Show an tp excursion to i ranch about t twenty ingv y years ears ago a group of men erected 11 a fish hatchery at the black hills southeast of richfield they conducted the business for several years vears but for various reasons the proposition failed the coi corporation po ration developed debts apparently exceeding the assets and finally the one member of the corporation whose fascination for the work ork and whose hope in in some day tax making the indus industry tn worth while relie relieved ed the other members of responsibilities for the debts accumulated and received in return all of the stock of the corporation it was thus thug that frank heppler acquired the three lake ranch at t which lie he has ha conducted during the past eleven years one of the most 1 interesting 11 te resting and an 1 revolutionary lutio nary experiments in the fish industry and which aich seems to have no duplicate elsewhere he had watched with disapproval the way in which fish at the hatcheries everywhere were nere fed meath meat all too frequently dead animals that might or might not be clean and free from disease and ater after continuing his own business under tile the same feeding methods for a while lie revolted tel against it and determined that lie he would find a different food for fish or leave the business alone he compared the fish from the hatcheries with those aloni thle the mountain streams and from fish lake and to him the hatchery fish did not look as he termed it natural their stomachs did not seem to be in as healthy condition their color was not the same and they did not possess the same vigorous life he began experiments in feeding grain products to the rainbow trout planted in the poll ponds representatives senta tives from froin the state fish hatcheries and anyone else versed in raising fish agreed with the government bulletins atins published on the subject that grain grain simply did not contain the right food elements for fish had no helpful advise to offer and rather discouraged the project constantly but after deais of painstaking and ep elensie ensie experimenting mr heppler seems to have gloved that by feeding a mixture of shorts and low grade wheat flour ml mixed ed with vath water to different degrees of consistency and fed in varying amounts to fish inome different stages of development his fish grow much more rapidly appear to be more healthy and full fuli of life and those who visit his fisheries and compare the feeding of the animal fed fish and the grain fed fish find the cleanliness of the latter much more appetising appetizing appe aside bioni finding it more pleasant to feed giali products to the fish sir mr heppler saw sav the need if the industry was to glow of finding a food for or fish which was leadill beadily obtainable tai so far his has not been a money makin making proposition but the last two years year seem to have conclusively that the experiment has reached a firm basis and next year mr heppler plans to e expand and it is his ambition to use in time the tar large ponds which extend to the south on K his s ranch and which so far he has not utilized mr Hepp lers untiring efforts in fighting odds to develop an industry which he hopes will some day be an asset to sevier county and a benefit to the fishing industry at large by securing se curin for fish a food which should be always accessible and which would eliminate the unpleasantness and somewhat unhealthful conditions connected with feeding animals to fish is most admirable while sir mr heppler realizes lea lizes that there is some natural food in the ponds experience lias has taught that it is comparatively a small amount amoun and the fish depend largely on th the e grain foods it looks like tle the people who have viewed with skepticism his project are going to have to take their hats off and say it be lone done but lie he did it some soma details of his experiments are quite interesting the first year of the experiment he tried feeding the fish rye products product as it was luring during the world war period and wheat was not easily obtained and found the problem of producing it the first obstacle after conferring with every miller in the county he be finally found founie one who promised to grind rind the rye as fine as he desired bic it taking out ailt only the bran as the fish seem to reject any hard substance provided that eight beigh t tons of the grain would be handled handl ed at once he secured it with dif difficulty fi culty since that time he has installed ins a miniature mill of his own from which he produces a product which lie he likes like S even better than that which lie he gets from the mills though he is not using it at present tile the first years vears experiment to io tc t successful and he received a fair profit at ou the next year and every year since since last year the expert anent has been doubtful first one thing then another causing heavy losses sometimes state officials have suggested dugges ted to him that the trouble was in some condition of the water vater but always maintaining that somewhere somehow lie had failed to feed the fish right he be continued with the hope of some day solving the problem mr heppler states that experience has I 1 taught tau lit him that it is very necess necessary arv to Z eitnier overfeed over feed ed nor underfeed under feed the fish c when his spanners ners took on in unhealthy appearance at one time IP brought new fish into the same I 1 saoi mazed marked them changed his feeding rations and found that they remained wealthy and the others