Maine Memory Network

William H. Rowe operated a trout pond in Bar Mills in York County. The Clear Spring Trout Ponds hatchery started in the early 1880s and was eventually bought by William Howe and his partner Senator Frederick Hale in 1909. Mr. Rowe bought out Sen. Hale and continued to expand the business. By 1924, the ponds contained half a million brook and rainbow trout.

A half-page article on this trout farm appeared in the "Portland Evening Express" on September 3, 1924 (page fourteen).

William H. Rowe and a colleague clear the trout breeding pools at the Clear Spring Trout Ponds. Breeding pools stretched on either side of the hatchery building for over one mile. The pools were cleaned every other day to fight fungus and parasites. Traps were set along the side to catch predators such as heron, kingfishers, and rats.

The "Portland Evening Express", September 3, 1924 issue included an article "How Would You Like to Cast a Fly Into a Five Acre Pond Which for a Certainty Contains 20,000 Trout?"

William H. Rowe owned and operated a trout farm in Bar Mills. He and his partner, Frederick Hale, bought the business in 1909, with Mr. Rowe assuming full ownership after Mr. Hale was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1917.

As of 1924, the trout ponds were stocked with half a million brook and rainbow trout. Mr. Rowe sent mature fish to market, typically in the spring. For example, he sold over five tons of trout in New York City in 1923.

An article on the trout farm appeared in the September 2, 1924 issue of the "Portland Evening Express."

Albert Plummer, superintendent at the Raymond Fish Hatchery, dangled a salmon from Sebago Lake in front of Duke the cat. This front page story, from November 6th, 1936 edition of the Portland Evening Express, explained how spawning salmon were being "swept" and "stripped" at the hatchery. On this day, 700 salmon were netted, or swept, from the hatchery pool, which was the final destination for the spawning fish. The eggs would then stripped from each of the 450 females, fertilized with a male, then taken to the hatchery for incubation. All the salmon would then be released back in the bay, on the opposite side from the stream where they had started their spawning journey.

For several years in the 1970s, Maine Salmon Farms raised Pacific Coho salmon in the warm water outflow from Mason steam station in Wiscasset.

The warm water prevented icing and allowed the young fish to grow even in the cold winter months.

In the early years of salmon farming on Swan's Island, the Everett Libby ferry would bring smolt (baby salmon) to be placed in the salmon pens.

Salmon pens used to raise salmon were placed not far out from Burnt Coat Harbor, Swan's Island. Salmon farming started in 1988 and ended in 2003.

This is what the salmon pens looked like from a plane. The larger land mass on the right in the picture is Swan's Island.

Employees of the salmon farms were both women and men. Besides feeding the salmon, workers would check on the condition of the young salmon. and clean the pens.

A view of the old Fish Hatchery on Outer Sweden Street in Caribou that was built in 1895.

The Fish Hatchery began in 1892 with 25,000 salmon hatched. The hatchery changed locations several times.

In 1895, it was moved to the pictured location on outer Sweden Street and was taken over by the state of Maine.

A view of the old Fish Hatchery on Outer Sweden Street in Caribou, built in 1895. D.E. Johnson is on the left.

A view of the old Fish Hatchery on Outer Sweden Street in Caribou which was built in 1895. H.E. Barker is pictured.

The Fish Hatchery was started in 1892 in a small space over Lloyd Briggs' shed. 25,000 salmon were hatched in the first year.

In 1893 the hatchery was moved to a location under S.L. White's Drug Store.

In 1895 it was moved to the pictured location on outer Sweden St. and taken over by the state of Maine. In 1905 it was moved to a location near the mouth of Otter Brook.

A view of the Old Fish Hatchery in Caribou - 1895

The Fish Hatchery was started in 1892 in a small space over Lloyd Briggs' shed. 25,000 salmon were hatched in the first year.

In 1893 the hatchery was moved to a location under S.L. White's Drug Store.

In 1895 it was moved to the pictured location on outer Sweden St. and taken over by the state of Maine. In 1905 it was moved to a location near the mouth of Otter Brook.

The excellent water quality of Grand Lake has made it a prime location for hatching land-locked salmon for generations. Before the state established fish hatcheries, some private fishing clubs propagated their own fish.

Among these were the Dobsis Club between Dobsis Lake and Grand Lake, the Commodore Club at Hartland, Parmacheene Club, and the Megantic Club. They stripped, hatched, fed and distributed fry in public waters without expense to the state.

In 1868 the Maine and Massachusetts Commissioners of Fisheries began collecting eggs and hatching them in a spring at Grand Lake Stream. In 1871 they built the first hatchery building, a log structure, over a spring in Billy Brown Brook.

Later the hatchery was located along the stream near the mouth of Billy Brown Brook. A report from 1877 states that 2,159,000 eggs were reported to have been obtained, with 470,000 hatched for Grand Lake and the rest shipped out that year.

In 1878 the hatchery was torn down. Its next location was in "the Cove" (Forbes Cove) near the dam. It then relocated to its present site along the stream at the center of town.

From 1888-1892 Charles G. Atkins was superintendent of the Craig Brook Station and Schoodic Station at Grand Lake Stream. The buildings evolved and changed over time.

This view shows the state fish hatchery in the 1920s. Today Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife continues to operate a major hatchery on the site.

The white building behind the hatchery is the store once owned by Bob Sutherland, an early merchant in Grand Lake Stream.