fish stories, but this photograph speaks for its own truth. The salmon jumped the waterfall, which was very swift and twelve feet high. I have seen trout do just as great jumps, but did not happen to have the camera with me at the time. “The eggs are kept very cold in trays at the place of taking as the slightest jar or disturbance of the eggs will kill them until the eyes have appeared. “I have sent eggs to New Zealand which arrived safely and hatched per- fectly. The perfod of incubation must be retarded by keeping the eggs one degree above freezing. Of course if the eggs hatch on the road the small fish will die unless properly, cared for.” At the Ukiah hatchery the eggs in the s are placed in troughs through h water runs after a fall of a few This slight fall charges the water with oxygen for the eggs as well as the fish. “It is not true,” Mr. La Motte said, ‘that trout die after spawning. If they a sure indication of careless I alw return the fish to eks and after they have rested they go back down stream. How long a fish lives we have never been able to determine, but you have heard of the carp at Heidelberg which has been a ner for over a hundred years.” the s have set in the eggs sh are packed in trays. These ¥s are made by tacking canton flan- n frames fitted into a crate and covered with moss. actly like small red currants, half d, with the eve in place of the wt inches MONARCH OF THE POOL. blossom, the eggs lie in the wire baskets for two weeks more. Then with a flirt of its tail the fish throws off its shell, slips through the wire of the basket and swims off down the tank with its yolk sac still attached to its belly to keep it supplied with food till it is a little stronger. Besides the food the egg sac contains a tiny drop of ofl which works up in the transparent body tlll it reaches the glands of its breast. At once the color and spots appear. In two weeks more the yolk sack has been all absorbed and the little fish has grown its jaws and can eat the curdled milk and pulverized liver fed to it three times a day. Swimming about in the trough the little fish are perfectly tame, and when I put my hand into the water they flocked to it, trusting, I suppose, that it was something good to eat. Another, two months and the little fish, an inch and a half long, are ready to hunt their own food. Now it is time to plant them. With ice to keep them cool they are carried in huge cans like those used for milk to the very headwaters of some creek. When they have first been placed in the stream they will come to the hand to feed. Two days later the same fish when approached will scurry away and hide, so quickly do they harmonize with their environment. The larger fish and other enemies of the little ones do not frequent the very shallow waters, so the infants have an oppor- tunity to investigate and learn to find their own food. On the other side of the stones where they run to hide are tiny specks, which are the eggs of the caddies. You will see the devil’'s darning- needle hovering over the water. She drops her eggs, and they attach them- selves to the slimy stones till the time comes for them to protect themselves by exuding a sticky gum. They keep rolling over and over until they are covered with bits of bark, which pro- tects them from the fish and gives them their odd chance of living long enough to grow their wings and get out of the water and become a devil's darning-needle or gaddesfly. Sitting by the stream, I saw the at- tack of gne of the _ficwn most. deadly 25 RAISING FISETBY THE MITLION. Exciting Way They Are Pursued by Eels, Kingfishers and Sportsmen, yet the Kings Escape to Jump the Falls and Fish Ladders Each Year. enemies—the lamprey eel. The eel was very qulet, and, lyilng on the warm stones, I had been watching a spider. Swimming out on the smooth surface of the water, the spider attacked a small black insect which was turning round and round in the water. This insect was nearly as large as the spider, but after a few seconds of flerce battle the spider started to back to the shore, working with all its strength, towing its captive to land. About two feet from the shore, flash, and only a widening ripple was left of the spider and bug. Both had become food for fishes. But they were swiftly revenged by a long black eel, which came slowly among the stones near the shore. 