which had previously received too much food began to recover naturals he was confronted with other difficulties in the form of the natural en enemies mies of the fish so freely distri butyl in the neighborhood there aie 1 in this locality hundreds of mud hens twelve different kinds kind of ducks epli 1 cans calls cranes king icing fishers seagull and of these the fish duck as he calls them tile the king fisher pelicans and cranes are a constant menace as are arc also the snakes and chubs or small native fish which frequent the ponds one year the cranes came one night and ate many of the spawning fish another year the pelicans made a heavy beavy raid on them necessitate necessitating ing the construction of a rough screen over the shallow ponds to protect the fish the snakes are only water snakes ordinarily considered quite barn harmless iless but sir heppler hep ale r gave a comprehensive example of t the he d damage ariage they he y inflict when he said at one time he cau caught g I 1 a snake just after it had devoured le ret vou seventeen small fish of the fish ducks lie he states sta tes their means of attack is as interesting as a the tactics of an aimy these ducks form a line of march so to speak frighten the fish into an obscure corner of the and then dive and pick them up simply enough as they try to return to the main pool As for the chubs lie he fays says they are like weeds in a naiden garden consuming the natural it foods in the pond and t taking a k ing up valuable s space pace many of those these handicaps handicap can be overcome however when returns fro from rn the business warrant and make possible better equipment at a recent visit to mr Hepp lers ranch lie he explained to us a great many things of interest connected with his work we entered his ranch from the road which C li leads lead s from the main highway between richfield and glenwood arid and passing the only two ponds not owned by him which he says are naturally rich in food for bass and probably contain moie bass than any ponds of equal size in the state we stopped near liis his ranch house where lie he first showed showe d us the luns to which the small fis fish are brought shortly after they t hev are hatched hat c 11 a at the hatchery about a mile farther south it was of interest to learn that the tiny fish are fed at i most two or three times usually not at all at ar the hatchery before they are arc brought to these runs where they are allowed to stay until they sense dangar aich which usually takes take about s si weeks e e ks mr heppler stated that he suffered suf feied considerable loss one year vear by moving the fish from these runs s to the pond before they had bad developed the sense of fear as the place is alive with ith natural enemies As stated before all of the fish are fed the same proportion of grain glain products only itkis it is mixed with water to different degrees of consistency for the fish in different stages of development llie lit for the fin gellings the mixture is made almot almost as thin as buttermilk so the they can call devour it readily as it spreads through flir ough the water when they are taken from this first run they are placed in a nearby pond into aich extends a short run for feeding grounds rounds for these fish mr heppler makes the gr grain in mixture into a very stiff dough and and throws it into the un run l and it was amusing to watch vatch the fish rush into the run when nhen the gate closi ing ilig it from the pond was lifted the tough doughy nias mas was soon scattered throughout hout the water and the healthy looking lookin 1 young rai rainbows darted after it about fish were in this bunch which is only a fraction of the capacity of the pond mr heppler scooped some into a net to enable us to se see better the healthy appearance and color the fish present and he stated that all of them were from last februarys hatch and most of them v were ere about five times as large as fish of the same age that had been fed on animal foods and that even the skeptical game commissioner had to admit when hen lie he saw them the other lay day that they he be beat some of these fish sir mr heppler said will be prepared for market this fall while others not large enough will a ill be placed into another run which he showed to us and taken to another pond for the winter while the pond they are in at present he expects to have lowered and the run extended pre preparatory to expanding the business considerably next year from here we were taken a short distance farther south where the spawning fish are kept mr heppler says that spawning fish may be taken at two or three years of age some of his spanners ners date their appearance in the pond from the time tile the first efforts were made to start the industry in the locality about twenty beals ago the food I 1 sir mr heppler gives the spanners ners is mi ed into a stiff dough and thrown throb ri to these larger fish in small chunks when asked about cannibalism among the fish mr heppler stated that lie he had very little trouble as the doughy mixture fed scattered so re rep P idly through the water that all of the fish could be eating at once and consequently they seemed satisfied not to take out vengeance on each other and on the story could stretch for hours f finding in every question that presented itself to the mind some interesting te solution which mr heppler readily explained Ms his enter enterprise and persistency in staying with a project which looked so doubtful until it pron promises aises success are certainly commendable |