View source for Fred Mather

{{Short description|American pisciculturist and educator}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2014}}
[[File:Fred Mather Frontpiece The Men I Have Fished With (1897).JPG|thumb|Fred Mather, Frontispiece from ''The Men I Have Fished With'', 1897]]
'''Fred Mather''' (January 2, 1833, in [[Albany, New York]]<ref name=dab/> – February 14, 1900<ref name=dab>{{Cite DAB|title=Subjects of Biographies|volume=Comprehensive Index|year=1990}}</ref>) was a United States [[pisciculture|pisciculturist]] and a writer and editor on [[fishing]] topics.
==Life and career==
In 1854 he became interested in the lead mines of [[Potosi, Wisconsin]], and afterward hunted and trapped in the [[Bad Axe River|Bad Axe]] country in that state. Here he learned enough of the [[Chippewa language]] to become interpreter to the government survey in northern [[Minnesota]]. During the political troubles in Kansas he served under General [[James Henry Lane (Indiana and Kansas)|James Lane]], and was one of [[Charles R. Jennison|Jennison]]'s "Jayhawkers." He enlisted in the 113th New York regiment in 1862, and became 1st lieutenant two years later. At the close of the [[American Civil War]], he took a clerkship in the stock yards near Albany.
In 1868 he bought a farm at [[Honeoye Falls, New York]], and began to hatch fish of various kinds. When the [[U.S. Fish Commission]] was formed in 1872 he was sent for by Professor [[Spencer F. Baird]] to hatch [[shad]] for the [[Potomac River]]. In 1875, he established hatcheries at [[Lexington, Virginia|Lexington]] and [[Blacksburg, Virginia|Blacksburg]] for the state of [[Virginia]]. A year earlier he had hatched the first [[Striped bass|sea bass]] and [[Arctic grayling|grayling]]s.
After several vain attempts to transport [[salmon]] eggs to [[Europe]], he devised a [[refrigerator]] box, and in 1875 succeeded in carrying the eggs to [[Germany]]. He also, at the same time, invented a conical hatching apparatus, by which, through the admission of water at the bottom, shad and other eggs were hatched in bulk instead of in layers upon trays or floating boxes. In 1884 he hatched the adhesive eggs of the [[smelt (fish)|smelt]], although all previous attempts had been failures.
He was sent abroad several times by the U. S. government in connection with fish culture, and he received medals and testimonials from many scientific societies of Europe. In 1877 he became fishery editor of The Chicago Field, and from 1880 he held a like position with ''[[Forest and Stream]]'' in [[New York City]]. In 1882 he was sent by Professor Baird to [[Roslyn, New York|Roslyn]], [[Long Island]], to hatch salmon for the [[Hudson River]]. In 1883 he was appointed superintendent of the New York Fish Commission station at [[Cold Spring Harbor, New York|Cold Spring Harbor]], Long Island. Here the hatching of [[lobster]]s, [[codfish]], and other marine forms was begun.
He published ''[[Ichthyology]] of the [[Adirondacks]]'' (1885), which described several fishes previously unknown.
==Notes==
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==References==
*{{Appletons'|wstitle=Mather, Fred|year=1900}}
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[[Category:1833 births]]
[[Category:1900 deaths]]
[[Category:American ichthyologists]]
[[Category:Writers from Albany, New York]]
[[Category:American editors]]
[[Category:American male writers]]
[[Category:Union army soldiers]]
[[Category:Pisciculturists]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York (state)]]