23 



dipped out and, as already said, given to the liogs. Trout are frequently 

 throAvn out with their noses absolutely butted off in the vain endeavor 

 to force their way through the barricade. 



" The Indians, and a good many vv^liites, have another distinctive 

 method of trapping trout, but it is nothing like so bad as the one 

 descx'ibed above. Even where there are good ladders and ways, a' large 

 number of fish try to run up the current pouring over the dam. After 

 repeated efforts to run up on the face of the M'ater against the impetus 

 with Avhich it is coming down, they become w'eak and exhausted, and 

 can no longer keep upon the face of the stream and fall through it into 

 the vacant space that is always found under the water that pours over a 

 dam. In this space wicker or other baskets (the Indians use willow 

 twigs) are fastened, and into tbese baskets the fish fall in great numbers, 

 and of course cannot escape. 



" Two facts show conclusively that trout are fast disappearing from 

 the lakes. One is, that Yery few, comparatively speaking, are caught 

 now, even in the best seasons, ^yiih. the hook and line. As a sample, I 

 may tell of a Sacramento attorney who is noted as an expert in fishing — 

 a gentleman who can nearly equal Izac Walton for patience in waiting 

 for a nibble — who spent some four or five days this summer fishing on 

 Donner. He was out by daylight, and did not'return until dark, and the 

 greatest number ho caught in any one day was five. I may also state 

 that every trout that he caught was silver — there was not a brown one 

 in the whole number. The other fact is, that the so called chub, the 

 natural, as it would seem, food for the trout in the lakes, have of late 

 years increased i;i such numbers as almost to be a nuisance. 



"On the Truckee, about nin j miles from Tahoe, Comer Brothers have 

 a large establishment for rearing trout. I understand that it was started 

 about three years ago, and that although it has been a success so far as 

 to growing and distributing the fish, yet, in commercial parlance, it has 

 been something very near a failure. I was told that Webber Lake was 

 stocked from the Truckee several years ago, and that it is nov>^ well 

 filled, with good sized fish, though formerly it did not possess any trout. 

 If there is any means by which your Board can aid these Pioneer Cali- 

 fornia trout growers, I trust that you will do so. 



" 1 believe that I have nothing to add, except to say that during the 

 coming year and until peoj)le begin to understand the law, and the 

 ofiicers and Courts enforce it, the entire time of at least one man will be 

 required about Lake Tahoe, the Truckee, Little Truckee, and the lakes 

 and streams that flow into them, for the protection of fish." 



