National Fish Hatchery, Neosho, Mssouri, May 14, 2013

Good Evening from Acorn, Missouri. Have had a hard day of driving and touring. I need to provide one final comment about Sara's graduation. An event occurred that for a time put a damper on the festive spirit of the upcoming graduation. I think it was the day before graduation and Sara had finish all her school duties, studies, etc and was driving near her apartment when an individual in a large SUV suddenly stopped in the road for no apparent reason. Sara jammed on the braked and turned as best as she could to to try to avoid the rear of the SUV but to no avail. The left front of her little car got some pretty bad damage but no apparent damage to the SUV. Sara's little car went under the back of the SUV because the SUV was so high. I say no apparent damage because the SUV took on off down the street and did not stop.  Sara was not hurt in the least. It was reported to the insurance and police and they did not want to take a report since the other car did not stop and no one had reported an accident. Needless to say Sara was devastated but recovered nicely overnight and fully enjoyed her graduation. Sara's Dad using black duck tape and securely taped the hood and headlight so they would not bounce around and enable the car to be driven back to Tulsa which was done without incident.

 



 

Sara's Pride And Joy With An Ouch

 



Now on to National Fish Hatchery, 520 East Park Street, Neosho, Missouri.



 

Neosho, Missouri National Fish Hatchery



This part of the trip started off as a bummer. I had rearranged my schedule to be able to take Landon ( James Louis grandson ) and James Louis with me to see the fish hatchery. Well it turned out that Landon's class was having its last day of school picnic the day we were to go to the fish hatchery so Landon did not get to go with us to the fish hatchery. No one ever wants to miss the last day of school picnic. I know this was always a highlight of the entire year for me. James Louis and I drove the 80 or 90 miles and when we got there I checked in at the visitor center to get my National Park Passport book stamped and to see what tours they had scheduled. The Ranger on duty advised they had a tour of 6 and 7 year old school kids starting a tour and we were welcome to join them and for me to tell the Ranger conducting the tour she said it was OK for us to tag along. We caught up with the group just before the Ranger started his talk and I advised him that he would have two very large school kids tagging along with the group and that we promised to be quiet and to keep our hands out of the water. He laughed said we were welcome and started his presentation. In addition to the students there were about 6 or 8 parents and 3 teachers with the children. I was really impressed with the Ranger's presentation. He had roughly 5 or so points he wanted the kids to learn and come away from the tour with a grasp of those points. As the tour progressed he would quiz the kids on what he had told them and get them to respond then he would go over the points again. I learned a lot.

Ranger Approaching To Start Tour

Children Looking Into Large Tanks To See

Large Rainbow Trout

How To Hatch A Rainbow Trout

These Small Creatures Are Fry As Described In The

Photo Above This One

These Are Fingerling Rainbow Trout

These Large Tanks Hold Thousands Of Rainbow Trout About

Eight Inches Long. The Large Boxes Hanging Over The Water

Are Automatic Feeders. These Trout Will Soon Be Large Enough

To Move to Large Ponds Or To A Lake. These Tanks Are Completely Enclosed With Wire And Have A Roof To Keep Predators Out. The Movements Of The Water Is Caused By So Many Trout In The Tanks. There Are So Many The Water Looks Black.

Of Course You Have To Have The Class Poise For A photograph.

You Know They Would Not Let James And I Join In this Photo.

Neosho National Fish Hatchery Diagram

These Pallid Sturgeon Are Hugh Fish

Large Dinosaur Fish ( Sturgeon )

Large Sturgeon Swimming In A Tank

Sturgeon And More Sturgeon. Aren't They Beautiful?

 

About Sturgeon

The endanger Sturgeon are raised to a length of about 8 inches before being tagged and released into the lower Missouri River at three different locations where small populations of these fish still exist.

 



 





Over the years more than 130 different species of fish have been raised at the Neosho National Fish Hatchery but today Rainbow trout and the Pallid Sturgeon are raised. Many aspects of the Rainbow trout production are the same as 100 years ago; however, the hatchery staff now injects oxygen into the water to increase production. Oxygen and water flow alarms now guard against losses, and the fish are transported with specialized trucks, instead of rail cars. This enables the hatchery to raise 230,000 fish in the 9.5 - 10 inch range for stocking Lake Taneycomo, Missouri annually.

 

The hatchery also protects the habitat of the endangered Ozark Cave fish, which inhabits one of the springs supplying the hatchery with water.

 

 

 

 

Ozark Cave Fish ( The Well Keeper )

When early settlers drew water from their wells, it was common to find Ozark cave fish swimming in their buckets. Believing this was a good luck charm as well as a sign the water was safe to drink they called the fish " spring keeper " or " well keeper ". Even today the presence of the Ozark cave fish indicates clean water. However, its declining numbers are a signal that some water in underground pools is being altered by pollutants. Pesticides; chemical spills; street runoff; eroded soil; garbage;and runoff from livestock and poultry farms flow into underground water and travel miles underground before entering recharge areas where cave fish reside.

 

The world of darkness is the home of the Ozark cave fish. They live is caves, sinkholes and underground springs that are untouched by light. They have no eyes and they rely on sense organs located on their head, body and tail to find food. These organs can sense the smallest movement in the water that might indicate  the presence of a food source, even a microscopic one. They have no skin pigment which makes them appear translucent. Because it is so pale, its blood vessels are visible, giving it a pinkish white color It grows to a length of about two and one forth inch long. I was amazed to learn that there are about fifteen other creatures that live in these surrounding many of which are endangered species. Many of them colorless and blind.



The Neosho National Fish Hatchery is the oldest operating federal fish hatchery in the United States. Established in 1888, the hatchery is one of 69 hatcheries operated by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Neosho was selected as the place to operate a hatchery because of the presence of good gravity flow of spring water and a railroad spur for transporting the fish as far west as the Rockie Mountains. Currently the hatchery utilizes about 1200 to 1600 gallon per minute of gravity flow spring water at an annual temperature of 54 - 62 degrees Fahrenheit to raise Rainbow Trout.

 

There is another program of research being carried out at this hatchery and that is with the Missouri Fatmucket Mussel. Although this mussel is not endangered its numbers are declining. They have shown good progress in promoting growth in size of the mussels but still much work needs to be done according to hatchery personnel. These mussels are described as a significant economic factor in Missouri as they are used for Making many types of jewelery and craft items.

 







Facts About The Mussels

One Of The Displays About Mussels

 

I know from personal experience the value of mussels in helping to keep water clear and undesirable waste products out of the water because I always kept several mussells in my Koi ponds. It was interesting to see them bury themselves about half deep in the lily pots and other containers and if you watched closely you could see the water being drawn in and out of the mussel as they did their work.

 

Well folks it has been a long day and it is now 11:00 P. M. Central time so I will wind this up. I still have several things about the hatchery I would like to discuss like the development from the start and the use of rail cars to transport fish. Perhaps I can get to that later. In the mean time I am going to put this old body to bed so remember God loves you and so do I.

 

Grandpa Bill.