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 which discharge 
into the river, and for a mile or more the water is warm, distinctly 
impregnated, and fishless. Then cold springs entering the river from 
the hillsides render the stream again inhabitable by trout, which occur 
all the way to the Upper 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 fine 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 through Madison Lake, 
which is nearly dry in summer, but below it is reinforced by the 
fine, clear Spring Creek from the east. In its upper course the 
Firehole, like Spring Creek, is a clear and very cold stream, flowing 
through dense woods, with narrow marshy valleys alternating with 
small canyons. Keppler’s Cascades, above the 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, however, 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. 
Madison 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 
