144 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
The earliest record we have, of the transplanting of the golden trout 
to streams other than those of their natural hibitat, was in the year 
1876. The two Stevens brothers, who had built a small sawmill on 
Cottonwood Creek, were anxious that the stream be well stocked with 
fish for their own use. They went over to Mulky Creek, in Mulky 
Meadows, and procured what in all probability were the Salmo agua- 
bonita, or South Fork golden trout, and planted them in Cottonwood 
Creek. 
In the summer of 1876, Mr. S. L. N. Ellis says: ‘‘I was at Mineral 
King and Mr. Arthur Crowley, former assessor of Tulare County, 
showed me a single large trout in the creek at Mineral King. He 
told me that ‘uncle’ Wiley Watson had brought some trout from the 
Little Kern via Farewell Gap and had planted them in this stream.”’ 
The first plant made by Watson reproduced rapidly and furnished 
the supply for the fishermen at Mineral King until 1894, when the 
later plants were made. Mr. Ellis caught fish at Mineral King in 
1887, while he was out on a hunting and fishing trip in that region. 
This work was very important for it was the move which undoubtedly 
interested others in fish planting, and which caused others, later on, 
to try and accomplish similar plants. 
After a lapse of some nine years, G. W. Cahoon contributed his 
share to the transplanting: of the golden trout. Mr. Cahoon was a 
cattle rancher who during the summer earried butter by pack from 
the head of the South Fork of the Kaweah over the pass to Inyo 
County. On his way back he caught the golden trout, Salmo whiter, 
in Soda Creek at Quinn’s Horse Camp and planted them in the South 
Fork of the Kaweah, at Evelyn Lake, where there were no fish. 
In 1887, two years after Cahoon had made his plant of Salmo whitei, 
James MeIntyre, a sheepman, procured some of the same species of 
trout at Rifle Creek and planted them in Coyote Creek, a tributary a 
the Kern. 
Again there was a period of trout planting ‘ick ee but in ae 
Cottonwood Lakes were planted by E. H. Edwards and two friends. 
Edwards, who was a storekeeper at Lone Pine, desired to improve the 
fishing conditions in his vicinity, so with James Moffitt and B. H. 
Dutcher he obtained a eatch of Salmo agua-bonita, the same variety 
which had been planted by the Stevens brothers in Cottonwood Creek 
in 1876, and planted them in Cottonwood Lakes. This plant was 
apparently very successful, for in 1906 Cottonwood Lakes were reported 
by the storekeeper of Lone Pine as being unusually well stocked with 
golden trout. 
The year 1892 is especially memorable in the history of the planting 
of the golden trout in that it was during this season that the first 
hatchery propagation of the species was undertaken. Too, it was 
during this year that they were first exhibited to the public. Members 
of the Visalia Sportsmen’s Club had long been desirous that the 
propagation of this splendid game fish be undertaken, and it was. 
through the interests and efforts of the club that S. L. N. Ellis, 
equipped with four coal oil cans fitted with baking powder ean lids, 
made a trip to Voleano Creek and procured about a hundred of the fish. 
These he carried to Lower Funston Meadows. At Funston Meadows 
he met Lieutenant Deane with a detachment of soldiers patrolling the 
