The Friends of The R.D. Pike Building and all our supporters are very fortunate. One of the Friends’ board members is Mr. Robert “Bob” Nelson. Bob has spent many years chronicling and assembling maritime and community history throughout the Bayfield area. Aside from being a terrific board member, he has taken on an additional special role for our group, that of Resident Historian.
Several years ago, current hatchery staff discovered a treasure trove of information during their daily work at the R.D. Pike Building. Covered containers were tucked away in a hidden area of the building. When opened, they contained over 60 years of handwritten, leather-bound journals, containing entries of what went on daily at the hatchery for over 60 years from 1896 to 1959!
In early June of 2024, Bob came across the following writings from the journals while cataloging and painstakingly recording them for historical preservation:
 | Friday, January 6, 1905: Received 200,000 Brook Trout eggs from Plymouth, Mass. on 6:00 P.M. train First picking 1000 Friday, January 20, 1905: Rec’d 200,000 Brook Trout eggs from Plymouth, Mass on 11:10 A.M. train. First picking 1000 Monday, January 23, 1905: Rec’d 100,000 Brook Trout eggs from Plymouth, Mass on 11:10 A.M. train. First picking 585. Brook Trout commenced hatching to day. Wednesday, January 25, 1905: Returned 3 egg boxes to Plymouth, Mass on 2:30 train Monday, April 10, 1905: Last of Massachusetts eggs hatched |
A side note here, please note the word “to day” in one of the entries above. It's not a misspelling. That's how it was written back in the day. We have seen several instances of this!
The image of 500,000 Brook Trout eggs coming all the way from Massachusetts conjured up more questions than answers. Fortunately, and in a wonderful twist of fate, two of our team members happened to have an east coast trip planned later that month that would take them within a few miles of the hatchery in Plymouth. The question was, “Is it still there?”. We are thrilled to report that it is indeed!
After some detective work, phone calls were placed, introductions made, and a date was arranged for a visit. On June 26th, 2024, ambassadors from the Friends of R.D. Pike Building arrived at what is today “The Gilbert Fish Hatchery”. The chief steward of the hatchery is Ms. Darlene Nickerson. Darlene and her brother “Skip” (who is their family historian), met our investigators at the front of the facility with a smile and a warm handshake. Skip gave us some of the history as we walked and talked.
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The original name of the hatchery was “The Old Colony Trout Ponds”. The operation was started by Mr. Walter L. Gilbert in 1869. He worked closely with Dr. Livingston Stone of New Hampshire who went on to become the United States Fish Commissioner. Amongst other accomplishments, Mr. Gilbert brought the first brown Trout from Germany to the United States and developed the world's first Tiger Trout.
As cranberries became popular in the country, Mr. Gilbert got involved in that too! When he passed away in 1902, the hatchery was kept running by his wife and son. In 1912, the hatchery was sold to the Nickerson family and has remained in the family to this day.
While touring the grounds, they asked Skip the ultimate question: “How in the world did the Bayfield fish hatchery know that the Gilbert fish hatchery, over 1350 miles away, had Brook Trout eggs available…in 1905?”. After all, it wasn't like you just typed it into Google! Skip’s reply was wonderful:
“That's easy. The Federal Government. You see at that time; the powers that be were getting wires and messages back from the ongoing exploration of the West which included information about the abundant harvest (and sometimes over-harvest) of natural resources at an ever more alarming rate. The government wanted to ensure that westward expansion wasn't going to decimate all the flora, fish and fauna as future growth and development took place. A plan was put into place to connect fish hatchery operations with one another.
The levers of power began to communicate to hatcheries across the growing country on who had what and who had what fish available and who needed said fish.
The Gilbert Fish Hatchery bills itself as the oldest private fish hatchery in the United States, with land contract records going back to the late 1700's. Today, the hatchery raises the most beautiful Brook and Rainbow Trout imaginable, mostly for private and commercial customers ponds, streams and waterways.
Back to 1905. So, the news is out. The Bayfield Wisconsin hatchery needs Trout eggs, and the Plymouth Massachusetts hatchery has them. Now, how do we get them there? The only pragmatic solution was the main staple of transportation, by train!
The eggs were packed in stacked screen mesh trays on layers of wet moss. There were between 5000 and 10,000 eggs per tray. The trays were then put in secure wooden boxes. Towards the top layers, the trays were filled with ice chips that would slowly melt during the journey, keeping the eggs cool and moist during the trip. Days (weeks?) later, the eggs arrived by train at the Bayfield hatchery. (The location was then referred to as “Salmo”, which is derived from the Latin word for Salmon).
The eggs were transferred to the hatchery staff by the train workers. Amazingly, while some updates to the technology have been made, fish eggs are still packaged for shipment by very similar means today! An upcoming article will highlight the mechanics of that current system.
The reference to “picking” in the journal entries above, is the process of removing dead eggs. Just think, a half million eggs made that journey in 1905 and only 2600 eggs were lost. The dead eggs are easy to spot as they turn white or off-color pale. That is simply amazing when considering the length of the railroad journey and the transfers which had to take place.
The hatchery staff then tended and hatched the eggs and raised the young fry to stocking size. They were then transported by train to locations across Wisconsin for stocking in streams, rivers, ponds and lakes throughout the region. (Much more on trains and fish coming soon).
The next time you, a friend or relative catch or see a nice “brookie” in a small tree shaded river or stream in Wisconsin, think of how this all happened. Give a tip of your cap to these early stocking pioneers and reflect on the ingenuity and hard work that went into stocking waters we all continue to enjoy today.
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