When lakes were first stocked with walleyes, there was little concern as to what type of lake was stocked and little or no information as to the actual need for stocking, said Hjalmar Swenson, state fisheries supervisor.

Swenson has been keeping track of where state-raised and stocked walleyes go since before the time of fisheries research and management. He's one of the last of the fisheries men who remembers riding the rail distributing fish to state lakes.

He says the trapping of walleye spawning runs for eggs began in a number of rivers in Minnesota before hatcheries were even constructed.

Fisheries men started taking spawn from walleyes at Jenkins at the mouth of the Pine River near Whitefish in 1916. A hatchery at that location was not built until 1923.

Lakes in Crow Wing County weren't the first to be stocked with walleyes. The hatchery at Glenwood was built in 1904 and one at Bemidji was constructed in 1915. Other hatcheries were constructed at Otter Tail in 1917; at Tower in 1919; at Cut-Foot-Sioux in 1920, and at Park Rapids in 1924.

The first hatcheries of all were in Red Wing in 1876 and St. Paul in 1877 The very first walleye spawn taking was done at Fond du Lac in 1886, said Swenson. Carp in the 1800's were considered a delicacy and a fine table treat. The state managed to get the first carp introduced into Minnesota in 1874. Little did they realize the nuisance that this fish would become.

To deliver the young walleyes, a good team of horses was considered essential for much of the transportation. "My father (John Swenson) hauled walleye spawn to the Bemidji Hatchery below the power dam on the Mississippi from the spawning station to Wolf Lake in 1916 and 1917.

"Tom Smart's dray from Bemidji hauled walleye fry from the hatchery to Bemidji to be loaded on baggage cars for distribution. The days were long and the pay was low ($2 per day) when I started on a seasonal walleye spawning and hatchery operation job in Bemidji in 1923," said Swenson.

In those days, all the fish for stocking were distributed upon application and by rail. Wagon loads, and later truck loads, of 10-gallon cans would be loaded into baggage cars and freight cars for distribution.

Applicants would meet the trains and the messenger would hand out the number of cans of fry for stocking certain lakes. There was little or no information as to the need for stocking or into what type of lake the fish were going, said Swenson.

Reproduced from the Centennial Edition of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch (1871-1971).