, 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
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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