Fish Hatcheries
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In 1900, there were 19 fish hatcheries operating in
Washington State. No other state in the
country had as many fish hatcheries. The state’s fish hatcheries were expected
to replace and even increase the number of salmon being caught by
fishermen. The “Northwest Washington Fish Hatchery” was
established at Baker Lake. This
location was perfect, because it sat at the head of the ice-cold Baker and
Skagit Rivers. The lake was 1,000 feet above sea level, and 60 miles from salt
water. It was supplied with pure, cold
water from the snowfields of Mt. Baker.
A
fish hatchery in 1900 was a one-story wood-frame building. It was 40 feet 
wide
by 100 feet long. There was a small
stream of ice-cold water at the upper end of the building. The icy stream was funneled into wooden
troughs where baby salmon (spawn, or fry), were
hatched.
First, the salmon coming upriver to
spawn were caught in nets or traps at the outlet of the lake. 
The
female salmon each laid 3,000-7,000 eggs. Their eggs and milt
were removed and placed together in water.
After the eggs were fertilized by the male salmon’s milt,
they were placed in wire baskets. The
baskets were then placed in the ice-cold running water of the hatching troughs,
where they remained for about three months.
When the fry or spawn hatched,
they worked their way through the meshes of the baskets into the troughs. The fingerlings swam down the
troughs to the lake, where they remained about eight or nine months. 
Then the smolt were ready
for their downstream trip to the sea.
After three or four
years of living in the sea, the fully grown salmon returned upstream to their
birth-place, to spawn. 
The life cycle started over again.
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Image Credit: Microsoft ClipArt Gallery