Trout -Fishing in the Range ley Lakes. 369 



THE DAM ON RANGELEY STREAM. 



oblong box of forty gallons' capacity, lined with sponge which was 

 covered with muslin, and having an air-pump attached, so as to 

 make constant renewal of the air easy, had been carefully prepared. 

 This box was carried from the head of Rangeley on a spring wagon 

 to Farmington, a distance of thirty-five miles, and thence by rail- 

 road to its destination in New Jersey. Three days were occupied 

 in the journey, but by unremitting care night and day the magnifi- 

 cent fish were deposited alive in the pond at Stanley. Unfor- 

 tunately, the weather was unusually warm for the season of the 

 year. The temperature of the pond could not be reduced below 65 , 

 and the larger of the two trout lived only eight hours. The female 

 survived six days longer. Thus the attempt to propagate Rangeley 

 trout in New Jersey by natural means failed. The larger of these 

 trout was, unfortunately, not weighed when first captured, but, when 

 dead, balanced the steelyards at precisely ten pounds. It is a well- 

 known fact that all fish lose in weight. after capture, and Professor 

 Spencer F. Baird and Professor Agassiz both gave it as their opinion 

 that when taken this trout weighed at least eleven and a half pounds. 

 He measured thirty inches in length and eighteen inches in circum- 

 ference. His tail spread eight inches and his jaws six and a half 

 inches. He was mounted by one of the most skillful taxidermists in 

 the country, Mr. Dickinson, of Chatham, N. J. 

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