STONE CALIFORNIA TROUT PONDS IN 1879, 717 



eral streams on our way down, but found none that were suitable till 

 we reached the George Crook's Creek, four miles from home. Here, to 

 our great delight, we found almost everything favorable. The stream 

 ran clear and cold, and though not so large as Nosonnie Creek, it was 

 large enough. There was a long reach of comparatively still water in 

 the McCloud at this point, where set-lines for catching parent trout could 

 be advantageously set. There were sugar pines near for cutting out 

 shakes and lumber, and oaks for fire- wood. There was a flat piece of 

 ground just where we wanted it for the buildings and ponds, and although 

 it was evidently going to be no small undertaking to get the water from 

 the brook to the station, it was nothing compared with the immense 

 labor it would have taken at Nosonnie. I was not long decidiug to locate 

 here, and on the next Monday morning at sunrise had taken possession 

 of the land and had posted a notice on one of the trees that I had taken 

 up the claim. 



We immediately went to work to build a rude brush camp and a tem- 

 porary house, and to repair the trail from the creek to the salmon fishery, 

 so that I could send up pack-horses with the tools, provisions, cooking 

 utensils, and other things needed at the camp. This preparatory work 

 was a labor of some days, the nights of which we diligently improved by 

 catching parent trout for the ponds, the month of July being the best 

 month of the whole year for catching trout in the McCloud Eiver. As 

 soon as possible I sent up a boat and a stove, six Indians taking them up 

 through the rapids by great exertions in a siugle day. 



As rapidly as we could we got to work on the buildings and ponds, 

 and especially on the ditch which was to take the water supply from the 

 creek. This last was a toilsome work of weeks, as we had to dig through 

 an elevation which, though not large, was almost filled with immense 

 bowlders. Another laborious task was getting the lumber for the 

 buildings to the camp. To carry a single board over these mountain 

 trails in a burning sun is no slight task, and to carry all that were needed 

 for dwelling-house and hatching-house, besides the provisions, tools, and 

 furniture, was a great labor. The work progressed., however, until now 

 we have a thoroughly appointed trout fishery with a commodious and 

 comfortable dwelling-house, and probably the finest collection of trout 

 ever brought together in one place. 



I cannot forbear mentioning here one or two little incidents which, 

 though not of much importance in themselves, serve to illustrate some 

 of the peculiar features of working in this uninhabited country. 



Six years ago, when we first located the salmon fishery on the river 

 bank, there was but one white settler on the McCloud. His name was 

 George Crooks. In the fall of the same year he was murdered on his 

 own ranch by the McCloud Indians, because they said the land belonged 

 to them. It is at this place that we have established the trout-breeding 

 station, and it must be remembered that the minds of the Indians have 



