In 1916, the citizens of Independence purchased a 40 acre tract of land and donated it to the State of California for the building of a fish hatchery, and this structure was the result. Built in 1916 out of 3,500 tons of granite, the building ranks as one of the most beautiful hatchery facilities in the United States. The facility design team was instructed by Fish and Game Commissioner M.J. Connell to design a building that would match the mountains and last forever. Its two to three foot thick walls were built with stones not cut to size but instead collected and sorted to fit. The first trout were produced in 1918, and since then the California Department of Fish and Game has produced an average of 2 million fingerling trout per year to stock the lakes and streams of California. The construction method met the design challenge and produced a facility that became an architectural showcase for the California state fish, the Golden Trout.