264 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



Divide. In the space l between this stream, which 

 flows west to help form the Snake River, and a 

 smaller stream now called Atlantic Creek, flowing 

 down the east slope of the Divide, the great chain 

 of the Rocky Mountains shrinks to a narrow pla- 

 teau of damp meadow, not a fourth of a mile in 

 width ; and some years, when the snows are heavy 

 and melt late in the spring, this whole region is 

 covered with standing water. The trout had bided 

 their time until they found this pass, and now they 

 were ready for action. Before the water was 

 drained they had crossed the Divide and were de- 

 scending on the Atlantic side toward the Yellow- 

 stone Lake. As the days went by, this colony of 

 bold trout spirits grew and multiplied and filled 

 the waters of the great clear lake, where their de- 

 scendants remain to this day. And no other fishes 

 not the chub, nor the sucker, nor the white-fish; 

 nor the minnow, nor the blob had ever climbed 

 Pacific Creek. None of them were able to follow 

 where the trout had gone, and none of them have 

 ever been seen in the Yellowstone Lake. What 

 the trout had done in this lake their victories 

 and defeats, their struggles with the bears and 

 pelicans, and with the terrible worm, joint enemy 

 of trout and pelicans alike must be left for 

 another story. 



So the trout climbed the Yellowstone Falls by 

 way of the back staircase. Having once reached 

 its top, it was easy to go down it on the other side. 

 And in a similar way, by stealing over from Black- 



1 For a detailed account of " Two-Ocean Pass," see Evermann, 

 Popular Science Monthly, June, 1894. 



