And we built a big charcoal filter with charcoal about the size of wheat grain and we pumped the water through that, came out like artesian spring water. Well, the problem was eventually those little tiny rice grains of charcoal, they went through also, and as they were pumped through… Read More
Were there other challenges in exhibiting fish?… Read More
And the chief engineer said, “That sounds okay.” So, end result of that was we hired a barge. I think it was the John I. Hay barge line. And they had a barge down in New Orleans that was used to haul molasses. So we used that, and we went… Read More
The inside of the barge was rusty from the saltwater in it that time. And I thought, oh, this is trouble. And then all of the plankton in it died off. And the aquarium smelled like a sewer plant from all of that. And I thought there goes my job. Read More
He was one of the aquarist that we hired. You mentioned saltwater. Read More
Can you tell me a little bit about bringing up water from the Gulf of Mexico?… Read More
(laugh) Well, originally the water was brought in, in tank cars from Key West, Florida. Railroad tank cars, in those days, the railroad ran all the way from Miami to Key West. And so tank cars were sent down there, and they were in a constant shuttle. There’d be four… Read More
Then later on, as you know, I mentioned before, they did make up some artificial water, according to that German formula, but they didn’t need as much water because of the one gallery that was closed down completely for so long. But after that was opened up, then we needed… Read More
How’d you figure out their diet needs?… Read More
I think it was just sort of a hit miss. We had absolutely no research on what was suitable for what animals. And I guess, quite frankly, in those days, it was easier to replace them than trying to keep them alive. That was the attitude back then. We fed… Read More
The fellows that were there when I were there had absolutely no aquarium training at all. They did what they were told. We had one fellow who was a retired Mason, one guy who was a retired Iceman, a fellow who worked at, excuse me, I’m having a brain spasm,… Read More
Finally, I think they saw they could do this. And this is just before the Korean War, and the windows slammed again because we were in another war period. We weren’t essential. So after the Korean War, then finally, I guess they had enough money salted away by this time… Read More
And then eventually later on in the seventies, we redid the whole water circulation system with PVC. The original system was all lead, and that eventually got clogged up with debris and salt and crustacean. So that was the start of bringing the aquarium out of its doldrums. And then… Read More
When you were assistant curator, how did you start to approach the care of the animals?… Read More
I’m sorry, say again. Did the board affect and help the development of the aquarium in the beginning under Chute and as well– Well, you know, that goes back beyond. I think they were more caretakers. I saw no big ideas come out. They never went out to raise any… Read More
Thursdays were free, Saturday and Sunday were free. We raised $30,000 a year, which hardly paid the salary of the people selling the tickets and the guards taking the tickets. Read More
None of them ever, to my knowledge, ever came up with an idea about, Hey, why don’t we do something to bring the aquarium into the 20th century?… Read More
And the aquarium was suffering. Suffering badly from a case of the shorts in those days. One of the saltwater galleries, when I started there, was completely closed down. The saltwater had gotten into the steel reinforcing rods in the front of the tanks and expanded and broke all the… Read More
I think he was terrified of the board. He just didn’t want anything to rock the boat. And we would have one meeting a year. Mr. Field would host it over at the Chicago Club. And every year it was Turkey, Ala king, which you could have a drink ahead… Read More
And I remember one particular time, I think he proposed that our guards, they couldn’t guard a chicken coop, would be paid, given a raise $5 a month more than the guards at the Field Museum. I said, “How come you’re doing this?” And Chute, he kind of shook his… Read More