Appalachian History Series – Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery of Rowan County, Kentucky
Below Cave Run Dam near Morehead, Kentucky, the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery sits in a landscape shaped by two public works stories at once. One is the federal story of Cave Run Lake, a flood-control reservoir on the Licking River. The other is the state story of fish culture, stocking, and the long effort to keep Kentucky waters full of sport fish after rivers, lakes, and habitats changed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Cave Run Lake was authorized under the Flood Control Act of June 22, 1936, that construction began in June 1965, and that the project became operational in February 1974. The same Corps history places the hatchery off Kentucky Highway 801 below the dam and says its water supply comes from Cave Run Lake through an intake structure on the dam’s control tower.
The hatchery was not an afterthought. In January 1973, while Cave Run Reservoir was still a construction scene of mud, equipment, and unfinished public expectations, Rural Kentuckian reported that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife was putting finishing touches on the $2 million Minor Clark Fish Hatchery just below the dam. The article described it as a 300-acre facility, built with license-fee revenue and taxes on fishing equipment, with 82 brood ponds under construction. It was expected to produce largemouth bass, striped bass, walleye, and muskie for Kentucky waters, and the photo caption said the facility would be named for former Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Minor Clark.
Cave Run Lake and a New Fisheries Landscape
Cave Run Lake changed the upper Licking River country. The project’s public purpose was flood control, but the reservoir also became a recreation lake, a water-supply project, a fish-and-wildlife habitat area, and one of the best-known outdoor destinations in northeastern Kentucky. The Corps describes Cave Run Lake as 8,270 acres at summer pool and says the dam is an earth and rock fill structure 2,700 feet long and 148 feet high. That setting matters because the hatchery’s location, water, and early mission all grew from the same project.
When the lake and dam were being completed, Kentucky fisheries workers were already looking at what the new reservoir would mean for fishing. Rural Kentuckian reported that the hatchery was expected to become fully operational with Cave Run Reservoir and that more than 100 acres of brood ponds and holding basins would be used for forage fish and game-fish production. At the time, the state expected annual production of about one million largemouth bass and about 150,000 each of the other major species then listed.
This is why Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery is best understood as part of the Cave Run Lake story, not merely as a nearby facility. The dam impounded the river. The hatchery used the new reservoir’s controlled water supply. The lake attracted anglers. The hatchery helped supply the fish that made those waters, and many waters far beyond Rowan County, productive.
The Man Behind the Name
Minor E. Clark’s name connected the hatchery to an earlier generation of Kentucky fisheries work. Federal fishery records from the early 1940s listed Minor E. Clark as superintendent of hatcheries in Kentucky’s Division of Game and Fish. A later conservation directory listed him as commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
KDFWR’s own Fisheries Research Bulletins index also keeps Clark at the beginning of the department’s research record. It identifies Bulletin No. 1, published in 1941, as Minor E. Clark’s “A List of the Fishes in Northeastern Kentucky.” That title is especially fitting for a hatchery built near Morehead, in the same northeastern Kentucky region Clark studied decades earlier.
Naming the hatchery for Clark therefore joined memory and mission. The new facility below Cave Run Dam honored a man associated with hatchery administration, fisheries leadership, and the early scientific cataloging of Kentucky fish. The place that carried his name became one of the state’s major engines for producing the very fish populations that state biologists would manage, measure, and study.
Muskellunge, the Licking River, and the First Years
The hatchery’s earliest documented technical work centered heavily on muskellunge. Mike Hearn’s Kentucky Fisheries Bulletin No. 61, “The Pond-Spawning and Fingerling Production of Muskellunge at the Minor E. Clark Hatchery, Kentucky, During 1973,” captured the facility at its beginning. The title alone shows how quickly the hatchery moved from construction project to research site and production center.
That muskie work was tied to the Licking River and to the broader consequences of impoundment. Morehead State Public Radio later reported, through comments from a Kentucky Fish and Wildlife fisheries biologist, that the Licking River had been one of the region’s large muskie streams before Cave Run Lake was created, and that Minor Clark Fish Hatchery raised muskies for Cave Run Lake to help make up for habitat lost when the reservoir changed the river system.
The hatchery’s muskie story also reached beyond Rowan County. Kentucky Fisheries Bulletin No. 85, on muskellunge introduction in Green River Lake, states that Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery was constructed in 1973 by KDFWR and discusses the use of muskellunge stockings to establish a fishery after impoundment affected native muskie populations elsewhere.
Raising Fish for the Commonwealth
Over time, the hatchery became a statewide production facility. The Corps describes Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery as one of the largest state-owned warm-water fish hatcheries in the nation and says it produces between three and four million fingerlings annually for Kentucky lakes, rivers, and suitable streams. The species listed by the Corps include largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, muskellunge, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, and walleye.
