loo Fish Stories 



colleague, SaUno gilherti. Thirteen years ago Professor 

 Gilbert first brought it home from the south fork of the 

 Kern, at Soda Springs. Other men had taken it on the 

 hook, but Professor Gilbert was the first to see it. 



The Kern River trout goes up all the streams as far as it 

 can, but it cannot rise above the waterfalls. A trout will 

 work its way up any cascade, when the ascent is humanly 

 or rather salmonically possible. But there must be a limit 

 in these wild regions, and when this limit is reached, the 

 stream above is barren, that is, it is barren unless some 

 one deliberately stocks it, or unless the trout in it were there 

 before there ever was a waterfall. 



In the case of the Kern, the trout are older than the falls. 

 In three different streams these ancient fishes still remain. 

 In each of these the trout, through long continued isola- 

 tion, has become a species distinct from the parent stock, 

 Salmo gilherti. The first of these singular trout was de- 

 scribed by the writer a dozen years ago under the name of 

 Salmo aguahonita, for the waterfall Agua Bonita or gra- 

 cious water, which shuts off the trout in Volcano Creek. 

 This species proves, however, to be the one from the south 

 fork of the Kern River. The species in Volcano Creek has 

 been named Salmo roosevelti by Dr. Evermann, and the 

 other from Soda Creek is called Salmo whitei. 



Mr. Stewart Edward White, visiting these mountains 

 called the attention of President Roosevelt to these trout 

 and to the danger of their extinction, and the President 

 sent Dr. Evermann to complete the investigation, with the 

 result that three species were made known, instead of the 

 single Salmo aguahonita. The Bureau of Fisheries, 

 through Dr. Evermann, has recommended that the west 

 flanks of Mount Whitney be included within the National 

 Park, that no fishing of golden trout be allowed for three 

 years, that the species be introduced into the barren streams 

 of the neighborhood, and that rigid limitations be placed on 

 the number any one may take. 



