The Trout of the Great West 133 



throughout the Rocky Mountain region, and the waters to 

 the westward, trout are everywhere. Their original par- 

 entage, no doubt, was from some sort of a land-locked 

 salmon; their original birthplace perhaps not a thousand 

 miles from the Baltic Sea. Since that time of their birth- 

 day, very long ago, trout have traveled up and down the 

 rivers, down into the sea and up another river, until they 

 have reached from Scotland to Chihuahua, from Montana 

 to the Pyrenees, and whoever seeks them honestly anywhere 

 in all this range shall find exceeding great reward. Whether 

 he catches trout or not, it does not matter; he will be a 

 better man for the breath of the forests and the wash of 

 the mountain streams in which the trout makes its home. 



Most primitive of the American species, no doubt, is the 

 one named for William Clark, Salmo clarkii. It was born 

 in Alaska, and has worked its way southward as far as Eel 

 River in California, eastward across the divide into Mon- 

 tana ; no great task, for on the swampy flat of Two Ocean 

 Pass, the headstreams of the Yellowstone interlock with 

 those of the Snake. It runs southward throughout the great 

 basin of Utah, once tributary to the Snake, and more or 

 less changed, its descendants have peopled the Platte, the 

 Arkasas, the Rio Grande and the Colorado. 



The Clark trout is usually known as the cut-throat trout, 

 from the half-hidden gash of deep scarlet which is always 

 found just below the base of the lower jaw. This gash of 

 red is the sign manual of the Sioux Indian, the cut-throat 

 among the fierce aborigines. 



This is the best mark of the cut-throat trout, though it 

 disappears in alcohol, and it is sometimes faintly shown in 

 other trout, especially in the large rainbow trout of the 

 Shasta region. Other marks are the rather long head, which 

 forms nearly a fourth of the length of the body from the 

 snout to the base of the caudal fin. Almost always there 

 is a narrow line of very slender teeth along the middle line 



