FISHES OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 13 



bottom, gently sloping shores, and a deep center. At several points 

 are extensive beds of yellow water lilies, and the mouth of the large 

 main affluent is covered by the same plants. Large rainbows fre- 

 quent the lake and the effluent, and smaller fish abound in all the 

 minor streams. 



Gibbon River emerges from the southeast corner of Rainbow Lake. 

 About a mile below the lake are hot mineral springs wliich discharge 

 into the river, and for a mile or more the water is warm, distinctly 

 impregnated, and fisliless. Then cold springs entering the river from 

 the hillsides render the stream again inhabitable by trout, wliich occur 

 all the way to the L^pper Falls of the Gibbon. These falls are too high 

 to permit of the passage of fish upward. 



From Virginia Cascade to Norris Station the river, with Solfatara 

 Creek, affords line fishing for eastern brook trout. Mr. Dinsmore 

 reports that on July 26, 1919, he had wonderful fishing for this species 

 and no other species was observed in this section of the river, although 

 rainbows occur above Virginia Cascade and in the Gibbon below Norris 

 Station. 



Below the falls Canyon Creek, entering the river from the eastward, 

 contains redthroat trout. From the falls to the junction of the Gib- 

 bon with the Madison the fish are the same as those occuring in the 

 Madison and below the cascades of the Firehole. 



-MADISON RIVER AND ITS BRANCHES, FIREHOLE RIVER, NEZ PERCE 

 CREEK, LITTLE FIREHOLE RIVER, ETC. 



Native redthroat trout, whitefish, and grayling are abundant, as 

 are also the introduced Loch Leven and brown trouts in the upper 

 Madison. 



The Firehole River, about twice the size of the Gibbon River, joins 

 it from the south. This stream heads just west of Shoshone Lake, 

 separated from it and from the head of Bechler River by a relatively 

 low divide, according to Gannett. It flows tlirough Madison Lake, 

 which is nearly dry in summer, but below it is reinforced by the 

 fine, clear wSprmg Creek from the east. In its upper course the 

 Firehole, like Spring Creek, is a clear and very cold stream, flowing 

 through dense woods, ^v^th narrow marshy valleys alternating' with 

 small canyons. Keppler's Cascades, above tlie Upper Geyser Basin, 

 is a series of very picturesque falls probably impassable to trout. 

 Along the Firehole are the most noteworthy of the geyser basins, and 

 a great volume of hot water is poured into it without, liowever, ren- 

 dering its waters at any point really warm or unfit for trout. The 

 principal tributaries are Iron Creek and Little Firehole River, in the 

 Upper Geyser Basin. At the lower basin the Firehole receives the 

 waters of Sentinel Creek, Fairy Creek, and the larger and more im- 

 portant Nez Perce Creek. 



Nez Perce Creek comes in from the east, is nearly half as large as 

 the Firehole, and is similar in character and temperature of the water. 

 It is fed by numerous short streams, none of them hot and most of 

 them confined to a narrow canyon. 



MddiHon River. ^The name Madison is used only for the river below 

 the junction of its chief tributaries, the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers. 

 The principal tributaries of the Madison as thus defined join the river 



