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MONTANA STATE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



A NEW PARADISE 



By W. C. KEIL 

 MEMBER, STATE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



r 



W. C. KEIL 



'N 1935, the new Red TiOdge-Cooke City road to Yellow- 

 stone National Park will be formally opened, and with 

 its openinj; one of the most scenic regions in Montana 

 will be made accessilile to the tourist, the fisherman, the 

 liunter. Hundreds of sparkling streams and hidden lakes 

 will be exposed — a new paradise for Montana sportsmen. 



This road reaches an altitude of more than 10.000 feet 

 where it crosses the Beartooth plateau. Many lakes can 

 be counted while driving along this highway and the scenery 

 has no comparison. Work of biiilding up this primitive area 

 so that it will provide excellent fishing, even in the re- 

 gions of the glacial lakes, has already been started by the 

 state fish and game department. Fish were stocked in 

 many of the lakes this year — the fingerlings being taken 

 horse pack over the rugged mountains and to the lakes shimmering beneath high 

 snow-ix>aked mountains. 



With its great scenic value, its primitive and rugged characteristics, the 

 flowing streams abounding with fish, and the magic lakes hidden in the moun- 

 tains, this territory will mean much in increasing tourist travel to Montana — 

 an industry for years undervaluated but of groat importance in placing the state 

 in its proper place in the recreational map. 



The area that the n(>w highway will open is southwest of Billings, in ilscll' 

 a great fishing territory, ;in(l destined to liecome an idc.il vararion land. Close to 

 the B<>artooths — through whicli the Bed Lodge-Cooke City highway travels — are the 

 Absarokas and Sho.shones, a wilderness of towering peaks and A'irgin forests. 

 In tins area, is Montana's new paradise — both from the viewpoint of scenic 

 wonder and the possibilities for wild life. It is a region which those who have 

 scaled the Alps declare is paid no complinieiit when called '"The Switzerland of 

 America". 



Within this area are 25 peaks over 112,IK)0 feet high, among them Granite 

 peak, highe.st mountain in Montana, .'iltitude 12.f>no feet and scaled for the first 

 time In 102.S, and Silver Hun. second highest ; hundreds of lakes, several of 

 considerable size; innumerable streams and waterfalls, endless miles of foot and 

 .saddle trails, and in.iiiy vantag*- points from which may be seen never-to-be- 

 forgotten panoramas of peak and plain. 



For the most part tliis mountain area is still a primitive wilderness, peopled 

 only i)y the animals, birds and fish that have .seen few hunters or fishermen 

 since the days of the Indian. Excellent fishing is in store for those who wish 

 to cast a dancing fly over the surfaces of .some of its streams. In the streams 

 and lakes is to be found rainbow. Loch Leven, eastern brook and native trout 



