MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: Coeur d'Alene fish hatchery

The first fish hatchery in Idaho, Hayspur, was built in 1907. Located south of Ketchum, it lacked feasible transportation to North Idaho, which resulted in an extraordinarily high mortality rate of eggs. To meet the need of a fish hatchery in North Idaho, sportsmen from Shoshone and Kootenai counties, including the Rod and Gun Clubs of St. Maries, Wallace, Harrison and Coeur d’Alene, began raising money for their own hatchery to supply fish for the abundant lakes, rivers and streams.

In 1913, the water company in Coeur d’Alene offered to furnish a site on the lakeshore near the pumping station on the east side of Tubbs Hill and to provide the water, power and an emergency connection to the reservoir for the hatchery, all for $25 per month. The offer was quickly accepted by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

In early January 1914, a contract was given to J. E. Taylor for $1,728 to build a 40-by-60-foot hatchery on a concrete foundation. The water company would provide a continuous 400,000 gallons of water per hour to circulate through the troughs of eggs and pools of fry. In just three months, on April 10, the local paper reported the hatchery had been completed.

Two Coeur d’Alene businessmen, Charles Schattner and J.P. Broderick, made the first planting of 40,000 rainbow trout fry in pools at the head of Fernan Lake on June 12, 1914. They used a delivery wagon with a team of horses to haul the cans of fish. The next month, 100,000 fish were planted in the Spokane River.

Problems soon got in the way, however. Sediment was found on the gills of the fish during the second year, so pipes had to be changed to add more air. Whenever the lake was choppy, the operator had to switch to a deep-water pump, which delivered colder water, making the temperatures difficult to regulate, and a second man was needed. After a disastrous result with trout in 1917, which the state blamed on mining waste, the state closed the hatchery. But Coeur d’Alene fought against it.

The state then hired Joseph R. Clark in 1918, who had years of experience at the Warm Springs hatchery in southern Idaho, and the Coeur d’Alene hatchery began to thrive. Although Clark died in 1939, his successors kept up the production.

In 1941, they raised 3 million cutthroat trout eggs for North Idaho waters — 1 million for Coeur d'Alene, 600,000 for Mullan, 400,000 for Sandpoint — with the balance to Fernwood, Clark Fork and Grangeville. They kept holding pens at Wolf Lodge and Marie Creek and used traps for harvesting eggs at Mica Creek and Hayden Creek.

In 1954, the state Fish and Game Commission ordered the hatchery closed and the lease was returned to the water company. One reason for its closure was the difficulty in raising fish more than 1.5 inches long for release into the lake. As a result of increased fishing pressure, it became necessary to stock the lake with legal-sized fish, and those could come from Hagerman, Sandpoint and Clark Fork.

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The Museum of North Idaho maintains a database of more than 36,000 photos and thousands of archival materials. Appointments may be made for research. Visit the website at www.museumni.org for information. The exhibits will open in April, and a WWII-themed gala is planned for May 20.