ENDNOTES 



1 In 19S9, a committee ccimpiised i)f rcprcscniativcs of Montana State University, the Bureau of Sport 

 Fisheries and Wildlife and the Montana Fish and Game Department classified the entire length of Rock 

 C.reek, from mainstem headwaters to mouth, as a blue ribbon trout stream. The committee rated streams 

 based on their ability to produce fish, their availability to fishermen, the aesthetic value and the amount 

 t)f recreational use they received As a blue ribbon fishery, the highest classification, Rock Creek is 

 to be protected from habitat destruction. 



2 The four forks of Rock Creek— the Ross', East, West and Middle Forks— meet just above the Skalkaho 

 Bridge in the Deerlodge Forest. 



^ See Lolo National Forest's Biological E%aluation for the proposed Bagdad Mine, prepared by Mike Hillis, 

 wildlife biologist. See also the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of Interior, April 26, 1988, memo 

 evaluating the potential effect of the Bagdad Mine on Peregrine falcons and bald eagles. 



4. Missoulian, May 31, 1964, article by U.S. Forest Service Ranger Carl Siria. Indian artifacts have been 

 found throughout the drainage. Mounds found on East Quigg Peak, the highest peak in the Sapphires, 

 are thought to be Indian relics. Some 40 miles upstream of the mouth of Rock Creek is Squaw Rock, 

 a multicolored ledge where, according to legend, a young squaw plunged to her death. More than 100 

 bison skulls were found on a flat near the mouth of Little Hogback Creek, a Rock Creek tributary; 

 the bison are thought to have perished in deep snow after taking refuge in the canyon from Indian 

 hunters. 



5. Andrew Garcia, Tough Trip Through Paradise, 1878-1879, pp. 336-345. 

 6 Ibid, p. 360. 



7. Missoulian. May 31, 1964, op. cit. The Wyman and Rodda families were the first permanent settlers, 

 arriving in 1887 to graze livestock. At the lower end, Charley Pomeroy was the first to settle, in 1883. 



8. Darlene Olson, Up The Creek: History of Early Settlers on Rock Creek, Bonita & Quigley, p. vii. 



9. Lolo National Forest Plan, 1986. Of 570,670 acres within the Rock Creek watershed, 458,935 (80 per- 

 cent) are managed by the U.S. Forest Service, 12,520 (2 percent) by the Bureau of Land Management, 

 4,890 (1 percent) by the State of Montana, and 94,325 (17 percent) belong to private owners. 



10. The fund, which started at $1.65 million, has fluctuated to as high as $2 million, and amounted to $1 5 

 million in January of 1991. 



