Newcastle Fish Hatchery 1868
Text from the plaque
On this site in 1866 Samuel Wilmot began to experiment with the artificial breeding of salmon. His success led the federal government in 1868 to enlarge Wilmot's project into Ontario's first full scale fish hatchery, one of the earliest in North America. The station and rearing ponds, built to restore Ontario's declining salmon fisheries, reached its maximum production in 1876 when 1,500,000 eggs were hatched. By this time hatcheries were in operation in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes, under Wilmot's supervision. In 1876 he was appointed federal Superintendent of Fish Breeding Establishments. The Newcastle Hatchery, which had established a pattern for fish culture in many parts of the world, ceased operation in 1914.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The Region of Durham
The Municipality of Clarington
On the north side of Durham Road 2, at the east side of the
bridge over Wilmot Creek, just east of Highway 35/115
Also recorded for this place: The Region of Durham · Clarington
N 43 54.762 W 78 36.567
Recorded December 2010. Check current access before visiting.
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Visitors' notes
December 30, 2012
I am thinking of doing a train layout showing the town of Newcastle in the 1800's and I wanted pictures of the hatchery to do a mockup of it. All this shows is the historical plaque and where it is located on the highway. I have been in this off road spot with my former husband when he was operating his hand operated sailboats, but I never saw a hatchery then either. Even though it is not operating now, where was it actually located and does anyone have pictures of it.