1 was almost afraid to breathe. I had heard tales of the eel, and hoped it might throw a few stones for my bene- fit as well as its own. It did. This eel's head was flat. It had a large sucker mouth, which it fastened to a smooth round stone and began to lash the water with its tail to frighten the fish out of their hiding places. I heard a splash and saw a stone, and k_ncw the eel was feasting on the poor little fish that had been hiding under the Snakes and mink, rats and large fish feed on the small fish in the water. A kingfisher will light on a bough over- hanging the water and sit like a leaf till a fish snaps at a fly or comes near the surface, when a flash and a bird scream, and the kingfilsher flles away with its fish. “We had a large black cat,” Mr. La Motte told me, “who was a persistent fisher. She would sit on the bank of the stream, gently tapping the water with her paw to simulate a fly, and would wait for hours. A fish would rise to her fly. With a movement so quick I could only see a flash she would dig her claws into the fish and throw it a hundred feet or more into the air behind her. Then she would gently set- tle down again and wait for another fish. I never saw her show enough curiosity about the fish to so much as look behind her to see where it had landed. “After she had fished as long as she cared to she would go around and col- lect the fish. She did not stop fishing when she had all she wanted for food, but seemed to fish for the sport.” Our ‘“clever statistical chaps” say that 15,000 persons annually leave San Francisco for the pleasure of fishing. This means vast quantities of fish wiich would soon make a bite a rare - pleasure but for the fish which are planted every year. Outside of the fish caught privately for pleasure there ‘were $9,000,000 worth of fish sold in the Californla markets last year. Trout eggs can be obtained from the Fish Commissfon and do not require more care than chickens in hatching. In ome year's time they are large enough to eat. Some years agoa German, A.J. Poppe, brought carp from Germany, thinking they would be as fine here as in Ger- many, where they are much esteemed. They escaped from the lake where he had conflned them and multiplied rapidly, feeding on the young trout. The carp deteriorated in our waters; its flesh became soft and tasteless. A farmer who had noticed his pigs wade into the stream anc eat the fish conceived the idea of feeding his hogs on carp. He caught quantities of the fish, the hogs devoured them with avid- ity and grew fine and large. This farmer was very proud of his pigs and carefully guarded his secret. ‘When his bacon came on the table he was prepared for adelicious morsel. But oh the surprise that awaited him. His pork was neither fish nor pig, but a bad mixture of both, At first he resolved not to tell the AEOEYa Put he has bad napy, & laugh with his neighborsover hls “carp-pigs.” The most inveterate enemy of the carp is the black bass. The bass will leave any other food when he can find young carp. He will freely battle to the death with a carp twice his size. In the streams the bass will multiply without the assistance 0f the hatchery and requires only to be planted. Un- like the trout, the bass will care for its own eggs and young fish. The two mates will rub out a nest, where the eggs are laid, and will produce the eggs, stirring them gently with their fins till the eggs are hatched. XKeeping the young fry in a brood just as a hen would, they watch over the young ones t1ll the egg sac has been absorbed and the fry must hunt for food. The par- ents then turn on the little ones and eat those who do not get out of the way. HELEN GREY, BIGGEST FISH HATCHERY IN THE WORLD. ANCY being in the fish-ralsing business and going into your fish house any bright day and find- ing that your salmon “run” were laying eggs at the rate of 1,000,- 000 an hour. Fish-raising beats poul- try-raising all hollow when it comes to gathering eggs. Up in Tehama County they have the biggest fish hatchery in the world. It's only one of another line of industries in which California carries the world’s banner. This particular hatchery is the Battle Creek hatchery, and on any good egg day there the men will take their baskets and buckets and go out and gather you over 2,000,000 salmon eggs while you wait. They have gath- ered as high as 2,220,000 eggs between sunup and sunset. Of course, this doesn’t include the “bad” eggs which of course don’t count. The Battle Creek hatchery was start- ed by the State Fish Commissioners to feed the up Sacramento streams. After they got the plant well started it devel- oped such magnificent possibiiities in the fish-breeding line that they deemed it wisest to turn the place over to the National Fish Commissioners and give the whole country a chance to reap the benefits. The location is an ideal one for a fish hatchery. The waters of the creek are at least four degrees warmer than those of the Sacramento River. ¥ Battle Creek is the large stream which divides Shasta and Tehama countles. It has its source in the snow- capped peaks of the Lassen Buttes, and runs rapidly down the canyon to the Sacramento River, into which it empties. It is particularly adapted to the propagation of salmon, being a nat- urzl spawning ground for that dsh. A ditch, a quarter of a mile in length, was constructed to convey wa- ter from Battle Creek to the site chosen for the hatchery. A frame building, forty feet wide and ninety feet long, was erected and fitted with sixty hatching troughs of a total capa- city of twelve million eggs. A weir 178 feet in length was constructed across the creek. It was supported by five bulkheads and was designed to withstand a rise of six feet in the stream. Later on a building, like the first, was constructed of wood, but much