THE ATLANTIC SALMON. 531 



B— THE SALMON OF LAKE CHAMPLALN AND ITS TRIBU- 



T ARIES. 



By W. C. Watson. 



Sir: I take great pleasure in complying with' your request "to pre- 

 pare a paper on the salmon of Lake Champlain and its tributaries". I 

 fear, however, that I shall not succeed in furnishing anything novel or 

 interesting, or add essentially to the views I have already published. 



1. — ABUNDANCE OF THE SALMON IN EARLY TIMES. 



Since the receipt of your favor, I have sedulously tried to trace old 

 residents, from whom 1 might derive some new facts or incidents, illus- 

 trating the prevalence of the salmon at the early stages of the settle- 

 ment of the region, or for observations disclosing fresh or unfamiliar 

 traits in their habits. My efforts have been attended with only trifling 

 success. When I first engaged in the investigation of this interesting 

 subject, nearly a quarter of a century ago, I secured information from 

 many persons, whose recollections extended almost to the period when 

 the fisheries of the country were in their normal condition, or of those 

 who had received traditions of the salmon from their immediate ancestors, 

 which imparted much valuable intelligence. I garnered up from such 

 sources many important facts; but now, when I attempt to renew 

 these inquiries, I find that few of that class of persons remain, and that 

 the field of research is very limited. 



One fact, which is fully established in the traditions of the salmon-fish- 

 eries, has, I conceive, important bearing on the scheme in which you are 

 so deeply and efficiently interested, and presents most favorable auguries 

 of the success of the undertaking. I refer to the wonderful exuberance 

 of this fish when the country was first occupied. I base the opinion 

 upon the idea that this exuberance indicates that the locality was conge- 

 nial to their habits, and that they were attracted to these haunts by 

 peculiar causes. I will venture to suggest a few speculations on the sub- 

 ject, although they may appear crude and unphilosophical to your great 

 experience and attainments. 



I believe tbat no other waters, not even the tributaries of the Onion,* 

 ever exhibited so extraordinary a copiousness of these fish — and certainly 

 they could not have exceeded it — as they appeared to the occupants of 

 the Champlain Valley in the latter part of the last century and early in 

 the nineteenth. The natural causes are very obvious which produced this 

 result, and among them a few circumstances may be indicated. Lake 

 Champlain was readily accessible to the salmon from the ocean by the way 

 of the Saint Lawrence and Sorelle or Richelieu Rivers, and was also com- 

 paratively contiguous to the cold northern seas. The streams emptying 

 into the lake have generally a short course, and usually with long reaches 



* Now called Wiuooski River. 



