FISHES OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. if il 
feet high. Below these falls the stream flows through a highly 
picturesque canyon, joining Gardiner River above Mammoth Hot 
Springs. 
Lupine Creek is a small tributary of Lava Creek, entering it above 
the falls. Near its junction with Lava Creek this creek has a cascade 
about 100 feet high called Wraith Falls. Notwithstanding the bar- 
rier offered by the falls, Dr. Jordan said that it was reported on good 
authority that small trout had been taken in Lava Creek above the 
falls. His attention was called to a possible means of access from 
Blacktail Deer Creek to Lava Creek in times of high water. In Lava 
and Lupine Creeks the only trout is the native redthroat. Below the 
falls native redthroat and Loch Leven trouts occur in Lava Creek. 
Gardiner River, or Middle Fork, rises on the east slope of the 
Gallatin Mountains in the northwestern part of the park. It flows 
eastward, southward, then abruptly northward, bending around 
Bunsen Peak and forming a deep canyon, toward the head of which 
are Osprey Falls. Gardiner Canyon is some 800 to 1,000 feet deep, 
with vertical walls of lava, basalt, etc., and in grandeur is surpassed 
only by the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Osprey Falls are 
about 150 feet high and nearly vertical. The principal headwaters 
of the Gardiner are Fawn, Panther, and Indian Chee: which, with 
their branches, unite near Seven-mile Bridge. Winter and Straight 
Creeks unite into one stream and join Obsidian Creek to form Willow 
Park Creek, which also joins the Middle Fork near Seven-mile Bridge. 
Obsidian Creek originates in or near Twin Lakes, according to Jordan, 
and some of its branches in other small lakes, notably Lake of the 
Woods, which flows into Beaver Lake. At first the creek is very 
small, and its course for 2 or 3 miles is full of hot springs, solfataras, 
boilmg mudholes, and various similar heated areas. Lower down 
cold springs enter the stream, and at Beaver Lake the water is clear 
and cold. Beaver Lake is a shallow, grassy pond, about a mile long, 
formed in the stream by the beavers. Eastern brook trout are re- 
ported as plentiful, but the rainbow trout, also planted there, have 
never been heard of. Below this lake the creek receives the clear, 
cold waters of Winter Creek and Straight Creek. 
Winter Creek is a large stream which heads in Christmas Tree Park 
at the foot of Mount Holmes. Straight Creek flows through dense 
woods, open grass-grown meadows, and narrow canyons. It is a 
very pretty stream, with many riffles and deep holes behind pros- 
trate logs, and wide, shallow, gravelly reaches. In the course of 
Straight Creek is Grizzly Lake. It is a gem, with steep, wooded 
banks, clear, cold water, with shelving bottom and quite deep center. 
After their junction the waters of these creeks, under the name of 
Willow Park Creek, flow through Willow Park, a large mountain 
meadow, at the foot of which it meets the waters of Indian Creek and 
the others which have been mentioned, forming the Middle Fork of 
Gardiner River. Indian Creek is a clear, cold stream similar to the 
Gardiner. 
All of the aforementioned creeks, previously barren, now teem with 
eastern brook trout, the only trout occurring in them. Jordan re- 
ported that Obsidian Creek with Winter Creek was one of the best 
eastern brook trout streams in the park. Its summer temperature 
is about 50° F. Its bottom is composed of laval gravel, lined with 
