Fishy Imports: The First Foreign Fish in California … Came From New York

STATEWIDE—Leave it to a fish commissioner from New York to deliver the first foreign fish into California waters. An entry in the University of California’s “History and Status of Introduced Fishes in California, 1871-1996” revealed a batch of American shad was transported from New York to Tehama (about 125 miles north of Sacramento) by New York Fish Commission member Seth Green. The hatched fish, which were taken from the Hudson River and taken aboard a train on June 19, 1871, were transported in milk cans. The milk cans contained 12,000 newly hatched American shad. Green would arrive in Sacramento exactly one week later – but not without his fair share of worry and doubt. “At Chicago … I first tried the water from the city water-works, but found there was too much oil in it,” Green reportedly wrote. “The fish were still in good order when we arrived at Omaha, but there I could not find any water in which they would live five minutes. “The only way I kept my charges alive was by drawing the water out of the cans into pails, and pouring it from one pail to another until purified,” he continued. Weather continued to be an issue as he continued...