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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 1958)
, PAGE FOUR HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 1953 Job - Rated DODGE Power House Form TRUCKS Cunningham & Rickey Motors ' So. 7th & Commercial bra? &s a- -..;. II ! I'UlV ' " r fit :V ' :V - fZJtk'A ;. J; '4 1 ;-r- a - :riL. 1 teSH 111 iSl ST . RUNNING A TROUT HATCHERY it a full time business, as these pictures show. Feeding, top left, is an all-important matter, of course, as is properly mixing the feed, top right. Cleanliness is a "must" with the men and constant hosing and washing down of equipment and working space is daily routine, "center left. It aes a lot of buc kets to hold the feed, center right, and after it is all don there are still the pools to be cleaned,' lower left. But at the enr there is the satisfaction, of starting a fresh crop and getting in the supplies, lower right, to do it all over again. , Klamath Trout Hatchery Busy Place During Operations By PA11.1NE BKOL'GIITON About 32 miles north of Klamath Fulls, on Crater Lake Highway between Klamath Agency and Fort Klumath, lies the Klamath Trout Hatchery. This hatchery ranks third In the state in number of fish produced annually. If you have never visited a state fish hatchery, you may be in for a surprise. Vis iting hours are'From 8 to 5 o'clock daily, and the superintendent or one of the hatchery workers on duty is always glad to answer questions for you. The hatchery is on Crooked Creek, one. half mile off the paved highway. Several large springs furnish a year round supply of cold pure water of 46 to 4H de grees in temperature. No brood .stock is kept here, but over n million mackinnw, rainbow and eastern brook eggs are obtained from other sources throughout the slate for hatching and rearing. The rainbow eggs come mostly fiom other hatcheries. Mackinaw in former years were obtained from Odcll Lake, but that practice has been discontinued. Most of the eastern brook eggs come from Kast Lake. Normal spawning season occurs In lale fall or early spring, and the hatchery is in operation from De cember through February, and again during June nnd July. The men are busy at present spawn ing the trout that have been trapped at Diamond Lake. A fe male trout may produce from one to 3,000 eggs, while the sperm from one male is sufficient to impreg nate th3 eggs from three females. A spawned-out female is about as flabby and unattractive as a dis carded handbag. - The hatchery building contains row after row of waist high tanks through which water flows con stantly. The eggs to be hatched are first dipped in a disinfectant solution to reduce possible fungus growth and to toughen the outer shell, then placed in wire baskets or hatching trays. The hatching process requires 70 days here. Ihough in some hatcheries where Ihe water temperature is higher I he hatching -time is shorter. The trout eggs are about the size of a small pea, and range in color from cream to orange, light- ?r than salmon eggs. During the incubation period, the infertile eggs are removed every few days. It is easy to pick out the bad eggs, as they are more whitish in color. As the hatching cycle continues. the eggs reach the "eyed" stage and a tiny black dot appears. When the guppy-sized fish finally hatch, a bit of the egg continues to cling .to them for a few days. When the egg sac disappears, the tiny fish reach the "swim-up" stage and are then fed raw liver, ground extremely fine, about six times a day. Later, feeding is cut to four times daily, and eventual ly to three limes a day. Klamath hatchery releases annually some thing like 700.000 fry and finger lings, plus an estimated 125.000 rainbow and UO.000 lake trout of catchable size. The fish that were hatched this past winter will be released in the southeast section of the state in July and August. It requires an enormous amount of feed to keep the fish growing. Twice a week one of the men col lects from a local packing house all of the beef viscera that is available. This fresh meat is ground at the hatchery and mixed with such other things as cotton seed meal, salt, fish meal, dried milk, etc. Hatcheryman Joe Bray usually attends to the feed grind ing detail. It takes the combined efforts of four full time employes in addi tion to the superintendent to run the hatchery. With the exception of Joe Bray, all of. the men live on the hatchery grounds, as the oper ation must never be left unattend ed. In addition to feeding the fish, Ihe ponds must be cleaned twice a week (there are 22 of these ponds!) The cleaning is accom plished by lowering the water lev el and scrubbing the sides and bottoms with long handled brushes, llatcherymen Jerry Raber and Bill Brought usually draw this detail. In addition to the biweekly clean ing, the ponds must be completely drained and allowed to dry once a year, after which they are paint ed with a special paint to keep down growth of algae. During the icy winter months, an occasional slippery pond wall causes one or another of the men to get an un wanted cold bathl Contrary to the ideas of some visitors, the few ponds that are roofed are not to) keep the workers out of the snow but are built to shade the lake trout, ihcse lish, accustomed to the dimress of deep water, go blind in the shallow ponds if they are not covered. There are six such hatcheries through central Oregon, starting with one at Hood River, one near Tvsh Vallev. Wirarri Falls nn Ihr. Metolius, Fall River, southwest of nena. our own Klamath and Dia mond Lake hatcheries, operated OnlV during thA uimmor mnnlUo Next time you are near one of mcse locations, slop in tor a visit at one of these fish factories. It will he an interesing experience. Attention Rancher -Ar Canvas Dams Cooper Treated, No Mildew, All Slsn in Stock, 5'x7' Thru 9'xlS' White Roll Canvas S' end 6' Widthe Lowest Prices! ARMY STORE 320 Sc. 6th . Ph. 4-9206 Ford Trucks .Last Longer on Ihe FARM See your Farm Truck Headquarter BALSIGER MOTOR CO. Main at lip. Ph. TU 4-3121 Currin's -Ju. Headquarters For Veterinarian Supplies and Medicine Fvarurhinn far Animal Health! CURRIN'S for Drue Ph. TU2-347S 9th ft Male WE HAVE A COMPLETE LINE OF Simplot Soilbuilders Ph. TU 2-1438, K. Fall Ph. 607 . Malin STEAM CLEANING at your service! O CHASSIS O ENGINE O TRANSMISSION Toke Adrantoge of Our Steam Cleaning Facilitie for all your truck needs. Juckeland Motors, 11th to 12th on Klamath Ph. 2-2581
