feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, half a dozen at once. From the
weirs to the boats and from the boats to the tanks they were dipped in
great canvas bags. From all this handling but few losses ensued.

In the establishment at Bucksport village the work was carried on for
four years, from 1872 to 1876, with a fair degree of success. Then
ensued a suspension till 1879, when the reappearance of salmon in the
Merrimack, Connecticut, and some other rivers renewed the hopes of
final success, and encouraged the commissioners to reopen the station.
It had, however, been found that the old location had serious defects.

The inclosure was costly to maintain, and the recapture of the fish
involved a great deal of labor and trouble. The water supplied to the
hatchery was liable in seasons of little rain to be totally unfit,
causing a premature weakening of the shell and very serious losses in
transportation. After a careful search through the neighboring country
it was found that the most promising site for an inclosure was in Dead
Brook, near the village of Orland (though within the limits of the town
of Bucksport), and for a hatchery no location was equal to Craigs Pond
Brook, the spot where the original experiments were tried in 1871. The
only serious drawback was the separation of the two by a distance of
some 2 miles, which could not offset the positive advantage of the
hatchery site. Accordingly the necessary leases were negotiated, an
inclosure made in Dead Brook, and a stock of breeding salmon placed
therein in June, 1879. Since then the work has been continued without
interruption.

It is still found most convenient to obtain the stock of breeding
salmon, as in the early years of the enterprise, from about a dozen
weirs in the Penobscot River along the shores of the island of Verona.