KDFWR explains the modern hatchery system in similar terms. The department says Kentucky has two state-owned hatcheries operated by KDFWR, Minor Clark Hatchery and Peter W. Pfeiffer Hatchery, and that they produce cool- and warm-water fishes including largemouth bass, muskellunge, walleyes, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, blue catfish, and channel catfish. KDFWR also says these hatcheries house the fish transportation section, which moves and stocks fish across the Commonwealth.
The scale is easy to miss because the work happens in ponds, tanks, trucks, and carefully timed spawning seasons rather than in a single public spectacle. KDFWR says that in an average year Kentucky raises nearly 20 fish species and stocks more than 300 locations across the state. In that larger system, Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery is both a production site and a logistical hub.
A Place of Science and Conservation
The hatchery’s work has never been only about producing fish for anglers. It has also supported research, restoration, and species management. KDFWR’s saugeye program provides one example. Saugeye are a hybrid cross between walleye and sauger, and KDFWR says the eggs are fertilized at Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery near Morehead before being transported to Peter W. Pfeiffer Hatchery near Frankfort for rearing to stocking size.
The hatchery also appears in Kentucky’s alligator gar restoration work. KDFWR says alligator gar had not been reported in Kentucky since 1977 despite numerous surveys, and that the department began a captive propagation and stocking program in 2009. The agency receives alligator gar fry from the Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery, and those fry are reared in Kentucky at the Pfeiffer and Minor Clark hatcheries before release into suitable historic-range waters.
The ponds themselves created habitat. Fred M. Busroe of Morehead State University studied birds attracted to and using the hatchery in the 1980s, and a later symposium abstract reported that a survey begun in 1980 recorded 219 bird species using the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery in Rowan County. That abstract noted that habitat created by the hatchery and nearby Cave Run Lake influenced bird use in the region.
Public Ground, Local Memory, and Rowan County
Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery is a working state facility, but it has also become part of local outdoor culture. The Corps says the hatchery facilities are open to the public on weekdays and the grounds are open from morning until dusk. KDFWR has used the site for youth fishing events, including the Cave Run Kids Fishing Derby at 120 Fish Hatchery Road in Morehead.
The site also has seasonal public uses beyond fishing education. KDFWR has announced youth and mobility-impaired waterfowl quota hunts at state hatcheries, identifying five blinds at Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery in Rowan County and two at Peter W. Pfeiffer Hatchery in Franklin County.
The county identification can be confusing because Cave Run Dam is often discussed in relation to Bath County, and some Kentucky Geological Survey materials label the hatchery below the dam as Bath County. KDFWR public-use notices, USGS monitoring-location data, and Morehead-area sources identify the hatchery in Rowan County. The safest wording for an AppalachianHistorian article is Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery near Morehead, Rowan County, below Cave Run Dam.
Legacy
The story of Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery is the story of how Kentucky tried to answer a problem it had helped create. Cave Run Dam changed the Licking River, and the new lake changed the region’s ecology, economy, and recreation. The hatchery below the dam became one of the state’s answers to that change. It raised fish for Cave Run Lake, for other reservoirs, and for streams and lakes across Kentucky.
It also preserved a line of fisheries work that ran from Minor E. Clark’s early fish surveys and hatchery leadership to the modern KDFWR system of production, stocking, research, and restoration. The hatchery is easy to describe as a place of ponds, but that undersells it. It is a piece of public infrastructure, a living laboratory, a wildlife habitat, a youth fishing place, and one of Rowan County’s most important links between the Licking River, Cave Run Lake, and Kentucky’s outdoor life.
Sources & Further Reading
Hearn, Mike. “The Pond-Spawning and Fingerling Production of Muskellunge at the Minor E. Clark Hatchery, Kentucky, During 1973.” Kentucky Fisheries Bulletin No. 61. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 1974. https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Documents/FishBulletin061.pdf
Clark, Minor E. “A List of the Fishes in Northeastern Kentucky.” Kentucky Fisheries Bulletin No. 1. Kentucky Division of Game and Fish, 1941. https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Fisheries-Research-Bulletins.aspx
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Fisheries Research Bulletins.” https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Fisheries-Research-Bulletins.aspx
“Cave Run Lake Under Construction.” Rural Kentuckian, January 1973. https://d2fxn1d7fsdeeo.cloudfront.net/kentuckyliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/08090835/Pages-from-1973_01.pdf
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District. “Cave Run Lake.” https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/Mission/Projects/Article/3641194/cave-run-lake/
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Contacts for Fisheries Staff.” https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Find-a-Biologist.aspx
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Fish Stocking.” https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Fish_Stocking.aspx
Kentucky.gov. “West Virginia Donates Blue Catfish to Kentucky.” Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, August 17, 2018. https://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=FishandWildlife&prId=433
