Friday, August 17, 2018, DC Booth Fish Hatchery

The D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery was a must see during our stay in Spearfish, SD. Since it was adjacent to the Spearfish City Park campground we were able to easily walk there. Sam and I had walked the grounds several times, but this time he stayed home so we could explore the buildings.

A portion of the Spearfish Creek flow was diverted to the hatchery to maintain a number of pools where four different species of trout live a carefree life with plenty to eat.

The trout share their home with a few ducks that compete for the food pellets tossed in by visitors to the facility.

The fish lazily swim in random patterns waiting for the next handful of yummy nuggets to rain down from above. 

The instant the food hits the water the fish enter full frenzy mode looking like piranha as they scramble to get their share.

There was even a basement viewing area where you could watch the activities as if you were one of the schools of fish.

Around the extensive grounds, we learned all about the history of the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife and their efforts to introduce trout to area streams. Fish were caught in Yellowstone Lake in "Yellowstone Boats" and eggs were harvested and sent to hatcheries.

After the eggs were hatched and raised to fingerling size they were kept alive in aerated buckets on specially outfitted train cars during transport to area streams and lakes.

"Generations" by James Michael Maher

D.C. Booth was the hatchery's first superintendent and occupied the house below during his tenure. It was built in 1905 and over the years it had all of the most modern conveniences including indoor plumbing. It was the first home in the area to be equipped with electric lights and the original telephone in the house was on display in the parlor.

Pictures of Ruby and D.C. hang on the wall in the music room where Ruby taught lessons on her prized Coffin Piano.

House wiring was all routed from this central location.

The hatchery museum was housed in the nice looking building below. It was originally used for hatching eggs and included offices for managing the day to day operations of the hatchery.

I took a picture of the building just as one of the docents stepped onto the porch. We talked for quite a while and he was most knowledgeable about the facility. He said, "I probably ruined your picture". I told him that was doubtful and showed him the picture. The strangest thing was the picture was black on the porch right where he was standing and the building was just fine on the left.

I did not remember seeing anything like that previously. As we were leaving I tried to retake the same picture and he tried to scurry out of the picture. I told him I wanted him in the picture. I actually took two. One in landscape mode and one in portrait mode. When we looked at them later both were black where the man was standing! That was truly a little spooky. The clear picture above, with nobody on the porch, was actually from a different visit.

We were certainly happy to not experience the type of weather that put Spearfish in the record books. They saw a 49 degree F temperature rise in 2 minutes back in 1943. The weather during our stay was pretty nearly perfect with highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's.