larger, being forty feet in width and 140 feet in length, with 100 hatch- ing troughs and having a total capa- city of 20,000,000 eggs. The largest catch of salmon eggs ever recorded in the world was made at the Battle Creek fishery last sea- son. The season opened October 22 and closed December 4, During the fonty- three days the number of eggs taken reached the ‘;ua total of 48,527,500, The eggs were distributed to the hatch- eries as follows: Sixteen million to Sisson, 8,000,000 to*Eel River, 3,000,000 to Baird, 2,000,000 to Olema, 3,000,000 to Clackamas, Or., and 6,000,000 to the New England States. The remaining 10,500,000" were hatched at Battle Creek. Captain G. H. Lambson, superin- tendent of the United States fisheries in Northern Californfa, with head- quarters at the Baird reservation, di- rects the operation of the Battle Creek fishery. E. W. Hunt, superintendent of the Tahoe fishery, is in immediate charge. He is assisted by W. H. Shel- ley, superintendent of the Sisson hatchery, these gentlemen being transferred to the Battle Creek fishery during the fishing season. When the season is at its height forty men are -eggs are striking. employed at the station. The methods employed ' taking the The fish on their way to thelr natural spawning grounds run up the stream as far as the weir. There they are held from further pro- gress by the racks. Two seining crews are employed in catching them One crew works by day, the other by night. The night crew pursues its work by the light of several large headlights. The salmon taken from the nets are assorted as to sex. The male fish are placed in a box by themselves, the “ripe” females, those ready for spawning, are placed in a second box. The “green” fish are returned to the stream. The boxes are towed to the spawning house and the fish transferred to the tanks. The spawning crew begins work. By means of dip nets the fish are removed in pairs from the tanks. The salmon having been stripped of milt and spawn are ttrown into large bins, where they soon die. They are then given to the public for food. Many of the poorer class of people in the vi- cinity pack the fish in brine for use THE SPAWNING CREW AT WORK. Ifi FORTY-THREE DAYS 48.527.500 EGGS WERE TAKEN AT THE BATTLE CREEK FISH HATCHERY: during the winter season. One day last season 439 spawn fish were handled, yielding 2,220,000 eggs. A record for rapid work was established upon that day. The crew handled 190 female salmon in one hour and tcok over 1,000,000 eggs. The eggs are removed from the spawning house to the hatcheries in buckets, which are hauled in a spring wagon to the hatchery buildings. They are placed in small wire baskets, obe long in shape and capable of holding about 35,000 eggs each. The filled bas- kets are suspended in long wooden troughs, through which a stream of water flows very slowly. Nature is imitated as closely as pos« sible in the care of the eggs. They are watched very closely during the pro- cess of hatching. Men go carefully through the house eve , day and by means of small tweezers ~' k the dead eggs out of the baskets. The dead eggs are easily distinguished by their light- er pink or yellow color. After a period of one month the eggs have ‘“eyed”—that Is, the eyes of the fish have formed and can be scen in the egg if it is held to the light. The eggs are now ready for shipment. They are packed in trays and covered with moss, The trays are fitted into chests, and these chests are sent all over the coun- try by express. The eggs from them are deposited in streams and the hatch- ing continues. The eggs which are allowed to remain in the houses for hatching soon develop into a very small fish, with a large sack adhering. This is the remainder of the egg suspended from the belly. The small fish derives its nourishment from this sack till this source of food supply is entirely absorbed. The young fish still in the tanks are then fed upon boiled beef liver and hard boiled eggs until they have ac- quired sufficlent size and strength to shift for themselves. Then they are turned loose in the brooks and rivers, —_———— ‘Washington County, New York, pays & bounty of 50 cents each for dead rat« tlesnakes, and Warren County, adjoin~ ing, pays a dollar. So much money, has been paid out for the extermina- tion of the reptiles in the latter county and so little in the former of late that the authorities have been led to sus- pect double-dealing. It is believed that most of the snakes upon which col- lections have been made in Warren were imported by unscrupulous persons from the neighboring jurisdiction in or- der that they might secure the higher rate. —_————— The war with Spain has caused a scarcity of pineapples, which delicious fruit comes largely from the Bahama Islands, and which has hitherto been brought to our markets principally by small vessels flylng the American flag. The owners of many of the boats, fearing the capture of their property by Spanish ships, have withdrawn them from service; and consequently the supply of pineapples has diminished as freight rates have increased.