Last week, retired fish hatchery employee Jeff Messens brought three brass buttons to the visitor center.
The plan is to put them on display in the same case as the old hatchery employee uniform. You may think… “So what? Who cares about a few old buttons?”
Well, my job as the outreach coordinator and environmental education specialist is not only to be the one who cares, but also try and get you to care as well.
You see, these three one-inch pieces of brass have a fun history behind them. Each button is marked on the front with the raised letters U.S.F.C. This stands for the United States Fish Commission.
With that information alone, we can date the creation of these buttons from somewhere between 1871 and 1903. A mere 32-year window.
We know this because the United States Fish Commission was an agency of the United States government created in 1871 to investigate, promote, and preserve the fisheries of the United States.