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “New State Record Saugeye Caught.” April 7, 2021. https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/New-state-record-saugeye-caught.aspx
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Alligator Gar.” https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Alligator-Gar.aspx
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Update, Oct. 28, 2022.” https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/KYFISHWILDLIFE/bulletins/3344ae9
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Annual Research Highlights 2010. https://fw.ky.gov/More/Documents/ResearchHighlights2010.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Annual Research Highlights 2011. https://fw.ky.gov/More/Documents/researchhighlights2011%5B1%5D.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Annual Research Highlights 2012. https://fw.ky.gov/More/Documents/2012ResearchHighlights.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Annual Research Highlights 2013. https://fw.ky.gov/More/Documents/2013ResearchHighlights.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Annual Research Highlights 2014. https://fw.ky.gov/More/Documents/2014researchhighlights.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Annual Research Highlights 2015. https://fw.ky.gov/more/documents/2015researchhighlights.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “A Study of Native Muskellunge Populations in Eastern Kentucky Streams.” Kentucky Fisheries Bulletin No. 64. https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Documents/FishBulletin064.pdf
Balsman, Dane. “Evaluation of Stocking Original and Reciprocal Cross Hybrid Striped Bass in Three Kentucky Impoundments.” Kentucky Fisheries Bulletin No. 124. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 2022. https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Documents/FishBulletin124.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Analysis of Kentucky Black Bass Genetic Results.” https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Documents/KYBlackBassGeneticsResults.pdf
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Apply Now for Special Waterfowl Hunts at State Fish Hatcheries.” https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Apply-now-for-special-waterfowl-hunts-at-state-fish-hatcheries-2025-10.aspx
U.S. Geological Survey. “KY35 at Clark State Fish Hatchery, Rowan County, KY.” Water Data for the Nation. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/380706083324900/
Water Quality Portal. “KY35 at Clark State Fish Hatchery, Rowan County, KY.” https://www.waterqualitydata.us/provider/NWIS/USGS-KY/USGS-380706083324900/
Kentucky Geological Survey. “Cave Run Lake Fish Hatchery, Bath County, Knobs and Shale Region.” https://kgs.uky.edu/kgsweb/download/terrain/BGPDFS/Bluegrass%20Region%20142.pdf
Kentucky Geological Survey. “Licking River Basin.” https://kgs.uky.edu/kgsweb/download/water/watershed/Licking_River_Basin.pdf
Busroe, Fred M. “Avian Species Attracted to and Utilizing the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery.” Morehead State University Faculty Research, 1983. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/msu_faculty_research/66/
Busroe, Fred M. “Birds Utilizing the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery, Rowan County, Kentucky.” Center for Field Biology Symposium Proceedings, 1991. https://www.apsu.edu/field-biology/files/4th_Symposium_Proceedings_1991.pdf
Nairn, Will. “Rowan County Fish Hatchery Prepares to Stock Waters Across the Commonwealth.” Morehead State Public Radio, April 27, 2026. https://www.wmky.org/wmky-feature-reports/2026-04-27/rowan-county-fish-hatchery-prepares-to-stock-waters-across-the-commonwealth
Nairn, Will. “Fall Fishing Season Begins in the Muskie Capital of the South.” Morehead State Public Radio, September 13, 2024. https://www.wmky.org/news/2024-09-13/fall-fishing-season-begins-in-the-muskie-capital-of-the-south
KET. “Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery.” Kentucky Life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6YfyyRn3CE
Kentucky Afield. “Night Fishing; Minor Clark Fish Hatchery; Metal Madness.” PBS, 2018. https://www.pbs.org/video/night-fishing-minor-clark-fish-hatchery-metal-madness-i2e0os/
Kentucky Tourism. “Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery.” https://www.kentuckytourism.com/explore/minor-e-clark-fish-hatchery-696
Morehead-Rowan County Tourism Commission. “Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery.” https://visitmorehead.com/listing/minor-e-clark-fish-hatchery/23/
Explore Kentucky Wildlands. “Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery.” https://www.explorekywildlands.com/listing/minor-e-clark-fish-hatchery/733/
Backroads of Appalachia. “Minor Clark State Fish Hatchery.” https://backroadsofappalachia.org/pois/minor-clark-state-fish-hatchery/
Birdingplaces.eu. “Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery.” https://www.birdingplaces.eu/en/birdingplaces/united-states/minor-e-clark-fish-hatchery
Mountain Workshops. “Fishing for More.” https://mountainworkshops.org/fishing-for-more/
Eastern Kentucky University Special Collections and Archives. “Clark, Minor Papers.” https://ekuarchives.omeka.net/
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fishery Leaflet 5: Directory of Fishery Agencies. U.S. Department of the Interior, 1940. https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy-pdfs/CIRC5.pdf
Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission. Aquatic-Life Resources of the Ohio River. https://www.orsanco.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Aquatic-Life-Resources-of-the-Ohio-River-1970.pdf
TopoZone. “Clark State Fish Hatchery Topo Map in Rowan County, Kentucky.” https://www.topozone.com/kentucky/rowan-ky/locale/clark-state-fish-hatchery/
Author Note: Places like Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery remind us that Appalachian history is not only found in old buildings, battlefields, and family cemeteries. It is also found in the working public landscapes that changed rivers, stocked lakes, taught children to fish, and shaped how communities remember water.