Postcard from the Past: New Saratoga Fish Hatchery
A front page article in the Nov. 19, 1903 issue of The Saratoga Sun proclaims:
Saratoga Fish Hatchery: A View of the Building Recently Put up at the Large Spring on Centennial Creek and Also of the Dam Which Will Confine the Water of the Spring
An Ideal Location for a Branch Fish Hatchery: Abundance of Water, of the Right Temperature and Quality. A Complete Building, Equipped in Modern Manner for Work of Raising Trout. An Industry That is Sure to Assume Importance in the Near Future.
We present our readers this week with a cut of the new fish hatchery building, erected this past fall, near the large spring on Centennial Creek, some 10 miles southwest of this place.
I was unable to reproduce the picture, but added a photo of the building and dam in the 1920s or 30s.
The building is one story – 24 by 50 feet. It is a good substantial building, with a stone foundation and contains three rooms.
One end of the building is occupied by an office and bedroom for the superintendent of the hatchery. In one corner of the other end of the building is a kitchen, 10 by 14 feet in size. In the southwest corner of the building, a large tank – five by six by five feet – is located.
Another small tank sits to the east of the large tank, after which come the troughs for the fry, which are 16 feet in length and 14 inches in width by eight inches in depth. These troughs are all double and made of clear white pine. The tanks and troughs occupy two-thirds of the building.
The spring used at the hatchery is a very large one and flows a good strong body of water, sufficient at present for all purposes connected with the hatchery. It is believed if it were blasted out and opened up, it could be made to flow a much larger stream then at present.
The water in the dam is eight feet in depth and covers an area of 14 by 30 feet. This is thought to be sufficient for all purposes for years to come. The water is of a moderate temperature, clear and of the quality required for hatchery purposes, being free from injurious minerals or substances.
Mr. Campbell, the state fish warden, pronounced the waters of the spring to be superior to any he saw in this part of the country. He was very much pleased with the size of the spring, the quantity and quality of its water and the location of the ground.
Campbell has had 40 acres of ground, on which the spring and buildings are situated, withdrawn from entry, and it now belongs to the state, thus making all the improvements made upon the ground perfectly safe.
This hatchery has been constructed upon a plan which will readily admit of additions being built onto it, so in case of future enlargement, which is bound to come as the hatchery progresses in importance, the arrangements and plans will fit together harmoniously.
From present indications, it is quite certain the Saratoga Fish Hatchery will become one of the most important in the state. Not only will the North Platte River and Grand Encampment River require each year a large number of trout fry to keep up their supply of trout, but it is the intention to keep the small tributaries of the Platte – of which there are some 15 in number – well supplied with brook and mountain trout.
At present Capt. C.J. Rhodes, the superintendent of the Saratoga Fish Hatchery, is at Laramie at the state hatchery, where he is assisting in the gathering of spawn from the mountain brook trout of the region, and he will probably be engaged in this work until the spring, when the time will come to open up the Saratoga Fish Hatchery.
